Patricia Ruano

Active faulting in the internal zones of the central Betic Cordilleras (SE, Spain)

The internal zones of the Betic Cordilleras show a present-day relief that is mainly controlled by kilo- metre-size, symmetrical or north-vergent folds which developed mostly since Middle Miocene times. The Sierra Nevada, Sierra Alhamilla, Sierra de Los Filabres, Sierra Tejeda and Sierra de Gador, among others, are roughly E-W trending high mountain ranges, corresponding to antiforms where metamorphic rocks crop out. The surrounding depressions are located in synforms, where Neogene rocks are preserved from erosion. Field evidence shows that the growth of the folds is coeval with fault development, and that at least three of them, i.e. the Padul Fault, the Zafarraya Fault, and the Balanegra Fault, may be considered to be active seismogenetic structures. The Zafarraya Fault, in particular, is thought to be responsible for the 1884 Andalucia Earthquake. The fault is located at the northern limb of the Sierra Tejeda antiform, and could be interpreted as a collapse structure developed along the external arch of the uplifted fold. The Padul and Balanegra faults are located at the southeastern border of the Granada Basin and south of the Sierra de Gador, respectively. They belong to a set of NW-SE oriented faults that are mainly normal in character and indicate NE-SW extension. The set up, since 1999, of a GPS network within and around the Granada Basin and the planed installation of a new network in the Sierra Tejeda, will give us new insights on the present-day deformation behaviour of both folds and faults in the area.

Crustal‐scale transcurrent fault development in a weak‐layered crust from an integrated geophysical research: Carboneras Fault Zone, eastern Betic Cordillera, Spain

New magnetotelluric and receiver transfer function studies provide insights from the upper to the lower crust of the eastern Betic Cordillera, which is deformed by large folds, normal faults, and a major transcurrent left-lateral fault, the Carboneras Fault Zone (CFZ). Receiver function analysis determines a NNW dipping Moho reaching 20° that increases in depth, from 20 km south of the CFZ up to 34 km in the Sierra de Los Filabres. In addition, seismic discontinuities determined in the upper crust are interpreted as major contacts between metamorphic complexes that are detached and folded. The MT inversion model reveals a conductive zone, also representing a crustal seismic discontinuity, associated with the Alpujarride/Nevado-Filabride contact and fitting the N vergent geometry of the Sierra Alhamilla antiform. A small flexure at Moho coincides with the CFZ, as revealed by the Bouguer anomaly trend, in agreement with the receiver function results. Moreover, the Bahr strike and tipper angle at the stations placed closest to the CFZ clearly reveal the continuity of the CFZ at least down to approximately 15 km in depth, crossing all the detected crustal discontinuities up to the Moho. The lack of a clear Moho offset associated with the Carboneras Fault supports the idea that some large strike-slip faults tend to accommodate the deformation by a broadening fault zone at lower crustal levels. Its nucleation could occur at the base of a thin crust, where melting processes critically reduced the lithospheric strength during the late Miocene, to then propagate upward, reaching the topographic surface. Northward, the lithosphere comprised moderately larger strength, and the crustal discontinuities favored the development of larger folds with kilometric amplitude instead of strike-slip faults since the late Miocene.

Recent Tectonic Structures in a Transect of the Central Betic Cordillera

The Betic Cordillera has undergone recent Alpine deformations related to the EurasianAfrican plate interaction boundary. Most of the present-day relief has been built up since Tortonian times, and is related to the development of folds and faults that are overprinted on older deformations, and some of the faults may be considered as out-of-sequence. The combination of geophysical and geological data makes it possible to determine the main features of the recent tectonic structures, or those recently active, in its central transect. The main fault is a crustal detachment that separates a footwall constituted by the Iberian Massif and a hanging wall formed by the rocks of the Betic Cordillera. While the footwall is practically undeformed, the hanging wall has been folded and faulted. The folds are mainly E-W to NESW and have larger sizes and higher related relieves towards the South. The reverse faults are mainly concentrated in the northern mountain front. However, normal faults affect the southern part of the Cordillera and are associated with the development of large asymmetrical basins such as the Granada Depression. In this setting, the slip along the crustal detachment is variable and should increase southwards. The model of the recent tectonics in the central transect of the Cordillera is compatible with the presence of an active subduction in the Alboran Sea, and contrasts notably with the setting of the eastern Betic Cordillera, mainly deformed by transcurrent faults.

Tectonic wedge escape in the southwestern front of the Rif Cordillera (Morocco)

Abstract The Rif Cordillera is a part of the Alpine orogenic arc in the Western Mediterranean, which was developed by the interaction of the westward motion of the Alboran Domain between the converging Eurasian and African plates. The Prerif Ridges, located along the southwestern front of the Rif, are south-vergent folds that are in places associated with faults affecting Jurassic to Quaternary sedimentary rocks and slope breccias that evidence the deformations that were active over the Neogene-Quaternary period. The different southward or southwestward displacement of each Prerif Ridge is related to the development of frontal and lateral ramps, which may or may not reach the surface. Oblique shortening may be explained by southwestward escape of large tectonic wedges, bounded by large strike-slip faults: the North-Middle Atlas fault which extends northward into the Alboran Sea, the Fez-Tissa-Taïneste fault, the Bou Draa-Sidi Fili fault, the Jebha fault and the Fahies fault. The relative displacement of these tectonic wedges toward the SW may explain the NNE-SSW to ENE-WSW compression observed in the Rif front and in the northern part of its Meseta-Atlas foreland.

The fracture system and the melt emplacement beneath the Deception Island active volcano, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica

Abstract A new magnetotelluric (MT) survey, along with new topographic parametric sonar (TOPAS) profiles and geological field observations, were carried out on the Deception Island active volcano. 3-D resistivity models reveal an ENE–WSW elongated conductor located at a depth between two and ten kilometres beneath the south-eastern part of the island, which we interpret as a combination of partial melt and hot fluids. The emplacement of the melt in the upper crust occurs along the ENE–WSW oriented, SSE dipping regional normal fault zone, which facilitates melt intrusion at shallower levels with volcanic eruptions and associated seismicity. Most of the onshore and offshore volcanic rocks are deformed by high-angle normal and sub-vertical faults with dominant dip-slip kinematics, distributed in sets roughly parallel and orthogonal to the major ENE–WSW regional tectonic trends. Faults development is related to perturbations of the regional stress field associated with magma chamber overpressure and deflation in a regional setting dominated by NW–SE to NNW–SSE extension.

Kinematics of faults between Subbetic Units during the Miocene (central sector of the Betic Cordillera)

The kinematic analysis of the low-angle faults that separate the major units of the Subbetic Zone indicates two main stages of translations. In the first stage, of Burdigalian to basal Tortonian age, the hanging walls moved toward the WSW, and thrusts developed in some sectors of the External Zones. Simultaneously, in the Internal Zones, the activity of extensional detachments shows the same kinematics. In the second stage, affecting up to basal Tortonian rocks, northwest-verging thrusts were active. The Subbetic tectonic units probably underwent relative rotation during the development of these structures.

Alpine bogs of southern Spain show human-induced environmental change superimposed on long-term natural variations

Recent studies have proved that high elevation environments, especially remote wetlands, are exceptional ecological sensors of global change. For example, European glaciers have retreated during the 20th century while the Sierra Nevada National Park in southern Spain witnessed the first complete disappearance of modern glaciers in Europe. Given that the effects of climatic fluctuations on local ecosystems are complex in these sensitive alpine areas, it is crucial to identify their long-term natural trends, ecological thresholds, and responses to human impact. In this study, the geochemical records from two adjacent alpine bogs in the protected Sierra Nevada National Park reveal different sensitivities and long-term environmental responses, despite similar natural forcings, such as solar radiation and the North Atlantic Oscillation, during the late Holocene. After the Industrial Revolution both bogs registered an independent, abrupt and enhanced response to the anthropogenic forcing, at the same time that the last glaciers disappeared. The different response recorded at each site suggests that the National Park and land managers of similar regions need to consider landscape and environmental evolution in addition to changing climate to fully understand implications of climate and human influence.

La estructura sísmica de la corteza de la Zona de Ossa Morena y su interpretación geológica

El experimento de sismica de reflexion profunda IBERSEIS ha proporcionado una imagen de la corteza del Orogeno Varisco en el sudoeste de Iberia. Este articulo se centra en la descripcion de la corteza de la Zona de Ossa Morena (OMZ), que esta claramente dividida en una corteza superior, con reflectividad de buzamiento al NE, y una corteza inferior de pobre reflectividad. Las estructuras geologicas cartografiadas en superficie se correlacionan bien con la reflectividad de la corteza superior, y en la imagen sismica se ven enraizar en la corteza media. Esta esta constituida por un cuerpo muy reflectivo, interpretado como una gran intrusion de rocas basicas. La imagen de las suturas que limitan la OMZ muestra el caracter fuertemente transpresivo de la colision orogenica varisca registrada en el sudoeste de Iberia. La Moho actual es plana y, en consecuencia, no se observa la raiz del orogeno.

Reply to the comment by A. G. Jones et al. on “Deep resistivity cross section of the intraplate Atlas Mountains (NW Africa): New evidence of anomalous mantle and related Quaternary volcanism”

[1] Scientific discussion and different points of view are a basis of the advancement of knowledge. We acknowledge the comments of Jones et al. [2012] as an opportunity to publicly discuss the structure and origin of the Atlas Mountains. Moreover, we welcome the opportunity to compare our results with those recently published by the group responsible for the comment [Ledo et al., 2011], although it is not pertinent to comment in detail on a paper published in another journal. We also wish to remark that the paper of Ledo et al. [2011] was reviewed and published during the revision period of our contribution [Anahnah et al., 2011]; therefore, they are two different approaches and data sets, measured in different sites and by different instruments for the same region, lending readers the chance to compare different interpretations. The main differences on the data sets are: the profile of Anahnah et al. [2011] compared with the profile of Ledo et al. [2011] is 170 km longer, vertical magnetic data were obtained and lower frequencies were recorded. [2] We regret the style and way used by Jones et al. [2012]. We shall answer only those comments of Jones et al. [2012] related to objective issues. [3] One of the final conclusions of Jones et al. [2012] might serve as the starting point of our reply:

Recent palaeostresses from striated pebbles related to fold development in a mountain front: the Prerif Ridges (Rif Cordillera, Morocco)

Abstract The southern mountain front of the Rif Cordillera (Morocco) provides impressive geological evidence of the most recent deformations related to the activity of the Eurasian-African plate boundary in the Western Mediterranean. In this region, striated and pitted pebbles are analysed from Pliocene-Quaternary rocks located in the southern front of the Prerif Ridges, which have been deformed by south-vergent folds of decametre to hectometre sizes. Striated and pitted pebbles represent a tectonic deformation structure which, although very scarce in nature, is revealed as one of the most complete for determining palaeostresses. In Jbel Trhat and Jbel Zerhoun of the Rif mountain front, north-south to NNW-SSE prolate compression stress ellipsoids are related to an initial stage of south-vergent fold development during the progressive tilting of conglomerate layers. Finally, oblate stress ellipsoids indicate extension parallel to the fold axes. The north-south trend of the determined compression is compatible with a tectonic setting where the NW-SE convergence of the Eurasian and African plates is modified by the westward motion of large crustal blocks such as the Alboran Domain or the southwestward motion of blocks in the Rif Cordillera.