Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD AGU and the Geochemical Society
Résumé : International audience
Mélange rocks outcrop widely in the central and western frontal sectors of the Betic Cordillera, as in many other collisional orogens where they form part of the accretionary wedges. Extrusion of Triassic plastic clays and evaporites was favored by the progressive accretion of the Betic External Zones, mixing rocks of different provenance and forming a synorogenic frontal mélange unit. MT data coupled with gravity data are a valid combined methodology to characterize the geometry of these mélange units, since the characterization of plastic rocks geometry is usually uncertain using seismic techniques. The results correlate well with known geological features (sedimentary basins, calcareous ranges, evaporitic rocks) and reveal the deep geometry. A resistive body, slightly dipping toward the SE, points to the continuity of the Iberian Massif below the Guadalquivir basin (2°) and the External Zones (6-8°). To the south, gravity models show the Iberian continental crust subducting below the Internal Zones with a roughly 20-35° slope. The main conductive bodies are related to the location of evaporitic rocks involved in the frontal mélange. They overlie the Iberian Massif and, southwards, the frontal Jurassic and Cretaceous limestone sequences of the External and Median Subbetics. In this setting, thick plastic rock units placed above the foreland could act as a lubricant facilitating continental subduction, and being progressively accreted toward a frontal mélange.
ISSN: 1525-2027

hal-00750364
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00750364
DOI : 10.1029/2012GC004153

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD AGU and the Geochemical Society
Résumé : International audience
A NE-SW magnetotelluric 110 km-long profile including 18 sites was acquired across the western Rif Cordillera along the Eurasian-African plate boundary, allowing to constrain its poorly known deep structure. It extends from the Internal Zones, close to the Alboran coast, crossing the External Zones and up to the Gharb foreland basin. The periods recorded range from 0.001 s to 1000 s. The combination of magnetotelluric data with available geological data provides new insight regarding the relationship between deep and shallow crustal structures of the Rif Cordillera. Analyses of structural dimensionality suggest a preferential NW-SE direction, and a 2D joint inversion was performed. A 3D inversion extending the 2D model along the strike confirmed the reliability of this approach. The magnetotelluric model shows a heterogeneous upper crust in agreement with the geological structures observed at surface. The Internal Zones correspond to resistive (metamorphic rocks) and conductive (peridotites) bodies, while the External Zones and the foreland basin are characterized by large conductive bodies of variable thickness. A crustal detachment level separating shallow geological units from a probable variscan basement was inferred. At depth, the most relevant feature consists of large resistive bodies with a shallow irregular top, located below the frontal part of the Rif. The outcrops of exotic metapelitic, granitic and gneissic blocks in the frontal part of the Cordillera suggest that these large resistive bodies may correspond to a gneissic or granitic basement surrounded by metapelitic rocks. Late contractive thrust and diapiric processes were responsible for their uplift and shallow emplacement. The Rif constitutes an active southwestward vergent orogenic wedge, oblique to the present-day NW-SE convergent Eurasian-African plate boundary.
ISSN: 1525-2027

hal-00670999
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00670999
DOI : 10.1029/2011GC003783