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East-west thrusting and anomalous magnetic declinations in the Sierra Gorda, Betic Cordillera, southern Spain

1994; Elsevier BV; Volume: 16; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/0191-8141(94)90014-0

1873-1201

Ellen Platzman,

Archaeological and Geological Studies

Abstract Structural and palaeomagnetic studies in the Sierra Gorda (Sierra de Loja), located in the External zone of the Betic Cordillera, indicate that westward-directed thrusting is not associated with significant rotations about a vertical axis. Detailed mapping and slip vector analysis show that the Sierra Gorda is a thrust complex composed of three thrust sheets. The uppermost thrust places Early Jurassic pelagic carbonates on top of Jurassic to Oligocene sediments that form a large doubly-plunging footwall syncline. The eastern limb of this syncline has been overturned and is tectonically thinned as a result of the overthrusting. Palaeomagnetic results from Mesozoic and Tertiary sediments both within and around the perimeter of the Sierra Gorda indicate that: (1) the average remanence vector of the seven Late Jurassic localities sampled within the Sierra Gorda has a direction ( D = 328° and I = 38°) that is not significantly different from the expected declination for the Upper Jurassic of stable Iberia; and (2) there is no significant difference between the remanences in the two upper thrust sheets indicating that differential rotation did not occur during the initiation and displacement on the thrusts. In contrast, the one Late Jurassic site that was sampled to the west of the Sierra Gorda is rotated, like the rest of the Subbetics, 60° clockwise of the reference direction. The unrotated directions obtained in the Sierra suggest, either that it has rotated in a clockwise sense concordant with the rest of the Subbetic zone and has then been backrotated, or that it has never rotated relative to stable Iberia. In the latter, simpler hypothesis the unrotated declinations may be explained in terms of orthogonal convergence along an irregular continental margin.