Cretaceous–Tertiary tectonic inversion of the Cotiella Basin (southern Pyrenees, Spain)

Abstract

The Cotiella Nappe includes one of the most important Mesozoic basins of the southern Pyrenees, which was subsequently inverted during the Tertiary compression. The Late Cretaceous Cotiella Basin is here interpreted as the western sector of the Cretaceous Cotiella–Boixols basin (100×20 km wide), located in the central part of the southern Pyrenees. The present-day complex structure of the Cotiella Nappe is the result of the inversion process, linked to the emplacement of basement thrust sheets of the Axial zone. In its western sector, the Cotiella Nappe consists of several superimposed thrust sheets, with complex geometry, becoming simpler towards the east, with a single thrust surface and smaller displacements. The Cotiella–Boixols basin underwent strong subsidence during the Early Cretaceous at its eastern sector, and its depocentre migrated westward during the Late Cretaceous. The reconstruction of the sedimentary basin to the pre-compressional stage shows that during the Mesozoic the Cotiella–Boixols basin was located to the south of a basement high, which later became the Pyrenean Axial Zone. From a balanced cross section, it can be inferred that the Cotiella, north-verging extensional system was connected with the north-Pyrenean rift by means of a 10-km deep horizontal detachment. The compressional Tertiary detachment within the upper crust was shallower than the extensional detachment, and individualised four basement thrust sheets, which form the Axial Zone antiform.