Latest extension of the Laujar fault in a convergence setting (Sierra Nevada, Betic Cordillera)

Abstract

The present-day relief of the Betic Cordillera formed since the Late Miocene through the regional N-S to NW-SE Africa-Eurasia convergence that developed large folds. The Laujar Fault Zone is a south-dipping E-W oriented structure located at the northern boundary of the Alpujarran Corridor Neogene intramontane basin, which separates Sierra Nevada and Sierra de Gador antiforms, in the Internal Zones of the Betic Cordillera. The fault zone acted in a first stage as a dextral strike-slip fault. Currently it moves as a normal fault evidenced by striated calcretes, also in agreement with regional continuous GPS (CGPS) data that support the hypothesis of an active N-S extension in the fault area.In order to analyse the deep geometry of the Laujar Fault Zone, we combined several geophysical techniques (gravity, magnetic, electric resistivity tomography and audio-magnetotelluric data) with field geological observations. Fault surfaces seem to join at a southward-dipping shallow detachment level, including faults covered by the sedimentary infill. The fault zone was developed in a previously weakened area by wrench faults parallel to the Alpujarran Corridor. The recent normal activity of this fault zone may be a consequence of a change in the Africa-Eurasia convergence orientation, which implies a decrease in the N-S compression component. This structure along the southern limb of Sierra Nevada antiform evidences the gravitational collapse of previously thickened crust in a regional compressional context simultaneous to metamorphic core uplift.