New and revisited paleomagnetic data from Permian–Triassic red beds: Two kinematic domains in the west-central Pyrenees

Abstract

New paleomagnetic results of Permian–Triassic red beds from Bielsa, Aure and Somport-Anayet sectors in the Pyrenean Axial Zone are presented and combined with revisited and reviewed paleomagnetic data from the west-central Pyrenees. The paleomagnetic data from the red beds vary between different sectors that share similar structural position; i.e. whilst all sectors share the existence of a characteristic prefolding component, a Cenozoic postfolding component is found only in one area but not in other areas with similar structural position and kinematics. Previous paleomagnetic data to the west of the studied zone reveal a pre-Turonian remagnetization component, but this secondary component is not found in an area that shares a similar structural position (Aure). This variability suggests that the paleomagnetic behavior is the result of a series of factors related to the particular tectonic history of the region (sedimentation, burial, and deformation during basin inversion) and therefore paleomagnetic data demands careful assessment in order to unravel the kinematics of areas with equivalent structural positions in orogens.However, important kinematic implications that hold in the Pyrenees can be inferred from the restoration of the Permian–Triassic characteristic magnetizations to positions previous to the paleomagnetic rotations recorded by Cretaceous or Cenozoic paleomagnetic data. The restoration reveals on one hand the lack of large rotations in the South Pyrenenan Zone except in the Nogueras area, according to Bates (1989), and on the other hand, the contrasting rotations recorded to the west of the studied zone, in the Paleozoic Basque Massifs (PBM) and the South-Pyrenean Zone, indicating the existence of two different tectonic domains in the west-central sector of the Pyrenees. The strong clockwise rotations postdating the Early Cretaceous remagnetization that are recorded in the PBM and in the North Pyreneean Zone, suggest a late dextral shear deformation affecting areas near the North Pyrenean Fault Zone.