Reply on RC1

Abstract

<strong class="journal-contentHeaderColor">Abstract.</strong> The reactivation of former rift systems and passive margins during tectonic inversion and its incorporation into fold-and-thrust belts results into significant structural variability not only between internal to external domains, but also along-strike. The Basque-Cantabrian and Asturian systems are among the best examples to address the role of along-strike changes in rift inheritance since they show a transition from salt to basement inherited structures limited by a transition zone separating thick- from thin-skin structural domains. While both domains have been widely described in the literature, the transfer system separating the two is yet little investigated due to the poor seismic imaging and the lack of large-scale exposures. This contribution aims to address the linkage between basement-controlled (i.e., autochthonous) and salt decoupled (i.e., allochthonous) domains and how deformation is accommodated in the transitional domain in between. An experimental program based on analogue models has been designed inspired by the transition from the thin-skinned Basque &ndash; Cantabrian Pyrenees to the east and the thick-skinned Asturian Massif to the west. The experimental results show that oblique structures form in the transitional domain, which position depends on the active structures occurring in both surrounding thick- and thin-skinned domains. Nevertheless, their orientation and evolution are controlled by the underlying decoupling horizon (i.e., salt). The deformation in the thick-skinned domain produces significant topography over a narrow deformation area due to the lack of effective decoupling levels. On the contrary, deformation in the thin-skinned domain is more distributed due to decoupling, resulting in a wider deformation area of less topography. As a result, syn-contractional sedimentation is occurring mainly in the foreland basin in front of the thick-skinned domain, whereas it is observed in the foreland but also in piggy-back basins in the thin-skinned domain.