Abstract
Abstract. The collision between Gondwana and Laurussia that formed the latest supercontinent, Pangea, occurred during Devonian to early Permian times and resulted in a large-scale orogeny that today transects Europe, northwest Africa, and eastern North America. This orogen is characterized by an “S” shaped corrugated geometry in Iberia. The northern curve of the corrugation is the well-known and studied Cantabrian (or Ibero–Armorican) Orocline and is convex to the east and towards the hinterland. Largely ignored for decades, the geometry and kinematics of the southern curvature, known as the Central Iberian curve, are still ambiguous and hotly debated. Despite the paucity of data, the enigmatic Central Iberian curvature has inspired a variety of kinematic models that attempt to explain its formation but with little consensus. This paper presents the advances and milestones in our understanding of the geometry and kinematics of the Central Iberian curve from the last decade with particular attention to structural and paleomagnetic studies. When combined, the currently available datasets suggest that the Central Iberian curve did not undergo regional differential vertical-axis rotations during or after the latest stages of the Variscan orogeny and did not form as the consequence of a single process. Instead, its core is likely a primary curve (i.e., inherited from previous physiographic features of the Iberian crust), whereas the curvature in areas outside the core is dominated by folding interference from the Variscan orogeny or more recent Cenozoic (Alpine) tectonic events.
Highlights
Mountain belt systems are the most striking product of plate tectonics
Some orogenic curvatures are hypothesized to be the consequence of physiographic features of the basement that predate orogen formation, such as irregular basin architectures or plate margin salients and recesses that formed from rift-to-drift processes
The final stages of Pangea’s amalgamation (e.g., Nance et al, 2010) modified the western European sector of the belt into its characteristic sinuous shape. This tectonic belt traces at least one and perhaps four arcs from Poland to Brittany and across the Bay of Biscay (Cantabrian Sea) into Iberia, where the system is truncated by the younger Betic–Alpine orogeny in southeast Iberia (Fig. 1; e.g., Weil et al, 2013)
Summary
Mountain belt systems are the most striking product of plate tectonics. In addition to their astonishing visual impact, marking the locations where ancient and modern plates collided, orogenic belts often preserve a variety of rocks that have the potential to illuminate the entirety of the system’s pre- and synorogenic histories. The Variscan–Alleghanian orogeny resulted in the suturing of Gondwana and Laurussia during Devonian– Carboniferous times and led to the formation of the supercontinent, Pangea This long and sinuous orogen runs for > 8000 km along strike and is ca. The final stages of Pangea’s amalgamation (e.g., Nance et al, 2010) modified the western European sector of the belt into its characteristic sinuous shape Today, this tectonic belt traces at least one and perhaps four arcs from Poland to Brittany and across the Bay of Biscay (Cantabrian Sea) into Iberia, where the system is truncated by the younger Betic–Alpine orogeny in southeast Iberia (Fig. 1; e.g., Weil et al, 2013). We hope that this paper fosters novel studies that will lead to a better understanding of when and which mechanisms were active in the aftermath of the Variscan–Alleghanian orogeny
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