Wrench (transcurrent) fault System of the southwestern Iberian Peninsula, paleogeographic and morphostructural implications

Abstract

Mapping of the Southwestern Hesperian Massif (South Western Spain) has permitted the definition of two principal systems of wrench faults in conjugate directions, SW-NE and NNW-SSE. By their dimensions and their association with deep basic rocks, they may be considered as accidents which interest the entirety of the crust. The directions of these systems are enclosed in a scheme of late-Hercynian wrench faults produced in the dismantling of the Iberian Peninsula at the end of the orogenic Hercynian phases. According to these large lines of fracture it is possible to relate a) the areas of Mesozoic sedimentation, pre-Alpine distension, b) the reliefs of the Mesozoic covering of the interior of the Hesperic Massif, c) the reliefs and the tectonic basins of the interior of the Meseta and d) the possible evolution of the Iberian Plate with relation to the Bay of Biscay and the areas of Alpine compression of the meridional edge, Betic Chains.