Alpine Orogeny: Intraplate Deformation

Abstract

The interior of the Iberian Peninsula contains two types of Variscan crust: (i) unaffected or slightly affected by the Mesozoic extensional events related to the breakup of Pangea, and (ii) stretched during the Mesozoic and eventually thickened during the Alpine orogenesis. The Iberian Massif, the largest outcrop of the European Variscides, as well as the Ebro Block, now hidden under the thick Tertiary cover of the Ebro basin, both belong to the first type of Variscan crust. The second type is identified in the Iberian Chain and the Catalan Coastal Ranges. A review of the various Alpine phases of deformation and the main structures formed in response to them in the two crustal domains is presented in this chapter, as well as a discussion on their timing, the tectonic model and their evolution to the Neogene extensional event that affected Eastern Iberia and during which the opening of the Gulf of Lions and the Valencia Trough occurred.