Gravitational dismantling of the Miocene mountain front of the Gibraltar Arc system deduced from the analysis of an olistostromic Complex (Western Betics)

A mélange complex seals the internal-external zone boundary of the western part of the Gibraltar Arc orogenic belt and constitutes a key element to establish milestones of the Betic-Rif tectonic evolution. The blocks and olistoliths embedded in this mélange provide constraints on the geological history of the main tectonic units involved in the Miocene mountain front. We mapped and analysed the blocks and olistoliths included in this mélange in order to understand its age and genesis, which have long been a matter of debate. The relationships of this mélange La Joya Olistostromic Complex (LaJOC) with the basement units together with the high variability of the block lithologies suggest a sedimentary origin for this mélange. Two large-scale olistoliths retain their original structure prior to their emplacement in the LaJOC Basin. The sedimentological and structural analysis allowed us to correlate these olistoliths with the folded and thrust sequence belonging to the Miocene Betic-Rif accretionary prism (Flysch Trough units), and to constrain the age of deposition of the La Joya Olistostromic Complex. The age of the matrix of the mélange deposits is poorly known because of the lack of in-place fauna. Indeed, the formation of the inherited fold-and-thrust structure of these olistoliths is well-known in the western Betics. Accordingly, the LaJOC should have been deposited during middle Miocene times and the blocks and olistoliths included within the mélange would derive from the gravitational dismantling of the Gibraltar Arc mountain front. The data presented help us to understand the formation of reliefs and basins in the western part of the Gibraltar Arc orogenic system

Influencia de la geometría del indenter sobre el desarrollo de una cuña de pliegues y cabalgamientos arqueados: Resultados preliminares de modelos analógicos

Analogue models, with sand and silicone, have simulated the progressive development of an arcuate foldand- thrust belt around indenters of different geometry, which moved along a straight translation path. In the most external part of the model, the resulting geometry of the deformed wedge is roughly independent of the indenter form. Deformation affected only the frontal part of the indenter and the lateral deformation zone around the latter was very narro

Geolodía: a yearly successful organization of 54 geological fieldtrips in a weekend oriented to nongeologists Geolodía: Why and how to organize 54 geological fieldtrips in a weekend oriented to nongeologists?

Depto. de Mineralogía y PetrologíaFac. de Ciencias GeológicasTRUEpu

Arc-parallel vs back-arc extension in the Western Gibraltar arc : is the Gibraltar forearc still active?

Extremely tight arcs, framed within the Eurasia-Africa convergence region, developed during the Neogene on both sides of the western Mediterranean. A complex interplate deformation zone has been invoked to explain their structural trend-line patterns, the shortening directions and the development of back-arc basins. Updated structural and kinematic maps, combined with earthquake data covering the complete hinge zone of the western Gibraltar arc help us to explore the mode of strain partitioning from 25My ago to present. During the Miocene, the strain partitioning pattern showed arc-perpendicular shortening in the active orogenic wedge -assessed from the radial pattern of tectonic transport directions- accompained by subhorizontal stretching. Structures accommodating stretching fall into two categories on the basis of their space distribution and their relationships with the structural trend-line pattern: i) arc-parallel stretching structures in the external wedge (mainly normal faults and conjugate strike-slip faults); and ii) extensional faults developed in the hinterland zone in which transport directions are centripetal towards the Alborán back-arc basin. Pliocene to Recent deformational structures together with focal solutions from crustal earthquakes (n=167; 1.

International Year of Planet Earth: How to increase the visibility of Earth Sciences in Spain?

La celebración del Año Internacional del Planeta Tierra (AIPT), persigue fundamentalmente incrementar el conocimiento y la sensibilidad social sobre las Ciencias de la Tierra. En esta mesa redonda, se dará información sobre la marcha del AIPT en España. Después de una breve reseña sobre la situación de la Geología en los planes de estudios en las Enseñanzas Segundarias y la evolución del número de alumnos de las carreras geológicas en las Universidades, que muestra una alarmante disminución, se pretende abrir una reflexión sobre las Ciencias de la Tierra y el lugar que ocupan en la Sociedad española. Desde todos los sectores, profesionales, investigadores, académicos y docentes, se trata de formular estrategias concretas que puedan aumentar la conciencia pública sobre la importancia de las Ciencias de la Tierra.The main objective of the International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE) is to increase the knowledge of and the social sensibility about Earth Sciences. In this round-table conference, information on the course of the IPYE in Spain will be given. We will present the state-of-art of the Geology in Secondary School and a brief summary about the evolution of the number of students in Earth Sciences in the University, which show a drastic diminution. This will permit us to introduce a reflection on the position and visibility of Earth Sciences in Spain. From all the sectors, professional, scientific, academic and teaching, we will try to propose specific strategies which could permit that our Society became aware of the importance of Earth Science for our welfare.Depto. de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y PaleontologíaFac. de Ciencias GeológicasTRUEpu

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (3rd edition)

In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Accordingly, it is important to update these guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Various reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. For example, a key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers or volume of autophagic elements (e.g., autophagosomes or autolysosomes) at any stage of the autophagic process versus those that measure fl ux through the autophagy pathway (i.e., the complete process including the amount and rate of cargo sequestered and degraded). In particular, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation must be differentiated from stimuli that increase autophagic activity, defi ned as increased autophagy induction coupled with increased delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (inmost higher eukaryotes and some protists such as Dictyostelium ) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). In other words, it is especially important that investigators new to the fi eld understand that the appearance of more autophagosomes does not necessarily equate with more autophagy. In fact, in many cases, autophagosomes accumulate because of a block in trafficking to lysosomes without a concomitant change in autophagosome biogenesis, whereas an increase in autolysosomes may reflect a reduction in degradative activity. It is worth emphasizing here that lysosomal digestion is a stage of autophagy and evaluating its competence is a crucial part of the evaluation of autophagic flux, or complete autophagy. Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to monitor autophagy. Along these lines, because of the potential for pleiotropic effects due to blocking autophagy through genetic manipulation it is imperative to delete or knock down more than one autophagy-related gene. In addition, some individual Atg proteins, or groups of proteins, are involved in other cellular pathways so not all Atg proteins can be used as a specific marker for an autophagic process. In these guidelines, we consider these various methods of assessing autophagy and what information can, or cannot, be obtained from them. Finally, by discussing the merits and limits of particular autophagy assays, we hope to encourage technical innovation in the field