Tectónica reciente y activa en la parte occidental de la Cordillera Bética

Based on new seismological and recent faulting data, we analyze five main sectors in the western part of the Betic Cordillera from an active tectonic perspective: i. The northwestern frontal sector of the cordillera, including the Morón de la Frontera area, with shallow (< 15 km depth) seismogenic active NE-SW reverse and strike-slip faults that do not reach the surface. ii. The Teba area, in the External Zones, which is deformed by sparse N-S to NW-SE normal faults with associated wedges of Quaternary sediments and active strike-slip faults at intermediate crustal levels. iii. The Ronda Basin, representing the major Late Miocene intramontane basin of the western Betic Cordillera, is mainly deformed by NNE-SSW and WNW-ESE folds and locally by NW-SE normal faults. iv. The internal part of the orogen, which is characterized by shallow (<40 km) and intermediate (40 to 120 km depth) seismicity beneath Málaga and the Alborán Sea, ENE-WSW folding, relief uplift, river incision and scarce active faults with surface expression. v. The Spanish Atlantic coast, which coincides with the western end of the Betic orogen, where Pliocene to Quaternary shallowmarine sedimentary rocks are deformed by meso-scale NW-SE oriented normal faults and few ENE-WSW reverse faults. These data support the recent tectonic activity of the western Betic Cordillera determined by the NW-SE Eurasian-African convergence with variable features from the mountain front, characterized by shallow deformations, up to the Internal Zones that mainly undergo uplift and intermediate seismicity.Se han analizado, basándonos en nuevos datos sismológicos y de deformación reciente, cinco sectores de la Cordillera Bética occidental desde la perspectiva de la tectónica reciente: i. El sector frontal noroccidental de la cordillera, que incluye el área de Morón de la Frontera, con fallas sismogénicas superficiales (< 15 km de profundidad) de dirección NE-SO inversas y de salto en dirección, que no continúan hasta superficie. ii. El área de Teba, en las Zonas Externas, está deformada por escasas fallas de salto en dirección a niveles intermedios de la corteza y fallas normales de orientación N-S a NO-SE que cortan cuñas sedimentarias cuaternarias. iii. La Cuenca de Ronda, que representa la mayor cuenca intramontañosa de la Cordillera Bética occidental, está principalmente deformada por pliegues NNE-SSO y ONO-ESE y localmente por fallas normales de dirección NO-SE. iv. La parte interna del orógeno está caracterizada por sismicidad superficial (<40 km) e intermedia (40 a 120 km de profundidad) bajo Málaga y el Mar de Alborán, pliegues ENE-WSW, elevación del relieve, incisión fluvial y escasas fallas activas con expresión superficial. v. La costa Atlántica española, que coincide con la terminación occidental del orógeno Bético, donde las rocas sedimentarias marinas poco profundas del Plio-Cuaternario están deformadas por fallas normales NO-SE y algunas fallas inversas de orientación ENE-OSO. Todos estos datos revelan la actividad tectónica reciente de la Cordillera Bética occidental determinada por la convergencia NO-SE entre Eurasia y África, con variables características desde el frente montañoso, caracterizado por deformación superficial, hasta las Zonas Internas que muestran sismicidad intermedia y levantamiento

Paleomagnetism from Deception Island (South Shetlands archipelago, Antarctica), new insights into the interpretation of the volcanic evolution using a geomagnetic model

Deception Island shows the most recent exposed active volcanism in the northern boundary of the Bransfield Trough. The succession of the volcanic sequence in the island is broadly divided into pre- and post-caldera collapse units although a well-constrained chronological identification of the well-defined successive volcanic episodes is still needed. A new paleomagnetic investigation was carried out on 157 samples grouped in 20 sites from the volcanic deposits of Deception Island (South Shetlands archipelago, Antarctic Peninsula region) distributed in: (1) volcanic breccia (3 sites) and lavas (2 sites) prior to the caldera collapse; (2) lavas emplaced after the caldera collapse (10 sites); and (3) dikes cutting pre- and the lower- most post-caldera collapse units (5 sites). The information revealed by paleomagnetism provides new data about the evolution of the multi-episodic volcanic edifice of this Quaternary volcano, suggesting that the present-day position of the volcanic materials is close to their original emplace- ment position. The new data have been combined with previous paleomagnetic results in order to tentatively propose an age when comparing the paleomagnetic data with a global geomagnetic model. Despite the uncertainties in the use of averaged paleomagnetic data per volcanic units, the new data in combination with tephra occurrences noted elsewhere in the region suggest that the pre-caldera units (F1 and F2) erupted before 12,000 year BC, the caldera collapse took place at about 8300 year BC, and post-cal- dera units S1 and S2 are younger than 2000 year BC

The Role of Faults as Barriers in Confined Seismic Sequences: 2021 Seismicity in the Granada Basin (Betic Cordillera)

Fault barriers are key structures for studying seismic hazard in regions of intense brittle deformation. The interaction between fault sets affects their seismogenic behavior, if some of them act as barriers. The Granada Basin, in the Betic Cordillera, is a region affected by shallow brittle deformation, as it was the scenario for the recent Granada 2021 seismic sequence. This seismicity presented a swarm behavior at the beginning of the sequence, followed by mainshock-aftershock features. Geological and gravity data presented here reveal that the basement is affected by two sets of NW-SE and NE-SW normal faults and intensely deformed by vertical NW-SE joints. Improved relocation of the Granada 2021 seismicity reveals a confined chimney-shape seismicity caused by the activity of a 2 km long NW-SE normal fault segment. The confinement of the sequence is associated with the NE-SW fault set acting as a barrier that restricts the rupture area, limiting the maximum magnitude, and favoring the recurrence of events with smaller magnitude. The chimney-shape of the seismic sequence suggests that the deformation is propagated vertically to the surface, facilitated by preexisting fractures. The shallow extensional deformation during the uplift of the central Betic Cordillera drove the activity of the local structures obliquely to the regional extensional trends, as evidenced by the seismic sequence. This multidisciplinary study improves the knowledge on the origin of the Granada Basin and underlies the important role of preexisting fractures on fault segmentation and seismic propagation, decreasing the seismic potential of this area

Plio-Quaternary tectonic evolution of the southern margin of the Alboran Basin (Western Mediterranean)

We thank the members of the SARAS and Marlboro cruises in 2011 and 2012. We thank Emanuele Lodolo, Jacques Déverchère, Guillermo Booth-Rea for their helpful comments and discussion. We also thank the editor, Federico Rossetti, for the attention provided to this article. This work was funded by the French program Actions Marges, the EUROFLEETS program (FP7/2007-2013; no. 228344) and project FICTS-2011-03-01. The French program ANR-17-CE03-0004 also supported this work. Seismic reflection data were processed using the Seismic UNIX SU and Geovecteur software. The processed seismic data were interpreted using Kingdom IHS Suite© software. This work also benefited from the Fauces Project (Ref CTM2015-65461-C2-R; MINCIU/FEDER) financed by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad y al Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regiona (FEDER).Progress in the understanding and dating of the sedimentary record of the Alboran Basin allows us to propose a model of its tectonic evolution since the Pliocene. After a period of extension, the Alboran Basin underwent a progressive tectonic inversion starting around 9–7.5 Ma. The Alboran Ridge is a NE–SW transpressive structure accommodating the shortening in the basin. We mapped its southwestern termination, a Pliocene rhombic structure exhibiting series of folds and thrusts. The active Al-Idrissi Fault zone (AIF) is a Pleistocene strike-slip structure trending NNE– SSW. The AIF crosses the Alboran Ridge and connects to the transtensive Nekor Basin and the Nekor Fault to the south. In the Moroccan shelf and at the edge of a submerged volcano we dated the inception of the local subsidence at 1.81– 1.12 Ma. The subsidence marks the propagation of the AIF toward the Nekor Basin. Pliocene thrusts and folds and Quaternary transtension appear at first sight to act at different tectonic periods but reflect the long-term evolution of a transpressive system. Despite the constant direction of Africa– Eurasia convergence since 6 Ma, along the southern margin of the Alboran Basin, the Pliocene–Quaternary compression evolves from transpressive to transtensive along the AIF and the Nekor Basin. This system reflects the logical evolution of the deformation of the Alboran Basin under the indentation of the African lithosphere.This research has been supported by the CNRSINSU-TOTAL-BRGM-IFREMER Actions Marges program, EUROFLEETS program FP7/2007-2013 (grant no. 228344), EU Regional Structural Fund (grant no. FICTS-2011-03-01) and DAMAGE Project (project no. FEDER/CGL2016-80687-R AEI), Fauces Project (project no. FEDER/CTM2015-65461-C2-R; MINCI), ALBAMAR Project (project no. ANR/ANR-17-CE03-0004)

Datación de la evolución volcánica combinando datos paleomagnéticos y modelización geomagnética: Isla Decepción (Islas Shetland del Sur, Antártida).

La combinación de 20 nuevas estaciones de paleomagnetismo, con 17 estaciones previas y un modelo geomagnético ha permitido establecer la evolución multiepisódica del edificio volcánico cuaternario de la Isla Decepción (Antártida). Se han analizado tres estaciones en brechas volcánicas y dos estaciones en lavas pertenecientes a los materiales extruidos con anterioridad al colapso de la caldera. Entre los materiales extruidos posteriormente al colapso de la caldera se han analizado 10 estaciones en lavas y cinco estaciones en diques que cortan a los materiales pre- y la base de los post-colapso de caldera. A pesar de la incertidumbre por el uso de promedios de datos paleomagnéticos, la correlación con el modelo geomagnético y la existencia de tefras a escala regional permiten establecer que las unidades pre-colapso de caldera (F1 y F2) son anteriores a 12.000 a AC, mientras que la caldera colapsó en torno a los 8300 a AC y las unidades posteriores al colapso de la caldera (S1 y S2) han extruido con posterioridad a 2000 a AC. The combination of 20 new paleomagnetic sites with 17 previous sites and a geomagnetic model has allowed establishing the multi-episodic evolution of the Quaternary volcanic edifice of Deception Island (Antarctica). Paleomagnetic analyses have been carried out in three sites from volcanic breccia and two sites from lavas of the pre- caldera collapse units. Among the post-caldera collapse units, 10 sites in lavas have been analyzed in addition to 5 sites in dikes that intrude pre- and the lower part of the post-caldera collapse units. Despite the uncertainty of using averages of paleomagnetic data, the correlation with the geomagnetic model and tephra layers occurrences allow establishing that the pre-caldera collapse (F1 and F2) are older than 12,000 yr BC, while the caldera collapse occurred at about 8300 yr BC and the post-caldera collapse units (S1 and S2) deposited after 2000 yr BC

New Magnetic Anomaly Map of the Antarctic

The second generation Antarctic magnetic anomaly compilation for the region south of 60 degrees S includes some 3.5 million line-km of aeromagnetic and marine magnetic data that more than doubles the initial map's near-surface database. For the new compilation, the magnetic data sets were corrected for the International Geomagnetic Reference Field, diurnal effects, and high-frequency errors and leveled, gridded, and stitched together. The new magnetic data further constrain the crustal architecture and geological evolution of the Antarctic Peninsula and the West Antarctic Rift System in West Antarctica, as well as Dronning Maud Land, the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains, the Prince Charles Mountains, Princess Elizabeth Land, and Wilkes Land in East Antarctica and the circumjacent oceanic margins. Overall, the magnetic anomaly compilation helps unify disparate regional geologic and geophysical studies by providing new constraints on major tectonic and magmatic processes that affected the Antarctic from Precambrian to Cenozoic times.Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) programs, PM15040 and PE17050Germany's AWI/Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine ResearchFederal Institute for Geosciences and Natural ResourcesBritish Antarctic Survey/Natural Environmental Research CouncilItalian Antarctic Research ProgrammeRussian Ministry of Natural ResourcesU.S. National Science Foundation and National Space and Aeronautics AdministrationAustralian Antarctic Division and Antarctic Climate & Ecosystem Cooperative Research CentreFrench Polar InstituteGlobal geomagnetic observatories network (INTERMAGNET

Geodynamics of the Gibraltar Arc and the Alboran Sea region

International audienceLocated at the Westernmost tip of the Mediterranean sea, the Gibraltar Arc is a very complex zone. The Betics in Spain and the Rif belt in Morocco surround the Alboran sea characterized by a thinned continental crust. The geodynamic evolution of this region results from the convergence of African and Iberian margins since the Late Cretaceous. It is controlled both by plate convergence and mantle dynamics, which significantly impact on morphology, sedimentary environments, tectonics, metamorphism and magmatism. We present here the contents of the special issue on the Gibraltar Arc and nearby regions, following the workshop organized at the University Abdelmalek Essaadi of Tetouan in Morocco from 27 to 28 October, 2011. The goal of this international workshop was to have an overview of the actual advance in research concerning the Rif and Betics chains, the Alboran basin, and their influence on the Iberian and African forelands