Table Of ContentRegional Geology Reviews
Cecilio Quesada
José Tomás Oliveira
Editors
The Geology of
Iberia: A Geodynamic
Approach
Volume 4: Cenozoic Basins
Juan Carlos Braga Alarcón · Pedro Proença Cunha
Volume Coordinators
Regional Geology Reviews
Series Editors
Roland Oberhänsli, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany
Maarten J. de Wit, AEON-ESSRI, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth,
South Africa
François M. Roure, Rueil-Malmaison, France
The Geology of—series seeks to systematically present the geology of each country, region
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encouragedtoincludeasmuchinformationaspossiblesuchas:MapsandCross-sections,Past
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More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8643
(cid:1)
Cecilio Quesada José Tomás Oliveira
Editors
The Geology of Iberia:
A Geodynamic Approach
Volume 4: Cenozoic Basins
123
Editors
Cecilio Quesada JoséTomásOliveira
Instituto Geológico y Minero deEspaña(IGME) Laboratório NacionaldeEnergia eGeologia
andFaculty of Geological Sciences Amadora,Portugal
Universidad Complutense deMadrid
Madrid,Spain
ISSN 2364-6438 ISSN 2364-6446 (electronic)
RegionalGeology Reviews
ISBN978-3-030-11189-2 ISBN978-3-030-11190-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11190-8
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2018966121
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CoverPhotoDescription:Messinian(lateMiocene)reef-slopelimestones(packstonestorudstones)atCastillodeSan
Ramón(CabodeGata,Almería,SESpain).
PhotographbyJCBraga
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Editors and Volume Coordinators
About the Editors
Cecilio Quesada has developed his entire professional career
at Instituto Geológico Minero de España (Spanish Geological
Survey), from where he retired in 2013. He is currently Honor
Professor at the Faculty of Geological Sciences, Universidad
Complutense, Madrid, where he also served temporarily as
AssociateProfessor.Asa“surveyperson,”hisresearchinterests,
past and present, include geological mapping, regional geology,
tectonics, and geochronology, mainly focused on the Variscan
orogen in its global context. He has participated in ten IGCP
projects since 1979, being currently involved in Project 648:
Supercontinent cycles and Global Geodynamics.
José Tomás Oliveira Ph.D. and Aggregation by Portuguese
Universities, geologist and presently collaborator at Laborato-
rioNacionaldeEnergiaeGeologia,formerGeologicalSurvey
of Portugal, where he acted also as head of both the Geology
andMineralResourcesdepartments.Asasurveygeologist,his
main activity has been concentrated in regional geological
mapping in Portugal and Mozambique, with particular interest
in stratigraphy, clastic sedimentology, and basin analysis. He
has been Invited Professor at Universities of Portugal and
Angola, author and editor of several geological maps, the last
one as co-editor of the recently published Geological Map of
Portugal and Spain, 2015, scale 1:1,000,000.
v
vi EditorsandVolumeCoordinators
About the Volume Coordinators
Juan C. Braga is Professor of Paleontology at the University
of Granada since 1994. Calcareous algae and microbialites
from Neogene to Quaternary deposits in the Mediterranean
Sea, and the Indo-Pacific and Atlantic oceans have been his
main research subjects. Since the mid-1980s, he has been
working on reefs and temperate carbonates in the Neogene
basins in southern Spain and diverse aspects of the regional
geology of the western Mediterranean.
PedroP.Cunha receivedPh.D.ingeologyin1992andisFull
Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences, University of
Coimbra, with 34 years as university teacher and researcher in
Cenozoic basin analysis, alluvial stratigraphy/sedimentology,
geomorphology, neotectonics, geoarchaeology, luminescence
dating and, more recently, focusing on fluvial/marine terrace
sequences.
Contributors
Julio Aguirre Departamento de Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Universidad de Granada,
Granada, Spain
Belén Alonso Institut de Ciències del Mar, ICM-CSIC, Barcelona, Spain
Antonio Barnolas Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Madrid, Spain
Xavier Bolós Instituto de Geofísica Unidad Michoacán, UNAM, Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico
Juan C. Braga Departamento de Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Universidad de Granada.
Campus Fuentenueva, Granada, Spain
David Casas Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Unidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
Jorge Civis Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Madrid, Spain
Pedro P. Cunha Department of Earth Sciences, MARE—Marine and Environmental Sciences
Centre, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
G. de Vicente GEODESPAL Department, Faculty of Geology, Institute of Geosciences IGEO
(CSIC-UCM), Complutense University, Madrid, Spain
Gemma Ercilla Institut de Ciències del Mar, ICM-CSIC, Barcelona, Spain
Ferran Estrada Institut de Ciències del Mar, ICM-CSIC, Barcelona, Spain
Jesús Galindo-Zaldívar Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, CSIC-UGR, Granada,
Spain
Departamento de Geodinámica, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
Daniel García-Castellanos Institute of Earth Sciences Jaume Almera, CSIC, Barcelona,
Spain
Antonio García-Alix Departamento de Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Universidad de Gran-
ada, Granada, Spain
Carmen Juan Institut de Ciències del Mar, ICM-CSIC, Barcelona, Spain
Juan C. Larrasoaña InstitutoGeológicoyMinerodeEspaña,UnidaddeZaragoza,Zaragoza,
Spain
Santiago Ledesma Gas Natural Fenosa, Madrid, Spain
Carlos Marín-Lechado Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Unidad de Granada,
Granada, Spain
JoanMartí GroupofVolcanology,InstituteofEarthSciencesJaumeAlmera-CSIC,Barcelona,
Spain
José M. Martín Departamento de Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Universidad de Granada,
Granada, Spain
vii
viii Contributors
F.Martín-González ÁreadeGeología-ESCET,UniversidadReyJuanCarlos,Madrid,Spain
María P. Mata Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Madrid, Spain
JoséN.Pérez-Asensio GRCGeociènciesMarines,DepartamentdeDinàmicadelaTerraide
l’Oceà, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Antonio Pedrera Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Unidad de Granada, Granada,
Spain
Ángel Puga-Bernabéu Departamento de Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Universidad de
Granada, Granada, Spain
Victoriano Pujalte Department of Stratigraphy and Paleontology, Faculty of Science and
Technology, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Bilbao, Spain
Ana Ruiz-Constán Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Unidad de Granada, Granada,
Spain
Ángel Salazar Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Madrid, Spain
CarlosSanzdeGaldeano InstitutoAndaluzdeCienciasdelaTierra,CSIC-UGR,Granada,
Spain
Josep M. Salvany Departament d’Enginyeria Civil i Ambiental, Universitat Politècnica de
Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
Birger Schmitz Division of Nuclear Physics, Department of Physics, University of Lund,
Lund, Sweden
Francisco J. Sierro Department of Geology, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
BastiaanC.J.vandenBerg DepartmentofGeology,UniversityofSalamanca,Salamanca,
Spain
Juan Tomás Vázquez Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Fuengirola, Spain
Preface
ThegeologyoftheIberianPeninsulaanditscontinentalshelvesiscomplexandvarieddespite
its relatively small size. With some 500,000 km2 inland (Iberian Peninsula, the Balearic, and
othersmall AtlanticandMediterranean islands)andsomeadditional 200,000km2makingup
thecontinentalshelves,therecordexposedspansfornearlythelast600MaofEarth’shistory.
Thegeologicalrecordisnotonlylongbutalsodeep:fromsurficialtouppermantlesegments
are exposed both inland and under the sea. At the surface, three main divisions are evident
after a quick glance at any large-scale geological map: (1) several, rather large Cenozoic to
Quaternary basins, which overlie; (2) a vast area in the western part of the Iberian Peninsula
where Paleozoic and Precambrian rocks crop out (Iberian Massif, making the southwestern
end of the European Variscan Orogen); and (3) the eastern half of the Peninsula and the
Balearic islands (westernmost extent of the Alpine–Carpathian–Himalayan orogenic system)
where mostly Mesozoic rocks are exposed although some Precambrian and Paleozoic base-
ment inliers also exist.
Several reviews of the geology of Iberia have been published in the last decades, which
collectively provide a reasonably good and complete description of all the stratigraphic and
structural elements of Iberian geology. However, the advances produced in almost every
geological discipline since the last of those books was published are outstanding, and it is
worthwhile to try and synthesize them and their implications to a better understanding of the
global evolution. Previous reviews were organized following either a purely stratigraphic
arrangement or one related to a time-ordered description of the various tectono-stratigraphic
units cropping out in Iberia. For the present case, a geodynamic approach is preferred. The
term “geodynamic” is herein used in its widest significance; i.e. pertaining to every kind of
time-evolvingprocesstakingplaceintheEarththathasanexpressioninthegeologicalrecord.
It is thus not restricted to its current use as synonymous of “tectonic” and also refers to
sub-lithospheric processes (e.g. mantle plumes, lithospheric delamination, etc.), lithospheric
processes (e.g., isostasy, plate tectonics, magmatism, metamorphism, etc.) as well as outer
processes(e.g.,climate,eustacy,anderosion–transport–sedimentation,etc.). Obviously,most
of these are interrelated and have mutual feedback effects. Nevertheless and despite the
previousstatement,weacknowledgethatthemostreadilyrecognizablefirst-ordergeodynamic
events are those related to the tectonic evolution, and we use them to establish a first-order
division of the Iberian geological record. From a geodynamic (plate tectonics) point of view,
several events are recorded in Iberia, the most significant of which relate to the following
global-scale processes:
(cid:129) amalgamation of Gondwana in the Neoproterozoic (Cadomian arc and orogeny),
(cid:129) Cambrian rifting that led to opening the Rheic Ocean in the Lower Ordovician,
(cid:129) drift of Gondwana from Lower Ordovician to Devonian times,
(cid:129) subduction and collision with the Laurussian plate to form Pangea (Variscan orogeny) in
the Lower Devonian–Lower Permian interval,
(cid:129) variousriftingeventsthatledtoPangea’sbreakupbysequentialopeningoftheNeotethys,
North Atlantic and Biscay oceans (Upper Permian-Lower Cretaceous)
ix
