Geodynamic Evolution of the Eastern Segment of the Azores-Gibraltar Zone: The Gorringe Bank and the Gulf of Cadiz Region

Detailed structural interpretation of the recently acquired deep seismic multichannel profiles along the Iberian Atlantic Margins (IAM Project) provides new results on the geodynamic evolution of the eastern part of the Azores-Gibraltar plate boundary. Thrusting and folding of the oceanic basement a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Tortella, D., Torné, Montserrat, Pérez-Estaún, Andrés
Other Authors: Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología, CICYT (España), European Commission, Dirección General de Investigación Científica y Técnica, DGICT (España)
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: Kluwer Academic Publishers 1997
Subjects:
Seismic reflection
North Atlantic
Plate boundary
Stratigraphy
structural geology
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/238018
https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1004258510797
https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000780
https://doi.org/10.13039/501100008737
https://doi.org/10.13039/501100007273
Description
Summary:Detailed structural interpretation of the recently acquired deep seismic multichannel profiles along the Iberian Atlantic Margins (IAM Project) provides new results on the geodynamic evolution of the eastern part of the Azores-Gibraltar plate boundary. Thrusting and folding of the oceanic basement and of Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary cover of the Gorringe Bank region are consistent with the N-S convergence of Iberia and Africa. Compressive structures in the Gorringe Bank region are spread over a wide area. Deformation under compression took place mainly in Tertiary times, as is evidenced by a basal unconformity and several discontinuities in Tertiary sediments, although some deformation has also been recorded in Quaternary sediments. The compressive structures in the Gulf of Cadiz are E-W oriented thrusts, folds and related diapiric structures. N-S oriented transpressive deformation is likely to occur in the western Portuguese platform. There is no continuity of structures from the oceanic to the continental domain, suggesting that deformation transfers from one side to the other through a transcurrent fault zone. The fault contact between the two domains is located in the ocean-continent transition zone. Data acquisition and processing of the IAM project were funded by EU project JOU2-CT92-0177. Additional funding was provided by CICYT project AMB93-1362-CE. This research has been supported by DGICYT project PB94-0013 and EU project JOU2-CT92-0177.

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