Tectonic evolution of a continental subduction‐exhumation channel: Variscan structure of the basal allochthonous units in NW Spain

A regional study starting from detailed geological mapping has been carried out in the Malpica‐Tui Complex of Galicia in NW Spain. The complex is formed by two units representing pieces of the external edge of Gondwana, subducted and exhumed during the Variscan collision. The study shows that synsub...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Díez Fernández, Rubén, Martínez Catalán, José Ramón, Arenas Martín, Ricardo, Abati Gómez, Jacobo
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2011
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/42446
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/42446
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:551.24(234.1)
Tectonic evolution
Variscan structure
NW Spain
Geodinámica
2507 Geofísica
Descripción
Sumario:A regional study starting from detailed geological mapping has been carried out in the Malpica‐Tui Complex of Galicia in NW Spain. The complex is formed by two units representing pieces of the external edge of Gondwana, subducted and exhumed during the Variscan collision. The study shows that synsubduction and early synexhumation structures in continental subduction channels tends to be obscured and even erased once exhumation is complete. Detailed structural analysis, matched with the knowledge of the history, and available data for other Galician basal units have elucidated the major structures developed during the subduction‐exhumation process. The results include evidence of the plate convergence causing early Variscan continental subduction of the Gondwana margin. Subduction was followed by exhumation driven by ductile thrusting within the subduction channel, which, in turn, provoked crustal duplication in the subducted slab and modified the initial tectonometamorphic architecture of the subduction wedge. The next step was accretion to the adjacent continental domains, placing the subduction wedge on top of unsubducted parts of the Gondwana margin via ductile thrusting. Thrusting was preceded by progressive propagation of a train of recumbent folds toward the foreland that affected the previous structural stack. Subsequent transference of oceanic (Rheic) and peri‐Gondwanan terranes to the Gondwana margin took place by out‐of‐sequence thrusting followed by crustal extensional collapse and strike‐slip tectonics