From Compression to Extension in the Eastern Pyrenees
The tectonic evolution of the Eastern Pyrenees from the orogenic mountain building to the post-orogenic dismantling is still debated. Since the Oligocene, the Gulf of Lion rifting in the Western Mediterranean superimposed crustal extension in this eastern part of the Pyrenean belt, while compression...
| Autores: | , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2026 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona |
| Repositorio: | Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:ddd.uab.cat:326252 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://ddd.uab.cat/record/326252 https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1029/2025TC009000 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Apatite and zircon (U-TH)/He Compression-extension transition Eastern Pyrenees Low-temperature thermochronology |
| Sumario: | The tectonic evolution of the Eastern Pyrenees from the orogenic mountain building to the post-orogenic dismantling is still debated. Since the Oligocene, the Gulf of Lion rifting in the Western Mediterranean superimposed crustal extension in this eastern part of the Pyrenean belt, while compressional tectonics persisted in the Central Pyrenees. In this study we use low-T thermochronology to reconstruct the thermal history of the Eastern Pyrenees to provide insights on the distribution and timing of the transition from shortening to extension, which was still poorly resolved. We provide a new data set of (U-Th)/He cooling ages and thermal history models of basement rocks of the Axial Zone of the Pyrenees east of the Tet normal fault. Cooling ages and histories, coupled with an analysis of the lag time between zircon and apatite (U-Th)/He central ages, help in the differentiation of tectonic units (i.e., basement-involved thrust sheets) in the Eastern Pyrenees. Our results support a marked exhumation period during the early Oligocene (35-28 Ma), that we interpret as the last compressional phase. The first extension-related exhumation/cooling occurred during the early Miocene (24-18 Ma) in the footwall of the Tec fault, which was reactivated and propagated south-westwards during the late Miocene (11-5 Ma). Thus, the transition to extension in this region did occur until the late Oligocene, in an interval bracketed between 28 and 24 Ma of relative quiescence or at least slower exhumation rate. |
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