RT Journal Article
T1 On the rootless nature of a Devonian suture in SW Iberia (Ossa-Morena Complex, Variscan Orogen): geometry and kinematics of the Azuaga Fault
A1 Díez Fernández, Rubén
A1 Fernández Rodríguez, Carlos
A1 Arenas, Ricardo
A1 Novo Fernández, Irene
AB Suture zones are key to understand collisional orogens, but not all the remains ofsubduction leading to collision occur in the root of the suture. The Azuaga Fault boundsa Devonian suture zone known as Central Unit. This fault is a steeply NE-dipping,Variscan strike-slip fault with left-lateral and reverse oblique slip components formedduring sinistral transpression in the Pennsylvanian. Motion along this fault was coevalwith folding and fabric development in both its hanging wall and footwall and also with the Matachel Fault. Tectonic flow associated with the Azuaga Fault shows high-vorticity,explaining the exhumation of a flat-lying Devonian suture zone via WNW-plungingextrusion from the upper-middle crust under inclined triclinic transpression during ENEWSWconvergence. The exposed basal contact of the Central Unit is not the root zone ofa Variscan suture zone, but instead is a NE-dipping breaching fault that cuts across thesuture zone that is contiguous to the SW under the upper section of the footwall. The peri-Gondwanan terrane between the Central Unit and the South-Portuguese Zone of theIberian Massif (most of the Ossa-Morena Zone) is underlain by a Devonian suture,implying it is a continental allochthon. Variscan suture zones in Europe are affected bystrike-slip faults. In our case, this pattern implies the location of suture zone exposuresand location of its root are different. Suture zones and strike-slip faults are common inorogens and analysis of their relationships may lead to relocation of suture zone roots andre-thinking of upper and lower plates.
PB Wiley
SN 1944-9194
YR 2021
FD 2021-05
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10272/19924
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10272/19924
LA eng
NO Díez Fernández, R., Fernández Rodríguez, C., Arenas, R., & Novo Fernández, I. (2021). On the rootless nature of a Devonian suture in SW Iberia (Ossa-Morena Complex, Variscan Orogen): Geometry and kinematics of the Azuaga Fault. Tectonics, 40, e2021TC006791. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2021TC006791
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 1 jun 2026