RT Journal Article
T1 The Betic Ophiolites and the Mesozoic Evolution of the Western Tethys
A1 Puga, Encarnación
A1 Díaz de Federico, Antonio
A1 Fanning, C. M.
A1 Nieto Liñán, José Miguel
A1 Rodríguez Martínez Conde, José Ángel
A1 Díaz Puga, Miguel Ángel
A1 Lozano, José Antonio
A1 Bianchini, Gianluca
A1 Natali, Claudio
A1 Beccaluva, Luigi
AB The Betic Ophiolites consist of numerous tectonic slices, metric to kilometric in size,of eclogitized mafic and ultramafic rocks associated to oceanic metasediments, deriving from the Beticoceanic domain. The outcrop of these ophiolites is aligned along 250 km in the Mulhacén Complexof the Nevado-Filábride Domain, located at the center-eastern zone of the Betic Cordillera (SESpain). According to petrological/geochemical inferences and SHRIMP (Sensitive High ResolutionIon Micro-Probe) dating of igneous zircons, the Betic oceanic lithosphere originated along anultra-slow mid-ocean ridge, after rifting, thinning and breakup of the preexisting continental crust.The Betic oceanic sector, located at the westernmost end of the Tethys Ocean, developed from theLower to Middle Jurassic (185–170 Ma), just at the beginning of the Pangaea break-up betweenthe Iberia-European and the Africa-Adrian plates. Subsequently, the oceanic spreading migratednortheastward to form the Ligurian and Alpine Tethys oceans, from 165 to 140 Ma. Breakup andoceanization isolated continental remnants, known as the Mesomediterranean Terrane, which weredeformed and affected by the Upper Cretaceous-Paleocene Eo-Alpine high-pressure metamorphicevent, due to the intra-oceanic subduction of the Jurassic oceanic lithosphere and the relatedcontinental margins. This process was followed by the partial exhumation of the subducted oceanicrocks onto their continental margins, forming the Betic and Alpine Ophiolites. Subsequently, alongthe Upper Oligocene and Miocene, the deformed and metamorphosed Mesomediterranean Terranewas dismembered into different continental blocks collectively known as AlKaPeCa microplate(Alboran, Kabylian, Peloritan and Calabrian). In particular, the Alboran block was displacedtoward the SW to occupy its current setting between the Iberian and African plates, due to theNeogene opening of the Algero-Provençal Basin. During this translation, the different domains ofthe Alboran microplate, forming the Internal Zones of the Betic and Rifean Cordilleras, collidedwith the External Zones representing the Iberian and African margins and, together with them,underwent the later alpine deformation and metamorphism, characterized by local differences of P-T(Pressure-Temperature) conditions. These Neogene metamorphic processes, known as Meso-Alpineand Neo-Alpine events, developed in the Nevado-Filábride Domain under Ab-Ep amphibolite andgreenschists facies conditions, respectively, causing retrogradation and intensive deformation of theEo-Alpine eclogites.
PB MDPI
SN 2076-3263
YR 2017
FD 2017
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10272/15275
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10272/15275
LA eng
NO Puga, E., Díaz de Federico, A., Fanning, M., Nieto, J., Rodríguez Martínez-Conde, J., Díaz Puga, M., … Beccaluva, L. (2017). The Betic Ophiolites and the Mesozoic Evolution of the Western Tethys. Geosciences, 7(2), 31. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences7020031
NO This research was funded by Project CGL2009-12369 of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, co-financed with FEDER funds, and by Research Group RNM 333 of Junta de Andalucia (Spain). The authors strongly appreciate the detailed revisions of two anonymous reviewers and the Guest Editor of this Ophiolite Volume, so as the discussion, exchange of ideas and revision of previous versions of this manuscript by A. Martin-Algarra and A. Garcia-Casco.
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 13 jun 2026