Eastern Iberides Cretaceous Basin (Spain) Compared to the Western Pyrenean Basin (France): Genesis, Geodynamic Evolution

Joseph Canerot

The Cretaceous eastern Iberides basin was created by the breakup of the Jurassic platform, which emerged at the end of the Valanginian (Neocimmerian movements). Up to Albian time, two separate basins (the northern Maestrazgo and the southern Penagolosa) can be recognized. They correspond to half-graben oriented Azimuth 140, where the sedimentary series was controlled by both eustatism (sequential organization) and local tectonics (depocenter migration toward the southwest). Halokinetic structures are also related to this extensional phase since they are expressed in the Penagolosa zone.

During Albian time, tectonic movements decreased and clastics, followed by carbonate deposits, covered the whole area. Then during the Late Cretaceous, carbonates, whose framework is mainly controlled by eustatism, filled the large, newly individualized basin. However, the early Senonian showed change from Mesogean to Atlantic polarity, indicating a different regional tectonic stress (north-south extension followed by north-south compression). Paleogene to Neogene compression had minor effect in the Iberides. Thus synsedimentary structures can be well studied in a preorogenic setting.

The western Pyrenean basin presented a similar evolution during the Early Cretaceous. However, during the Albian a major change was represented by the opening of the Gascogne Gulf. Consequently, a highly complex subsiding basin was generated during the extension process. Furthermore, the Pyrenean structures resulting from north-south compression were strongly influenced by the Mesozoic inherited framework, which has been analyzed using Iberian data.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91032©1988 Mediterranean Basins Conference and Exhibition, Nice, France, 25-28 September 1988.