The Obarenes Mountains: squeezed diapirs associated with tectonic inversion in the southern margin of the Basque-Cantabrian Basin
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55407/rsge.99970Keywords:
Basque-Cantabrian Basin, Obarenes Mountains, thin-skin tectonics, Sierra de Cantabria-Montes Obarenes Frontal Thrust, squeezed diapirsAbstract
The Sierra de Cantabria and the Obarenes Mountains are the southern limit of the Basque-Cantabrian Basin, whose tectonic inversion occurred as a consequence of the Alpine compression during the Paleogene/Neogene. This study presents a structural analysis in which the main structures of the Obarenes Mountains are mapped in detail, with special emphasis on the geometry and evolution of the Sierra de Cantabria-Montes Obarenes Frontal overthrust. To this end, geological mapping was carried out at a 1:25,000 scale and structural data were collected to define the structures present and to construct four geological cross-sections. The area is characterised by a system of folds and thrusts with a local E-W direction and southwards vergence. This belt formed by Mesozoic materials is detached from the basement, implying a case of thin-skinned tectonics in which the Upper Triassic (Keuper facies) is the main detachment level. From the geometrical point of view, the thrust front shows features resulting both from the inversion of previous extensional structures and from the squeezing of Mesozoic diapirs aligned with the basin margin. Paleostresses inferred from pitted cobbles, indicate a NNW-SSE dominant compression, thus suggesting a slight strike-slip component for the main thrust.
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