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Stratigraphic and tectonic evolution of the western Alboran Sea: Late miocene to recent

  • Basin Evolution
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Abstract

The western Alboran Sea contains three morphostructural domains: continental margins, structural highs, and basins, some with diapirs. Seven sequences from Tortonian to upper Quaternary, identified on airgun profiles, record a distinct set of depositional events. The tectonic evolution was influenced by the relative movement of the African and Iberian plates. Connections through the Atlantic/Mediterranean gateways and global sea level oscillations are recorded as major unconformities in the depositional record. A Neogene change in tectonic character from transtensional to transpressional regimes is postulated on the basis of changes in the regional stress field orientation.

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Campillo, A.C., Maldonado, A. & Mauffret, A. Stratigraphic and tectonic evolution of the western Alboran Sea: Late miocene to recent. Geo-Marine Letters 12, 165–172 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02084928

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