Formation of the Iberian-European convergent plate boundary fault and its effect on intraplate deformation in Central Europe
- With the Late Cretaceous onset of Africa-Iberia-Europe convergence Central Europe experienced a pulse of intraplate shortening lasting some 15-20 Myr. This deformation event documents area-wide deviatoric compression of Europe and has been interpreted as a far-field response to Africa-Iberia-Europe convergence. However, the factors that governed the compression of Europe and conditioned the transient character of the deformation event have remained unclear. Based on mechanical considerations, numerical simulations, and geological reconstructions, we examine how the dynamics of intraplate deformation were governed by the formation of a convergent plate boundary fault between Iberia and Europe. During the Late Cretaceous, plate convergence was accommodated by the inversion of a young hyperextended rift system separating Iberia from Europe. Our analysis shows that the strength of the lithosphere beneath this rift was initially sufficient to transmit large compressive stresses far into Europe, though the lithosphere beneath the rift wasWith the Late Cretaceous onset of Africa-Iberia-Europe convergence Central Europe experienced a pulse of intraplate shortening lasting some 15-20 Myr. This deformation event documents area-wide deviatoric compression of Europe and has been interpreted as a far-field response to Africa-Iberia-Europe convergence. However, the factors that governed the compression of Europe and conditioned the transient character of the deformation event have remained unclear. Based on mechanical considerations, numerical simulations, and geological reconstructions, we examine how the dynamics of intraplate deformation were governed by the formation of a convergent plate boundary fault between Iberia and Europe. During the Late Cretaceous, plate convergence was accommodated by the inversion of a young hyperextended rift system separating Iberia from Europe. Our analysis shows that the strength of the lithosphere beneath this rift was initially sufficient to transmit large compressive stresses far into Europe, though the lithosphere beneath the rift was thinned and thermally weakened. Continued convergence forced the formation of the plate boundary fault between Iberia and Europe. The fault evolved progressively and constituted a lithospheric-scale structure at the southern margin of Europe that weakened rheologically. This development caused a decrease in mechanical coupling between Iberia and Europe and a reduction of compressional far field stresses, which eventually terminated intraplate deformation in Central Europe. Taken together, our findings suggest that the Late Cretaceous intraplate deformation event records a high force transient that relates to the earliest strength evolution of a lithospheric-scale plate boundary fault.…
Author details: | Armin DielforderORCiDGND, Gianluca FrascaORCiD, Sascha BruneORCiDGND, Mary FordORCiDGND |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GC007840 |
ISSN: | 1525-2027 |
Title of parent work (English): | Geochemistry, geophysics, geosystems |
Publisher: | American Geophysical Union |
Place of publishing: | Washington |
Publication type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of first publication: | 2019/05/03 |
Publication year: | 2019 |
Release date: | 2021/02/17 |
Tag: | Pyrenees; intraplate deformation; lithosphere dynamics; orogeny; plate boundary fault; plate coupling force |
Volume: | 20 |
Issue: | 5 |
Number of pages: | 23 |
First page: | 2395 |
Last Page: | 2417 |
Funding institution: | Total (France); BRGM (Bureau de Recherches Geologiques et Minieres, France); CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France)Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Helmholtz Young Investigators Group CRYSTALS [VH-NG-1132] |
Organizational units: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Geowissenschaften |
DDC classification: | 5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 55 Geowissenschaften, Geologie / 550 Geowissenschaften |
Peer review: | Referiert |