Guadalquivir+Betics

Modelling the evolution of the Guadalquivir foreland basin (South Spain)

[Main related publications: Pérez-Asensio, et al., 2018; Garcia-Castellanos et al., 2002 [pdf] ]

[More recent studies for this region in this page: Messinian Salinity Crisis]

2D and 3D numerical modeling were applied in the Betics-Guadalquivir region to relate the geometry of the basin sediments with the emplacement of the Betic thrust sheets and with the mechanical behavior of the Iberian lithosphere. The numerical models include non-instantaneous loading (lateral thrust emplacement), surface processes (erosion and sedimentation), and the mechanical behavior of the lithosphere (thin plate and rheological models).

The results show that a thin plate elastic model can fit the basement deflection when a hidden subcrustal load, in addition to topographic and paleobathymetric loads, is considered. On the basis of geoid and gravity observations, we interpret the hidden load as the consequence of lithospheric thickening under the basin and the Betics. To explain the basin infill geometry, it is necessary to apply either a multilayered rheology or a viscous relaxation after the load emplacement or a combination of both models. Extensional faults observed in the basement, which occur during the beginning of the basin formation, are explained by using a flexural model with multilayered rheology.

This modeling was carried out by developing and using the softwares TISC and tAo.

The figures below are color versions of the publication on this study.