Clues for a Tortonian reconstruction of the Gibraltar Arc: Structural pattern, deformation diachronism and block rotations

- The superposed deformational events in the Gibraltar Arc external zones are revised.
- The timing of vertical-axis rotations of very large-scale blocks is established.
- Block-rotations as high as 6°/Ma took place in the Gibraltar Arc from 9 Ma to Recent.
- A paleotectonic reconstruction of the Gibraltar Arc System at 9 Ma is proposed.

We proposed a reconstruction of one of the tightest orogenic arcs on Earth: the Gibraltar Arc System. This reconstruction, which includes onshore and offshore data, is completed for approximately 9 Ma. The clues that lead us to draw it are based on a review in terms of structures and age of the superposed deformational events that took place during Miocene, with special attention to the external zones. This review and new structural data presented in this paper permit us to constrain the timing of vertical axis-rotations evidenced by previously published paleomagnetic data, and to identify homogeneous domains in terms of relationships between timing of deformation events, (re)magnetization and rotations. In particular, remagnetization in the Betics took place after the main shortening which produced the external fold-and-thrust belts (pre-upper Miocene), but was mostly previous to a contractive reorganization that affected the whole area; it should have occurred during lower Tortonian (between 9.9 and 11 Ma). From Tortonian to Present, block-rotations as high as 53° took place. Together with plate convergence, they accommodated a tightening and lengthening of the Gibraltar Arc System and drastically altered its geometry. As the orientation and position of any pre-9 Ma kinematic indicator or structural element is also modified, our reconstruction should be used as starting point for any pre-Tortonian model of the westernmost orogenic segment of the Alpine-Mediterranean system.