Uplift and subsidence history of the Alboran Basin and a profile of the Alboran Diapir (W-Mediterranean)

Abstract

The cooling and subsidence history of the Alboran Basin suggests that it is underlain by a diapiric mantle bulge. Numerical models of crustal doming by Cloetingh & Nieuwland (1984) are applied to investigate the deep lithospheric structure beneath the Alboran Basin. At least two 300 km long high angle faults of east-west strike would be expected directly north and south of the Alboran Sea if the Alboran Diapir had penetrated far into the lithosphere. As there is no record of such faults, it is probable that the Alboran Diapir is a shallow bulge in the lithosphere-asthenosphere interface, which deformed the overlying MOHO. The suggested profile for the deep lithosphere in the Alboran area allows discussion of the details of Weijermars' (1985) model for the tectonic evolution of the Alboran Basin and peripheral Betic-Rif orogens during the past 30-25 Ma.