Crustal structure and continent‐ocean boundary along the Galicia continental margin (NW Iberia): insights from combined gravity and seismic interpretation

Abstract

The magma‐poor rifted continental margin of Galicia has an extremely complex structure. Its formation involved several rifting episodes that occurred ultimately during the early Cretaceous near a ridge triple junction, which produced a change in the orientation of the main structures in its transition to the north Iberia margin. In addition, there is a superimposed partial tectonic inversion along its northwest and northern border which developed from the Late Cretaceous to at least Oligocene times. The present study integrates a large volume of new geophysical information (mainly marine gravity data and 2D seismic reflection profiles) to provide insights on the formation of this rift system and on the development of its later inversion. The combined interpretation and modeling of this data enable the presentation of a new crustal and structural domains map for the whole Galicia margin. This includes the rift domains related to the extreme thinning of the crust and the lithospheric mantle (stretched, necking, and hyperextension and mantle exhumation (HME) domains), as well as a domain of intense compressional deformation. New constraints arise on the origin, the deep structure, and the characterization of the along‐ and across‐strike variation of the continent‐ocean transition of the margin, where a progressive change from hyperextension to partial inversion is observed. The development of both rifting and later partial tectonic inversion is influenced by the existence of former first‐order tectonic features. Most of the tectonic inversion is focused on the HME domain, which in some areas of the northwestern margin is completely overprinted by compressional deformation.