Palaeomagnetic results from Upper Miocene and Pliocene rocks from the Internal Zone of the eastern Betic Cordilleras (southern Spain)

Abstract

Palaeomagnetic and rock-magnetic studies were carried out on samples from thirteen volcanic and nine sedimentary sites of Late Miocene to Pliocene age from the Internal Zone of the eastern Betic Cordilleras. After comparing palaeomagnetic results with the expected Pliocene/Miocene direction, rotated and unrotated areas can be recognized, rotations being clockwise and counter-clockwise. Some rotations are of great magnitude. Unlike deformation in the External Betics, Late Miocene to Present block rotations in the Internal Betic Zone are non-systematic, and related to the movement of faults as local responses to the Late Miocene-Present regional stress field, due to the N140 convergence of Africa and the Iberian Peninsula.