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Crustal Architecture of the Pyrenees

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Geology and Landscapes of the Eastern Pyrenees

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Abstract

The Pyrenean orogen is the product of the N–S collision between Eurasia and Iberia and has involved at least 100 km of crustal shortening. Between the Aquitaine Basin in the north and the Ebro Basin in the south, the mountain belt varies in width from 75 to 150 km and is divided into a succession of five tectonostratigraphic belts known as the (i) Sub-Pyrenean Zone and (ii) North-Pyrenean Zone, where in both cases Alpine structures are north-vergent (European domain); and the (iii) Axial Zone, (iv) Nogueres Zone and (v) South-Pyrenean Zone, where Alpine structures are south-vergent (Iberian domain). Those two tectonic domains are separated by the North-Pyrenean Fault, a major crustal-scale discontinuity. This chapter describes these first-order structural units and their history of emplacement: pre-orogenic crustal extension and marine sedimentation (Triassic to Cenomanian), then convergence followed by collision in two successive stages during the late Cretaceous and Paleogene. The palaeogeography of the earlier Mesozoic topography (proto-Pyrenees) and of the main collisional orogen prevalent in mid Cenozoic time (syn-orogenic, or ancestral, Pyrenees) is sketched out. The chapter also provides a state-of-the-art reassessment of Pyrenean nappe-stack architecture based on evidence from the eastern Pyrenees, and discusses geophysical and structural data in relation to the present-day topography of the mountain range (i.e., the post-orogenic, or modern, Pyrenees).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Laboratoire Histoire Naturelle de l’Homme Préhistorique, UMR 7194, Université de Perpignan-Via Domitia, Perpignan, France

    Marc Calvet

  2. Department of Geography, Laboratoire Histoire Naturelle de l’Homme Préhistorique, UMR 7194, Université de Perpignan-Via Domitia, Perpignan, France

    Magali Delmas

  3. Department of Geography, Environnement, Ville Société, UMR 5600, Université Lumière-Lyon 2, Lyon, France

    Yanni Gunnell

  4. Laboratoire GeoResources, École des Mines de Nancy, University of Lorraine, Nancy, France

    Bernard Laumonier

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  1. Marc Calvet
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  4. Bernard Laumonier
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Correspondence to Marc Calvet .

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Calvet, M., Delmas, M., Gunnell, Y., Laumonier, B. (2022). Crustal Architecture of the Pyrenees. In: Geology and Landscapes of the Eastern Pyrenees. GeoGuide. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84266-6_1

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