Triassic redbeds in the Malaguide Complex (Betic Cordillera — Spain): petrography, geochemistry and geodynamic implications

Sandstone petrography and mudstone mineralogy and geochemistry of Triassic mudstones and sandstones from continental redbeds of the Malaguide Complex (Betic Cordillera, southern Spain) provide useful information on provenance, palaeoclimate and geodynamics during the early stages of the Pangea break-up, and on their diagenetic evolution. The sandstones are quartzarenites to sub-litharenites, with minor lithic fragments and rare feldspars. The mudstone samples show a PAAS like elemental distribution. The samples likely record recycling processes from their metasedimentary basement rocks that significantly affected the weathering indices, and monitors cumulative effects, including a first cycle of weathering at the source rocks. Sandstone composition and chemical–mineralogical features of mudstones record a provenance derived from continental block and recycled orogen that were weathered under warm and episodically wet climate. Source areas were located towards the east of the present-day Malaguide outcrops, and were formed by fairly silicic rock types, made up mainly of Palaezoic metasedimentary rocks, similar to those of the Paleozoic underlying series, with subordinate contributions from magmatic–metamorphic sources, and a rare supply from mafic metavolcanic rocks. Clay-mineral distribution of mudstones is dominated by illite and illite/smectite mixed-layer that result from differences in provenance, weathering, and burial/temperature history. Illite crystallinity values, illitization of kaolinite, occurrence of typical authigenic minerals and apatite fission-track studies, coupled with a subsidence analysis of the whole Malaguide succession suggest burial depths of at least 4–6 km with temperatures of 140–160 °C, typical of the burial diagenetic stage, and confirm the Middle Miocene exhumation of the Betic Internal Domain tectonic stack topped by the Malaguide Complex.

Compositional and Geochemical Signatures for the Sedimentary Evolution of the Middle Triassic–Lower Jurassic Continental Redbeds from Western-Central Mediterranean Alpine Chains

Compositional and chemical analyses suggest that Middle Triassic–Lower Liassic continental redbeds (in the internal domains of the Betic, Maghrebian, and Apenninic chains) can be considered a regional lithosome marking the Triassic-Jurassic rift-valley stage of Tethyan rifting, which led to the Pangaea breakup and subsequent development of a mosaic of plates and microplates. Sandstones are quartzose to quartzolithic and represent a provenance of continental block and recycled orogen, made up mainly of Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks similar to those underlying the redbeds. Mudrocks display K enrichments; intense paleoweathering under a hot, episodically humid climate with a prolonged dry season; and sediment recycling. Redbeds experienced temperatures in the range of 100°–160°C and lithostatic/tectonic loading of more than 4 km. These redbeds represent an important stratigraphic signature to reconstruct a continental block (Mesomediterranean Microplate) that separated different realms of the western Tethys from Middle-Late Jurassic to Miocene, when it was completely involved in Alpine orogenesis.

La Galite Archipelago (Tunisia, North Africa): stratigraphic and petrographic revision and insights for geodynamic evolution of the Maghrebian Chain

The location of the La Galite Archipelago on the Internal/External Zones of the Maghrebian Chain holds strong interest for the reconstruction of the geodynamic evolution of the Mesomediterranean Microplate-Africa Plate Boundary Zone. New stratigraphic and petrographic data on sedimentary successions intruded upon by plutonic rocks enabled a better definition of the palaeogeographic and palaeotectonic evolutionary model of the area during the early-middle Miocene. The lower Miocene sedimentary units (La Galite Flysch and Numidian-like Flysch) belong to the Mauritanian (internal) and Massylian (external) sub-Domains of the Maghrebian Chain, respectively. These deposits are related to a typical syn-orogenic deposition in the Maghrebian Flysch Basin Domain, successively backthrusted above the internal units. The backthrusting age is post-Burdigalian (probably Langhian-Serravallian) and the compressional phase represents the last stage in the building of the accretionary wedge of the Maghrebian orogen. These flysch units may be co-relatable to the similar well-known formations along the Maghrebian and Betic Chains. The emplacement of potassic peraluminous magmatism, caused local metamorphism in the Late Serravallian-Early Tortonian (14–10 Ma), after the last compressional phase (backthrusting), during an extensional tectonic event. This extensional phase is probably due to the opening of a slab break-off in the deep subduction system. La Galite Archipelago represents a portion of the Maghrebian Flysch Basin tectonically emplaced above the southern margin of the “Mesomediterranean Microplate” which separated the Piemontese-Ligurian Ocean from a southern oceanic branch of the Tethys (i.e. the Maghrebian Flysch Basin). The possible presence of an imbricate thrust system between La Galite Archipelago and northern Tunisia may be useful to exclude the petroleum exploration from the deformed sectors of the offshore area considered.