Two Cenozoic extensional phases in Mallorca and their implications in
the geodynamic evolution of the western Mediterranean
Abstract
We study the structure of the Llevant ranges in Mallorca with special
emphasis in the Cenozoic extensional evolution of the island, which we
integrate in a new geodynamic model for the Westernmost Mediterranean.
Mallorca underwent two rifting phases in the Oligocene and Serravallian,
before and after the development of its Foreland Thrust Belt (FTB). The
first extensional phase produced Oligocene semigrabens (29-23 Ma) that
were inverted during the Early-Middle Miocene (23-14 Ma) WNW-directed
FTB development. The second rifting phase produced the extensional
collapse of the Mallorca FTB during the Serravallian (14-11 Ma). This
later rifting was polyphasic, with NE-SW and NW-SE directed transport,
resulting in an overall sequential, radial extension. The Oligocene
extension affected great part of the Western Mediterranean, opening the
Liguro-Provenzal and proto-Algerian basins after the collapse of the
Palaeogene AlKaPeCa orogen, and Mallorca, its former hinterland.
Continued plate convergence nucleated a new subduction system in the
Early Miocene that initiated along the Ibiza transform, producing the
Mallorca WNW-directed FTB and the subduction of the South-East Iberian
passive margin. A process that individualized the Betic-Rif slab and
initiated its westwards retreat. Serravallian extension occurred at the
northern edge of the subduction system coeval to the Algero-Balearic
basin opening. Extension initiated towards the SW direction of slab
tearing and later rotated to a NW-SE direction, probably related to
flexural and isostatic rebound. These processes drove the Alboran domain
archipelago southwestwards until the Late Miocene, contributing to the
present isolation of the Mallorca FTB from its Betic hinterland.