Rheological control on the tectonic evolution of a continental suture zone: the Variscan example from NW Iberia (Spain)

The Variscan continental suture zone exposed in NW Iberia is examined to uncover the long-lived rheological control exerted by the strata deposited over the external parts of Gondwana on its geodynamic evolution. The suture occurs within a set of allochthonous terranes whose limits were taken as domain boundaries to interpret the Variscan stacking of Paleozoic continental domains and retrodeform the resulting nappe pile. The suture zone formed due to closure of ocean basins located between Gondwana and Laurussia during the Late Paleozoic and consists of relics of oceanic and transitional crust. The suture zone exhibits a tabular to lens shape due to repeated tectonic events dominated by non-coaxial deformation (thrusts and low-angle normal faults). Thrusting and normal faulting also involved the margins of the continents bounding the suture. The structure of the continental blocks, however, is dominated by folds, particularly large nappe folds with pronounced superimposed flattening. The upper part of the basal allochthonous units comprises a rheologically incompetent domain below the suture zone. This domain is typified by the carbonaceous-rich strata, which are probably Ordovician–Silurian sediments based on U–Pb detrital zircon populations. The rheology of this layer determined the location of the first accretionary thrust that initiated the Late Devonian subduction of the Gondwana margin below the suture zone. By favoring fault development, the upper sequence of the basal allochthonous units as a whole influenced the exhumation of deep-seated continental crust, the transference of the suture zone over Gondwana, and the re-equilibration of the resulting overthickened crust.