| Abstract: | There is a great similarity between the Galicia margin and the Aquitaine margin (i.e. the Aquitaine Basin and the North Pyrenean zone). In particular, the timing of the rifting as well as the resulting structures (exposure of perodotite, tilted fault blocks, normal and transverse faults, half grabens) are practically the same. This comparison leads to the interpretation that the northern side of the Pyrenean fold belt is inherited from the Mesozoic deep passive margin of Europe. The Cenozoic thrust sheets and reverse faults of the northern Pyrenees zone are tentatively interpreted as former rift structures (tilted blocks and listric faults) which were removed during the convergence of the Iberian and European plates during the Paleocene and Eocene. |
