Interplay of intraplate tectonics and surface processes in the Sierra de Guadarrama (central Spain) assessed by apatite fission track analysis

Apatite fission track analysis is used as a tectonic tool to unravel the evolution of the Sierra de Guadarrama, an mountain range in central Spain, and the far-field effects of the Alpine plate tectonics, expressed by reactivation of NE-SW trending lineaments in the Hercynian basement. 18 basement samples were analysed, and 4 sediments of Mesozoic and Tertiary age. Thermal histories were modelled for most samples and conversion to resultant amounts of denudation and rock uplift was possible for the Tertiary history, because of constraints on the paleo-topography and -elevation in Upper Cretaceous to Paleocene times. Accelerated cooling (up to 100 °C in 5 Ma) occurred around 100 Ma in the entire Sierra de Guadarrama. In the northern part, this cooling was preceded by reheating of Lower Triassic sediments up to 110 °C, suggesting sedimentation of about 3 km of, now eroded, Upper Triassic to Jurassic. The period of greatest erosion occurred in the Pliocene and Quaternary and affected almost the entire Sierra de Guadarrama. It was preceded by a Middle-Miocene cooling event that correlates with the beginning of the neo-tectonic setting of central Spain. The greatest Tertiary rock uplift occurred in the central part of the Sierra de Guadarrama: 5.9 ± 11.6 km. The Pliocene to recent event constitutes most of the Tertiary denudation. It is accommodated by active NE-SW trending reverse faults, and attended by about 3.2 km of denudation. These data fit as far-field effects in the plate tectonic setting of ongoing NW-SE oriented convergence between the European and African plate.