Stratigraphic framework of the thrust geometry and structural inversion in the southeastern Pyrenees : La Garrotxa area

Abstract

The structure of la Garrotxa area within the Cadi unit (south-eastern Pyrenees) consists of a set of duplexes at different scales which repeat the different carbonatic litho-units of the Lower and Middle Eocene. These duplexes are folded by antiformal stacks structures with basement rocks in their cores. The north boundary of these antiformal stacks represents an inversion of pre-existent extensional faults which formed half-graben geometries. The basement rocks involved in the structure represent short-cuts formed in the footwall of the extensional faults. All thrusts of La Garrotxa area branch with the upper Garrotxa thrust. The more complex structure of La Garrotxa area than the adjacent areas within the Cadí unit, is due to the initial complex synsedimentary geometry of the sedimentary pile.

The Cadi unit overlies the Serrat unit with a hangingwall ramp geometry. This unit was deduced from the Serrat-1 well, drilled in 1987. The Serrat unit is made up of a Middle Eocene evaporitic sequence, with alternating shales and anhydrites and a 100 meters thick salt layer close to the top. The total thickness of this evaporitic Beuda sequence is 1 000 meters. The Beuda sequence clearly controlled the thrust geometry of the younger thrusts.