Alpine foreland basins

Abstract

This chapter deals with the two Alpine Foreland Basins of the Iberian Peninsula. The first part of the chapter refers to the South Pyrenean Foreland Basin and its westward prolongation, the Basque–Cantabrian Paleogene Basin. It includes: (1) the introductory concepts about the basin extend, margins, sedimentary systems, basin evolution and segmentation, and terminology; (2) the impact of PETM; (3) the stratigraphy and geometry of foreland carbonate margin with special emphasis on the recent advances in its chronology and evolution, (4) the stratigraphy and geometry of the siliciclastic basin fill reflecting the recent advances in chronology and provenance; (5) and finally, discusses on the sedimentary imprints of the orogenic evolution. The second part of this chapter is focused on the Guadalquivir Basin, which developed in the southern Iberian margin at the foreland of the Betic orogenic front during the last stages of foreland basin development. An introduction to the overall geology of the basin is given before an updated view on the chronostratigraphy of its sedimentary infill is outlined. Such an updated framework provides the basis for disentangling the geodynamic processes that are encoded in the sedimentary record of the basin.