Abstract
The structural framework of the northern Alboran Sea is one of a series of grabens or half-grabens developed during various Miocene rifting stages. MCS profiles and well data reveal early to late Miocene seismo-stratigraphic units affected by rifting. Three rifting episodes—latest Aquitanian-Burdigalian, Langhian-Serravalian, and Tortonian-are postulated to have caused significant extension and crustal thinning beneath the Alboran Sea. The middle Miocene episode led to major depocenters and triggered mud diapirism. Post-Tortonian tectonics modified the architecture of the Miocene Alboran Basin and formed the present structure, seafloor morphology, and boundaries of the Alboran Sea.
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Comas, M.C., García-Dueñas, V. & Jurado, M.J. Neogene tectonic evolution of the Alboran Sea from MCS data. Geo-Marine Letters 12, 157–164 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02084927
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02084927