| Abstract |
The Alboran Sea (Figure 1) is a narrow sea (200 km wide), closed on the West by the "Arc of Gibraltar" and opening in the east into the Balearic Basin. The Betic chains extend along its northern border, the Rif chain extends along its southwest border, and its southern border is essentially formed by the Atlas Foreland. The Betico-Rif ensemble forms an arc having divergent structures (dipping away from the Alboran Sea). South of the sea, the Rif structures turn towards the northeast in contact with the autochthonous and semiautochthonous Atlas Foreland. The Rif and the Betic chains are affected by numerous northeast-southwest and northwest-southeast lateral faults whose role seems important (Kornprobst, 1971; Andrieux et al., 1971 ; Jacquin, 1970), but is not explained yet. All of these structures are of Alpine age (essentially between late Eocene and middle Miocene). [NOT CONTROLLED OCR] |
