Skip to main content
Earth, Planets and Space
Earth, Planets and Space Cover Image
Download PDF

A paleointensity study on middle Miocene to Pliocene volcanic rocks from south-eastern Spain

Earth, Planets and Space volume 61, pages61–69(2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Thirteen middle-Miocene to Pliocene volcanic sites, belonging to four different types of volcanism (calc-alkaline volcanism, potassic calc-alkaline and shoshonitic volcanism, lamproitic volcanism and basaltic alkaline volcanism), have been sampled in south-eastern Spain for paleointensity determinations. Rock-magnetic studies yield low-Ti titanomagnetite as the main carrier of remanence, showing also the presence of titanohematites in several cases. Analysis of hysteresis parameters indicates a PSD domain structure. Paleointensity determinations were performed with the Coe (1967) method. Of the 90 paleointensity determinations carried out, 29 provide successful determinations which fulfil selection criteria; most of these were in samples of lamproitic volcanism. Only four lamproitic sites out of the 13 studied ones yield reliable results. All have a similar age of approximately 7 M.y. Virtual dipole moments (VDM) of three of these display values between approximately 4·1022 A m2 and 8·1022 A m2, thus providing new paleointensity data for a time interval (between 4 and 8 M.a.), with a lack of Thellier-type paleointensity determinations. The fourth site shows a much lower paleointensity of 1.6·1022 A m2, and may correspond to a polarity transition, in accordance with its paleo-directional results.

References

  1. Araña, V. and R. Vegas, Plate tectonics and volcanism in the Gibraltar Arc, Tectonophysics, 24, 197–212, 1974.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Bellon, H., N. Q. Bau, V. Chaumont, and J. C. Phillipet, Implantation ionique de l’argon dans une cible support. Aplication au traçage isotopique de l’argon contenu dans les mineraux et les roches, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, 997–980, 1981a.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Bellon, H., G. Bizon, J. P. Calvo, E. Elizaga, J. Gaudant, and N. López Martínez, Le volcan du Cerro del Monagrillo (Province de Murcia): âge radiométrique et corrélations avec sédiments néogènes du bassin de Hellin (Espagne), C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, 292, 1035–1038, 1981b.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Bellon, H., P. Bordet, and C. Montenat, Chronologie du magmatisme néogène des Cordillères Bétiques (Espagne meridionale), Bull. Soc. Geol. Fr., 25(2), 205–217, 1983.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Calvo, M., M. L. Osete, and R. Vegas, Palaeomagnetic rotations in opposite senses in southeastern Spain, Geophys. Res. Lett., 21(9), 761–764, 1994.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Calvo, M., R. Vegas, and M. L. Osete, Palaeomagnetic results from Upper Miocene and Pliocene rocks from the Internal Zone of the Iberian Peninsula, Tectonophysics, 277, 271–283, 1997.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Coe, R., Paleo-intensities of the earth’s magnetic field determined from Tertiary and Quaternary rocks, J. Geophys. Res., 72, 3247–3262, 1967.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Coe, R., S. Grommé, and E. A. Mankinen, Geomagnetic paleointensities from radiocarbon-dated lava flows on Hawaii and the question of the Pacific nondipole low, J. Geophys. Res., 83, 1740–1756, 1978.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Day, R., M. Fuller, and V. A. Schmidt, Hysteresis properties of titanomag-netites: grain-size and compositional dependence, Phys. Earth Planet. Inter., 13, 260–267, 1977.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Di Battistini, G., L. Toscani, S. Iacarino, and I. M. Villa, K/Ar ages and the geological setting of calc-alkaline volcanic rocks from Sierra de Gata, S. E. Spain, Neues Jahrb. Miner. Monatsh., H8, 369–383, 1987.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Duggen, S., K. Hoernle, P. van den Bogaard, and C. Harris, Magmatic evolution of the Alboran Region: the role of subduction in forming the western Mediterranean and causing the Messinian Salinity Crisis, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 218, 91–108, 2004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Duggen, S., K. Hoernle, P. van den Bogaard, and D. Garbe-Schőnberg, Post-collisional transition from subduction to intraplate-type magma-tism in the westernmost Mediterranean: Evidence for continental-edge delamination of subcontinental lithosphere, J. Petrol., 46, 1155–1201, doi:10.1093/petrology/egi013, 2005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Fernández-Soler, J. M., El volcanismo calco-alcalino de Cabo de Gata (Almería). Estudio volcanológico y petrológico. PhD Thesis, Universidad de Granada, 243 pp., 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  14. García-Dueñas, V., J. C. Balanyá, and J. M. Martínez Martínez, Miocene extensional detachments in the outcropping basement of the northern Alboran basin (Betics) and their tectonic implications, GeoMar. Lett., 12, 88–95, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Kuiper, K. F., W. Krijgsman, M. Garcés, and J. R. Wijbrans, Revised isotopic (40Ar/39Ar) age for the lamproite volcano of Cabezos Negros, Fortuna Basin (Eastern Betics, SE Spain), Paleogeogr. Paleoclimatol. Paleoecol., 238, 53–63, 2006.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Levi, S., The effect of magnetite particle size on palaeointensity determinations of the geomagnetic field, Phys. Earth Planet. Inter., 13, 245–259, 1977.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Lonergan, L. and N. White, Origin of the Betic-Rif mountain belt, Tectonics, 16, 504–522, 1997.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. López Ruiz, J. and E. Rodríguez Badiola, La región volcánica del sureste de España, Est. Geol., 36, 5–63, 1980.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Nobel, F. A., P. A. M. Andriessen, E. H. Hebera, H. N. A. Priem, and H. E. Rondeel, Isotopic dating of the post-alpine neogene volcanism in the Betic Cordilleras, Southern Spain, Geol. Mijnbouw, 60, 209–214, 1981.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Perrin, M. and E. Schnepp, IAGA paleointensity database: distribution and quality of the dataset, Phys. Earth Planet. Inter., 147(2–3), 255–267, 2004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Platt, J. P. and R. L. M. Vissers, Extensional collapse of thickened continental litosphere: a working hypothese for the Alborán Sea and the Gibraltar arc, Geology, 17, 540–543, 1989.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Thellier, E. and O. Thellier, Sur l’intensité du champ magnetique terrestre dans le passé historique et geologique, Ann. Geophys., 15, 285–376, 1959.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Torres-Roldán, R. L., G. Poli, and A. Pecerillo, An early Miocene arc-tholeiitic magmatic dyke event from the Alboran Sea. Evidence for pre-collisional subduction and back-arc crustal extension in the westernmost Mediterranean, Geol. Rundschau, 75/1, 219–234, 1986.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Turner, S. P., J. P. Platt, R. M. M. George, S. P. Kelley, D. G. Pearson, and G. M. Novell, Magmatism associated with orogenic collapse of the Betic-Alboran Domain, SE Spain, J. Petrol., 40(6), 1011–1036, 1999.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Física, EPS, Universidad de Burgos, c/ Francisco de Vitoria, s/n, 09006, Burgos, Spain

    M. Calvo-Rathert

  2. Laboratorio Interinstitucional de Magnetismo Natural, Instituto de Geofisica, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Campus Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico

    A. Goguitchaichvili

  3. Departamento de Geodinámica, Universidad del País Vasco, 48080, Bilbao, Spain

    N. Vegas-Tubía

Authors
  1. M. Calvo-Rathert
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. A. Goguitchaichvili
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. N. Vegas-Tubía
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. Calvo-Rathert.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Calvo-Rathert, M., Goguitchaichvili, A. & Vegas-Tubía, N. A paleointensity study on middle Miocene to Pliocene volcanic rocks from south-eastern Spain. Earth Planet Sp 61, 61–69 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03352885

Download citation

Key words

  • Paleointensity
  • rock magnetism
  • Neogene
  • volcanic rocks
  • Betic region