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A new magnetotelluric (MT) survey comprising 17 MT soundings throughout a 30 km long N30°W transect in the Iberian autochthons domain of NW Iberia (Central Iberian Zone) is presented. The 2‐D inversion model shows the resistivity structure of the continental crust up to 10 km depth, heretofore unavailable for this region of the Variscan Orogen. The MT model reveals a wavy structure separating a conductive upper layer underlain by a resistive layer, thus picturing the two main tectonic blocks of a large‐scale D2 extensional shear zone (i.e., Pinhel shear zone). The upper layer represents a lower grade metamorphic domain that includes graphite‐rich rocks. The lower layer consists of high‐grade metamorphic rocks that experienced partial melting and are associated with granites (more resistive) emplaced during crustal thinning. The wavy structure is the result of superimposed crustal shortening responsible for the development of large‐scale D3 folds (e.g., Marofa synform), later deflected and refolded by a D4 strike‐slip shear zone (i.e., Juzbado‐Penalva do Castelo shear zone). The later contribution to the final structure of the crust is marked by the intrusion of postkinematic granitic rocks and the propagation of steeply dipping brittle fault zones. Our study demonstrates that MT imaging is a powerful tool to understand complex crustal structures of ancient orogens in order to design future prospecting surveys for mineral deposits of economic interest.

The dyke of the Papôa volcanic breccia cross-cutting the Lower Jurassic sequence of the Lusitanian Basin (West Iberia) contains granitic xenoliths. In this study, for the first time, U-Th-Pb zircon analysis of two xenoliths yielded 298±4Ma for biotite granite and of 292±2Ma for two-mica granite, indicating that the pre-Mesozoic basement of the Lusitanian Basin includes Permian intrusions. These ages are close within the margin of error of the age of the Late Carboniferous granites of the Berlengas isle that with the Late Devonian high-grade metamorphic rocks of the Farilhões isles, located northwest of the study area, which form the pre-Mesozoic basement of the Lusitanian Basin. These new geochronological findings enable it to be established that Permo-Carboniferous magmatism lasted at least 13Ma, in this region of the Appalachian-Variscan belt. Furthermore, a comparison with available data from Paleozoic tectonic units of the Appalachian-Variscan belt located both in the Iberian Massif and outside it enables the suggestion to be made that the Lusitanian Basin (Peniche) most probably rests on the South Portuguese Zone, which may also be correlated with the Rhenohercynian Zone present in southwest England, and the Meguma terrane of Nova Scotia.