The Portuguese mainland territory is located close to the Azores-Gibraltar plate boundary, in a tectonic setting responsible for significant neotectonic and seismic activities. However, few data concerning the present regional lithospheric stress field were available, as testified by recently published maps of stress indicators for the Europe and Mediterranean regions. One of the authors already presented a synthesis on this subject [Cabral, 1993], where geological and geophysical stress indicators were considered. In this paper we introduce new information, mainly a considerable amount of borehole breakout data. The updated data set comprises 32 reliable stress indicators showing a mean azimuth of 145 ø (standard deviation 21ø) for the maximum horizontal stress direction (SHmax). On the average, the geological data are rotated clockwise and the focal mechanism data deviated anticlockwise to that azimuth, while the borehole elongation results are consistent with the mean SHmax trend. These differences in stress trend suggest a regional progressive rotation of the SHmax direction from NNW-SSE to WNW-ESE since the upper Pliocene. To estimate stress trajectories, new and published stress indicators in the adjacent Atlantic area and northern Africa were also investigated, showing a very uniform NW-SE SHmax trend in west Iberia. A high level of horizontal compressive stress acting oblique to the western Portuguese continental margin is inferred and interpreted in view of a proposed regional geodynamical model, of activation of this passive margin, with the nucleation of a subduction zone in the Atlantic SW of Iberia, at the Gorringe submarine bank, which is propagating northward along the base of the continental slope, at the transition between thinned and normal continental crust.
S U M M A R YThis paper focuses on the reprocessing of seismic reflection profiles, aeromagnetic and seismicity data, to locate and characterize the Ota-Vila Franca de Xira-Lisbon-Sesimbra fault zone. The studied structure is sited in the Lower Tagus Valley, an area with over 2 million inhabitants, that has experienced historical earthquakes causing many casualties, serious damage and economical losses (e.g. 1531 January 26 and 1909 April 23 earthquakes), whose tectonic sources are mostly unknown. The fault zone trends NNE-SSW to N-S, is located near the eastern border of the Mesozoic Lusitanian Basin and partially delimits the Lower Tagus Cenozoic Basin at the west, mostly hidden under the Cenozoic sedimentary fill. According to the data presented here, the normal structures that compose the fault zone were reactivated in Cenozoic times, with positive inversion and the development of splays towards the east. The fault zone shows three distinct segments with different behaviour, in conformity with their various orientations relative to the NW-SE maximum compressive stress. The northern segment splays into a series of NNE-SSW oriented, east verging, imbricate thrusts, which merge to the west into a major reverse fault that resulted from the tectonic inversion of the former normal fault bordering the Mesozoic Lusitanian Basin in this area-the well known Ota (or Pragança) fault. The central segment corresponds to the approximately 20 km long outcropping Vila Franca de Xira fault, which suffered a maximum degree of inversion. The southern segment extends for ∼45 km, crossing Lisbon and the Setúbal Península at depth until approximately Sesimbra (probably continuing offshore), with an N-S trend and distinct geometry. South of Vila Franca de Xira, there is evidence for a WSW-ENE fault located at depth, producing a righ-lateral stepover on the major structure and splitting the central from the southern segment. We hypothesize that this obliquely trending fault is a possible source of the 1909 Benavente earthquake.
The Quaternary Active Faults Database of Iberia (QAFI) is an initiative lead by the Institute of Geology and Mines of Spain (IGME) for building a public repository of scientific data regarding faults having documented activity during the last 2.59 Ma (Quaternary). QAFI also addresses a need to transfer geologic knowledge to practitioners of seismic hazard and risk in Iberia by identifying and characterizing seismogenic fault-sources. QAFI is populated by the information freely provided by more than 40 Earth science researchers, storing to date a total of 262 records. In this article we describe the development and evolution of the
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