A morphotectonic study of the Central System, Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

The Central System (CS) or Spanish Central System forms part of two of the five morphotectonic mesoblocks that make up the Intermediate macroblock (number 6) of the Iberian plate. The combination of geological, geophysical and geomorphological data, used in accordance with the Rantsman methodology (1979), served as the basis for obtaining a regional analysis. The cartography obtained shows territorial units (4 macroblocks, 4 mesoblocks, 35 blocks, 85 microblocks and 162 nanoblocks), morphotectonic alignments (quantity/order: 3/2, 4/3, 5/23, 6/48, 7/93 and 8/164) and morphotectonic knots (quantity/order: 1/2, 5/3, 35/4, 85/5, 162/6, 324/7, 816/8). The number of delimited morphostructures increases from the central part towards the east. At the block level, one may distinguish a transverse differentiation of the territorial units and alignments, which is interpreted as an expression of the region’s lithospheric heterogeneity. There is a close relationship between the morphostructures and seismicity, indicating that greater activity occurs in the blocks of the eastern and northeastern sectors.

Morphotectonic Interpretation of the 23-02-2015 Albacete Earthquake, Spain

“…Studies of major details and complexity have demonstrated the efficiency of the morphotectonic methodology for the determination of places of earthquake occurrence in 6 regions of the IP: 1) Galicia ; 2) Córdoba-Granada ; 3) Asturias ; 4) Sistema Central (Cotilla and Córdoba, 2007); 5) Murcia (Cotilla and Córdoba, 2009); 7) Almería-Jaén (Cotilla and Cór-doba, in press) (Figure 4). These studies recognized the activity of the Intercalado macroblock and its tendency to the movements of vertical type, inside a frame of regional compressions (Figure 3).…”

Evaluación morfotectónica de Cantabria, España

“…La experiencia acumulada en cuanto a los métodos morfotectónicos está en muchos trabajos, entre ellos: Alekseevskaya, Gabrielov, Gelfand, Grishiani, & Rantsman (1977); Cotilla & Córdoba (2003, 2004a, 2004b, 2013a,b, 2015a; Cotilla, Córdova, & Herraiz (2005;2007); Cotilla, Córdova, & Sánchez (2012); Cotilla-Rodríguez et al 2017; Rantsman (1979). En la tabla 4 se indican los 20 métodos aquí aplicados (implementados en un SIG), mientras que la tabla 5 contiene algunas definiciones que servirán de apoyo al lector.…”

Interpretación de la Actividad Sísmica Reciente de la Zona de Interior de Placas en la Península Ibérica, Guadalajara

“…En la figura 6B de Cotilla et al (2007B) se distingue el mesobloque 6.3 que pertenece al macrobloque 6 (Intermedio / ~97x10 3 km 2 ). El mesobloque (Figura 4) tiene un sistema de 15 bloques, 58 microbloques, y 137 nanobloques.…”