patterns and average rates of late neogene–recent uplift ...hera.ugr.es/doi/14981324.pdf · the...

Patterns and average rates of late Neogene–Recent uplift of the

Betic Cordillera, SE Spain

Juan C. Braga a,*, Jose M. Martın a, Cecilio Quesada b

aDepartamento de Estratigrafıa y Paleontologıa, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada,

Campus de Fuentenueva s.n. 18002 Granada, SpainbIGME/Direccion de Geologıa, Rıos Rosas 23, 28003 Madrid, Spain

Received 1 September 2000; received in revised form 1 May 2001; accepted 15 July 2002

Abstract

The facies distribution in the sedimentary units infilling a series of Neogene basins has been used to reconstruct the relief

generation and uplift across the Internal Zone of the Betic Cordillera in southern Spain. Uplift amounts and average rates can be

estimated using the current elevation of the outcrops of well-dated deposits indicative of ancient sea-level positions. Coral reefs

and coastal conglomerates record the initial development of emergent Betic relief during the Langhian. Continental and

marginal marine deposits indicate the existence of a large island centred on the present Sierra Nevada–Sierra de los Filabres

chain by the end of the Middle Miocene. The precursor of the Sierra Nevada–Sierra de los Filabres chain, originally part of this

large island, remained emerged whilst the surrounding areas were re-invaded by the sea during the early Tortonian. At the end

of the Tortonian the inland basins (Granada and Guadix basins) became continental, while the Sierras de la Contraviesa, Sierra

de Gador and Sierra Alhamilla emerged, separating the Alboran Basin from the Alpujarra, Tabernas and Sorbas basins, which

became narrow passages of the Mediterranean Sea. In contrast, the Sierra Cabrera emerged during the late Messinian,

suggesting a progressive uplift from west to east of the sierras south of the Sierra Nevada–Sierra de los Filabres chain. During

the Pliocene, only the low areas closest to the present-day coast remained as marine basins and progressively emerged

throughout this stage. The highest average uplift rate recorded is 280 m/Ma for the Sierra de Gador, although the average uplift

rates of upper-Neogene coastal marine rocks since depositon have maximum values of approximately 200 m/Ma. Most of the

uplift of the Betic mountains took place before the early Pliocene. The recorded uplift of Neogene rocks was highest at the

margins of western Sierra Nevada, where peaks higher than 3000 m occur. The average rates of uplift were lower to the east of

this major relief. The main sierras and depressions in the present-day landscape correspond respectively to the emergent land, in

which uplift was concentrated, and to the marine basins that existed before the final emergence of the region. The altitude of the

sierras reflects the time at which they became emergent, the highest mountains being the first to rise above sea level.

D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Uplift; Late Neogene; Palaeogeography; Betic Cordillera; SE Spain

1. Introduction

This is a study of the long-term landscape develop-

ment of the Internal Zone of the Betic Cordillera in

0169-555X/02/$ - see front matter D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

PII: S0169 -555X(02 )00205 -2

* Corresponding author. Fax: +34-958-248528.

E-mail addresses: [email protected] (J.C. Braga), [email protected]

(J.M. Martın), [email protected] (C. Quesada).

www.elsevier.com/locate/geomorph

Geomorphology 50 (2003) 3–26

southern Spain (Fig. 1) as recorded by the sediments

which have infilled the Neogene basins that formed

and evolved as the Betic mountains were emerging

and rising. The modern topographic configuration of

southern Spain consists of a series of mountain

ranges, with peaks higher than 3000 m in the Sierra

Nevada, separated by depressions. The late-Neogene

uplift history and sedimentary evolution of the region

largely pre-determined the present-day landscape,

since the major extant ranges (sierras) and depressions

are the direct counterparts of the earlier emergent

basement highs and the intervening marine basins

respectively. The general emergence of the region

resulted in a change from marine to continental

deposition in the basins and, during the Quaternary,

continued uplift caused a switch to the net erosional

conditions prevailing in the modern landscape (Har-

vey, 2001).

Within this paper, we describe the palaeogeo-

graphic evolution of the area during the late Miocene

and Pliocene as deduced from the spatial distribution

of coastal marine deposits from successive time slices.

We also quantify the amounts and average rates of

uplift since their deposition for rocks formed in

coastal environments at the basin margins.

Previous attempts to quantify relief generation in

the Betic mountains are either localised to a specific

area (e.g. Weijermars et al., 1985) or focus only on the

Plio/Quaternary evolution of the region (Mather,

1991; Viseras, 1991; Stokes, 1997; Garcia, 2001).

Several other papers have addressed the timing and

amount of the exhumation of the metamorphic com-

Fig. 1. Geological schematic map of southeastern Spain. Unless specified, the basins are named after the main town in them.

J.C. Braga et al. / Geomorphology 50 (2003) 3–264

plexes in the Internal Zone of the Betic Cordillera (i.e.

Zeck et al., 1992; Johnson et al., 1997; Lonergan and

Johnson, 1998; Platt and Whitehouse, 1999). These

papers focus mainly on the tectonometamorphic evo-

lution of the basement rocks following their exhuma-

tion during the Early and Middle Miocene. In

contrast, we concentrate on the growth of the Betic

mountains after the emplacement of the Betic meta-

morphic complexes to shallow crustal levels.

The study area is limited to the central-eastern

portion of the Betics, roughly spanning the provinces

of Almerıa and Granada (Fig. 1), in which the

stratigraphy, facies distribution and age of the deposits

in the Neogene basins are well constrained. The late

Neogene uplift history of the Cabo de Gata volcanic

province, along the major Carboneras strike-slip fault

system, is treated separately in another paper (Martın

et al., 2003, although some references to Cabo de Gata

and the External Zone are made below.

2. Regional setting

2.1. Basement geology

The Betic Cordillera in southern Spain is the

westernmost segment of the European Alpine belt.

This cordillera has traditionally been subdivided into

an External Zone and an Internal Zone (Fig. 1). The

External Zone represents the Mesozoic to Middle

Miocene southern continental margin of the Iberian

Massif, which was divided by rifting into different

domains (Garcıa-Hernandez et al., 1980; Vera 1988).

The Prebetic constitutes the external domain where

continental and shallow-marine sedimentation pre-

vailed from the Triassic to the Middle Miocene, while

the Subbetic, to the south, became a pelagic basin

during the Early Jurassic.

The Internal Zone consists of three stacked com-

plexes that, in ascending order, are the Nevado–

Filabride, Alpujarride and Malaguide (Fig. 1). The

Nevado–Filabride Complex comprises Palaeozoic or

older (Gomez-Pugnaire et al., 2000) metamorphic

rocks. The Alpujarride tectonic units include a series

of Palaeozoic–Mesozoic metasediments (Delgado et

al., 1981; Martın and Braga, 1987; Tubıa et al., 1992).

The Malaguide complex consists of a non-metamor-

phic Mesozoic to Cenozoic cover overlying a pre-

Permian basement (Lonergan, 1993; Martın-Martın,

1996).

The upper Nevado–Filabride tectonic unit (Mulha-

cen Nappe, Puga, 1976) and the Alpujarride complex

were affected by high-pressure metamorphism due to

crustal thickening as a result of the convergence of the

African and Eurasian plates. The radiometric dates

constraining the high-pressure metamorphism in the

Nevado–Filabride Complex indicate that convergence

began at about 51 Ma (Monie et al., 1991), although

earlier dates have also been suggested (De Jong,

1991). A sharp decompression in the metamorphic

P–T path of the Nevado–Filabride and Alpujarride

complexes (Vissers, 1981; Gomez-Pugnaire and Fer-

nandez-Soler, 1987; Bakker et al., 1989; Garcıa-Casco

and Torres-Roldan, 1996) suggests rock exhumation

due to crustal-scale extension during the Early and

Middle Miocene (Monie et al., 1991; Garcıa-Duenas et

al., 1992; Watts et al., 1993; Comas et al., 1999; Platt

and Whitehouse, 1999). Thinning of the previously

thickened crust took place (Platt and Vissers, 1989) as

a result of the extension. The Malaguide complex did

not undergo Alpine metamorphism and, consequently,

was probably never subducted (De Jong, 1991). The

present contact with the underlying Alpujarride Com-

plex is marked by a thick mylonitic zone cut by normal

faults (Aldaya et al., 1991).

2.2. Neogene basins

The Betic Neogene basins developed on both the

Internal and the External Zones and underwent defor-

mation and were uplifted as they filled with sediments

(Sanz de Galdeano and Vera, 1992). Consequently, the

configuration, limits and sedimentary dynamics of

each basin changed considerably over time, reflecting

both the regional and local tectonic evolution. A

major basin, the Guadalquivir Basin, developed at

the cordillera front and was open to the Atlantic

Ocean. The intermontane basins located on the Exter-

nal Zones are either continental (Prebetic basins) or

marginal embayments of the Guadalquivir Basin and

as such related to the Atlantic Ocean. The rest of the

intermontane basins of the cordillera were connected

to the Mediterranean Sea. Two main types of Medi-

terranean-linked basins can be distinguished. (a) Inner

basins (the most distant from the present-day Medi-

terranean Sea) occur mainly at the contact between the

J.C. Braga et al. / Geomorphology 50 (2003) 3–26 5

External and Internal Zones. Although both the Gua-

dix-Baza and Granada basins belong to this type, we

have chosen the Granada Basin as the most represen-

tative example (Fig. 2). (b) Outer basins (the nearest

to the present-day Mediterranean), such as the Vera,

Sorbas, Tabernas, and Almerıa–Nıjar, are located in

the Internal Zone. The Sorbas Basin has been selected

as the representative example (Fig. 3).

The two types of Mediterranean-linked basins have

a similar sedimentary evolution up to the late Torto-

nian. At the latest Tortonian–early Messinian, the

inner basins were isolated from the Mediterranean

Sea and became continental (Vera, 2000). The outer

basins remained connected to the Mediterranean Sea

during the rest of the Miocene and, in some cases even

during the Pliocene, except for a short time-interval in

the Messinian during the so-called ‘‘Messinian Salin-

ity Crisis’’ (Riding et al., 1998).

From the Middle-Miocene to the early Tortonian,

the Mediterranean-linked basins evolved under crus-

tal-scale extension, as recorded by normal faults that

are well dated in the Alboran Basin (Comas et al.,

1992, 1999), while contractive deformation related to

wrench tectonics has prevailed since the late Tortonian

(Comas et al., 1999). The interaction of strike-slip

fault systems determines a complex pattern of trans-

tensive and transpressive local conditions (Keller et

al., 1995).

Fig. 2. Neogene stratigraphy of the Granada Basin at its eastern margin. This is representative of the Mediterranean-linked inner basins

(modified from Braga et al., 1990).


2.3. Topography

A series of mountain ranges, trending roughly

E–W and separated by basins, determine the top-

ography of the study area. Sierra Nevada (Fig. 1) is

the highest mountain range in southern Spain with

several peaks over 3000 m (3482 m in the Mulhacen).

This, together with the Sierra de los Filabres (2168 m)

to the east, is the main outcrop of the lowest Betic

nappes. North of Sierra Nevada, the Granada and

Guadix basins are separated by the Sierra Arana

(1943 m) at the contact between the External and

Internal Zones of the cordillera (Fig. 1). Several ranges

of Mesozoic rocks of the External Zone extend north-

wards to the Guadalquivir Basin at the cordillera front.

The Alpujarra Corridor, a very narrow, E–W

trending Neogene basin, separates Sierra Nevada from

the Sierra de Lujar–Sierra de la Contraviesa–Sierra

de Gador chain to the south. The Sierra de Lujar (1824

m) and the Sierra de la Contraviesa (1508 m) con-

Fig. 3. Neogene stratigraphy of the Sorbas Basin. This is representative of the Mediterranean-linked outer basins (modified from Martın and

Braga, 1994).


stitute a coastal range while the topography of the

Poniente Basin descends gradually from the southern

foot of Sierra de Gador (2236 m) to the Mediterranean

(Fig. 1). To the east of the Andarax valley, the

Tabernas and Sorbas basins occupy the depression

between the Sierra de los Filabres and the Sierra

Alhamilla (1387 m)–Sierra Cabrera (960 m). The

Almerıa–Nıjar Basin descends from the southern

slope of the latter chain to the Mediterranean Sea

delimited at its southeastern margin by the volcanic

Sierra de Cabo de Gata (Fig. 1).

3. Methods

In this paper, we describe and quantify the regional

scale, spatial and temporal pattern of relief generation

of the central sector of the Betic mountains during the

late Neogene. The palaeogeographic evolution was

deduced from the distribution of coastal deposits in

the successive upper Neogene sedimentary units fill-

ing the basins in the study area. Uplift rates were

calculated by using the time-averaged elevation of

upper Miocene and Pliocene coastal and marginal

marine rocks above modern sea level. These rocks

formed at the basin margins and were elevated above

sea level as the basement highs and the region in

general were uplifted.

Two types of rocks have been used to estimate

uplift amounts and rates:

(a) Coral-reef and beach deposits that allow the

(palaeo)position of sea level at the outcrop

localities to be reconstructed with a margin of

error of only a few metres (less than 10 m).

(b) Rocks of shallow-water marine origin deposited

on inner platforms in depths of less than 30 m,

mostly inner-platform limestones. The identifica-

tion of the palaeoposition of sea level with these

deposits which is affected by a methodological

error of F 30 m.

The age of these shallow-marine sediments is

usually well constrained with precise biostratigraphic

or stable-isotope data in time intervals of a few

hundred thousand years (100 ka).

The elevation of specific shoreline-marker rocks of

each time slice analysed gives the amount of rock

uplift from sea level since their deposition at each

locality. The current elevation, however, has been

corrected with available data on global sea-level

position (Hardenbol et al., 1998) at the time of

formation of the studied rocks (Fig. 4). Average uplift

rates were obtained by dividing the corrected eleva-

tion by the estimated absolute age of the rocks.

Methodological errors arise both from uncertainties

in the identification of the ancient shorelines and from

the time ranges of available age constraints. The

pattern for the amount of uplift of the coastal marine

rocks of any studied time slice is indicative of the

differential uplift within the region since the deposi-

tion of these rocks.

The minimum average uplift rate of the highest

peaks can be estimated for the Sierra de Gador,

Sierra Alhamilla and Sierra Cabrera as the time of

the emergence of these sierras above sea level can be

constrained with the stratigraphic record in the

nearby basins. The current elevation of the peaks is

the result of the interaction between the uplift of the

sierras and accompanying erosion. The time-aver-

Fig. 4. The present-day elevation of shoreline-marker rocks of each time slice analysed (E) has been corrected with available data on global sea-

level position (Hardenbol et al., 1998) at the time of formation of the studied rocks (S) to obtain the rock uplift since deposition (U). S can be

negative. Average uplift rates (AUR) can be obtained by dividing the corrected elevation (U) by the estimated absolute age of the rocks (T).


aged current elevation of the highest peaks is there-

fore the minimum average uplift rate since their

emergence.

4. Neogene sedimentary record and

palaeogeographic evolution of the area

The Neogene basins in southern Spain are filled by

sedimentary units separated by unconformities. The

facies distribution in coeval units from different basins

is used here to reconstruct the palaeogeography of the

study area in successive time slices. The outcrops of

the pre-upper Tortonian units are generally small and

disconnected, making an accurate reconstruction of

the paleogeography before the late Tortonian difficult.

The stratigraphic record and data quality is substan-

tially better for younger deposits, and therefore, the

descriptions below focus on the palaeogeography of

the area during the deposition of the upper Tortonian,

uppermost Tortonian– lowermost Messinian, lower

Messinian, upper Messinian and lower Pliocene sedi-

mentary units.

4.1. Pre-Tortonian evolution

The progressive unroofing and erosion of Betic

nappes is recorded by the lithological variety of clasts

incorporated in various types of mass-flow deposits

within lower Miocene pelagic sediments (Rodrıguez-

Fernandez, 1982). However, the first evidence for

emerging Betic basement highs is the occurrence of

upper Langhian coral reefs and associated coastal

conglomerates in the southern Granada Basin (Braga

et al., 1996a) and in the Vera Basin (Barragan, 1997).

In the Granada Basin these deposits appear in a single

isolated outcrop near Murchas (Fig. 1), indicating the

presence to the north of an emerged Betic island,

probably the precursor of the Sierra Nevada–La

Tortola chain (Fig. 1). The nature of the clasts in the

conglomerates suggests that only the uppermost Betic

complex in the area (the Alpujarride Complex) was

exposed and eroded. The occurrence of Langhian

coral reefs in deposits from the Vera Basin points to

the existence of an emerged relief in the eastern part of

the present-day Sierra de los Filabres as well. Most

clasts in the associated conglomerates here come from

the uppermost basement complex, the Malaguide

Complex, but Alpujarride rocks were eroded as well

(Barragan, 1997).

To the north, Langhian shallow-water marine lime-

stones were deposited on the platform that developed

on the southern margin of the Iberian Massif, corre-

sponding to the Prebetic, i.e., the northern domain of

the Betic External Zone. These shallow-water carbo-

nates change southwards to slope and basinal marls

and mass-flow deposits (Comas, 1978; Geel et al.,

1992), thereby suggesting a complete disconnection

between the Betic island(s) and the Iberian mainland

by a deep-water trough (‘‘North Betic Straits’’, Geel et

al., 1992).

In the southern Granada Basin, the upper-Langhian

shallow-marine deposits are overlain by a continental

unit of red conglomerates, sandstones and silts (Fig. 2)

that can be traced around Sierra Nevada (Rodrıguez-

Fernandez, 1982). Flanking the Sierra de los Filabres,

red-to-grey conglomerates overlying marine upper?

Langhian marls, older Neogene units or the basement

has been interpreted as alluvial and fan-delta deposits

(Kleverlaan, 1989; Doyle et al., 1996) (Fig. 3). The

red conglomerates extend southwards to the Sierras de

la Contraviesa and Gador (Rodrıguez-Fernandez et

al., 1990), Alhamilla and Cabrera (Montenat, 1990;

Barragan, 1997), and northwards to the Sierra de las

Estancias (Braga and Martın, 1988) and Sierra de

Baza (Soria, 1993), underlying later marine deposits

in the basins. These continental deposits indicate the

existence of a large emerged Betic upland (Fig. 5). In

the Granada Basin, micromammal fossils in the red

silts point to a Serravallian age (Martın-Suarez et al.,

1993), but in general the age of the red conglomeratic

units is poorly constrained and a lowermost Tortonian

age, suggested by authors such as Montenat (1990)

and Doyle et al. (1996) at least for parts of the units,

cannot be discarded, even though in most localities

they are overlain by lower Tortonian marine sedi-

ments.

To the south of Sierra Alhamilla and Sierra Cab-

rera, the Serravallian and lower-Tortonian deposits are

pelagic marls (Serrano, 1990). Together with the

occurrence of deep-water Serravallian deposits in the

southern External Zone (Subbetic domain, Soria,

1993), this suggests that the red units formed on an

island separated from the Iberian mainland (Fig. 5).

The existence of such a large emergent Betic

upland by the end of the Serravallian–earliest Torto-


nian is in agreement with the timing of cooling to

near-surface temperatures of the rocks of the

Nevado–Filabride Complex, as recorded by fission

tracks in zircon and apatite (Johnson et al., 1997). The

age of this cooling is about 12 Ma in the Sierra de los

Filabres, 11.7 Ma in eastern Sierra Nevada and about

9 Ma in western Sierra Nevada (Johnson et al., 1997).

This variation in cooling age from east to west

suggests that the unroofing of the Nevado–Filabride

Complex progressed diachronously from east to west

(Johnson et al., 1997). This hypothesis is supported by

the provenance of clasts in the Serravallian conglom-

erates: whereas in the Sierra de los Filabres the

Nevado–Filabride Complex was already unroofed

and contributing clasts (Braga and Martın, 1988), in

the western Sierra Nevada only the Alpujarride Com-

plex was exposed and eroded (Rodrıguez-Fernandez

et al., 1990).

4.2. Early Tortonian

The continental/fan-delta Serravallian–lowermost-

Tortonian red siliciclastic deposits are overlain by

lower Tortonian, shallow-marine mixed bioclastic

and siliciclastic deposits (Rodrıguez-Fernandez,

1982; Braga et al., 1990; Rivas et al., 1999) (Figs. 2

and 3). Except for the Granada Basin, the outcrops of

these bioclastic rocks are disconnected, making palae-

oenvironmental interpretation and dating difficult.

Consequently, the palaeogeography of the study area

Fig. 5. Serravallian– lowermost Tortonian? palaeogeography in southern Spain. Significant outcrops delineate the minimum extension of the

emergent land.


cannot be reconstructed for the early Tortonian with

the same confidence as for later intervals.

Lower Tortonian carbonate platforms rim the La

Tortola–Sierra Nevada–Sierra de los Filabres chain

(Rodrıguez-Fernandez, 1982), suggesting that this

chain remained emergent during the early Tortonian.

Terrigenous material shed from upland fed localised

fan deltas around Sierra Nevada. The clasts in these

fan deltas indicate that the Alpujarride Complex was

still the only basament complex at the surface in the

western Sierra Nevada (Rodrıguez-Fernandez, 1982;

Martın and Braga, 1997) (Fig. 6).

Lower Tortonian shallow-marine deposits occur

south of the La Tortola–Sierra Nevada–Sierra de

los Filabres chain in scattered outcrops on the south-

ern margins of the Tabernas, Sorbas and Vera basins.

The Alpujarride provenance of the clasts suggests

they derived from locally emergent reliefs at the

location of the modern Sierra Alhamilla and Sierra

Cabrera. Coastal volcaniclastic and bioclastic deposits

point to the existence of emergent volcanic highs in

the Cabo de Gata volcanic province at this time

(Braga et al., 1996b; Betzler et al., 1997).

North of the La Tortola–Sierra Nevada–Sierra de

los Filabres chain, shallow-water platforms with car-

bonate sedimentation extended over both Internal and

External Zone substrates. Several Subbetic upland

areas were already emerged (Rodrıguez-Fernandez,

Fig. 6. Erosion pulses of western Sierra Nevada and stratigraphic architecture of the corresponding conglomerate units (modified from Martın

and Braga, 1997).


1982) and islands rimmed by shallow-water marine

platforms replaced the former deep-water trough in

the North Betic Straits (Soria, 1993). However, the

lack of accurate dating and sedimentological analysis

of the shallow-water deposits makes reconstructing

the precise palaeogeography of the External Zone at

this time a difficult task. The Iberian mainland

expanded southwards by the partial emersion of the

Prebetic domain, on which shallow-marine sedimen-

tation is restricted to the southernmost areas.

4.3. Late Tortonian

Upper Tortonian deposits in the Neogene basins in

the study area comprise proximal deltaic siliciclastic

sediments and carbonates that include coral reefs.

These proximal deposits pass laterally to distal marls,

silty marls and turbidite sandstones and conglomer-

ates (Martın et al., 1989; Braga et al., 1990; Martın

and Braga, 1994) (Figs. 2 and 3). The distribution of

these upper Tortonian deposits indicates that a narrow

platform with coral reefs and localised fan deltas

rimmed the southern margin of the Sierra Nevada–

Sierra de los Filabres chain (Martın and Braga, 1996),

but to the south of this main chain deep-water marine

basins developed in areas that had been emergent

during the early Tortonian and at the end of the

Middle Miocene (Fig. 7). Upper Tortonian marls

and turbidites were deposited on top of the continental

conglomeratic and shallow-marine bioclastic units in

the Alpujarra, Tabernas, Sorbas and Vera basins

(Rodrıguez-Fernandez et al., 1990; Weijermars et al.,

1985; Kleverlaan, 1989), which were laterally con-

nected at that time. Pelagic sediments encroach the

sides of present-day sierras south of these basins, such

as the Contraviesa, Gador, Alhamilla and Cabrera.

These sierras have no shallow-water deposits around

them, indicating that they were not emergent (Fig. 7).

Nevertheless, current direction and sedimentary body

geometries suggest the existence of submarine swells

at the modern location of the sierras (Haughton, 1994,

2000). Deep-water marine sedimentation extended

southwards to the Almerıa–Nıjar (Serrano, 1990)

and Alboran basins (Comas et al., 1996).

The Nevado–Filabride Complex was unroofed and

subjected to erosion, providing clasts incorporated in

fan-delta conglomerates deposited around the Sierra

Nevada for the first time, especially at its western end

(Martın and Braga, 1997; Fig. 6). Coral reefs devel-

oped on these fan deltas and on the shelves rimming

the emergent uplands, thus allowing the upper Torto-

nian palaeogeography to be accurately traced (Esteban

et al., 1996). La Tortola remained as an island (Braga

et al., 1990) and the main relief was the Sierra

Nevada–Sierra de los Filabres chain, which merged

with the extensively emergent External Zone to the

north (Rodrıguez-Fernandez, 1982; Soria, 1993; Soria

et al., 1999). The northern coasts of the marine

Granada and Guadix basins were rimmed by coral

reefs as well (Fig. 7). By the end of the late Tortonian,

most of the Subbetic and Prebetic areas formed a

continuous mainland with the Iberian Massif (Soria et

al., 1999; Fig. 7). The Guadalquivir basin was still

open to the Atlantic and the Guadix basin was con-

nected to the east with the main Mediterranean by the

Almanzora corridor. Some fan deltas developed in this

corridor, probably reflecting a pulse in the uplift of the

Sierra de los Filabres. The northern coast of the reef-

fringed Almanzora corridor (Martın et al., 1989) was

formed by an Internal Zone high (Sierra de las

Estancias), probably continuous with the above-men-

tioned emergent External Zone.

4.4. Latest Tortonian–earliest Messinian

Uppermost Tortonian–lowermost Messinian rocks

in the Granada and Guadix basins consist of fluviatile

conglomerates, sandstones and silts with lacustrine

clays and evaporites (Dabrio et al., 1982; Martın et al.,

1984; Soria et al., 1999; Garcıa-Aguilar and Martın,

2000; Fig. 2). In the basins south of the Sierra

Nevada–Sierra de los Filabres, proximal deposits of

this age comprise bioclastic carbonates with various

proportions of siliciclastic grains (Fig. 3) and local

fan-delta conglomerates (Rodrıguez-Fernandez et al.

1990; Martın and Braga, 1994), except for the Taber-

nas Basin in which only siliciclastic fan deltas occur

(Kleverlaan, 1989). All these shallow-water materials

pass laterally to distal marls and turbidite conglom-

erates and sandstones (Kleverlaan, 1989; Haughton,

1994; Braga et al., 2001). The geographical distribu-

tion of the deposits from this time interval indicates

that at the end of the Tortonian, the Granada, Guadix

and Almanzora basins were uplifted and became

continental basins with fluviatile and lacustrine sed-

imentation. The Sierra de la Contraviesa, Sierra de


Gador and Sierra Alhamilla were also uplifted and

emerged, restricting the marine basins to the south of

the Sierra Nevada–Sierra de los Filabres as a narrow

E–W corridor open to the Alboran Basin through the

Andarax Corridor and to the Mediterranean through

the Vera and Almerıa–Nıjar basins (Fig. 8A and B).

Re-folding of the Betic basement units by crustal

shortening and isostatic uplift has been suggested as

the most likely mechanism to explain the emergence

of Sierra Alhamilla at the end of the Tortonian

Fig. 7. (A) Upper Tortonian palaeogeography of southern Spain. (B) Enlarged schematic map of the study area showing the outcrops of reefs

and other coastal deposits of this age (modified from Esteban et al., 1996).


(Weijermars et al., 1985). In the Cabo de Gata area

several volcanic highs, including recently formed

volcanic domes, were also emergent (Martın et al.,

1996; Betzler et al., 2000).

4.5. Early Messinian (pre-evaporitic)

Lower Messinian marine deposits are restricted to

the SE Betic Neogene basins. In the study area, they

Fig. 8. (A) Uppermost Tortonian– lowermost Messinian palaeogeography of southern Spain. (B) Enlarged schematic map of the study area. (C)

Lower Messinian palaeogeography of SE Spain. (D) Upper Messinian palaeogeography of SE Spain. Note the progressive emergence of the

sierras and surrounding areas in the region from west to east during the Messinian (B–C).


occur in the Tabernas, Sorbas, Vera, Poniente and

Almerıa–Nıjar basins. Proximal sediments of this age

consist of two successive reef units characterised

respectively by bioherms and fringing reefs with

associated calcarenites and calcirudites (Riding et

al., 1991; Martın and Braga, 1994; Fig. 3). Bodies

of deltaic siliciclastic deposits occur locally among

these carbonates (Braga and Martın, 1996). Both reef

units change laterally to silty marls, marls and turbi-

dite conglomerates and sandstones (Fig. 3). As before,

siliciclastic deposits prevailed in the Tabernas Basin

(Kleverlaan, 1989; Haughton, 2000). The location of

lower Messinian reef outcrops suggests a landward

displacement of the palaeocoast around the Sierra

Nevada–Sierra de los Filabres that could be the result

of the global eustatic sea-level rise recorded during

the early Messinian (Haq et al., 1987). Uplift none-

theless continued in the Sierra de Gador and Sierra

Alhamilla, both of which expanded to displace the

palaeocoast radially from the sierra axes. The western

part of the Alpujarra corridor was also uplifted,

restricting the marine basin to its easternmost part as

the emergent areas in the Sierra de la Contraviesa–

Sierra de Gador chain merged with the Sierra Nevada

(Fig. 8C). In the Cabo de Gata, a re-arrangement of

the volcanic highs produced changes in the palaeo-

geography of the area (Braga et al., 1996b).

4.6. Late Messinian

After the desiccation of the Mediterranean related

to the ‘‘Messinian Salinity Crisis’’ and before the end

of the Messinian, the sea re-invaded the Tabernas,

Sorbas, Vera and Almerıa–Nıjar basins (Riding et al.,

1998), but the area of marine sedimentation was more

restricted compared to previous periods. Evaporites,

mainly gypsum, formed in the first phases of sea-level

recovery. As the sea level rose, conglomerates, sand-

stones, oolites, stromatolites and coral patch-reefs

formed on top of the previous lower Messinian reef

platforms (Fig. 3; Dabrio et al., 1985; Martın et al.,

1993). These proximal deposits change basinwards to

silts and silty marls with turbidite intercalations (Mar-

tın et al., 1993; Aguirre and Sanchez-Almazo, 2000).

During this period, a N–S high separated the Taber-

nas and Sorbas basins. The Sierra Cabrera remained

as a submerged swell during the early Messinian with

no evidence of shallow-water sedimentation around it

(Braga et al., 2001) and emerged in the late Messinian

to separate the open-marine Vera Basin from the

restricted evaporitic Almerıa–Nıjar Basin to the south

(Riding et al., 1998; Fig. 7D).

4.7. Early Pliocene

During the early Pliocene, marine sedimentation

took place only in the basins closest to the present-

day Mediterranean: the Poniente, Almerıa–Nıjar and

Vera basins, except for a brief sea invasion of the

already continental Sorbas Basin (Mather, 1991).

The lower Pliocene proximal deposits in these basins

include mostly conglomerates and sandstones, with

variable proportions of bioclastic material and cal-

carenites locally. These coarse-grained sediments

change laterally and prograde over distal silts and

silty marls (Fortuin et al., 1995; Stokes, 1997;

Aguirre, 1998). The emergence of the eastern portion

of the Alpujarra corridor and the eastern part of the

Fig. 9. Lower Pliocene palaeogeography of southeastern Spain (modified from Aguirre, 1998).


Fig. 10. Altitude in metres of the outcrops of lower Tortonian inner-platform deposits in the study area. Contour interval, 100 m. A few contours

have been suppressed for clarity.

Fig. 11. Altitude in metres of the outcrops of upper Tortonian reefs and other coastal deposits in the study area. Contour interval, 100 m. A few

contours have been suppressed for clarity.


Tabernas basin concentrated the southern siliciclastic

discharge from the Sierra Nevada–Sierra de los

Filabres in a delta located between the Sierra de

Gador and Sierra Alhamilla and open to the Alme-

rıa–Nıjar Basin (Postma, 1983) (Fig. 9). The vol-

canic relief of the Cabo de Gata was almost

completely emerged except for small embayments

of the Mediterranean Sea, such as the Carboneras

and Agua Amarga basins (Aguirre, 1998). The

coarse-grained clastics produced by their erosion

accumulated in a delta discharging into the Alme-

rıa–Nıjar basin (Boorsma, 1992, 1993) (Fig. 9).

At the end of the early Pliocene, a regression in all

the marine basins in the area resulted in a progressive

withdrawal of the sea. The palaeogeography during

the late Pliocene, probably after an uplift pulse

(Aguirre, 1998), was quite similar to the present day

and only the southernmost areas of the Almerıa–Nıjar

and Poniente basins were still covered by the sea,

forming a shallow bay (Aguirre, 1998).

As mentioned above, the Granada and Guadix

basins have been continental since the latest Torto-

nian. The source of the conglomerate clasts and the

locations of alluvial fans suggest a widening of the

Sierra Nevada relief during the early Pliocene (Martın

and Braga, 1997) (Fig. 6). During the late Pliocene

and Pleistocene, a later denudation phase associated

with the eastern part of Sierra Nevada is recorded in

the Guadix Basin (Garcıa-Aguilar and Martın, 2000)

and the emergent Tabernas Basin (Kleverlaan, 1989).

5. Uplift amounts and average rates

We report here the amount and average rate of

uplift of shoreline-marker rocks of the analysed time

Fig. 12. Altitude in metres of the outcrops of uppermost Tortonian– lowermost Messinian inner-platform deposits in the study area. Contour

interval, 100 m. A few contours have been suppressed for clarity.


slices since the early Tortonian. The current elevation

corrected with the known values of global sea-level

position at the time of deposition (amount of rock

uplift) of outcrops of rocks of the succesive units is

plotted in Figs. 10–14. The contours indicate points

of estimated similar uplift since the formation of the

rocks. The absolute age range of the rocks of each

analysed time slice is discussed and then used to

obtain the average uplift rate since deposition.

In the case of the Sierra Nevada–Sierra de los

Filabres chain, uplift rates can be estimated only for

the surrounding basin margins, since the altitude that

had been reached by the major Middle Miocene

upland area when the lower Tortonian shallow-marine

sedimentation started is unknown. The subsequent

uplift history of the spine of the sierras is also poorly

constrained.

5.1. Lower Tortonian rocks

Outcrops of lower Tortonian inner-platform depos-

its reach their maximum elevations in the western and

northwestern margins of the Sierra Nevada and in the

Sierra Arana, with altitudes of up to 1830 m (Sanz de

Galdeano and Lopez-Garrido, 1999), which can be

considered the minimum uplift value of Sierra Nevada

since the early Tortonian (Fig. 10). According to

Brachert et al. (1996), these platform deposits prob-

ably formed during the global sea-level lowstand

separating cycles TB3.1 and TB3.2 of Haq et al.

(1987). The estimated global sea level at that low-

stand was about 10 m lower than at the present-day

(Hardenbol et al., 1998). This difference in sea level

is lower than our methodological error in estimating

sea-level position by inner-platform facies distribu-

tion and is a negligible percentage of the present-day

altitude of the lower-Tortonian outcrops in the study

area.

The elevation values for the lower Tortonian inner-

platform deposits decrease in very steep gradients

towards the Granada and Valle de Lecrın depressions

(Fig. 10). Lower Tortonian shallow-water deposits in

Sierra de la Tortola crop out up to 1380 m, defining a

highly elevated area separated from Sierra Nevada

(Fig. 10). In the eastern part of the Sierra Nevada–

Sierra de los Filabres chain, the maximum height of

lower Tortonian inner-platform deposits always

remains below 870 m, suggesting a general eastward

decrease of the Sierra Nevada–Sierra de los Filabres

average uplift since the early Tortonian.

Fig. 13. Altitude in metres of the outcrops of lower Messinian reefs in the study area. Contour interval, 100 m. A few contours have been

suppressed for clarity.


The lower Tortonian mixed siliciclastic and bio-

clastic materials considered here formed after the

appearance of N. acostaensis (Rivas et al., 1999)

dated at 10.9 Ma (Berggren et al., 1995) and before

the first occurrence of N. humerosa (Martın-Perez,

1997) at 8.5 Ma (Berggren et al., 1995). The most

accurate estimate for the age of these deposits is the Sr

isotopic age of approximately 9.2 Ma determined in

Sierra Alhamilla by Hodgson (2002). This age value

implies maximum average uplift rates since the early

Tortonian (for the deposits at the western Sierra

Nevada margin) of up to 200 m/Ma (Fig. 15A).

5.2. Upper Tortonian rocks

The first occurrence of N. humerosa (8.5 Ma,

Berggren et al., 1995) is in the fine-grained materials

at the bottom of the upper Tortonian reef unit in the

Granada Basin and in the Almanzora Corridor

(Guerra-Merchan and Serrano, 1993; Martın-Perez,

1997). The Planktonic Foraminifer Event 1 of Sierro

et al. (1993), dated at 7.5 Ma (Krijgsman et al., 1997),

is recorded almost at the top of this unit in the Sorbas

Basin (Sanchez-Almazo, 1999). Upper Tortonian

reefs, therefore, formed approximately in the time

interval from 8.5 to 7.5 Ma. According to Esteban

et al. (1996) and Brachert et al. (1996), this upper

Tortonian reef unit can be correlated with the high-

stand of TB3.2 cycle of Haq et al. (1987), which

reached a sea level about 30 m above the present-day

one (Hardenbol et al., 1998).

The maximum altitudes of outcrops of upper Tor-

tonian reef and other coastal sediments are concen-

trated at the western and northwestern margins of

Sierra Nevada and southeastern Sierra Arana, with a

rapid decrease in values towards the Granada depres-

sion away from the Sierra Nevada (Fig. 11). La

Tortola stands out as an area of highly elevated upper

Tortonian reef outcrops isolated from the Sierra

Nevada. As in the underlying sedimentary unit, max-

imum outcrop elevation generally decreases towards

the eastern Sierra Nevada–Sierra de los Filabres

Fig. 14. Altitude in metres of the outcrops of lower Pliocene inner-platform deposits in the study area. Contour interval, 100 m. A few contours

have been suppressed for clarity.


chain. In some areas, such as to the north and north-

west of Granada, the similarity in altitude of the lower

and upper Tortonian deposits indicates that almost no

uplift took place at those basin margins between the

formation of the two sedimentary units, except per-

haps for the several tens of metres needed to com-

pensate for global sea-level rise between the formation

of the lower and upper units. These areas were,

therefore, mostly uplifted during the last 7.5 Ma. In

other regions, such as the western Sierra Nevada

margin and La Tortola, significant uplifts of one to

several hundred metres are recorded from 9 to 7.5 Ma.

The maximum average rate of uplift estimated for

the upper Tortonian coastal sediments since their

formation is approximately 150F 10 m/Ma (Fig.

15A). This value for the reefs in La Tortola and the

western Sierra Nevada and Sierra Arana margins

contrasts strongly with the much lower rates of 60

m/Ma estimated for the outcrops in the Alpujarra and

the eastern Almanzora corridors.

Fig. 15. (A) Maximum average uplift rates since formation of the coastal rocks from the lower Tortonian to the lower Pliocene in SE Spain. (B)

Minimum average uplift rates of the highest peaks in Sierra de Gador, Sierra Alhamilla and Sierra Cabrera. Rates correspond to m/Ma. Shaded

segments in the time scale correspond to the constrained interval of formation for the studied units.


5.3. Uppermost Tortonian– lowermost Messinian

rocks

The uppermost Tortonian–lowermost Messinian

bioclastic carbonates were deposited after 7.5 Ma

(datum recorded in the underlying unit). These shal-

low-water carbonates change laterally and upwards to

marls and silty marls in which the first occurrence of

Globorotalia mediterranea (dated at 7.2 Ma, Krijgs-

man et al., 1997) has been recorded (Sierro et al.,

1993). An absolute age of 7.2F 0.2 Ma is considered

the best estimate for this sedimentary unit, which

probably formed during the lowstand separating

cycles TB3.2 and TB3.3 of Haq et al. (1987) (Martın

and Braga, 1994; Brachert et al., 1996). The global

sea level was only 5 m lower than today (Hardenbol et

al., 1998), which makes a negligible difference to the

uplift-rate estimates for this sedimentary unit.

The uppermost Tortonian–earliest Messinian shal-

low-water carbonates formed in the southeastern Betic

basins in areas which had yet to emerge by the late

Tortonian. The maximum altitudes of the inner-plat-

form carbonate outcrops of this age can be found in

the Sierra de Gador at ca. 1600 m (Fig. 12). The

elevation of the outcrops decreases radially outwards

from the centre of the sierra. Outcrop altitude likewise

decreases away from the margins of Sierra de la

Contraviesa, Sierra Alhamilla and Sierra de los Fila-

bres to the surrounding depressions. In addition, a

general decrease in elevation of the inner-platform

outcrops of this unit from the Sierra de Gador to the

east can also be recognised. The lowest outcrops in

the study area occur in the Vera Basin at the eastern

end of Sierra de Filabres (Fig. 12).

The Sierra de Gador was not emergent during the

deposition of the upper-Tortonian reef unit (Fig. 7).

The highest peak of the sierra (2126 m) has therefore

been uplifted over the last 7.5 Ma with a minimum

average rate of 280 m/Ma (Fig. 15B). The highest

outcrops of uppermost Tortonian–lowermost Messi-

nian carbonates in the sierra rose at an average rate of

220F 5 m/Ma over the last 7.2F 0.2 Ma (Fig. 14A).

Likewise, the Sierra Alhamilla emerged after the

deposition of the upper-Tortonian reef unit (Figs. 7

and 8A,B) and its highest peak (1387 m) was uplifted

at a minimum average rate of 180 m/Ma (Fig. 15B).

The areas with outcrops of uppermost Tortonian–

lowermost Messinian carbonates at the eastern margin

of Sierra Alhamilla have uplifted at much lower rates

(from 100 to 40 m/Ma).

5.4. Lower Messinian rocks

The Messinian reefs were coeval with the Plank-

tonic Foraminifer Event 4 of Sierro et al. (1993, dated

at 6.36 Ma by Krijgsman et al., 1997) recorded in the

lower reef unit (Braga and Martın, 1996), continuing

until the end of the pre-evaporitic Messinian marine

sedimentation dated at 5.9 Ma in the Sorbas Basin

(Gautier et al., 1994; Krijgsman et al., 1999). The pre-

evaporitic Messinian reefs in the basins of southeast-

ern Spain therefore grew from approximately 6.4 to

5.9 Ma, during the highstand of Cycle TB3.3 of Haq

et al. (1987) (Martın and Braga, 1994; Brachert et al.,

1996). The highest sea level in this highstand was

about 40 m above present-day sea level (Hardenbol et

al., 1998). Sea-level oscillations have been recorded

within the Messinian reef units (Goldstein and

Franseen, 1995; Braga and Martın, 1996), but reefs

at the highest altitudes in each outcrop area probably

formed at the peak of the global highstand.

The Messinian reefs crop out several tens of metres

higher than the previous bioclastic-carbonate unit at the

Sierra de los Filabres margin (Fig. 13). This increase in

elevation is mostly the result of a global sea-level rise

between the formation of the two units, implying that

the margin of Sierra de los Filabres was essentially

stable from 7.2 to 5.9Ma and no substantial uplift of the

area took place during that time interval. In contrast, the

northeastern margin of the Sierra Alhamilla was prob-

ably uplifted some tens of metres since the uppermost

Tortonian–lowermost Messinian bioclastic carbonates

crop out several tens of metres higher than the Messi-

nian reefs. Discounting the additional 40 m in the

global sea level compared to the present day, maximum

average uplift rates of the reef outcrops have been

110F 5 m/Ma (Fig. 15A). Present-day Messinian reef

altitudes (Fig. 13) and the corresponding uplift rates

decrease towards the eastern Sierra de Filabres and

towards the depression of the Almerıa–Nıjar Basin

away from Sierra de Gador and Sierra Alhamilla.

5.5. Upper Messinian

After the desiccation of the Mediterranean related

to the ‘‘Messinian Salinity Crisis’’ and evaporite


formation, sea level recovered and the remaining

marine basins in SE Spain were re-flooded at the

end of the Messinian (Riding et al., 1998) (Fig 8D).

The first sedimentary evidence of the emergence of

the Sierra Cabrera is coeval with gypsum deposition

in the Sorbas and Almerıa–Nıjar basins, which took

place approximately 5.5 Ma ago (Riding et al., 1998,

1999). The highest peak in Sierra Cabrera (961 m) has

been uplifted at a minimum average rate of 170 m/Ma

since then (Fig. 15B).

5.6. Lower Pliocene rocks

The marine sedimentation in the basins of south-

eastern Almerıa continued during the early Pliocene

and shallow-water platform deposits from this age

can be used to estimate the uplift of the basin

margins since then. The lower Pliocene deposits in

the Almerıa basin formed from 5.2 to 3.6 Ma (Aguirre,

1998), which includes the highstand of the TB3.4

cycle of Haq et al. (1987) with a highest sea level

some 90 m above the present-day level (Hardenbol et

al., 1998).

The highest elevations of lower Pliocene inner-

platform deposits are found in the Tabernas Basin

(620 m), decreasing southwards along the modern

Andarax Valley depression (Fig. 14). High altitudes

of up to 540 m are concentrated around Sorbas while

altitudes of up to 410 m are recorded in the Almerıa–

Nıjar basin, where outcrop elevation decreases south-

wards away from Sierra Alhamilla and Sierra Cabrera.

This was the last episode of marine sedimentation in

the Tabernas and Sorbas basins as they emerged above

sea level soon afterwards. Taking into account that

global sea-level was up to 90 m higher during the

early Pliocene than today, average uplift rates range

between 70 and 100F 20 m/Ma for the Sorbas Basin

outcrops and up to 120F 20 m/Ma for the Tabernas

Basin (Fig. 15A). If we accept the above-mentioned

figure of a lower Pliocene sea level 90 m higher than

today, the Poniente area has subsided during the last

3.6 Ma, since all the lower Pliocene outcrops in the

area are below 80 m. Nonetheless, uncertainties intro-

duced by the methodological error of estimating

palaeobathymetry (F 30 m in the case of inner-plat-

form deposits), together with the difficulties of estab-

lishing the accurate timing of sediment formation in

the Poniente Basin in relation to the sea-level oscil-

lations inside the lower Pliocene sea-level cycles,

prevent any confident conclusion.

6. Concluding remarks

The palaeogeographic evolution of the Internal

Zone of the Betic Cordillera from the end of the

Middle Miocene to the Pliocene can be summarised

as follows:

–There was a large island at the end of the Middle

Miocene, which records the initial uplift of the

present-day highest peaks in the Betic Cordillera,

the Sierra Nevada–Sierra de los Filabres chain (Fig.

5). The spine of this chain remained emergent for the

rest of the Cenozoic but during the early Tortonian the

sea invaded the previously emergent southern part of

the Middle Miocene island on which the Alpujarra,

Tabernas, Sorbas and Vera basins started to develop as

marginal basins connected to the Alboran Basin (Fig.

7).

–These basins reached their maximum water depth

during the late Tortonian and became narrow corridors

at the end of this interval, when the Sierra de la

Contraviesa, Sierra de Gador and Sierra Alhamilla

emerged (Fig. 8A,B).

–Major uplift of the External Zone connected the

Betic islands to the Iberian mainland during the

Tortonian. In the latemost Tortonian, the inland Gran-

ada and Guadix basins, together with the Almanzora

Corridor, became continental.

–The Sierra Cabrera emerged in the Late Messi-

nian, suggesting a progressive uplift from west to east

of the southern sierras (Sierra de la Contraviesa, Sierra

de Gador, Sierra Alhamilla and Sierra Cabrera) (Fig.

8A–D).

–During the Pliocene only the basins closest to the

modern Mediterranean remained marine and progres-

sively emerged throughout this period (Fig. 9).

–The average rock uplift rates of upper–Neogene

coastal and shallow–water marine deposits in the

study area since their formation have maximum values

of approximately 200 m/Ma. The maximum average

uplift rate calculated for a particular sierra since its

emergence is 280 m/Ma in the case of Sierra de Gador.

All these values lie well below the exhumation rates

estimated for the of the Nevado–Filabride Complex

after metamorphism (500–700 m/Ma, Weijermars et


al., 1985) or during its cooling to near-surface temper-

atures by extensional tectonic unroofing. Johnson et

al. (1997) proposed cooling rates of 105–200 jC/Ma

from 25 to 10 Ma, which may equal exhumation rates

of 700–1400 m/Ma. Platt and Whitehouse (1999)

obtained minumum exhumation rates of 6000 m/Ma

from approximately 27–19 Ma for diverse Betic

basement units.

–A general fall of average uplift rates since dep-

osition with time can be recognised: The average rates

since deposition are generally lower for younger units

from the lower Tortonian to the lower Pliocene (Fig.

15A). The estimated average rates also imply that

most of the uplift of the Betic mountains took place

before the early Pliocene.

–Since the early Tortonian, the regional uplift of

the Betic complexes and the basins that developed on

them has been highest in the western Sierra Nevada

(the location of present-day peaks higher than 3000

m) and the surrounding basin margins. The average

rates of uplift since the formation of the analysed

sedimentary units has been progressively lower to the

east (Figs. 10–14).

–The altitude reached and the implied uplift rates

for the shoreline markers of any age also decrease

away from the present-day sierras, where the uplift

was obviously greatest during the late Neogene his-

tory of relief generation (Figs. 10–14).

–The major sierras and depressions that dominate

the modern landscape directly correspond respec-

tively to the emergent land and marine basins during

the palaeogeographical evolution before the progres-

sive emergence of the region. The altitude of the

sierras also reflects their age as emergent uplands,

the highest mountains being the first to rise above

sea level.

Acknowledgements

JCB and JMM’s work was funded by the Fundacion

Ramon Areces, Project ‘‘Cambios climaticos en el sur

de Espana durante el Neogeno’’ and DGCYT Project

PB97-0809. We are very grateful to Juan Gonzalez

Lastra (TECNA) for his technical support and advice

on the elaboration of altitude contour maps. We thank

P. Haughton and L. Lonergan for their critical

comments that helped us to improve the manuscript.

We are most grateful to Antonio Herrera (Parque

Nacional de Sierra Nevada) for his assistance with

fieldwork inside the Sierra Nevada Park. We also thank

Christine Laurin for the revision of the English text.

This research has been carried out within the frame-

work of IGCP 453 ‘‘Uniformitarism revisited: a

comparison of recent and ancient orogens’’.

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