Tectonic systems tract and depositional architecture of the western border of the Triassic Iberian Trough (central Spain)

During the Permian and Triassic, a sedimentary wedge developed overlying a listric normal fault on the western border of the Iberian Trough, central Spain. An area was selected for study that provides optimal conditions for a detailed analysis to be made of relationships between geometric strata arrangements, tectonic control and sedimentary responses. The excellent quality of the outcrops allows the observed patterns of strata to be related to fault growth and development of the basin. The recognition and mapping of local discontinuities throughout the study area were possible. Packages of similar strata with different angularity can be discerned between the two main discontinuities. Geometrical relationships can be established for depositional unit boundaries. The architectural style and sediment dispersal patterns, interpreted as the result of interactions between sedimentation and tectonics, are integrated into a three-dimensional tectono-sedimentary facies model to explain the basin's stratigraphic successions. As the basic control over the spatial distribution and temporal evolution of the basin's infilling is interpreted to be tectonic, the rift-related, three-dimensionally linked depositional systems recognized might be defined as tectonic systems tract [Prosser, S., 1993, Rift-related linked depositional systems and their seismic expression. In: Williams, G.D., Dobb, A. (Eds.), Tectonics and Seismic Sequence Stratigraphy. Geol. Sec., London, Spec. Publ. 71, 35-66]. Five such tracts are recognized and related to specific phases of tectonic development.