Daniel Pastor-Galán

Spanish National Research Council | CSIC

Subduction initiation remains elusive because no present example exists. Ophiolites formed over nascent subduction zones in the past provide the key to constraining the processes of subduction initiation. Here we document three Cambrian ophiolites with supra-subduction zone affinity, which likely reflect the inception of a plate-boundary scale subd...

Curved mountain belts are spectacular natural features that contain crucial 3D information about the tectonic evolution of orogenic systems in the absence of other kinematic markers. The Mesozoic units exposed in the Mexican Fold and Thrust Belt in northeastern Mexico show a striking curvature, whose kinematic history has not been studied. The exis...

Plain Language Summary The opening of oceans within subduction related accretionary orogens is a process that is common within the geologic record. The tectonic mechanisms involved in this process, however, are not well understood. The Mongol–Okhotsk Ocean began opening within the Early Paleozoic accretionary collage of the Central Asian Orogenic B...

Subduction is the main driver of plate tectonics. The initiation of subduction zones is a foundational step in this context, but remains elusive because no present example of subduction initiation exists. Ophiolites formed over nascent subduction zones in the past provide the key to constraining the processes of subduction initiation. In this study...

The Sierra Madre Oriental Orocline. Insights on the kinematics of the northern section of the Sierra Madre Oriental.

The kinematic history of the Philippine Sea Plate (PSP) is crucial for interpreting its geological record related to subduction initiation processes and the paleogeography of the junction between the Paleo-Pacific and Tethyan oceanic realms. However, reconstructing PSP's kinematic history is difficult because the plate has been surrounded by subduc...

Curved mountain belts are spectacular natural features, which contain crucial 3D information about the tectonic evolution of orogenic systems. The Mesozoic units exposed at the Cordilleran Mexican Fold and Thrust belt in NE Mexico show a striking curvature that has not been explained nor included in the existent tectonic models of the region. We ha...

The Cambrian Explosion (540-515 Ma ago) is arguably the most significant evolutionary transition after the origin of life. A variety of environmental perturbations including rising oxygen levels, changes in ocean chemistry and increased bio-essential elements have been correlated to this rapid faunal diversification. Anomalously high weathering flu...

The kinematic history of the Philippine Sea Plate (PSP) is crucial for interpreting its geological record related to subduction initiation processes and the paleogeography of the junction between the Paleo-Pacific and Tethyan oceanic realms. However, reconstructing PSP’s kinematic history is difficult because the plate has been surrounded by subduc...

Subduction initiation is a pivotal process in plate tectonics. Models of subduction initiation include the collapse of passive margins, oceanic transform faults, inversion of oceanic core complexes, and ridge failure but have ignored the potential effects of continental crust relicts within the oceanic crust. In this paper, we explore the role of m...

The Mexican Fold-and-Trust Belt is a winding belt that formed after a series of protracted tectonic events, which began with the onset of sedimentation in the basins formed during the break-up of Pangea and during the roll-back of the oceanic Kula plate in Jurassic times. Later, the continued subduction of Kula-Farallon constituent plates at the we...

The Late Paleozoic−Mesozoic Mongol-Okhotsk orogenic belt marks the final aggregation of East Asia. The geodynamics of the Mongol-Okhotsk oceanic plate subduction are still poorly understood due to its curved orogenic architecture, complex kinematics, and the protracted active continent margin that developed during oceanic subduction. Here, we repor...

The immense Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB) records the transition from the Pan‐Rodinian Mirovoi Ocean to the Paleo‐Asian Ocean, but the final closure of the Mirovoi Ocean remains unexplored. Here we document two new eclogite occurrences, located between CAOB microcontinents and the Ediacaran–Cambrian island arc in Mongolia. Pseudosection modeli...

The Late Paleozoic–Mesozoic Mongol–Okhotsk Ocean was the latest ocean basin witnessing the final amalgamation of East Asia. However, the kinematic evolution and geodynamics of Mongol–Okhotsk's subduction initiation remain enigmatic mainly due to the lack of appropriate studies of its ophiolitic records. Here, we report for the first time a subducti...

The Mongol–Okhotsk Belt, the youngest segment of Central Asian Orogenic Belt, was formed by the evolution and closure of the Mongol–Okhotsk Ocean. The oceanic closure formed two volcanoplutonic belts: Selenge Belt in the north and the Middle Gobi Belt in the south (in present day coordinates). However, the origin and tectonic evolution of the Mongo...

A new cross-journal special collection invites contributions on modern approaches used to investigate dynamics of volcanic processes.

The Cambrian Explosion (541-515 Myr ago) is arguably the most significant evolutionary transition after the origin of life1-2. A variety of environmental perturbations have been correlated to this rapid animal species diversification1-3. Increased weathering fluxes from the continents to the oceans are hypothesized to cause these perturbations4-6,...

Movie S2. Reconstruction movie showing deformation (strain rates) in the Variscan orogen during the late Carboniferous and Permian in the left and the finite strain in the right. Regions under deformation are shown in light to dark red colors (depending on the strain rate) if in extension whereas shortening is expressed in a scale of blue colors. T...

Supplementary Fig. S1. Paleomagnetic declinations of different areas of the Variscan belt respect to Baltica (A). Paleolatitudes of the Variscan belt respect to Baltica (B). Reference location is county Cork, Ireland: 52° N, −9° E. The supercontinent cycle explains how landmasses amalgamate into supercontinents that dismember after a ~ 100 Myr ten...

The supercontinent cycle explains how landmasses amalgamate into supercontinents that dismember after a ~ 100 Myr tenure in a quasi-periodic manner. Supercontinents are thought to be rigid superplates whose formation controls many of the Earth's secular variations, from long-term climate trends to global mantle circulation. Pangea, the latest conti...

The Mongol–Okhotsk Belt, the youngest segment of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt, formed by the evolution and closure of the Mongol–Okhotsk Ocean. The oceanic closure formed two volcanoplutonic belts: Selenge Belt in the north and Middle Gobi Belt in the south (in present day coordinates). However, the origin and tectonic evolution of the Mongol–Ok...

The Mongol-Okhotsk Belt is the youngest segment of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt, which is the venue of the massive juvenile crust emplacement, and its formation and evolutions are still pending problems. This paper presents the first up-to-date U Pb zircon ages, Hf-in-zircon isotope, geochemical and whole-rock Nd isotope data from igneous rocks...

Paleomagnetism is a versatile tool in the Earth sciences: it provides critical input to geological time scales and plate tectonic reconstructions. Despite its undeniable perks, paleomagnetism is not without complications. Remagnetizations overprinting the original magnetic signature of rocks are frequent, especially in orogens which tend to be the...

Paleomagnetism is a versatile tool in the Earth sciences: it provides critical input to geological time scales and plate tectonic reconstructions. Despite its undeniable perks, paleomagnetism is not without complications. Remagnetizations overprinting the original magnetic signature of rocks are frequent, especially in orogens which tend to be the...

Forearc basins preserve the geologic record relating strictly to arc magmatism. The provenance of forearc sediment can be used to differentiate periods of crustal growth, accretion, and destruction, enhanced magmatism, advancing and retreating subduction slabs, delamination, etc. These tectonic systems predict differing degrees of sedimentary rewor...

The Mineoka Ophiolite Mélange is located at the intersection of the Pacific, Philippine Sea, Eurasian, and North American plates. The Mineoka ophiolite origin is disputed, and it has been ascribed to a fully subducted plate or part of the Pacific and Philippine Sea plates. In this paper, we present a kinematic reconstruction of the Mineoka Ophiolit...

The Mongol–Okhotsk Belt is the youngest segment of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt, which is the venue of the massive juvenile crust emplacement, and it is formation and evolutions are still pending problems. This paper presents the first up-to-date U-Pb zircon ages, Hf-in-zircon isotope, geochemical and whole-rock Nd isotope data from igneous rock...

Forearc basins preserve the geologic record relating strictly to arc magmatism. The provenance of forearc sediment can be used to differentiate periods of crustal growth, accretion, and destruction, enhanced magmatism, advancing and retreating subduction slabs, delamination, etc. All these tectonic events systems predict differing degrees of sedime...

The Kitomyo Schist from Kurosegawa Belt, Shikoku, has been long considered as the oldest records of subduction metamorphism in Japan, based on an early 1970s K–Ar dating of white mica. The schist consists of mafic and pelitic layers and occurs as a tectonic block within serpentinite. Reappraisal of the schist confirmed the schist is characterized b...

The Ubendian Belt between the Archaean Tanzania Craton and the Bangweulu Block, represents a Paleoproterozoic orogeny of these two constituents of the Congo craton at ~1.8 Ga, forming the Central African Shield, during the Columbia Supercontinent cycle and consolidated during the Gondwana assembly. Metagranitic rocks from the Southern and Northern...

The amalgamation of Pangea formed the contorted Variscan-Alleghanian orogen, suturing Gondwana and Laurussia during the Carboniferous. From all swirls of this orogen, a double curve in Iberia stands out, the coupled Cantabrian Orocline and Central Iberian curve. The Cantabrian Orocline formed at ca. 315–290 Ma subsequent to the Variscan orogeny. Th...

The collision between Gondwana and Laurussia that formed the latest supercontinent, Pangea, occurred during Devonian to early Permian times and resulted in a large-scale orogeny that today transects Europe, northwest Africa, and eastern North America. This orogen is characterized by an “S” shaped corrugated geometry in Iberia. The northern curve of...

The collision between Gondwana and Laurussia that formed the latest supercontinent, Pangea, occurred during Devonian to early Permian times and resulted in a large-scale orogeny that today transects Europe, northwest Africa, and eastern North America. This orogen is characterized by an "S" shaped corrugated geometry in Iberia. The northern curve of...

The Cantabrian Zone, in the Variscan belt of Western Europe, has one of the most continuous Ediacaran-Palaeozoic stratigraphic successions in the world. This succession has been previously extensively studied, including several detrital zircon U-Pb geochronological studies on with detrital zircon geochronology with 30 available samples spanning the...

The Talesh Mountains (NW Iran) witnessed a long deformation history from the Triassic Cimmerian orogeny to the ongoing Arabia-Eurasia collision. This protracted multi-stage deformation has generated a remarkably curved orogen with a puzzling kinematic and deformational history. In this study, we investigate the origin of the Talesh curvature throug...

Scientific communities are placing an increasing emphasis on the implementation of data management protocols concerning data archiving and distribution. For instance, every proposal submitted to the European Horizon 2020 program, as well as to the National Science Foundation in the USA, requires a dedicated section that outlines project data manage...

The amalgamation of Pangea formed the contorted Variscan-Alleghanian orogen, suturingGondwana and Laurussia during the Carboniferous. From all swirls of this orogen, a doublecurve stands out in Iberia, the coupled Cantabrian Orocline and Central Iberian Curve. TheCantabrian Orocline formed subsequent to Variscan orogeny (ca. 315-295 Ma). Themechani...

The Paleozoic geology of Iberia is dominated by the tectonics of the Variscan orogeny and its aftermath. This defining geologic event was the result of large-scale collision that involved amalgamation of multiple continents and micro-continents, the closure of oceanic basins and eventual orogenic collapse, and finally modification and oroclinal ben...

Supercontinents are usually interpreted to be single and rigid continental plates. How and when Pangea became a rigid supercontinent is disputed, and age estimations vary from ~330 to ~240 Ma. The Gondwana-Laurussia collision formed the Variscan-Alleghanian belt, the most prominent witness of Pangea's amalgamation. In Iberia, this orogen draws an “...

There is an emerging consensus that Earth's landmasses amalgamate quasi-periodically into supercontinents, interpreted to be rigid super-plates essentially lacking tectonically active inner boundaries and showing little internal lithosphere–mantle interactions. The formation and disruption of supercontinents have been linked to changes in sea-level...

Supercontinents are usually interpreted to be single and rigid continental plates. How and when Pangea became a rigid supercontinent is disputed, and age estimations vary from ~330 to ~240 Ma. The Gondwana-Laurussia collision formed the Variscan-Alleghanian belt, the most prominent witness of Pangea’s amalgamation. In Iberia, this orogen draws an “...

The amalgamation of Pangea during the Carboniferous produced a winding mountain belt: the Variscan orogen of W Europe. In the Iberian Peninsula this tortuous geometry is dominated by two major structures: the Cantabrian Orocline, to the north and the Central Iberian curve to the south. Here, we perform a detailed structural analysis of an area with...

Since the late Eocene, convergence and subsequent collision between Arabia and Eurasia was accommo-dated both in the overriding Eurasian plate forming the Greater Caucasus orogen and the Iranian plateau, and by subduction and accretion of the Neotethys and Arabian margin forming the East Anatolian plateau and the Zagros. To quantify how much Arabia...

The winding Variscan belt in Iberia, featuring the Cantabrian orocline (NW Iberia) and the Central Iberian curve, is a foremost expression of the late Carboniferous amalgamation of Pangea, which produced remagnetizations spanning almost the entire globe. Also in Iberia, late Carboniferous remagnetizations are widespread often hindering paleomagneti...

Most mountain belts on Earth show some degree of curvature in plan view, from a slight bend to horseshoe shapes. Such curvatures may occur on different scales, from individual thrust sheets to entire plate boundaries. Curvature may be acquired by vertical-axis rotation during or after orogenesis, or reflect primary lateral variations in shortening...

The Greater Caucasus, extending from the Black Sea in the West to the Caspian Sea in the East, is the world's second largest active collisional orogen. It differs from traditional orogens in its relatively short length (~1100km) and its location >350 km away from a plate boundary (Arabia-Eurasia). Causes for its formation since the Late Eocene are...

The Variscan mountain belt in Iberia defines a large “S” shape with the Cantabrian Orocline in the north and the Central Iberian curve, an alleged orocline belt of opposite curvature, to the south. The Cantabrian Orocline is kinematically well constrained, but the geometry and kinematics of the Central Iberian curve are still controversial. Here, w...

The Cantabrian orocline is a large structure that bends the Variscan orogen of Western Europe in NW Iberia. The extensively studied kinematics of its core, the foreland of the orogen, indicates that the structure is secondary, i.e. acquired after the formation of the orogenic edifice. However, the extent of the Cantabrian orocline away from its cor...

Regional Variscan structure in southern Ireland follows a gentle arcuate trend of ca. 25 • concave to the SE that apparently follows the geometry of the Cantabrian Orocline (NW Iberia) when Iberia is restored to its position prior to the opening of the Biscay Bay. We report paleomagnetic results from Devonian and Carboniferous rocks in southern Ire...

Abstract The Lesser Caucasus fold-and-thrust belt – part of the former Eurasian margin ‒ displays a peculiar northward arc-shaped geometry that was defined as an orocline in an earlier study. The Lesser Caucasus was affected by two main tectonic events that could have caused orocline formation: 1) late Cretaceous-Paleocene collision of the South Ar...

The supercontinent Pangea formed in the late Carboniferous as a result of the Gondwana-Laurussia collision, producing the strongly sinuous Variscan–Alleghanian orogen. Iberia is interpreted to comprise two Variscan bends, forming an S-shaped orogenic belt: the Canta-brian orocline to the north and the Central Iberian bend to the south. Coeval forma...

Seven samples of Siluro-Devonian sedimentary rocks from the Cantabrian and Central Iberian zones of the Iberian Variscan belt have been investigated for provenance and contain four main age populations in variable relative proportion: Ediacaran–Cryogenian ( c . 0.55–0.8 Ga), Tonian–Stenian (0.85–1.2 Ga), Palaeoproterozoic ( c . 1.8–2.2 Ga) and Arch...

Orogenic curvature is a ubiquitous feature of mountain belts, and the plate tectonic and geodynamic setting responsible for the development of curved orogens is a subject of debate. In order to distinguish between different models of orocline formation it is necessary to tightly constrain the absolute timing of oroclinal development. However, deter...

The Western European Variscan belt shows two coupled oroclines arranged in an "S"-shaped pattern consisting of northern (Cantabrian) and southern (Central Iberian) arcs. Paleomagnetic and structural constraints provide evidence that the northern arc was developed during the Late Pennsylvanian after the closure of the Rheic Ocean and the formation a...

The Cantabrian Zone of NW Iberia preserves a voluminous, almost continuous, sedimentary sequence that ranges in age from Ediacaran to Early Permian. Its tectonic setting is controversial and recent hypotheses include (i) passive margin deposition along the northern margin of Gondwana, (ii) an active continental margin, (iii) the margin of a driftin...

Seven Silurian and Devonian samples from the Cantabrian and Central Iberian zones of the Variscan belt have been investigated for paleogeographic purposes using detrital zircon U-Pb ages. A total of 764 analyses were performed. All samples contain four main age populations in variable relative proportions: Ediacaran–Cryogenian (ca. 0.55–0.8 Ga), To...

The Western European Variscan shows a lithospheric-scale “S”-shaped map pattern and has been interpreted as two coupled oroclines; a northern Cantabrian orocline and southern Central Iberian orocline. The northern Cantabrian orocline shows a striking 180°curvature that is concave towards the east. The orocline model for this relies on a wealth of p...

Understanding the causes of the opening and closure of oceanic tracts is a major ongoing endeavour in contemporary Earth Science. Ancient oceans are an important part of this process because they preserve a record of the different processes involved and so shed light on the causes of ocean opening and widening, and the subsequent dynamic flip towar...

Ediacaran and Early Cambrian sedimentary rocks from NW Iberia have been investigated for detrital zircon U–Pb ages. A total of 1,161 concordant U–Pb ages were obtained in zircons separated from four Ediacaran samples (3 from the Cantabrian Zone and one from the Central Iberian zone) and two Lower Cambrian samples (one from the Cantabrian Zone and o...

Oroclines are the largest scale folds on Earth, and the process of oroclinal formation is a key topic in tectonics. However, most studies of oroclines have focused on the hinge areas, where the changes in strike, and therefore the orocline shape, are most obvious. In this paper, we investigate the deformation mechanisms, the timing, and the structu...

Detrital zircon laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry U-Pb age data from the Lower Ordovician Armorican Quartzite (deformed passive margin strata of Gondwanan affinity) of the Iberian Massif are presented herein. The S-shaped coupled Iberian oroclines defined within these zones palinspastically restore to a 2300 km linear Vari...

The Cantabrian Zone of NW Iberia preserves a voluminous, almost continuous, sedimentary sequence that ranges in age from Ediacaran to Early Permian. Its tectonic setting is controversial and recent hypotheses include (i) pas-sive margin deposition along the northern margin of Gondwana, (ii) an active continental margin, or (iii) the margin of a dri...