The Leiza palaeo-fault: Role and importance in the Upper Cretaceous sedimentation and palaeogeography of the Basque Pyrenees (Spain)

Abstract New analysis of the Upper Cretaceous deposits of the Central Depression, a syncline within the Basque Pyrenees, shows that this structure was a deep marine basin analogous to the regional flysch troughs. It was bounded by active faults, including the Leiza palaeo-fault, which sustained erosion of the partly subaerially exposed margins. The Leiza palaeo-fault and its western counterpart, the Kalamua palaeo-fault, are thought to constitute the former plate boundary between Iberia and Europe, and a westward continuation of the North Pyrenean Palaeo-Fault.