Pursuing a new global approach, this unique book provides an updated review of the geology of Iberia and its continental margins from a geodynamic perspective. Owing to its location close to successive plate margins, Iberia has played a pivotal role in the geodynamic evolution of the Gondwanan, Rheic, Pangea, Tethys s.l. and Eurasian plates over the last 600 Ma of Earth's history. The geological record begins with the amalgamation of Gondwana in the Neoproterozoic, followed by the rifting and spread of the Rheic ocean; its demise, which led to the amalgamation of Pangea in the late Paleozoic; the rifting and spread of several arms of the Neotethys ocean in the Mesozoic Era; and concludes with their ongoing closure, which was responsible for the Alpine orogeny. The significant advances made in the past 20 years have attracted considerable international research interest in the geology of the Iberian Peninsula.
This volume is the only one of the whole series of books composing the Geology of Iberian separated in two parts: Introduction to the Geology of Iberian and the Cadomian Cycle. The first part presents a general introduction to the Geology of Iberian, presented in five different volumes. The second part focuses in the Cadomian orogenic cycle and the oldest geological records in the Iberian Peninsula.
Part I: the Geology of Iberia: An Introduction
Chapter 1. The Geology of Iberia: An Introduction
Part II: THE Cadomian cycle
Chapter 2. Introduction
Chapter 3. Cadomian cycle in the Iberian Massif: The arc/back-arc system exposed in the Ossa-Morena Zone
Chapter 4. Cadomian cycle in the Iberian Massif: The Ediacaran-lowermost Terreneuvian retro-arc margin of Gondwana
Chapter 5. The Cadomian cycle in the Pyrenees
Chapter 6. The Cadomian orogeny in the Iberian Massif
Cecilio Quesada's professional career was based at Instituto Geologico Minero de Espana (Spanish Geological Survey), until he retired from there in 2013. He is currently an Honorary Professor at the Faculty of Geological Sciences, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, where he also served temporarily as an Associate Professor. As a "survey person", his research interests, past and present, include geological mapping, regional geology, tectonics and geochronology, mainly focused on the Variscan orogen in its global context. He has participated in ten IGCP projects since 1979, and is currently involved in Project 648: Supercontinent cycles & Global Geodynamics.
José Tomás Oliveira holds a Ph.D. and Agregacao (Portuguese postdoctoral degree). He is a geologist and is currently collaborating at Laboratorio Nacional de Energia e Geologia, former Geological Survey of Portugal, where he acted also as Head of the Geology and Mineral Resources departments. As a survey geologist, his main activities have focused on regional geological mapping in Portugal and Mozambique, with a particular interest in stratigraphy, clastic sedimentology and basin analysis. He has been an Invited Professor at universities in Portugal and Angola, author and editor of several geological maps, and was co-editor of the recently published Geological Map of Portugal and Spain, 2015, scale 1:1,000,000.