The nevado-filábride complex in the western part of Sierra de los Filabres (Betic Internal Zone), structure and lithologic succession

Abstract

In the western part of Sierra de los Filabres (in the Nevado-Filábride Complex, within the Betic Internal Zone) several tectonic units have been described, in varying numbers depending on the author describing them. However, new cartographical data show that the limits of these units pass through the lithological formations without displacing them. Moreover, the rocks belonging to some units that are supposedly situated in a lower tectonic position really belong to higher formations. From bottom to top, these lithological formations are the following: (1) dark schists and quartzites; (2) quartzites, sandstones, sands, lutites, schists, and mica schists; (3) schists; (4) marbles, schists, and mica schists. High-angle reverse faults are associated with the great E-W anticline of Sierra de los Filabres. The existence of sands and apparent lutites visibly interlayered between rocks, such as schists and mica schists with garnets, poses a metamorphic problem that has not as yet been addressed.