Exhumation constraints for the lower Nevado-Filabride Complex (Betic Cordillera, SE Spain): a Raman thermometry and Tweequ multiequilibrium thermobarometry approach

Abstract

Abstract The HP/LT rocks of the Nevado-Filabride complex (eastern Betic Cordillera) were exhumed during the Serravallian but knowledge of their retrograde P-T evolution remains fragmentary and not established for all its tectonic units. The present paper places detailed constraints on the P-T evolution of the two deeper units of the Nevado-Filabride complex, namely the Ragua and the Calar Alto units in order to constrain their exhumation and the role of the km-thick Dos Picos shear zone separating them. Our approach uses both TWEEQU software multiequilibrium thermobarometry and Raman spectrometry thermometry. The study enables to [i] estimate the peak-temperature P-T conditions (c. 520°C) and then to establish the first P-T path of the Ragua unit, [ii] conclude that the Ragua and the Calar Alto units suffered comparable metamorphic evolutions with [iii] a well constrained HT excursion following a strong decompression characterised by limited heating. The study also enables to infer that the major Dos Picos shear zone was a post-metamorphic thrust occurring during the final retrogression stages. These results point to exhumation processes intermediate between those of syn– and post– orogenic contexts during the late evolution of the Betics.