The Sierra Nevada elongated dome in the Betic hinterland (westernmost Mediterranean region) formed by polymetamorphic, non-melted rocks involving crustal thickening and subsequent exhumation via extensional denudation including both normal faulting and vertical ductile thinning. Core rocks record a clockwise P-T-t path with segments of quasi-isothermal decompression that do not cross the melting solidi. Doming was caused by the interference of two orthogonal sets of Miocene-Pliocene, large-scale open folds (trending roughly E-W and N-S) that warp both WSW-directed extensional detachments and the footwall regional foliation. N-S folds were generated by a rolling hinge mechanism while E-W folds formed due to shortening...