Abstract Critical gravity and magnetic data suggest the presence of a continuous zigzag exhumed mantle body inside the attenuated crust of the north Iberia continental margin. We propose that this body greatly conditioned the structural domains of the Cantabrian–Pyrenean fold-and-thrust belt during their evolution from hyperextension in Early Cretaceous times to shortening and inversion during the Cenozoic. This may be seen as a new line for cross-section construction and balancing, because previous cross-sections do not incorporate comparable volumes of exhumed mantle. Five structural cross-sections, constrained by the results of 3D gravity inversion, feed our discussion of the complexities of the doubly vergent Pyrenean orogen in view of the inversion of a precursor hyperextended rifted margin. In all sections, crustal rocks underthrust the lithospheric mantle in the hyperextended region, supporting that the near-surface exhumed mantle lithosphere acts as a more rigid buttress, allowing weaker continental material to be expelled outwards and upwards by thrusting during the Alpine collision; thus giving rise to two uplifted crustal triangular zones at the boundaries with the exhumed mantle. Contractional slip is localized in lithospheric-scale thrusts, which in turn reactivate parts of the extensional system. The NE–SW transfer zones that offset the rift therefore behave as compartmental faults during the orogenic phase. The amount of shortening increases from 34 km in the Cantabrian Cordillera, where the Basque–Cantabrian Basin partially preserves its original extensional geometry, to 135 km in the nappe stack of the central Pyrenees.

Abstract The Neogene-Quaternary Almería-Níjar basin includes the Carboneras Fault, which constitutes a major left-lateral feature of the Betic Cordilleras. New gravity data help to determine the geometry of the sedimentary infill. The region underwent NE-SW extension during the Tortonian and local NW-SE compression during the first stages of Sierra Alhamilla uplift. During the Messinian, the sinistral strike-slip motion along the Carboneras Fault Zone, the dextral strike-slip motion along NW-SE-oriented faults, and the development of large folds such as the Sierra Alhamilla antiform, suggest clockwise rotation (towards the north) of the maximum stress axis (σ). During the Pliocene, a NNW-SSE-oriented compression also contributes to fold development. Finally, during the Quaternary, an ENE-WSW-directed extension controls the development of NW-SE-oriented normal oblique faults. The most recent local normal activity of the Carboneras Fault is related to this extension, whereas its behaviour as a left-lateral strike-slip fault may be a consequence of the accommodation of NW-SE normal fault displacements. Basic rock bodies, recognized by means of a detailed study of the magnetic anomalies, are related to the volcanic activity known to have occurred in the area in Late Miocene times.