Abstract New geochronological (U–Pb isotope dilution thermal ionization mass spectrometry), geochemical and isotopic data from Upper Ordovician felsic volcanic rocks recorded in the Pyrenees and Mouthoumet massifs, SW Europe, suggest that this volcanic activity is more widely represented than previously accepted, and allows a better refinement of the age span involved in the Sardic Unconformity. This Sandbian volcanism represents the final pulse of the Sardic tectonothermal event, starting with the Floian–Darriwilian emplacement of voluminous plutonic rocks and the contemporaneous erosion of the uplifted pre–Upper Ordovician basement, and followed by a tholeiitic volcanism contemporaneous with extensional features and the opening of (half-)grabens finally sealed by Hirnantian glaciomarine deposits. The Sardic-related lithospheric extension may be linked to thermal doming originated by a superplume activity that caused, in turn, an extensive crustal melting responsible for the onset of the felsic (calc-alkaline-dominated), Floian–Darriwilian intrusive and Sandbian extrusive magmatism along the northern margin of Gondwana.

Abstract This paper presents a Geographic Information System catalogue of the submarine landslides of the Spanish continental margin and describes the problems associated with harmonizing the catalogue with its onshore homologue. The data model structure is described to explain how to apply the rules and specifications following the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe (INSPIRE). Because of the singularities of the marine environment compared with those of land, integrating the submarine landslide catalogues into INSPIRE specifications requires the following procedures: (1) simplification of the list of values of state of activity into three categories: active, dormant and relict; and (2) inclusion of debris avalanches and turbidites as new typologies of landslides. This paper discusses the problems associated with harmonizing different data types and units from different sources, such as the thickness (metres and seismic two travel time) or the age of the event, and a numeric code for the geological timescale is proposed to harmonize these data. We establish whether an item is required based on the reliability of the landslide event, which is categorized by three levels (high–middle–low) depending on the precision of the data source, methodology used and quality of the publication where the data are obtained.

Abstract The productivity of wells in fractured reservoirs depends, in terms of rate and sustainability, on the heterogeneity and variable connectivity of the open fracture network. Outcrop studies in Cretaceous carbonates from the Catalan Pyrenees illuminate this issue and reveal the degree of uncertainty associated with the interpretation of fracture data from wells and seismic. Three examples are chosen to provide verifiable data, parameters and concepts which can be applied to the workflow of fractured reservoir characterization. We discuss fracture properties and distributions in the subseismic volume, the coupled behaviour between litho-mechanical properties, in situ stress and fracturing, and the permeability properties of fault damage zones. The outcrops also highlight some of the difficulties involved in constructing static reservoir models and evaluating fracture interpretations derived from software-based techniques such as surface curvature.