GEODYNAMIC EVOLUTION OF THE ALPINE IBERIAN MESETA VIA MIXED PROCESSES: VERTICAL MANTLE UPWELLINGS AND HORIZONTAL TECTONICS
M. DOBLAS Científico Titular del CSIC, Instituto de Geociencias (CSIC-UCM), Facultad de Medicina, c/ del Doctor Severo Ochoa 7, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria, 28040 Madrid, Spain, doblas@mncn.csic.es Abstract The geodynamic evolution of the late Cenozoic Alpine Iberian Meseta (AIM) might be understood in terms of the close temporal and spatial interaction between vertical mantle upwelling phenomena and horizontal tectonic stresses. The model presented in this paper constitutes a completely new approach to the Alpine evolution of the AIM and Iberian Peninsula as a whole, different from the classical orogenic-related ideas taking only into account the horizontal movements. The origin of the sublithospheric upwelling movements in the AIM will be discussed and might be related to several possible scenarios: 1) The far-reaching effects of a Triassic/Jurassic superplume associated to the opening of the central Atlantic defining a long-lived anomalous sublit