Geodynamic evolutíon Eurasia-Africa plate boundary in the Gorringe Bank and Gulf of Cádiz región

Detailed structural interpretation on the recently acquired deep seismic multichannel CDP profiles along the Iberian Atlantic Margins (IAM Project, European Union joule Program # ¡OU2-CT92-0177) provides new information on the geodynamic evolution of the eastern part of the Azores-Gibraltar plate boundary. Thrusting and folding of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary cover of the Corringe Bank region is consistent with Tertiary N-S convergence of Iberia and Africa. Compressive structures in the Corringe bank region are spread over a wide area. The amount of shortening measured in a NW-SE direction is 3% and the convergence between the Iberian and the African plates in this zone, as estimated by Dewey et al. (1989), is about 40 km. The compressive structures in the Gulf of Cadiz are restricted to a narrower zone. The W-E lateral variation of deformation style is likely to be related to the change from oceanic to continental crust as well as the different amount of convergence recorded from W to