Gibraltar is a British possession on the S tip of the Iberian Peninsula. Its name is a corruption of ‘Gebel Tariq’, or Tariq's Rock, after the Moor who conquered it in AD 711. It has been successively garrisoned by the Moors, the Spanish and the British (Rose and Rosenbaum, 1991).
The ‘Rock’ consists of Jurassic limestones and shales (Rose and Rosenbaum, 1991; Fig. 235). The Gibraltar Limestone is the dominant unit. It is 600 m thick and dolomitic at its base, with layers of dolomite and limestone toward the top. It contains stromatolites and early Jurassic marine fossils (Rose and Rosenbaum, 1991). The limestone lies above the Little Bay Shale, which consists of mudstones with thin lenses of sandstone and pebble conglomerate and thicker beds of dolomite. This shale has no fossils. The Catalan Bay Shale is exposed beneath inverted beds of the limestone and consists of interbedded limestone and mudstones, with middle Lias age ammonites (Rose and Rosenbaum, 1991).
Geological...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Andrieux, Z. and Mattauer M. (1973) Precision sur une modèle explicitif de l'Arc de Gibraltar. Bull. Soc. Géol. France, 7(15), 115–8.
Aubouin, J., Debelmas, J. and Latrelle, M. (eds) (1980) Geologie des chaines Alpines: Issues de la Tethys. Orléans: BRGM Mém., 115, 351 pp.
Auzende, J. M., Bonnin, J. and Olivet, J.L. (1973) The origin of the western Mediterranean basin. J. Geol. Soc. London, 129, 607–20.
Auzende, J. M., Rehault, J.P., Pastouret, L. et al. (1975) Les bassins sedimentaires de la mer d'Alboran. Bull. Soc. Géol. France, Ser 7. 17(1), 98–107.
Bailey, E.B. et al. (1953) Notes on Gibraltar and the northen Rif with discussion. Quart. J. Geol. Soc. London, 108, 157–75.
Blumenthal, M. M. (1935) Antibetische Faltungen im Gibraltarbogen. Geol. Rundschau, 26(6), 424–9.
Bousquet, J.-C. (1977) Contribution a l'étude de la tectonique récente en Mediterranée occidentale: les donnes de la neotectonique dans l'Arc de Gibraltar et dans l'Arc Tyrrenian, in Structural History of the Mediterranean Basin (eds B. Biju-Duval and L. Montadert). Paris: Editions Technip, pp. 199–214.
Bousquet, J.-C. (1979) Quarternary strike-slip faults in southeastern Spain. Tectonophysics, 52, 277–86.
Didon, J. (1973) Accidents transverses et coulissages longitudinaux dextres dans la partie nord de l'arc de Gibraltar (Cordilleres betiques occidentales Espagne). Bull. Soc. Géol. France, Ser. 7, 15(2), 121–8.
Didon, J., Durand-Delga, M. and Kornprobst, J. (1973) Homologies géologiques entre les deux rives du detroit de Gibraltar. Bull. Soc. Géol. France, Ser. 7, 15(2), 77–105.
Doblas, M. and Oyarzun R. (1989) Neogene extensional collapse in the western Mediterranean (Betic-Rif Alpine orogenic belt): implications for the genesis of the Gibraltar ARc and magmatic activity. Geology, 17, 430–3.
Durand-Delga, M. (1973) Hypothèses sur la genèse de la courbure de Gibraltar. Bull. Soc. Geol. France, Ser. 7, 15(2), 119–20.
Durand-Delga, M. and Fontbote, J.M. (1980) Le cadre structural de la Mediterranée occidentale, in Géologie des Chaines Alpines: Issues de la Tethys (eds J. Aubouin, J. Debelmas and M. Latrelle). Orléans: BRGM Mém., 115, 67–85.
Flinch, J. (1993) The Gibraltar Arc: an orogenic float modified by late transpression. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol., 17(9), 1622 (abstr.).
Lajat, D. et al. (1975) Prolongement dans l'Atlantique de la partie externe de l'Arc betics-rifain. Bull. Soc. Géol. France, 7(17), 481–485.
Leblanc, D. (1990) Tectonic adaptation of the External Zones around the curved core of an orogen: the Gibraltar Arc. J. Structural Geol., 12(8), 1013–8.
Montadert, L. and Letouzey, J. (1975) Structure de la marge mediterranée d'apres des études de detail effectuées pour le leg 42 du Glomar Challenger. Bull. Soc. Géol. France, 7(17), 519–20.
Montenat, C. and Bizon, J.-J. (1975) Remarques sur le Neogène du forage Joides 121 en mer d'Alboran (Mediterranée occidental). Bull. Soc. Geol. France, 7(17), 46–51.
Platzman, E.S. (1992) Paleomagnetic rotations and the kinematics of the Gibraltar arc. Geology, 20, 311–4.
Ramsay, A. and Geikie, J. (1878) Geology of Gibraltar. Quart. J. Geol. Soc. London., 34, 505–41.
Rose, E.P.F. and Rosenbaum, M.S. (1991) The Rock of Gibraltar. Geology Today, 5, 95–101.
Sartori, R. et al., (1994) Eastern segment of the Azores-Gibraltar line (central-eastern Atlantic): an oceanic plate boundary with diffuse compressional deformation. Geology, 22, 555–8.
Tapponnier, P. (1977) Evolution tectonique du système alpin en Mediterranée: poinçonnement et écrasement rigide-plastique. Bull. Soc. Geol. France, 7(19), 437–60.
Zeuner, F.E. (1959) The Pleistocene Period: Its Climate, Chronology and Faunal Successions. London: Hutchinson, 447. (2nd rev. ed of 1945 work).
Cross reference
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1997 Chapman & Hall
About this entry
Cite this entry
Burns, E., Fairbridge, R.W. (1997). Gibraltar . In: Encyclopedia of European and Asian Regional Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4495-X_35
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4495-X_35
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-0-412-74040-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-4495-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive