Palaeokarst and rauhwacke development, mountain uplift and subaerial sliding of tectonic sheets (northern Sierra de los Filabres, Betic Cordilleras, Spain)

The rauhwackes near Seron in the northern Sierra de los Filabres (S Spain), previously considered as true tectonic breccias, are reinterpreted on the basis of sedimentological, geomorphological and geometrical evidence as sub aerial or nearly subaerial sedimentary deposits. Channel fills, parallel la mination, cross-lamination, graded bedding, sedimentary clastic dykes and o ther sedimentary structures and features occur in the rauhwacke body. These sedimentary rocks correspond to continental deposits of alluvial and karst ic origin deposited over a karstified erosional surface of Nevado-Filabride marbles. Although no fossils have been found in the rauhwackes, a Tortonia n age for these rocks is suggested on the basis of structural arguments and lithostratigraphic data from the nearby Almanzora basin. The rauhwackes we re buried by slabs of Alpujarride rocks that gravitationally slid over them during the uplifting of the Sierra de los Filabres.