The Betic Corridor, or North-Betic Strait, was a strait of water connecting the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

with the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

that once separated the Iberian plate from the

Eurasian plate The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate that includes most of the continent of Eurasia (a landmass consisting of the traditional continents of Europe and Asia), with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent and ...

through the Betic Cordillera. Its closure approximately 5.96 million years ago during the Messinian period of the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

epoch, precipitated the

Messinian Salinity Crisis The Messinian salinity crisis (MSC), also referred to as the Messinian event, and in its latest stage as the Lago Mare event, was a geological event during which the Mediterranean Sea went into a cycle of partial or nearly complete desiccation (d ...

, a period when the Mediterranean Sea evaporated partly or completely.

Geology

Betic corridor rock facies consist of heterozoan

bioclastic Bioclasts are skeletal fossil fragments of once living marine or land organisms that are found in sedimentary rocks laid down in a marine environment—especially limestone varieties around the globe. some of which take on distinct textures and col ...

carbonates A carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid (H2CO3), characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, a polyatomic ion with the formula . The word ''carbonate'' may also refer to a carbonate ester, an organic compound containing the carbonate g ...

and mixed

siliciclastic Siliciclastic (or ''siliclastic'') rocks are clastic noncarbonate sedimentary rocks that are composed primarily of silicate minerals, such as quartz or clay minerals. Siliciclasic rock types include mudrock, sandstone, and conglomerate Conglomera ...

–carbonates with conglomerates appearing in local fan-delta deposits. Betic deposits exhibit huge trough cross-bedded structures with single troughs up to 5 m high pointing to the east in the easternmost outcrops. In central outcrops, they reach up to 15 m in height and some tens of metres in length and point both to the east and to the west. The westernmost outcrops show the largest cross-bedded structures, up to 20 m in height and some hundred of metres in length, all pointing to the west. The large-scale cross-bedding was generated by the migration of very large dunes moved by tides. The largest structures are inferred to have formed at depths of 90 m. Depth estimations indicate that the Betic corridor shallowed toward the Mediterranean and deepened toward the Atlantic. The Miocene evolution towards the formation of the Betic corridor can be divided into a series of steps. The palaeogeography evolved from a south-facing platform, marginal to a northeastern relief, to a wide-open marine passage limited by a southern platform and, finally, to a tidal-dominated strait. The closing of the Betic corridor is recorded by the presence of lagoonal, silty sediments covered by a stromatolite layer and crowned by a red soil in the westernmost outcrops.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Betic Corridor Baetic System Geology of the Alps Regional geology History of the Mediterranean Paleogeography Messinian