Origen y desmantelamiento del Antiforme Plio-Cuaternario de Marratxí (Mallorca, España)

Resumen

The so-called MarratxiAnticline, which separates the Quaternary basins oflnca and Palma Bay (Mallorca Island), does not correspond to a true compressive feature. It only represents an NNW-SSE trending antiform resulting from the adaptation, and subsequent dissection, of Quaternary gently-dipping eolian sedimentation of calcarenitic nature coming from the Palma Bay (South limb), to a previous horst-type structural high constituted by structured mesozoic, paleogene and early miocene materials topped by sub-horizontal upper Pliocene littoral calcarenites. These last also constitutes the moderate to strongly-dipping calcarenitic cuestas of the northern limb of the antiform. Its structuration can be explained in terms of Plio-Quaternary surficial monoclinal folding, probably linked to rollover-type processes along previous lateral ramps generated during the early Miocene nappe emplacement phase along the northern border of the mentioned structural-high. Topographic disruption promoted by this structure gave place to Quaternary defeating of the drainage coming from the Sierra de Tramuntana to the Palma Bay. Subsequent late Pleistocene headward erosion along the ses Mates creek, probably linked to the Last Glacial sea-level drop, lead the generation of the presently transverse drainage