Late Palaeozoic to Triassic formations unconformably deposited over the Ronda peridotites (Betic Cordilleras): Evidence for their Variscan time of crustal emplacement

The age of the emplacement of the Ronda Peridotites has been widely debated during recent decades, and ages ranging from the Palaeozoic to the early Miocene have been proposed, although most of the current interpretations suggest an Oligocene-Miocene age. In this article, we describe two meta-sedimentary formations (the lower one formed by detrital sediments and the upper one by marbles) that were unconformably deposited over the Ronda peridotites and now record low-grade metamorphism. The detrital formation contains layers of acidic rocks with an age of 269±9 Ma and the overlying marbles are assumed to be Triassic. The existence of these unconformable formations over the peridotites is crucial for the dating of the exhumation of the latter. The presence of peridotite clasts in the detrital formation indicates that peridotites were exposed during the Permian and other data suggest that peridotites were exhumed during the late Carboniferous. During the Alpine cycle, the peridotites operated as an element situated at the bottom of the tectonically higher Alpujarride/Sebtide unit (the Jubrique unit) and forming part of it, then being incorporated to the Alpine thrusts of this unit.