The Flysch Complex extends, with equivalent stratigraphic and tectonic features, from the Betic Cordillera to the Rif, Argelian and Tunisian Tells, Sicily, Calabria and the southern-central Apennines. In the Betic Chain, it extends from the Campo de Gibraltar to the Vélez Rubio-Lorca region. This complex is a thrust-and-fold system (when structurally organised) or a tectonosedimentary mélange (when showing a rather chaotic structure). In the western Betic Cordillera, the Campo de Gibraltar Flysch Complex widely overthrusts the External Zones and, in turn, the Alborán Domain (Frontal Units in particular) thrusts onto it.

The Flysch Complex is mainly made of Lower Cretaceous to lower Burdigalian turbiditic siliciclastic (and subordinately carbonatic) sandstones interlayered with varicoloured clays. Since the latest Oligocene the successions show synorogenic character.

The Cretaceous successions of the Alborán (internal domain in the figure) domain record the post-rift evolution of the proximal to distal parts of a divergent Tethyan paleomargin, while those of the Campo de Gibraltar Flysch Complex record the evolution of the oceanic basin. The Alborán and the Campo de Gibraltar Flysch Complex domains were later transformed into a convergent continental margin (Oligocene to Early Miocene) that later evolved to a collisional setting (Middle to Late Miocene).

Cite as: Jabaloy Sánchez, A., Martín-Algarra, A., Padrón-Navarta, J.A., Martín-Martín, M., Gómez-Pugnaire, M.T., López Sánchez-Vizcaíno, V., Garrido, C.J., 2019. Lithological Successions of the Internal Zones and Flysch Trough Units of the Betic Chain, in: Quesada, C., Oliveira, J.T. (Eds.), The Geology of Iberia: A Geodynamic Approach: Volume 3: The Alpine Cycle. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp. 377–432. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11295-0_8