Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Journal of Coal Geology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/coal An analogue of dominance of tectonic over climatic forcing in intermontane coal-bearing basins: Padul (SE Spain) Trinidad Torres a , José E. Ortiz a, ⁎ , Vicente Soler b , Antonio Delgado c , Rafael Araujo d , Maruja Valle e , María R. Rivas e , Ramón Julià f , Yolanda Sánchez-Palencia a , Rogelio Vega-Panizo a a Laboratory of Biomolecular Stratigraphy, E.T.S.I. Minas y Energía, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, C/ Ríos Rosas 21, Madrid 28003, Spain b Instituto de Agrobiología y Productos Naturales (C.S.I.C.), Avda Astrofísico Fco Sánchez 3, La Laguna 38206, Tenerife, Spain c Laboratorio de Biogeoquímica de Isótopos Estables, Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra (CSIC), Avda. de las Palmeras, 4, 18100 Armilla, Granada, Spain d Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), C/ José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, Madrid 28006, Spain e Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Salamanca, Pza de la Merced s/n, Salamanca 37008, Spain f Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra “Jaume Almera” (C.S.I.C.), C/ Lluís Solé i Sabarís s/n, Barcelona 08028, Spain ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Basin analysis Intermonate basin Palustrine-lacustrine Recent tectonics Paleodrainage Quaternary ABSTRACT A multiproxy study based on sedimentology, mineralogy, magnetic susceptibility, organic geochemistry and fossil content allowed to establish the sedimentary evolution of palustrine basins and to study the interplay between tectonic and climatic forcings in the sedimentation and facies arrangement that can be extrapolated to other coal-bearing basins. The reinterpretation of the data from 18 cores allowed to determine the facies dis- tribution and to model the sedimentary evolution of the Padul Basin, with the longest continuous continental Quaternary record in the Southwestern Mediterranean region. The Padul Basin sediment record and facies successions provide an outstanding example of tectonically and environmentally controlled sedimentation. The sedimentary characteristics of the cores and thickness distribution revealed that recent tectonics was a more important forcing than other processes (e.g. climate). The influence of recent tectonics was determinant in facies arrangement, that is to say that the activity of a rotated fault produced a differential subsidence, causing more than 100 m of palustrine deposits to stack. On the basis of the sedimentological record combined with data on the mineralogy, fossil content, magnetic susceptibility and total organic carbon, three main sedimentary units were identified, linked to diverse subsidence rates and paleoenvironmental oscillations. The magnetic suscept- ibility was likely to have been controlled by the organic matter content (TOC values), linked to oxic/anoxic conditions. In the lower part of the record, Unit A (107.0–68.7 m), shallow lacustrine conditions were dominant, with an important influx associated with considerable runoff from active alluvial fans, linked to a higher sub- sidence rate. Unit B (68.7–37.6 m) had a transitional character, with a considerable decrease in the influence of the alluvial fan system. The lake recharge through overland flow markedly diminished and pre-existing groundwater recharge was dominant. A sudden change to peaty materials indicated that surface runoff was directly diverted to the recently excavated Dúrcal River gorge, thereby precluding the basin from becoming a swampy environment with stagnant waters. Unit C (upper 37.6 m) was almost exclusively fed by bicarbonate groundwater and subsurface runoff through the highly permeable coarse alluvial fan deposits. Within these main sedimentary units, minor mud-peat shallowing-upward sequences were identified. 1. Introduction Lacustrine basins with peat and/or sapropel accumulations are of economic interest. They have often been drilled and studied for coal or oil reserve prospection (Cabrera and Saez, 1987; Wehmeyer et al., 1986; Whateley, 1986; Crowley et al., 1993; Diessel et al., 2000; Carrol and Bohacs, 2001; Sáez et al., 2003; Erdenetsogt et al., 2009). In this regard, the Padul Basin (PB) has attracted geological interest after the first World Oil Crisis of 1974, when the basin was intensely prospected for coal (peat) reserves (Enadimsa-Endesa, 1981). In the case of lacustrine deposits, tectonics may have played a crucial role in their development. Examples of such deposits are found worldwide and include the Kathmandu Basin in Nepal (Dill et al., 2001), the Tibetan Plateau (Zhan et al., 2018), the Intra-Sudetic Basin https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coal.2020.103530 Received 12 March 2020; Received in revised form 1 June 2020; Accepted 1 June 2020 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: trinidad.torres@upm.es (J.E. Ortiz). International Journal of Coal Geology 227 (2020) 103530 Available online 06 June 2020 0166-5162/ © 2020 Published by Elsevier B.V. T