The Coastal Catalan Range is an intraplate structure raised during the Alpine orogeny. This orogeny, caused by the collision between the Iberian and the Euroasian plates during the Cenozoic, lead to a N-S compressive stress field responsible of the uplift of the Pyrenees. These forces were transmitted to the SW with a strong oblique component along an ‘en-échelon’ fault system causing the folding and uplift of the Coastal Catalan Range rocks.

This mountain range shares origin and age with the Iberian Chain, but it is a tectonically independent structure. The linkage between both chains is through the area called transition zone where the NW-SE Iberian Chain structures and the NE-SW Coastal Catalan Range structures interfere. This transition zone extends north to south from the Tivissa mountains to the northern area of the Maestrazgo.

After the uplift, the system changed to be controlled by an extensive regime linked to the opening of the Valencia Trough. The rift system forming the Valencia Trough continues northwards entering the European continent. It began to open in the Miocene and defined the current position of Corsica and Sardinia Islands, as well as the Balearic Islands. It also triggered volcanic episodes like the ones in the Garrotxa region (Girona) and the creation of different sedimentary basins.

The current thermal subsidence phase in the Valencia Trough is responsible of the extensive tectonic and therefore the stress field perpendicular to the main tertiary normal faults controlling the zone. In summary, the Coastal Catalan Range is an intraplate zone of low deformation, characterized by normal faults with slow movements of around 0.1 mm/year.

The main active normal faults identified in the area are, from north to south, the NW-SE Gulf of Roses and Amer faults, and the NE-SW Montseny, Barcelona, Camp and Delta of Ebro faults. These faults show both activity in recent times (Pliocene and Quaternary) and associated instrumental seismicity, except for the Delta of Ebro fault. The Pla of Barcelona and the Barcelona-Tarragona faults, in the vicinity of the Barcelona city, and the Baix Ebre fault, to the west of the Ebro River Delta, are also remarkable due to their long extension. Anyway, the activity of these three faults is under discussion.