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144 crustal-scale thrusts. All these characteristics combined make these par- ticular Ediacaran series genuinely different from the rest of the Iberian terranes, what it also makes them an excellent candidate to trace cryptic occurrences of a dismembered intra-Gondwana suture zone along the Variscan orogen, even in the absence of actual ophiolitic rocks. By establishing a correlation between the basal allochthonous units of Iberia, it has been reduced the number of individual terranes located at the core of Pangea during its amalgamation. Separate exposures of Ediacaran series may well correspond to a single, yet tectonically dis- membered terrane. Besides, the basal allochthonous units constitute the base of one of the fundamental suture zones occurring in the Variscan orogen, what makes their characterization a primary goal for future tectonic studies concerned with tracing such major tectonic boundary along this late Paleozoic mountain belt. Acknowledgments Insightful comments provided by Jürgen von Raumer and an anony- mous reviewer are kindly acknowledged. Financial support has been provided by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Portugal) through research project “ GOLD ” (PTDC/GEO-GEO/2446/2012: COMPETE: FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-029192), and by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Spain) through research project CGL2012-34618. Rubén Díez Fernández appreciates fi nancial support from Fundação pa- ra a Ciência e Tecnologia (Portugal) through its postdoctoral program (SFRH/BPD/85209/2012). This work is a contribution to IGCP project 648 (Supercontinent Cycle and Global Geodynamics). References Abalos, B., Gil Ibarguchi, J.I., Eguiluz, L., 1991. Cadomian subduction, collision and Variscan transpression in the Badajoz-Cordoba Shear Belt, Southwest Spain. Tectonophysics 199, 51 – 72. Abati, J., Gerdes, A., Fernández-Suárez, J., Arenas, R., Whitehouse, M.J., Díez Fernández, R., 2010. 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