  The Padul Fault is located in the Central Betic Cordillera, formed in the
framework of the NW-SE Eurasian-African plate convergence. In the Internal
Zone, large E-W to NE-SW folds of western Sierra Nevada accommodated the
greatest NW-SE shortening and uplift of the cordillera. However, GPS networks
reveal a present-day dominant E-W to NE-SW extensional setting at surface. The
Padul Fault is the most relevant and best exposed active normal fault that
accommodates most of the NE-SW extension of the Central Betics. This WSW-wards
dipping fault, formed by several segments of up to 7 km maximum length, favored
the uplift of the Sierra Nevada footwall away from the Padul graben hanging
wall. A non-permanent GPS network installed in 1999 constrains an average
horizontal extensional rate of 0.5 mm/yr in N66{\deg}E direction. The fault
length suggests that a (maximum) 6 magnitude earthquake may be expected, but
the absence of instrumental or historical seismic events would indicate that
fault activity occurs at least partially by creep. Striae on fault surfaces
evidence normal-sinistral kinematics, suggesting that the Padul Fault may have
been a main transfer fault of the westernmost end of the Sierra Nevada
antiform. Nevertheless, GPS results evidence: (1) shortening in the Sierra
Nevada antiform is in its latest stages, and (2) the present-day fault shows
normal with minor oblique dextral displacements. The recent change in Padul
fault kinematics will be related to the present-day dominance of the ENE-WSW
regional extension versus ~ NNW-SSE shortening that produced the uplift and
northwestwards displacement of Sierra Nevada antiform. This region illustrates
the importance of heterogeneous brittle extensional tectonics in the latest
uplift stages of compressional orogens, as well as the interaction of folding
during the development of faults at shallow crustal levels.
