Amphibolite bodies with eclogite relics are found interlayered between the Ojen nappe´s crustal
rocks, below the Ronda peridotites of the Betic Cordilleras (southern Spain). We present a geochemical
study of such amphibolites and retrogressed eclogites, from which it is possible to deduce a gabbroic
origin for their protoliths. We propose that their intrusion in the continental crust took place in a rift
setting of Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous age. The recognition of this rifting event in the Alpujarride Complex
places an additional constraint for Mesozoic reconstructions of the Western Mediterranean