The Cenozoic tectonic framework of the Ubierna Fault System includes reactivation along the WNW–ESE faults, development of negative and, mostly, positive flower structures, branch faults, strike-slip duplexes, and releasing and restraining bends. NE–SW to ENE–WSW striking reverse faults and contractional horsetail terminations, and NNW–SSE striking normal faults and joints are produced by the WNW–ESE right-lateral strike-slip motion. The extensional elements are well developed and deformation progression implied their incorporation in the strike-slip system as right-lateral faults (forming part of strike-slip duplexes). The abundance of flower structures striking WNW–ESE and paralleling the main strike-slip faults, together with the overall uplift of the overstep area, testifies for a slight compressional component.
At a regional scale, the Ubierna Fault System represents the most prominent element of a Cenozoic transpressional belt, which incorporates the western portion of the Basque-Cantabrian Basin and the Asturian Massif area. Lateral transition between this transpressive belt and the dip-slip belt located to the east, occurs across an area experiencing along strike-shortening, which developed to accommodate the eastward extrusion of the transpressional belt.