Andrés Maldonado

THE BETIC OROGEN AND THE IBERIAN-AFRICAN BOUNDARY IN THE GULF OF CADIZ : GEOLOGICAL EVOLUTION (CENTRAL NORTH ATLANTIC)

Abstract The study of the Gulf of Cadiz on the basis of multichannel seismic profiles and wells illustrates the stratigraphy and tectonics. The evolution of the southern Iberian margins was more complex than in most North Atlantic margins since it entailed several phases of rifting, convergence and strike-slip motions. Three main tectonic provinces surround the internal zones of the Gibraltar Arc orogenic belt. These include in the Iberian margin of the Gulf of Cadiz the flysch units of the Campo de Gibraltar complex, the Betic External Zones, and the Neogene basins of the Guadalquivir Valley. Fault-bounded blocks of flysch and Subbetic units crops out over large areas of the southeastern Iberian shelf. The basement of the northwestern area, in contrast, is represented by the Paleozoic rocks of the Hercynian massif of Iberia. Half-graben structures determined the main structural trends of the margin during the Mesozoic, which were affected by inversion structures during the Neogene compressional stages. The Mesozoic and lower Cenozoic units are best observed in wells and seismic profiles from the northern area. These units are either obscure below a thick olistostrome deposit or are absent in most of the rest of the Gulf of Cadiz. Seven lithoseismic units from Triassic to Upper Oligocene and another seven Neogene and Quaternary units are identified based on the relationship to the depositional sequence and the emplacement of the olistostrome. The first tectonic phase was characterized by a passive margin, which was controlled by the development of half-graben extensional structures and carbonate platforms. This evolution comprises the Mesozoic and early Cenozoic. Ocean-spreading in the North Atlantic induced extensional tectonics, which deformed the Cretaceous syn-tectonic post-Aptian deposits. Increased amounts of terrigenous materials were supplied to the margin from Aptian to Albian times, controlling depositional patterns, while terrigenous siliciclastic facies replaced the Jurassic carbonate platforms. From Middle Eocene to Early Miocene the margin was influenced by the relative motions of Iberia and Africa and the development of the Alpine orogeny. The Iberian–African boundary in the Gulf of Cadiz experienced transpression and the Mesozoic basins probably underwent subduction. The emplacement of an olistostrome took place in the Gulf of Cadiz towards the Central Atlantic basin plains during the Tortonian. The end of the olistostrome emplacement during the Late Miocene coincides with accelerated tectonic subsidence, while thick progradational and aggradational depositional sequences were developed. The occurrence of closely juxtaposed regions of compression and extension during the Miocene may reflect the westwards progression of the Gibraltar Arc mountain front over a subducting thinned Tethys crust. When the motion between Iberian and Africa was N–S to NNW–SSE oriented, the migration of the arcuate mountain front into the eastern Gulf of Cadiz is attributed to a mechanism of collision induced delamination of the mantle lithosphere. In contrast to the Betic–Rif belts, however, there is no geophysical evidence to postulate that continental collision took place in the Gulf of Cadiz during the Cenozoic.

Influence of the Atlantic inflow and Mediterranean outflow currents on Late Quaternary sedimentary facies of the Gulf of Cadiz continental margin

Abstract The late Quaternary pattern of sedimentary facies on the Spanish Gulf of Cadiz continental shelf results from an interaction between a number of controlling factors that are dominated by the Atlantic inflow currents flowing southeastward across the Cadiz shelf toward the Strait of Gibraltar. An inner shelf shoreface sand facies formed by shoaling waves is modified by the inflow currents to form a belt of sand dunes at 10–20 m that extends deeper and obliquely down paleo-valleys as a result of southward down-valley flow. A mid-shelf Holocene mud facies progrades offshore from river mouth sources, but Atlantic inflow currents cause extensive progradation along shelf toward the southeast. Increased inflow current speeds near the Strait of Gibraltar and the strong Mediterranean outflow currents there result in lack of mud deposition and development of a reworked transgressive sand dune facies across the entire southernmost shelf. At the outer shelf edge and underlying the mid-shelf mud and inner shelf sand facies is a late Pleistocene to Holocene transgressive sand sheet formed by the eustatic shoreline advance. The late Quaternary pattern of contourite deposits on the Spanish Gulf of Cadiz continental slope results from an interaction between linear diapiric ridges that are oblique to slope contours and the Mediterranean outflow current flowing northwestward parallel to the slope contours and down valleys between the ridges. Coincident with the northwestward decrease in outflow current speeds from the Strait there is the following northwestward gradation of contourite sediment facies: (1) upper slope sand to silt bed facies, (2) sand dune facies on the upstream mid-slope terrace, (3) large mud wave facies on the lower slope, (4) sediment drift facies banked against the diapiric ridges, and (5) valley facies between the ridges. The southeastern sediment drift facies closest to Gibraltar contains medium–fine sand beds interbedded with mud. The adjacent valley floor facies is composed of gravelly, shelly coarse to medium sand lags and large sand dunes on the valley margins. By comparison, the northwestern drift contains coarse silt interbeds and the adjacent valley floors exhibit small to medium sand dunes of fine sand. Because of the complex pattern of contour-parallel and valley-perpendicular flow paths of the Mediterranean outflow current, the larger-scale bedforms and coarser-grained sediment of valley facies trend perpendicular to the smaller-scale bedforms and finer-grained contourite deposits of adjacent sediment drift facies. Radiocarbon ages verify that the inner shelf shoreface sand facies (sedimentation rate 7.1 cm/kyr), mid-shelf mud facies (maximum rate 234 cm/kyr) and surface sandy contourite layer of 0.2–1.2 m thickness on the Cadiz slope (1–12 cm/kyr) have deposited during Holocene time when high sea level results in maximum water depth over the Gibraltar sill and full development of the Atlantic inflow and Mediterranean outflow currents. The transgressive sand sheet of the shelf, and the mud layer underlying the surface contourite sand sheet of the slope, correlate, respectively, with the late Pleistocene sea level lowstand and apparent weak Mediterranean outflow current.

Mediterranean undercurrent sandy contourites, Gulf of Cadiz, Spain

Abstract The Pliocene—Quaternary pattern of contourite deposits on the eastern Gulf of Cadiz continental slope results from an interaction between linear diapiric ridges that are perpendicular to slope contours and the Mediterranean undercurrent that has flowed northwestward parallel to the slope contours and down valleys between the ridges since the late Miocene opening of the Strait of Gibraltar. Coincident with the northwestward decrease in undercurrent speeds from the Strait there is the following northwestward gradation of sediment facies associations: (1) upper slope facies, (2) sand dune facies on the upstream mid-slope terrace, (3) large mud wave facies on the lower slope, (4) sediment drift facies banked against the diapiric ridges, and (5) valley facies between the ridges. The southeastern sediment drift facies closest to Gibraltar contains medium-fine sand beds interbedded with mud. The adjacent valley floor facies is composed of gravelly, shelly coarse to medium sand lags and large sand dunes on the valley margins. Compared to this, the northwestern drift contains coarse silt interbeds and the adjacent valley floors exhibit small to medium sand dunes of fine sand. Further northwestward, sediment drift grades to biogenous silt near the Faro Drift at the Portuguese border. Because of the complex pattern of contour-parallel and valley-perpendicular flow paths of the Mediterranean undercurrent, the larger-scale bedforms and coarser-grained sediment of valley facies trend perpendicular to the smaller-scale bedforms and finer-grained contourite deposits of adjacent sediment drift facies. The bottom-current deposits of valleys and the contourites of the Cadiz slope intervalley areas are distinct from turbidite systems. The valley sequences are not aggradational like turbidite channel—levee complexes, but typically exhibit bedrock walls against ridges, extensive scour and fill into adjacent contourites, transverse bedform fields and bioclastic lag deposits. Both valley and contourite deposits exhibit reverse graded bedding and sharp upper bed contacts in coarse-grained layers, low deposition rates, and a regional pattern of bedform zones, textural variation, and compositional gradation. The surface sandy contourite layer of 0.2–1.2 m thickness that covers the Gulf of Cadiz slope has formed during the present Holocene high sea level because high sea level results in maximum water depth over the Gibraltar sill and full development of the Mediterranean undercurrent. The late Pleistocene age of the mud underlying the surface sand sheet correlates with the age of the last sea-level lowstand and apparent weak Mediterranean undercurrent development. Thus, the cyclic deposition of sand or mud layers and contourite or drape sequences appear to be related to late Pliocene and Quaternary sea-level changes and Mediterranean water circulation patterns. Since its Pliocene origin, the contourite sequence has had low deposition rates of

Shackleton Fracture Zone: No barrier to early circumpolar ocean circulation

The opening of Southern Ocean gateways was critical to the formation of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and may have led to Cenozoic global cooling and Antarctic glaciation. Drake Passage was probably the final barrier to deep circumpolar ocean currents, but the timing of opening is unclear, because the Shackleton Fracture Zone could have blocked the gateway until the early Miocene. Geophysical and geochemical evidence presented here suggests that the Shackleton Fracture Zone is an oceanic transverse ridge, formed by uplift related to compression across the fracture zone since ca. 8 Ma. Hence, there was formerly (i.e., in the Miocene) no barrier to deep circulation through Drake Passage, and a deep-water connection between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans was probably established soon after spreading began in Drake Passage during the early Oligocene.

Contourite deposits in the central Scotia Sea: the importance of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and the Weddell Gyre flows

Abstract New swath bathymetry with multichannel and high resolution seismic profiles shows a variety of contourite drift, sediment wave morphologies, and seismic facies in the central Scotia Sea. The deposits are to be found at the confluence between the two most important bottom current flows in the southern ocean: the eastward flowing Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) and the northward outflow of the Weddell Sea Deep Water (WSDW). The contourite drifts are wedge-like deposits up to 1 km thick, that exhibit aggradational reflectors along axis thinning towards the margins. The contourite drifts occur in areas of weaker flows along the margins of contourite channels and in areas protected by obstacles. The elongate-mounded drifts are best developed along the left-hand margins of channelized bottom current flows, due to the Coriolis force. A contourite fan has a main channel and two distributary channels that expand over a gentle seafloor. The proximal fan exhibits sediment waves with the distal fan incised by furrows. Sediment wave fields are well developed in areas of intensified bottom flows without channels, particularly at the confluence of the ACC and the WSDW. Small sediment waves occur where unidirectional bottom current flows predominate. Sediment waves may develop under the influence of internal waves produced by the interaction of the flows and sea-bottom relief. The stratigraphic sequence above the oceanic crust of Early to Middle Miocene age contains six seismic units separated by major reflectors. All the units were shaped under the influence of strong bottom current flows, although they exhibit distinct seismic facies changes that record the variations of the bottom current pathways over time. The age of the units was calculated based on the age of the oceanic crust and sedimentation rates of deep-sea deposits in the region. The oldest, Units VI–IV, are of Early to Middle Miocene age and developed under the influence of the ACC. They are characterized by a southward progradational pattern of the seismic units and sedimentation rates of 5–8 cm/ky. Unit III, with an estimated Middle Miocene age, evidences the first incursion of WSDW into the central Scotia Sea, when plate movement caused openings in the South Scotia Ridge and allowed the connection with the northern Weddell Sea through Jane Basin and gaps in the ridge. Unit II, estimated to be of Late Miocene to Early Pliocene age, extends over the area and is characterized by internal unconformities. A major unconformity at the base of Unit II records an important reorganization of bottom current flows that may predate the onset of grounded ice sheets on the Antarctic Peninsula shelf. Unit I, of Late Pliocene to Quaternary age, shows intensified bottom currents. The unconformity at the base of Unit I probably predates the onset of major Northern Hemisphere glaciations and the greater expansion of Antarctic ice sheets during the Late Pliocene. The extensive distribution of contourite deposits above the oceanic crust testifies to the long-term production of Antarctic Bottom Water. Cold, deep water was swept northward from the Weddell Gyre, interacting with the ACC, and possibly exerting profound influences on the global circulation system and the onset of major glaciations.

Alboran Sea late cenozoic tectonic and stratigraphic evolution

Analysis of airgun seismic profiles from the Alboran Sea reveals a complex morphostructure with margins, basins, and structural highs. North of the Alboran Ridge, south-facing margins have a passive style of evolution, with thick progradational sequences of post-Messinian deposits, whereas north-facing margins are tectonized along structural highs with reduced sediment cover. Basins are extensional features developed since the Early Miocene by mechanisms of tectonic escape and pull-apart, under generalized northwest-southeast to north-south compression. Depositional sequences in this semi-land-locked sea were controlled by the local tectonism and influenced by global sea-level oscillations.

Continental fragmentation along the South Scotia Ridge transcurrent plate boundary (NE Antarctic Peninsula)

Abstract The study of the South Scotia Ridge on the basis of swath bathymetry, multichannel seismic and magnetometry profiles, obtained during the HESANT92/93 cruise and complemented with satellite gravimetry and seismicity data illustrates the tectonics of the region. The thinned continental crust fragments of the ridge are bounded by oceanic crust of the Scotia Sea to the North and Powell Basin to the South. The northern boundary represents the contact between the Scotia and Antarctic plates. This boundary is a sinistral transpressional fault with transtensional segments and moderate recent tectonic activity. Another fault located at the southern boundary appears inactive and does not reveal any features that would enable the kinematics to be determined. Both faults have associated steep scarps since they separate oceanic and continental crust types. The most significant active deformation lies in the axial depression of the ridge, within a band delineated by fault systems with WSW-ENE and SW-NE strikes. These faults develop pull-apart basins, which separate the northern and southern blocks of the ridge. The northern block is being fragmented from the Antarctic Plate by a zone of transtensive faults, and is probably a crustal element independent of the Antarctic Plate. The axial depression, which crosses the ridge slightly obliquely, is characterized by deep basins locally more than 5000 m deep and associated high seismicity. The fault geometry and earthquake focal mechanisms indicate an active sinistral transtensive regime for the fault system, although it may locally have transpressive regimes depending on the fault plane and the stress field orientations. The internal basins are characterized by an asymmetric development showing itself as depositional wedges generally thickening northward. Deposits onlap the southern margins and are affected by normal faults in the northern margins. The seismicity around the Scotia Plate shows that the present stresses are compressive along the northern boundary with the South American Plate (σ 1 SW-NE and subhorizontal) and along the western boundary with the Antarctic Plate (σ 1 WNW-ESE and subhorizontal). For the South Scotia Ridge, however,σ 1 is steeply inclined andσ 3 is subhorizontal with a NW-SE trend. The stress distribution in Bransfield Strait is similar to the ridge and the recent extension could be partially explained by the westward continuation of the active fault system of the central South Scotia Ridge. The fragmentation of continental crustal blocks, due to the tectonic activity along the transcurrent plate boundaries, is a mechanism that contributes to the deformation of the northeastern end of the Antarctic Peninsula. This area appears appropriate for the analysis of continental plate fragmentation processes.

Styles of compressional neotectonics in the eastern Alboran sea

The preliminary interpretation of new high-resolution seismic reflection profiles from the eastern Alboran Sea indicates strong geological similarities between this region and southeastern Spain. The principal neotectonic elements, which result from roughly north-south compression, are defined by northeast-southwest oriented wrenches separated by intervening north-south and west-northwest-east-southeast strike-slip faults. Variations in direction of principal stress axes have permitted faulting to alternate between these two systems, and for reverse faulting to occur within some wrench zones during periods when there was a component of compression perpendicular to them.

The Ebro continental shelf: Quaternary seismic stratigraphy and growth patterns

Abstract Single-channel seismic-reflection profiles on the Ebro shelf and upper slope between Cap Salou and the Columbretes Islands have been interpreted to outline the Quarternary shelf evolution in this deltaic area. Three types of unconformity surfaces can be differentiated in the seismic records, type 1 and 2 unconformities, and toplap surfaces. These surfaces are the stratigraphic expression of the difference between rate of eustatic sea-level fall and subsidence on the outer shelf: a type 1 unconformity forms if the rate of eustatic sea-level fall is the more rapid, a type 2 unconformity forms if subsidence is faster, and toplap forms if subsidence and eustatic sea-level fall are equal. Thirteen stratigraphic units can be differentiated on the basis of unconformities. Based on their relative location on the shelf, these units are subdivided into inner and outer units. The inner units occur on the inner and middle shelf and are characterized by an underlying transgressive surface, while the outer units extend onto the middle to outer shelf and upper slope and show unconformities at their bases. The inner units are interpreted to be stacked transgressive and highstand systems tracts bounded by a maximum flooding surface. The outer units correspond to shelf deltas and shelf margin deltas that prograded southward and seaward over an unconformity in relatively stable water depths when sea-level fall was compensated for by subsidence. The progradation of these units ends with an episode of generalized erosion of the shelf and canyon cutting across the new shelf edge. The growth pattern of the northern Ebro shelf is characterized by important hiatuses, condensed stratigraphic sections, and units which are older than those on the southern shelf. The depositional processes were mainly controlled by eustatic sea-level oscillations, subsidence and changes in sediment supply. The subsidence during the Late Pleistocene was sufficient to compensate for the sea-level falls and allow the development of shelf deltas and shelf-margin deltas on the middle and outer shelf during low sea-level stands.

Tectonic framework of the eastern Alboran and western Algerian Basins, western Mediterranean

Recent progress in the knowledge of the Alboran region subaerial geology and the results of the Garcia del Cid seismic cruises stimulate a reexamination of the tectonic framework of the southwestern part of the Mediterranean. The subaerial geology is governed by a north-south stress field, whereas the marine structures indicate an east-west stress regime. This apparent contradiction results from a difference in age of the tectonics. The main marine extensional features are related to the opening of basins toward the southwest during Burdigalian-Langhian times, while the subaerial structures were developed during a compressional regime from the Tortonian period up to the present.