Araceli Muñoz
Grupo México
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Featured researches published by Araceli Muñoz.
Geomorphology | 2003
Juan Acosta; Miquel Canals; Jerónimo López-Martínez; Araceli Muñoz; Pedro Herranz; Roger Urgeles; Carlos Palomo; J.L. Casamor
In this paper, a detailed study of the submarine geomorphology surrounding the Balearic Promontory (western Mediterranean), a northeast prolongation of the Neogene Betic Range in southern Spain, is presented from a series of high-resolution tools including swath bathymetry and seismic reflection profiling. The study identifies the main features of the continental shelf, slope and basins surrounding the Balearic Islands. We show a variety of seafloor relief that owes its origin to several geologic processes, which ultimately control the transport of sediment from the shallower areas to the deep basin. The most important processes are erosion of the shelf and upper slope (terraces associated with different Quaternary sea-level stands and canyons), transport and sediment deposition in the lower slope and base-of-slope by turbidity currents, volcanism and instability processes (landslides scarps and debris lobes). The swath data show that tectonics plays an important role in shaping the submarine slopes of Eivissa and Formentera, the two southernmost islands, as well as its interplay with sedimentary processes, especially mass wasting. Finally, several areas show evidence of pockmarks, which indicate that fluid migration take place in the sediments, probably conditioning several other processes such as mass wasting.
Archive | 2012
Julio M. Portela; Juan Acosta; Javier Cristobo; Araceli Muñoz; Santiago Parra; Teodoro Ibarrola; José Luis del Río; Raúl Vilela; Pilar Ríos; Raimundo Blanco; Bruno Almón; Elena Tel; Victoria Besada; Lucía Viñas; Virginia Polonio; María Barba; Pedro Marín
For the past nine years, the issue of protecting biodiversity in the deep sea in areas beyond national jurisdiction – the high seas (HS) – has been widely debated by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and in other international fora. The UNGA adopted a series of resolutions, beginning with Resolution 59/25 in 2004, which called on high seas fishing nations and regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs) to take urgent action to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) from destructive fishing practices in areas beyond national jurisdiction (Rogers & Gianni, 2010; UNGA, 2004). In December 2006 the UNGA adopted resolution 61/105 on Sustainable Fisheries, calling on flag states, RFMOs and arrangements to immediately act for the sustainable management of fish stocks and to protect VMEs from destructive fishing practices (Portela et al., 2010; UNGA, 2007). In 2009, the UNGA adopted Resolution 64/72 reaffirming the 2006 resolution and made it clear that the measures called for in Resolution 61/105 should be implemented, consistent with the 2009 FAO International Guidelines for the Management of Deep-Sea Fisheries in the High Seas (FAO Deepwater Guidelines), by flag states and RFMOs. Resolution 64/72 placed particular emphasis on conducting impact assessments of bottom fisheries on the high seas (UNGA, 2009: Paras 119–120).
Coastal Sediments 2015 | 2015
Ruth Durán; Jorge Guillén; Gonzalo Simarro; Marta Ribó; Pere Puig; Araceli Muñoz; Albert Palanques
The Coastal Sediments ’15 conference, Understanding and Working with Nature, 11-15 May 2015, San Diego, California.-- 13 pages, 6 figures
Archive | 2017
Ruth Durán; Jorge Guillén; Jesús Rivera; Araceli Muñoz; F. J. Lobo; L. M. Fernández-Salas; Juan Acosta
Multibeam swath bathymetry, high-resolution seismic data and sediment samples were used to characterize a field of sand ridges and subaqueous dunes on the outer Murcia continental shelf (western Mediterranean Sea). Sand ridges are 1.5–3 m high and show a predominant E-W orientation oblique to the present-day shoreline. High-resolution seismic data reveal a backstepping stacking pattern of high-angle clinoforms dipping towards the southwest, interpreted as buried sand bodies. Subaqueous dunes have a mean height of 0.3 m and appear superimposed on the sand ridges showing a NW-SE orientation oblique to the ridges. They are composed of sandy sediments and display asymmetric morphology, with the lee side towards the southwest. Ridge and dune asymmetry and internal structure are indicative of long-term sediment transport towards the southwest. At present, dune migration rates deduced from repeated bathymetric surveys indicate that the dunes remain stationary or migrate at very low rates on a decadal scale.
Seafloor Geomorphology as Benthic Habitat#R##N#GeoHAB Atlas of Seafloor Geomorphic Features and Benthic Habitats | 2012
Ben De Mol; David Amblas; German Alvarez; Pere Busquets; A. Calafat; Miquel Canals; Ruth Durán; Caroline Lavoie; Juan Acosta; Araceli Muñoz; Hermesione Shipboard Party
Publisher Summary The sill of the Strait of Gibraltar is the morphological, oceanographical, and ecological gateway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea for the post-Messinian crisis period. The seabed is composed of synorogenic Betic-Rif clayey flysch overlaid by Pliocene and/or Quaternary calcareous conglomerates and coral accumulations, as well as current transported sand and mud in the deepest parts. The Strait of Gibraltar is one of the busiest maritime zones in the world and is thus affected by invasive species, but the benthic community is poorly studied. Furthermore, the study zone is affected by benthic trawl fisheries on the shelf and near-shelf areas and by the laying of submarine cables. Overall, the naturalness of the study area is considered to be largely unmodified. Based on the Benthic Terrain model scheme, a morphological classification has been made of the bathymetric MBES data, indicating several morphological habitats in the area that can cause fragmentation in the main ecosystem. This classification is based on the rugosity, slope, curvature, depth, bathymetric positioning index (BPI) with annulus neighborhood of 1,125, 300, 120, and 60 m, and the range of standard deviation of the depth over a distance of 45 m based on a bathymetric grid of 15 m. The predicted textural distribution map is based on the rugosity, slope, and objectively classified morphological zones identified in combination with textural information of the sampled stations used in a maximum-likelihood statistic algorithm provided by ArcGIS. Coral distribution is based on grab samples and the layers of the derived morphological grids.
Seafloor Geomorphology as Benthic Habitat#R##N#GeoHAB Atlas of Seafloor Geomorphic Features and Benthic Habitats | 2012
Ben De Mol; David Amblas; A. Calafat; Miquel Canals; Ruth Durán; Caroline Lavoie; Araceli Muñoz; Jesús Rivera; Darwin Cd Hermesione; Cobas Shipboard Parties
Publisher Summary The Alboran Sea is the westernmost basin of the Mediterranean Sea and represents a basin 350 km long and 150 km wide, with water depths between 0 and 2,000 m. The Alboran Sea is characterized by highly dynamic and variable water masses that make it one of the most productive areas in the oligotrophic Mediterranean Sea. Hydrodynamic features occur across all time and length scales, such as tidal motion, strong baroclinic jets, large-scale gyres, mesoscale eddies, upwelling regions, and frontal zones, all with important implications on the dynamics of plankton and benthic ecosystems [3]. The strong surface inflow of Atlantic water through the Strait of Gibraltar, known as the Atlantic Jet, maintains two semipermanent anticyclonic gyres consisting of a mixture of different proportions of Mediterranean and Atlantic waters that change in sympathy with tidal cycles. The knolls in the Alboran Sea are affected by benthic trawl fisheries, evidenced by trawl marks and lost fishing gear observed in the study area. Overall, the naturalness of the study area is considered to be modified. The topography of the Alboran Basin seafloor is characterized by pinnacles, knolls, banks, ridges, and troughs as a direct expression of the Pliocene-Quaternary compressive tectonic regime. Colonization in the past and present does not correspond to any particular side of the knoll flanks; hence, it appears there is no eznhanced source of nutrients nor any increased pressure related to sedimentation from any particular direction in the study area. Upscaling from detailed habitat maps of knolls to basin-wide predictive habitat maps reveals various potential CWC habitats that are not yet surveyed and might lead to new discoveries of relict and living CWC ecosystems in the basin.
Archive | 2017
Ruth Durán; Belén Alonso; Gemma Ercilla; Ferran Estrada; David Casas; Araceli Muñoz
The dynamics of sorted bedforms on the inner shelf off El Masnou coast (NW Mediterranean) was investigated based on time-series of swath bathymetry and backscatter and grain-size analysis of grab samples spanning 4 years (2006–2009). The sorted bedforms are superimposed on the edge of a shallow infralittoral wedge with an orientation nearly perpendicular to the slope and oblique to the shoreline. They commonly display lateral asymmetry in backscatter, with the high backscatter domain on the depression and on the eastern side of the bedforms. The short-term evolution of these bedforms evidenced changes in the location of the bedform boundaries, widening and narrowing, predominant migration towards the southwest in the direction of the net alongshore sediment transport, and formation of new sorted bedforms. The analysis of repeated bathymetries also revealed the impact of dredging activities on the sorted bedforms, resulting in the destruction of part of the bedform pattern, which started to recover over the subsequent months. This behaviour suggests that the sorted bedforms off El Masnou are persistent and dynamic over a 4 year time span.
Archive | 2017
Patricia Jiménez; Elena Elvira; Araceli Muñoz; Juan Acosta
Several tributaries highly incised in the continental margin merge in the Almanzora-Alias-Garrucha Canyon, on the lower slope of the Vera Gulf. This canyon generated a turbidite system and a submarine fan at the mouth, where a field of large sediment waves developed at about 2500 m water depth. These sediment waves reach maximum heights and wavelengths of 80 m and 4.5 km, respectively, and are preferentially orientated N-S. The sediment waves display an upslope migration and are interpreted as being associated with supercritical turbidity currents.
Archive | 2017
Ruth Durán; Jorge Guillén; Araceli Muñoz
Multibeam echosounder data and sediment samples were used to characterize sorted bedforms on the inner shelf off Lloret and Tossa de Mar (NW Mediterranean Sea). The sorted bedforms are formed by a sequence of coarse-grained (coarse sand) and fine-grained (fine to medium sand) domains, with little topographic relief (up to 1 m). They exhibit elongated shapes and are oriented nearly perpendicular to the shoreline, at water depths ranging from 10 to 40 m. The sorted bedforms display lateral symmetry in backscatter and bathymetric relief with high backscatter centred on the bathymetric depression. They appear associated with elongated sand deposits fed by short, ephemeral streams that extend across-shelf over the infralittoral prograding wedge down to 40 m water depth. Sorted bedforms are better developed in deeper waters (20–40 m), probably due to stronger hydrodynamic conditions in the shallower sector of the shelf, which prevent the development or maintenance of these morphological features. The morphological evolution of these bedforms indicates that they are persistent features, showing small changes in their boundaries over a decadal timescale.
Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union | 2012
Juan Acosta; Araceli Muñoz; Elazar Uchupi
For economic, environmental, recreational, military, and political reasons it is critical for coastal states to have up-to-date information on their marine margins. Spain began to acquire such data 17 years ago. From 1995 to the present, the Spanish Oceanographic Institute (IEO), a research organization of the state, has carried out a systematic geological and geophysical study of the Spanish margins. Among these projects are (1) the hydrographic and oceanographic study of the Spanish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) that was implemented by the Navy Hydrographic Institute (IHM); (2) the Espace Project, a study of the Spanish continental shelf; and (3) the Capesme Project, which created fisheries maps of the Mediterranean Sea. The latter two projects were carried out in collaboration with the Secretariat General of the Sea (SGM).