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Interaction between seabed morphology and water masses around the seamounts on the Motril Marginal Plateau (Alboran Sea, Western Mediterranean)

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Abstract

The seabed morphology in the vicinity of the seamounts on the Motril Marginal Plateau (northern Alboran Sea) was investigated using high-resolution (sparker) and very high-resolution (TOPAS) seismic reflection profiles and multibeam bathymetry. The aim of the study was to determine the recent geological processes, and in particular those that control the contourite depositional system associated with the intermediate and deep Mediterranean water masses. Six groups of morphological features were identified: structural features (seamount tops, tectonic depressions), fluid escape-related features (pockmarks), mass-movement features (gullies, slides), bottom-current features (moats, scour marks, terraces, elongated and separated drifts, plastered drifts, confined drifts, sheeted drifts), mixed features (ridges) and biogenic features (including evidence of (dead) cold water corals such as Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora oculata). The main processes controlling the formation of these features are recent tectonic activity and the interaction of Mediterranean water masses with the seafloor topography. Seamounts act as topographic barriers that affect the pathway and velocity of the deep Mediterranean water masses, which are divided into strands that interact with the surrounding seafloor. The influence of the intermediate Mediterranean water mass, by contrast, is restricted mainly to the tops of the seamounts. Sediment instability and fluid-escape processes play a minor role, their occurrence being probably related to seismicity.

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Acknowledgements

Bathymetric data and TOPAS seismic profiles were acquired by the Secretaría General del Mar (Ministerio de Medio Ambiente, Medio Rural y Marino) and sparker seismic profiles by the Instituto Geológico Minero de España for the geological cartography of the Continental Shelf and Surrounding Areas programme (Granada-Málaga, sheet no. 83-83S). We thank the commanding officer, crew, technicians and scientists aboard the RV Hespérides during the GAROÉ cruise, and especially the chief scientist, Luis Somoza, for the new TOPAS profiles. This is a contribution to the projects MONTERA (CTM2009-14157-C02), CONTOURIBER (CTM2008-06399-C04/MAR), TOPOMED (CGL2008-03474-E) and DEEPER (IEO), and to the RNM-328 and 2009SGR1071 research groups. E. Martorelli, D. Van Rooij and the editors B.W. Flemming, M.T. Delafontaine and F.J. Hernández-Molina are thanked for constructive comments that served to improve the manuscript.

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  1. Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de Málaga, Puerto Pesquero s/n, 29640 Fuengirola, Málaga, Spain

    Desirée Palomino, Juan-Tomás Vázquez, Nieves López-González & Víctor Díaz-del-Río

  2. Instituto de Ciencias del Mar-CSIC, Paseo Marítimo de la Barceloneta 37–49, 08003, Barcelona, Spain

    Gemma Ercilla & Belén Alonso

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  1. Desirée Palomino
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  2. Juan-Tomás Vázquez
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  3. Gemma Ercilla
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  6. Víctor Díaz-del-Río
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Correspondence to Desirée Palomino.

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Palomino, D., Vázquez, JT., Ercilla, G. et al. Interaction between seabed morphology and water masses around the seamounts on the Motril Marginal Plateau (Alboran Sea, Western Mediterranean). Geo-Mar Lett 31, 465–479 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-011-0246-y

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