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Imaging the recent sediment dynamics of the Galicia Bank region (Atlantic, NW Iberian Peninsula)

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Abstract

Multibeam bathymetry, high resolution multi-channel, and very high resolution single-channel (3.5 kHz) seismic records were used to depict the complex geomorphology that defines the Galicia Bank region (Atlantic, NW Iberian Peninsula). This region (≈620–5,000 m water depth) is characterized by a great variety of features: structural features (scarps, highs, valleys, fold bulges), fluid dynamics-related features (structural undulations and collapse craters), mass-movement features (gullies, channels, mass-flow deposits, slope-lobe complexes, and mass-transport deposits), bottom-current features (moats, furrows, abraded surface, sediment waves, and drifts), (hemi)pelagic features, mixed features (abraded surfaces associated to mixed sediments) and bioconstructions. These features represent architectural elements of four sedimentary systems: slope apron, contouritic, current-controlled (hemi)pelagic, and (hemi)pelagic. These systems are a reflection of different sedimentary processes: downslope (mass transport, mass flows, turbidity flows), alongslope (bottom currents of Mediterranean Outflow Water, Labrador Sea Water, North Atlantic Deep Water, and Lower Deep Water), vertical settling, and the interplay between them. The architectural and sediment dynamic complexities, for their part, are conditioned by the morphostructural complexity of the region, whose structures (exposed scarps and highs) favor multiple submarine sediment sources, affect the type and evolution of the mass-movement processes, and interact with different water masses. This region and similar sedimentary environments far from the continental sediment sources, as seamounts, are ideal zones for carrying out submarine source-to-sink studies, and can represent areas subject to hazards, both geologic and oceanographic in origin.

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Acknowledgments

The research was supported by the Projects ERGAP (Ref. VEM 2003-20093-CO3), CONTOURIBER (Ref. CTM2008-06399-MAR), and MONTERA (CTM-14157-C02), of the Spanish Science and Innovation Ministry. We thank the crew of RV L’Atalante for their help collecting the data, the Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO) for providing ZEEE multibeam data, and the cartographer S. García from UTM-CSIC for processing the ERGAP and ZEEE multibeam data. The “Grupo de Márgenes Continentales” (GMC) also thanks the Generalitat de Catalunya for providing economic support in the framework of SGR-2009 (Exp. 00707). Likewise, we thank Seismic Micro-Technology, Inc. for supporting us with the Kingdom Suite Program. F. J. Hernández-Molina is thanked for helpful discussions. This paper has benefited from reviews by an anonymous reviewer and F. J. Hernández-Molina.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Ciències del Mar, CSIC. Grup de Marges Continentals, Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta, 37-49, 08003, Barcelona, Spain

    Gemma Ercilla, Jorge Iglesias, Carmen Juan, Ferran Estrada, Marcel.lí Farran & Margarita García

  2. Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, IGME, Ríos Rosas 23, 28003, Madrid, Spain

    David Casas, Luís Somoza, Teresa Medialdea, Ricardo León, Fernando Bohoyo & Adolfo Maestro

  3. Instituto Español de Oceanografía, C.O. de Málaga Puerto Pesquero, s/n, 29640, Fuengirola, Málaga, Spain

    Juan T. Vázquez

  4. Dpt. Geociencias Marinas y O.T. Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Vigo, 36200, Vigo, Spain

    Soledad García-Gil

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  1. Gemma Ercilla
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ERGAP Project and Cruise Teams

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Correspondence to Gemma Ercilla.

Additional information

SI: Seafloor Mapping.

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Ercilla, G., Casas, D., Vázquez, J.T. et al. Imaging the recent sediment dynamics of the Galicia Bank region (Atlantic, NW Iberian Peninsula). Mar Geophys Res 32, 99–126 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11001-011-9129-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11001-011-9129-x

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