Alboran Basin, southern Spain - Part I: Geomorphology

Abstract

Bathymetric, 3D relief and shaded relief maps created from multibeam echo-sounding data image the morphology of the Alborán Basin, a structural low along the east–west-trending Eurasian–African plates boundary. Topographic features in the basin are the consequence of volcanism associated with Miocene rifting, rift and post-rift sedimentation, and recent faulting resulting from the convergence of the African–Eurasian plates. Pleistiocene glacially induced regressions/transgressions when the sea level dropped to about 150 m below its present level gas seeps and bottom currents. Recent faulting and the Pleistocene transgressions/regressions led to mass-wasting, formation of turbidity currents and canyon erosion on the basin's slopes. Recent fault traces at the base of the northern basin slope have also served as passageways for thermogenic methane, the oxidation of which by bacteria led to the formation of carbonate mounds along the fault intercepts on the sea floor. Expulsion of thermogenic or biogenic gas has led to the formation of pockmarks; erosion by bottom currents has resulted in the formation of moats around seamounts and erosion of the seafloor of the Alborán Ridge and kept the southern edge of the 36°10′N high sediment free.