Geomorfologia, evolucion geológica y condiciones ambientales actuales de la Cueva de Nerja, Málaga

Tesis doctoral inédita. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Geología y Geoquímica. Fecha de lectura: 31-03-200

Informe de campaña GeoPLOCAN1212

Informe de campaña de los trabajos realizados en la cmpaña oceanográfica GeoPLOCAN1212Esta campaña ha consistido en una prospección por métodos Geofísicos de los fondos que albergarán en un futuro la Infraestructura Científico Técnica Singular (ICTS) PLOCAN; Plataforma Oceánica de Canarias. Los trabajos se han llevado a cabo a bordo del B/O Ángeles Alvariño, y en ellos han participado, junto al IEO, el IHM Instituto Hidrográfico de la Marina, y la UB Universidad de Barcelona. Las tres instituciones han puesto en común el personal participante que ha desarrollado además de la tarea conjunta y compartida de la adquisición de los datos, otras tareas del interés particular de cada organismo como la formativa en el caso de la UB, la de obtención de datos brutos y procesado para la edición de cartas náuticas en el caso del IHM, y la de obtención de datos y procesado con fines científicos desarrollada por el personal del IEOPLOCAN, IEO, IH

Banco de La Concepción: A new Natura 2000 Marine Site off Canary Islands

The main objective of the LIFE+ INDEMARES project is to contribute to the protection and sustainable use of the biodiversity in the Spanish seas through the identification of valuable areas for the Natura 2000 Network. The Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) has been in charge of implementing scientific surveys to map sensitive habitats of seven of the ten INDEMARES areas, and to determine the fisheries footprint over these areas. Banco de La Concepci´on is one of the areas chosen to be depicted in the frame of INDEMARES project. Located at 71 km to the NE of Lanzarote, at the coordinates 29º 55’ Latitude N and 12º 45’ Longitude W, Banco de la Concepci´on raises from 2,541 m up to its summit at 170 m deep. The biological richness of Banco de la Concepci´on is very influenced by the deep water up-welling phenomena, which create a high productivity, attracting a multitude of pelagic species, such as cetaceans, turtles, sharks, and tunas looking for food. In its vicinity, fishery resources such as goraz, anglerfish, and hakes, are abundant, and a rich invertebrate fauna cohabits in their bottoms. Banco de la Concepci´on is a traditional fishing area of oceanic pelagic species, and very good to catch demersal fish; it is highly visited by Galician and Portuguese drifters and long liners that fish in Mauritania, and mainly by the Andalusian longliners. In general, its main impacts are related to uncontrolled fishing pressure. The available information on the anthropogenic impact of the area was scarce, and its level of research was very poor as well, before INDEMARES project. Methodology approach complies with a multidisciplinary perspective, having described the area from geological, oceanographic, biological and fisheries points of view. Several surveys have taken place since 2009 to 2013 at Banco de La Concepci´on waters. Traps, longlines, beam trawls, benthic dredges and box corers have been used to sample benthic fauna. These last two, plus EM 3002 multibeam echosounder, PS 18 parametric sub bottom profiler, EA600 monobeam sounder, Seapath 200 positioning sensor and SV Plus sound velocity calibration sensor were used to make a geophysical study which provides a range of environmental factors. CTD was used to depict physical conditions of the water column. Finally, Remote Operated Vehicle Liropus 2000 and different photogrammetric tugged sleds were used to make a great effort of visual sampling. Data from VMS (Vessel Monitoring System) were used, combined with interviews to users (fishers), to describe the fishery uses in the area. Results from all this field work provide enough information for the administrations to establish a new Natura 2000 area, trying to reconcile protection of biodiversity and artisanal local economic activities. This establishment should take place at the end of a process of public consultation to stakeholders which is taking place in the present and which will help to shape the future Management Plan which will give details about permitted and prohibited uses

Los campos de pockmarks en el sistema de cañones submarinos de Capbreton

En el marco del proyecto LIFE-IP-INTEMARES, se está realizando la caracterización de un sector del sistema de cañones submarinos de Capbreton, localizado en la región oriental del mar Cantábrico (golfo de Vizcaya), con el fin de mejorar el conocimiento para la declaración de nuevos espacios marinos protegidos de la Red Natura 2000 por su importancia para los diversos hábitats que los forman. Durante los años 2019 y 2020se llevaron a cabo dos campañas de investigación oceanográfica, en las cuales se prospectó una zona de interés de 3850 km2,(concretamente, un sector del curso meandriforme del cañón principal de Capbreton). Se han obtenido datos batimétricos, de reflectividad acústica del fondo marino y perfiles sísmicos de alta resolución del sub-suelo marino, así como muestras de roca y sedimentos, además de transectos de vídeo. Así, se han podido observar los cañones tributarios que atraviesan el talud continental, con orientación perpendicular a la línea de costa, y las plataformas intertributarias que presentan destacables campos de pockmarks(depresiones circulares o elípticas asociadas a escapes de fluidos).La batimetría de alta resolución obtenida para la zona ha permitido que, mediante técnicas manuales y semi-automáticas, se cartografíen más de 3000 pockmarks en un rango profundidades comprendido entre 400 y 1200 m. Se han estudiado las características principales de estos pockmarks (morfometría, localización, densidad, etc.) con el objetivo de conocer mejor su génesis y su relación con la evolución geológica de la zona. Estas morfologías, de dimensiones variables entre 20 y 550 m de diámetro y con depresiones que alcanzan los 80m,quese presentan de forma aislada, agrupada, múltiple (conteniendo unas a otras) o alineadas según orientaciones preferentes, sugieren un posible control tectónico. En ocasiones, aparecen conectados o asociados a zonas con pendientes inestables(en determinados sectores) donde se ha observado una gradación de tamaño. En los perfiles sísmicos de alta resolución adquiridos, se han podido localizar pockmarks tanto en la superficie del fondo marino, como sepultados dentro de los estratos sedimentarios, donde han quedado reflejados como paleo-pockmarks, actualmente cubiertos de sedimento

Sensitive Habitats and fishing footprint off Canary Islands seamounts Amanay and El Banquete

The main objective of the LIFE+ INDEMARES project is to contribute to the protection and sustainable use of the biodiversity in the Spanish seas through the identification of valuable areas for the Natura 2000 Network. The Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) has been in charge of implementing scientific surveys to map sensitive habitats of seven of the ten INDEMARES areas, and to determine the fisheries footprint over these areas. Sur y Oriente de Fuerteventura y Lanzarote is one of the areas chosen to be depicted in the frame of INDEMARES project, although the study about benthic habitats and fishery footprint carried by IEO has restricted to Amanay and El Banquete Seamounts. El Banquete really is the extension of southern continental shelf while Amanay seamount is located at 25 km from Jand´ıa Lighthouse (S of Fuerteventura) and 55 km from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, at the coordinates 28º 07’ Latitude N and 14º 44’ LongitudeW, both volcanic buildings raise from more than 2,000 m up to their summits at 25-30 m deep, separated by a 1.500 m deep channel. The biological richness of Amanay and El Banquete seamounts is very influenced by the deep water up-welling phenomena, which create a high productivity, attracting a multitude of pelagic species, such as cetaceans, turtles, sharks, and tunas looking for food. There is also a high influence from Saharian up-welling. Both the seamounts tops and their vicinities are often visited by a large artisanal local fishing fleet which profits of their fishery resources; also a rich invertebrate fauna cohabits in their bottoms. In general, its main impacts are related to uncontrolled fishing pressure, and maritime navigation. The available information on the anthropogenic impact of the area was scarce, and its level of research was very poor as well, before INDEMARES project. Methodology approach complies with a multidisciplinary perspective, having described the area from geological, oceanographic, biological and fisheries points of view. Several surveys have taken place since 2009 to 2013 at Amanay and El Banquete waters. Traps, longlines, beam trawls, benthic dredges and box corers have been used to sample benthic fauna. These last two, plus EM 3002 multibeam echosounder, PS 18 parametric sub bottom profiler, EA600 monobeam sounder, Seapath 200 positioning sensor and SV Plus sound velocity calibration sensor were used to make a geophysical study which provides a range of environmental factors. CTD was used to depict physical conditions of the water column. Finally, different photogrammetric tugged sleds were used to make a great effort of visual sampling. Data from VMS (Vessel Monitoring System) were used, combined with interviews to users (fishers), landing samplings and scientific observation onboard, to describe the fishery uses in the area

Ampliación del estudio geomorfológico del LIC Sistema de Cañones Submarinos de Avilés. Proyecto LIFE IP INTEMARES

Dentro de los objetivos del proyecto LIFE IP INTEMARES “Gestión integrada, innovadora y participativa de la Red Natura 2000 en el medio marino español”, cofinanciado por la UE, se pretende completar los trabajos y avances llevados a cabo en el marco del proyecto LIFE+ INDEMARES (2009- 2014) en algunas de las zonas que fueron declaradas como Lugar de Importancia Comunitaria (LIC), así como ampliar el conocimiento de estas zonas a partir del reprocesado con nuevas técnicas de los datos que fueron adquiridos, y que permitirán avanzar en el estudio de los hábitats de estas áreas gracias a datos más detallados y de mayor resolución. En el presente trabajo se muestran las mejoras realizadas en el procesado y análisis de los datos geofísicos adquiridos durante el proyecto INDEMARES, en el Sistema de Cañones Submarinos de Avilés, localizado en el margen Cantábrico al norte de la Península Ibérica, frente a la costa asturiana. Los últimos avances incorporados a la nueva versión del software de procesado utilizado han permitido mejorar la resolución de la batimetría (5 m) y obtener nuevos mosaicos de reflectividad y mapas de variables derivadas. Los trabajos se han centrado en la zona de la plataforma continental comprendida entre los 40 m y los 200 m de profundidad, donde las características del fondo marino formado por sustrato duro podrían ser óptimas para el desarrollo del hábitat “Arrecifes” 1170. La plataforma en esta zona es estrecha e irregular, con pendientes entre 0º y 4º, llegando a profundidades máximas de 600 m, donde se produce la ruptura de pendiente para dar paso al talud continental (Gómez-Ballesteros et al., 2014). La información utilizada para generar una nueva cartografía geomorfológica ha sido completada con perfiles sísmicos de alta resolución TOPAS y muestreos directos de sustrato previamente existentes

Mapping the habitats of a complex circalittoral rocky shelf in the Cantabrian Sea (south Bay of Biscay)

This work focuses on the study of habitats and communities of a high structural complexity area at different levels and scales. This gives us a better understanding of an area from an ecological point of view and at the same time provides us with tools that will facilitate management measures. It was developed in a complex circalittoral rocky platform of the central Cantabrian Sea (Bay of Biscay). The sampling was carried out using a towed photogrammetric vehicle and a rock dredge, which was used for the identification of the species. The first level of the study was the abiotic characterization of the area and the analysis of the communities. These analysis were developed using the unsupervised k-means classification method. For abiotic characterization we used the variables directly associated with the composition and morphology of the ground, such as backscatter, BPI (Bathymetric Position Index), roughness and slope. Depth was also included to discriminate between the circalittoral and bathyal zones. We obtained 5 different classes, which we related to the ground types observed by photogrammetry. In the analysis of the communities, the cluster was based on the sampling units extracted from the images (~10 m), from which 5 assemblages were obtained, providing information on the most abundant species of each class supplied by the abiotic study. The second level was carried out considering a management approach and was based on the modeling of the area at lower resolution, more suitable for the analysis of the habitat-fisheries interactions. Thus, the main habitat-forming species (HFS) of the entire circalittoral area were used to perform delta models based on GAMs (Generalize Additive Models). Obtaining the predictions of presence/absence and combining it with the predictions of densities, we got the zero inflated values density-based model. As all the identified habitats have vulnerable benthic species of a certain size settled on rocky bottoms, they can all be considered to belong to the designation 1170 reefs of the Habitats Directive

Demersal and epibenthic communities of sedimentary habitats in the Avilés Canyon System, Cantabrian Sea (NE Atlantic)

The aim of this study was to describe the epibenthic and demersal communities of the Avilés Canyon System (ACS) in relation to the environmental variables that characterize their biotope. ACS (Cantabrian Sea, NE Atlantic) was recently included in the Natura 2000 network as a Site of Community Importance (SCI). Data of faunal biomass derived from 6 surveys carried out using beam trawl and otter trawls in 2009 and 2010 within INDEMARES and ERDEM projects. Data were divided into two groups to obtain information about the two ecological compartments: benthic and demersal. The total number of species used in this analysis ascended to 116 in the case of benthic organisms and 110 in the case of demersal. Hierarchical clustering analysis was applied to obtain groups of samples similar in terms of species composition for the two ecological components. Depth was the main discriminating factor for grouping hauls, showing high consistency of bathymetric range independently from the compartment examined. Six groups were identified by depth as follows: medium shelf (∼100–200 m), external shelf (∼150–300m), shelf break (∼300–400 m), upper-slope (∼500–700 m), upper middle-slope (∼700–1100 m), and lower-middle-slope (1200–1500 m). SIMPER analysis on biomass values was performed to determine the structure of the faunal assemblages observed for each group in both compartments. Using biomass values for the analysis allowed for the exploration of groups playing important roles in ecosystem functioning and energy fluxes taking place on the sedimentary bottom of this SCI. Finally, CCA analysis revealed that the main environmental drivers were depth, broad scale bathymetric position index (BPI), near-bottom salinity, sedimentary type, and dynamics related variables (Q50 phy and So). This study gives an inventory of the soft bottom assemblages along a very wide depth range (100–1500 m) inside a SCI, linking both epibenthic and demersal communities with the biotope preferences. This study contributes to fundamental knowledge on soft-bottom communities as a pre-requisite, necessary for the next steps in terms of management framework in the SCI

Informe de distribución espacial de características geomorfológicas y sedimentarias del sector meridional del LIC ESZZ15002 Espacio marino del oriente y sur de Lanzarote-Fuerteventura

En este informe se presenta una caracterización morfosedimentaria y estructural del margen sur de Fuerteventura, nueva y ampliada, que ha supuesto un beneficio para el estudio de las características morfológicas y de los hábitats bentónicos del margen sur de Fuerteventura. Para ello se ha realizado el reprocesado de los datos batimétricos y de reflectividad disponibles en la zona, que ha permitido mejorar su resolución y calidad, y ampliar de manera considerable la zona de estudio en relación a la estudiada en el proyecto anterior LIFE+INDEMARES. Los datos batimétricos se han interpretado junto con los registros de sonda paramétrica de alta resolución y los datos sedimentológicos (granulometría, mineralogía, contenido en materia orgánica y carbonatos) y petrológicos (tipo de roca) de muestras del fondo marino obtenidas durante en el proyecto LIFE+INDEMARES. Entre los tipos morfológicos cartografiados en la zona abundan los rasgos estructurales y erosivos, pero también existen rasgos deposicionales y biogénicos a lo largo de toda el área de estudio. Además se han identificado varios conos volcánicos situados a lo largo del talud. Las muestras de sedimento recuperadas se sitúan preferentemente en el techo del Banco de Amanay y en la zona de El Banquete, corresponden, fundamentalmente, a sedimentos gruesos de tipo arena-arena gravosa y en menor medida arena fangosa, con alto contenido en carbonato. Por su parte, dentro del material rocoso predominan las rocas volcánicas, principalmente los basaltos olivínicos, y las rocas carbonatadas ferruginosas. Entre las principales carencias identificadas, que podrían ser consideradas como una actividad futura para la mejora del conocimiento de la zona, destaca la ausencia de (1) una malla apropiada de registros de sonda paramétrica, ya que los existentes se centran en el techo del Banco de Amanay y en El Banquete, dejando las zonas profundas sin estudiar; y (2) una distribución adecuada de los muestreos de sedimento, ya que como en el punto anterior, las muestras recuperadas se limitan, fundamentalmente al techo del Banco de Amanay y El Banquete, dejando muchas áreas sin explorar. Esta escasez de muestras no permite un calibrado suficientemente correcto de los datos de reflectividad que son clave en la realización de modelos de predicción de hábitat.This report presents a new and expanded morphosedimentary and structural characterization of the southern margin of Fuerteventura. The multibeam data (bathymetry and backscatter) available in the study area have been reprocessed, and high resolution parametric profiles, sedimentological (grain size, mineralogy, organic matter, and carbonate content) and petrological (type of rock) data have been integrated to achieve a more complete approach. The reprocessing of bathymetric data has substantially improved the resolution and quality of the data, and the addition of data from previous projects (ZEE project) has allowed to extend the study area. All this new information provides a benefit to the study of the morphological characteristics and the benthic habitats from the south of Fuerteventura area. Among the morphological types mapped in the study area, structural and erosive features are frequent, but depositional and biogenic features also appear in the whole area. Moreover, several volcanic cones have been mapped along the slope. Sediment samples retrieved at the study area, mostly located at the top of the Amanay Bank and El Banquete, correspond to coarse sediments as sand-gravelly sand and, in a lesser extent, with muddy sand of high carbonate content. The analysis from the rock samples indicates the presence of both volcanic (mainly olivine basalts) and carbonate (ferruginous) rocks. We identify two shortcomings in this study: (1) the absence of a suitable grid of high resolution sub-bottom profiles, since the available records are limited to the top of Amanay Bank and El Banquete area and, (2) the absence of a spatially more homogeneous and intensive grid for surficial sediment samples; this makes impossible to obtain a good calibration between the sediment samples and the backscatter data. For these reasons, we strongly recommend future activities to improve the knowledge of the area with a more detailed geophysical and sedimentological study, which will result in better habitat prediction models.Fondos LIFE, Comisión Europea. Fundación Biodiversidad. LIFE IP-PAF INTEMARE