Structure and geomorphology of the southeastern Iberian: The case of the Gulf of Vera

X Simposio sobre el Margen Ibérico Atlántico - X Simpósio sobre a Margen Ibérica Atlántica, 7-9 de julio de 2022, BilbaoA multidisciplinary study of the Palomares continental margin and adjacent Algerian abyssal plain (i.e., Gulf of Vera, Southeastern Iberian) that includes geomorphology, stratigraphy, geophysics, tectonics, sedimentology and physics oceanography, reveals a complex margin physiography imprinted by an irregular basement structure made up of elongated metamorphic antiforms pierced by igneous bodies, and synforms, and an abyssal seafloor dotted by numerous subrounded and elongated crests due to diapir piercing. The antiforms and synforms accommodate the deformation of the Aguilas Arc continental tectonic indentation that develops in theframework of theEurasian–Africa plate collision. The sedimentary structure of the Upper Miocene and Plio-Quaternary deposits indicatesthat although bottom current action is responsible for the primary sedimentation that mostly shapes and buildsthe Palomares margin, 97% of this region's seafloor is affected by mass-movementprocesses that erode, deform, fault, and slidecontourite sediments. Mass-movements have favoured the enlargement of long and short submarine canyons formed during the Messinian Salinity Crisis, and gully incisions developed mainly during the Plio-Quaternary. Mass-movementshave also resulted in the formation ofrecurrent mass-flow deposits thatshape seafloor with evacuationerosive features evolving downslope to accumulativedepositional features. Likewise, they have been responsible of three basin-scale gravitational slides (named Polopo, Aguilas and Gata) spreading above the Messinian Salinity Crisis salt layer. These large gravitational slides comprise an upslope domain with extensional features affecting the continental margin, and a downslope domain with contractional features such as diapirs dotting with numerous crests the seafloor of the abyssal plain. The occurrence of mass movements was mostly governed by the indentation thatprovokes a progressively southeastward tectonic tilting and related oversteepening of the continental margin, thus reducing the stability of the contourites. Likewise, tectonic tilting and subsidence of the abyssal plain would have favoured the flow of the underlying Messinian Salinity Crisis salt layer, contributing to the basin-scale gravitational slidesThis research has been funding by the Spanish projects: DAMAGE (CGL2016-80687-R AEI/FEDER) and FAUCES (CTM2015-65461-C2-1-R); and the Junta de Andalucía projects: RNM-148 (AGORA) P18-RT-3275 and PAPEL (B-RNM-301-UGR18).Peer reviewe