Unidades litológicas del Neógeno en el extremo oeste de la Cuenca del Guadalquivir y su correlación con el sondeo Huelva-1 (Huelva - España)

A detailed surveying and a new geological map of the sheet at 1:50.000 number 999/1016 (Huelva - Los Caños), located at the west end of the Guadalquivir Basin, has been carried out. This data allows us to propose a new organization of the lithological units present at the west side of the Odiel River. These units include all the sedimentary record in this sector of the Guadalquivir Basin, ranging from Tortonian to Pliocene, but with shallower and coarser facies that are only present in this part of the basin. This fact is due to the location of the area, probably less subsiding due to a longer distance from Betic-Rif orogen. The lithological units are described concisely and a correlation with the core of the Huelva-1 borehole and with the outcrops of Huelva – Palos de la Frontera area is also proposed. The units are organized in a stack of sequences with a progradational pattern, typical of a basin margin, and highlighting a gradual reduction of the accommodation space in the late Messinian and during the Pliocene.Se ha realizado un reconocimiento detallado y un nuevo mapa geológico de la hoja a 1: 50.000 número 999/1016 (Huelva - Los Caños), situada en el extremo oeste de la Cuenca del Guadalquivir. Estos datos nos han permitido proponer una nueva organización de las unidades litológicas presentes en el lado oeste del río Odiel. Estas unidades incluyen el registro sedimentario completo de este sector de la Cuenca del Guadalquivir, que va desde Tortoniense al Plioceno, pero mostrando unas facies más someras y gruesas que solo están presentes en esta parte de la cuenca. Este hecho se debe a la ubicación de la zona, probablemente menos subsidente debido a su mayor distancia con respecto al orógeno Bético-Rifeño. Las unidades litológicas se describen de forma concisa y se propone también su correlación con el testigo del sondeo Huelva-1 y los afloramientos de la zona de Huelva - Palos de la Frontera. Las unidades litológicas se organizan formando un apilamiento de secuencias con un patrón progradacional, típico de un borde de cuenca, y ponen de manifiesto una reducción gradual del espacio de acomodación a finales del Messiniense y durante el Plioceno.Depto. de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y PaleontologíaFac. de Ciencias GeológicasTRUEMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO)Plan de Edición de Cartografía Geológica y Geomorfológica del IGME 2013-2016pu

Contourite depositional system after the exit of a strait: Case study from the late Miocene South Rifian Corridor, Morocco

Idealized facies of bottom current deposits (contourites) have been established for fine-grained contourite drifts in modern deep-marine sedimentary environments. Their equivalent facies in the ancient record however are only scarcely recognized due to the weathered nature of most fine-grained deposits in outcrop. Facies related to the erosional elements (i.e. contourite channels) of contourite depositional systems have not yet been properly established and related deposits in outcrop appear non-existent. To better understand the sedimentary facies and facies sequences of contourites, the upper Miocene contourite depositional systems of the South Rifian Corridor (Morocco) is investigated. This contourite depositional system formed by the dense palaeo-Mediterranean Outflow Water. Foraminifera assemblages were used for age-constraints (7.51 to 7.35 Ma) and to determine the continental slope depositional domains. Nine sedimentary facies have been recognized based on lithology, grain-size, sedimentary structures and biogenic structures. These facies were subsequently grouped into five facies associations related to the main interpreted depositional processes (hemipelagic settling, contour currents and gravity flows). The vertical sedimentary facies succession records the tectonically induced, southward migration of the contourite depositional systems and the intermittent behaviour of the palaeo-Mediterranean Outflow Water, which is mainly driven by precession and millennial-scale climate variations. Tides substantially modulated the palaeo-Mediterranean Outflow Water on a sub-annual scale. This work shows exceptional examples of muddy and sandy contourite deposits in outcrop by which a facies distribution model from the proximal continental slope, the contourite channel to its adjacent contourite drift, is proposed. This model serves as a reference for contourite recognition both in modern environments and the ancient record. Furthermore, by establishing the hydrodynamics of overflow behaviour a framework is provided that improves process-based interpretation of deep-water bottom current deposits

Magnetobiochronology of lower Pliocene marine sediments from the lower Guadalquivir Basin: insights into the tectonic evolution of the Strait of Gibraltar area

The Gibraltar Arc is a complex tectonic region, and several competing models have been proposed to explain its evolution. We studied the sedimentary fill of the Guadalquivir Basin to identify tectonic processes that were occurring when the reopening of the Strait of Gibraltar led to the reestablishment of Mediterranean outflow. We present a chronostratigraphic framework for the Lower Pliocene sediments from the lower Guadalquivir Basin (SW Spain). The updated chronology is based on magnetobiostratigraphic data from several boreholes. Our results show that the studied interval in the La Matilla core is in the early Pliocene section, providing better constraints on the sedimentary evolution of the basin during that period. Migrating depositional facies led to a younger onset of sandy deposition basinward. At the northwestern passive margin, a 0.7 m.y. period of sedimentary bypass related to a sharp decrease in sedimentation rates and lower sea levels resulted from the tectonic uplift of the forebulge. In contrast, high sedimentation rates with continuous deep-marine sedimentation are recorded at the basin center due to continuous tectonic subsidence and west-southwestward progradation of axial depositional systems. The marginal forebulge uplift, continuous tectonic basinal subsidence, and southward progradation of clinoforms in the early Pliocene can be explained by the pull of a lithospheric slab beneath the Gibraltar Arc as the Strait of Gibraltar opened. These findings are, to our knowledge, the first reported sedimentary expression of slab pull beneath the Betics related to the opening of the Strait of Gibraltar after the Messinian salinity crisis