Multiple factors controlling the deep marine sedimentation of the Alboran Sea (SW Mediterranean) after the Zanclean Atlantic Mega-flood

22 pages, 11 figures, supplementary data https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2020.106138
A new basin-scale comprehensive view of contourite features, turbidite systems, and mass-wasting deposits comprising the Spanish and Moroccan margins and basins of the Alboran Sea has been achieved after a new detailed seismic stratigraphic analysis and the construction of sedimentary maps for the Pliocene and Quaternary sedimentary units. Multiple contourite systems were defined in this sea: i) the Intermediate Mediterranean contourite system (IMCS), formed under the action of the LMW on the Spanish continental margin; ii) the Deep Mediterranean contourite system (DMCS), formed under the action of the DMW and made up of contourites mostly found on the Moroccan margin and annex sub-basins; and iii) the Atlantic contourite system (ACS), shaped by the AW and its interfaces with the LMW and DMW on the uppermost continental slopes of both margins. The contourite features (drifts, moats, channels and terraces) coexist during the various stages of the Plio-Quaternary with turbidite systems showing different onsets and cessations in activity, and with mass-wasting deposits. In this work, the temporal and spatial distributions of contourite and turbidite systems can be considered as proxies to deduct the long-term impacts of bottom-current circulations and related processes, and ultimately allowed to decipher past bottom-current dynamics and the multiple factors controlling Plio-Quaternary sedimentation in the Alboran Sea
This study was supported by the Spanish projects FAUCES (CMT2015-65461-C2-R, MINECO/FEDER), DAMAGE (CGL2016-80687-R, AEI/FEDER) and RNM148
With the funding support of the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S), of the Spanish Research Agency (AEI)