El Paleocañón de Estepona como un rasgo morfosedimentario Plioceno-Cuaternario del margen septentrional del Mar de Alborán

Abstract

The north-western continental margin of the Alboran Sea is characterised by the development of some submarine channels systems during the Pliocene-Quaternary times. One of these systems, the Paleocanyon of Estepona, has been studied by the analysis of multichannel seismic reflection profiles, in the context of the stratigraphical margin building and the tectonic control. Six stratigraphical units of this age have been defined, the lower three units (Lower to Middle Pliocene) are separated from the three upper (Upper Pliocene to Quaternary) by the main erosive discontinuity D3 of the margin, which is correlated with an eustatic fall of third order, of Upper Pliocene age (around 3 M.a.J. The evolution of this paleochannel has been related to eustatic cycles. The paleochannel position is related with deformation in the Miocene units, but fault control is not evidenced