Características de los depósitos de la laguna de La Ratosa (Málaga)

Abstract

The genesis of the La Ratosa lake (N of Málaga, Spain) can be related to the karstification of the evaporite-bearing triassic substratum. It presents a flooding regime typically seasonal. The clastic deposits on the lake floor (quartz and phyllosilicates, predominantly illite) are mainly of silty size or even lower. They exhibit a dense cracking in dessication periods. An organic wet black level underlies this sediment crust. The saline sedimentation (salt flat) is made up mainly of halite and gypsum. A transition exists between the phreatic brine below the lake and the less saline groundwater flowing to it from the watershed boundaries. The hydrologie and sedimentologic features of this wetland show similarities with those identified in other nearby cases (the Fuente de Piedra salt lake been the most oustanding)