Los deslizamientos submarinos de Águilas (Margen de Palomares, Mediterráneo Occidental)

Abstract

Morphological and structural features observed in both swath bathymetry and parametric sub-bottom profiles, acquired during the MARSIBAL I-06 cruise, reveal an area highly affected by sedimentary instability processes at the Águilas Sector in the northern Palomares Margin. Failure scars and deposits, governed by a major lineation of scars -the Águilas Escarpment-, occupy and shape the lower continental slope of this margin sector and extend till the continental rise. Submarine and buried slides complexes cover an area of about 180 km2, and develop from 1600 to 2400 m water depths. High angle faults, which deform the seafloor cause the Águilas Escarpment and diverse small-scale submarine slides. Recent or sub-recent active tectonics, and the coeval uplifting of the Palomares Margin, is proposed to be the main trigger mechanism for the slides. The failure scars favour the evolution of a juvenile submarine canyon (the Águilas Canyon) due to retrogressive sliding