Morphosedimentary, Structural and Benthic Characterization of Carbonate Mound Fields on the Upper Continental Slope of the Northern Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean)
Carbonate mounds clustering in three fields were characterized on the upper continental slope of the northern Alboran Sea by means of a detailed analysis of the morphosedimentary and structural features using high-resolution bathymetry and parametric profiles. The contemporary and past benthic and d...
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MDPI AG
2022-02-01
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/12/3/111 |
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| author | Olga Sánchez-Guillamón Jose L. Rueda Claudia Wienberg Gemma Ercilla Juan Tomás Vázquez Maria Gómez-Ballesteros Javier Urra Elena Moya-Urbano Ferran Estrada Dierk Hebbeln |
| author_facet | Olga Sánchez-Guillamón Jose L. Rueda Claudia Wienberg Gemma Ercilla Juan Tomás Vázquez Maria Gómez-Ballesteros Javier Urra Elena Moya-Urbano Ferran Estrada Dierk Hebbeln |
| author_sort | Olga Sánchez-Guillamón |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Carbonate mounds clustering in three fields were characterized on the upper continental slope of the northern Alboran Sea by means of a detailed analysis of the morphosedimentary and structural features using high-resolution bathymetry and parametric profiles. The contemporary and past benthic and demersal species were studied using ROV underwater imagery and some samples. A total of 325 mounds, with heights between 1 and 18 m, and 204 buried mounds were detected between 155 to 401 m water depth. Transparent facies characterize the mounds, which root on at least six erosive surfaces, indicating different growth stages. At present, these mounds are covered with soft sediments and typical bathyal sedimentary habitat-forming species, such as sea-pens, cerianthids and sabellid polychaetes. Nevertheless, remains of colonial scleractinians, rhodoliths and bivalves were detected and their role as potential mound-forming species is discussed. We hypothesized that the formation of these mounds could be related to favorable climatic conditions for cold-water corals, possibly during the late Pleistocene. The occurrence on top of some mounds of abundant rhodoliths suggests that some mounds were in the photic zone during minimum sea level and boreal guest fauna (e.g., <i>Modiolus modiolus</i>), which declined in the western Mediterranean after the Termination 1a of the Last Glacial (Late Pleistocene). |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T19:47:50Z |
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| issn | 2076-3263 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T19:47:50Z |
| publishDate | 2022-02-01 |
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| series | Geosciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-f6277f8aad1b4df1a0beb7277da0408b2023-11-24T01:20:25ZengMDPI AGGeosciences2076-32632022-02-0112311110.3390/geosciences12030111Morphosedimentary, Structural and Benthic Characterization of Carbonate Mound Fields on the Upper Continental Slope of the Northern Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean)Olga Sánchez-Guillamón0Jose L. Rueda1Claudia Wienberg2Gemma Ercilla3Juan Tomás Vázquez4Maria Gómez-Ballesteros5Javier Urra6Elena Moya-Urbano7Ferran Estrada8Dierk Hebbeln9Centro Oceanográfico de Málaga, Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO-CSIC), 29640 Fuengirola, SpainCentro Oceanográfico de Málaga, Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO-CSIC), 29640 Fuengirola, SpainMARUM—Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, LeobenerStraße 8, 28359 Bremen, GermanyContinental Margins Group, Institut de Ciencies del Mar-CSIC, Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49, 08003 Barcelona, SpainCentro Oceanográfico de Málaga, Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO-CSIC), 29640 Fuengirola, SpainServicios Centrales de Madrid, Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO-CSIC), 28002 Madrid, SpainCentro Oceanográfico de Málaga, Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO-CSIC), 29640 Fuengirola, SpainDepartamento de Biología Animal, Universidad de Málaga, 29071 Málaga, SpainContinental Margins Group, Institut de Ciencies del Mar-CSIC, Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49, 08003 Barcelona, SpainMARUM—Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, LeobenerStraße 8, 28359 Bremen, GermanyCarbonate mounds clustering in three fields were characterized on the upper continental slope of the northern Alboran Sea by means of a detailed analysis of the morphosedimentary and structural features using high-resolution bathymetry and parametric profiles. The contemporary and past benthic and demersal species were studied using ROV underwater imagery and some samples. A total of 325 mounds, with heights between 1 and 18 m, and 204 buried mounds were detected between 155 to 401 m water depth. Transparent facies characterize the mounds, which root on at least six erosive surfaces, indicating different growth stages. At present, these mounds are covered with soft sediments and typical bathyal sedimentary habitat-forming species, such as sea-pens, cerianthids and sabellid polychaetes. Nevertheless, remains of colonial scleractinians, rhodoliths and bivalves were detected and their role as potential mound-forming species is discussed. We hypothesized that the formation of these mounds could be related to favorable climatic conditions for cold-water corals, possibly during the late Pleistocene. The occurrence on top of some mounds of abundant rhodoliths suggests that some mounds were in the photic zone during minimum sea level and boreal guest fauna (e.g., <i>Modiolus modiolus</i>), which declined in the western Mediterranean after the Termination 1a of the Last Glacial (Late Pleistocene).https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/12/3/111carbonate moundsgeomorphologybenthoshabitatsrhodoliths<i>Modiolus modiolus</i> |
| spellingShingle | Olga Sánchez-Guillamón Jose L. Rueda Claudia Wienberg Gemma Ercilla Juan Tomás Vázquez Maria Gómez-Ballesteros Javier Urra Elena Moya-Urbano Ferran Estrada Dierk Hebbeln Morphosedimentary, Structural and Benthic Characterization of Carbonate Mound Fields on the Upper Continental Slope of the Northern Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean) Geosciences carbonate mounds geomorphology benthos habitats rhodoliths <i>Modiolus modiolus</i> |
| title | Morphosedimentary, Structural and Benthic Characterization of Carbonate Mound Fields on the Upper Continental Slope of the Northern Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean) |
| title_full | Morphosedimentary, Structural and Benthic Characterization of Carbonate Mound Fields on the Upper Continental Slope of the Northern Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean) |
| title_fullStr | Morphosedimentary, Structural and Benthic Characterization of Carbonate Mound Fields on the Upper Continental Slope of the Northern Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Morphosedimentary, Structural and Benthic Characterization of Carbonate Mound Fields on the Upper Continental Slope of the Northern Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean) |
| title_short | Morphosedimentary, Structural and Benthic Characterization of Carbonate Mound Fields on the Upper Continental Slope of the Northern Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean) |
| title_sort | morphosedimentary structural and benthic characterization of carbonate mound fields on the upper continental slope of the northern alboran sea western mediterranean |
| topic | carbonate mounds geomorphology benthos habitats rhodoliths <i>Modiolus modiolus</i> |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/12/3/111 |
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