WE STUDY THE GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS OF CONTINENTAL MARGINS AND BASINS
A continental margin is a submerged region on the edge of a continent that joins the ocean floor, where the transition from the continental to oceanic crust t takes place.
How
We work with multidisciplinary and multiscale approaches, using a great variety of tools
Where
From challenges to research
1. Global change, sedimentary systems and models
The study of the sedimentary record of continental margins and ocean basins allow us to reveal the palaeogeograpic, palaeoclimatic, palaeoceanographic and the geological history at different time-scales.
Geomorphologic map of Bay of Biscay from Ercilla et al., 2009.
From Ercilla et al., 2019
From Alonso et al., 2021
Singular and convulsive geological process
Major oceanographic and sedimentary convulsive event in the Mediterranean: the impact of the Atlantic flooding after the opening of the Strait of Gibraltar that put an end to the Messenian Salinity Crisis.
Mapping and modelling the Zanclean flooding. Modified from Estrada et al., 2011; García-Castellanos et al., 2020.
Evolution and interaction of sedimentary systems
Models of interplay between the alongslope and downslope sediment transport and their control on the Plio-Quaternary submarine fans architecture. From Ercilla et al., 2019.
2. Marine Geological Hazards
We map and define all phenomena or condition that represent a geological hazard coming from the sea. We pay special attention to faults and mass-transport processes and their tsunamigenic potential.
Seismic faults
Westward propagation of recent tectonic and seismic activity in the main NNE-SSW deformation zone crossing the Alboran Sea. Modified from Galindo-Zaldivar et al., 2018.
Tsunami modelling triggered by the Averroes seismic fault in the Alboran Sea and flooding along the coastline. Modified from Estrada et al., 2021.
Mass-transport processes
The slope stability and mass transport processes is one of the main target in marine geohazard..
Seafloor mass-movement features in the Bransfield Basin (Antarctic). Modified from Casas et al., 2013, 2020.
Geotechnical model for SW Alboran Sea from Yenes et al., 2021
3. Conservation fo oceans
Marine Litter
We also focus on the characterization of the marine litter on the seafloor and the potential factor controlling their distribution.
