Seamounts along the Iberian continental margins
- Vázquez, Juan Tomás
- Alonso Martínez, Belén
- Fernández Puga, María C.
- Gómez Ballesteros, María
- Iglesias, J.
- Palomino, Desirée
- Roque, Cristina
- Ercilla Zárraga, Gemma
- Díaz del Río Español, Víctor
ISSN: 0366-0176
Year of publication: 2015
Issue Title: Procesos geológicos en el margen continental ibérico: nuevos avances y tendencias
Volume: 126
Issue: 2-3
Pages: 483-514
Type: Article
More publications in: Boletín geológico y minero
Abstract
Seamounts are first-order morphological elements on continental margins and in oceanic domains, which have been extensively researched over recent decades in all branches of oceanography. These features favour the development of several geological processes, and their study gives us a better understanding of their geological and morphological domains. The seamounts around Iberia are numerous and provide excellent examples of the geodiversity of these morphological elements. Here we present a compilation of 15 seamounts around the Iberian Peninsula. These seamounts have different origins related to the geodynamic evolution (volcanism, extensional or compressive tectonics, and diapirism) of the domains where they are located. The current configuration of their relief has been influenced by Neogene-Quaternary tectonics. Their positioning controls the current morpho-sedimentary processes in the basins and on the margins, and highlights the fact that downslope processes on seamount flanks (mass flows, turbidite flows, and landslides) and processes parallel to seamounts (contouritic currents) correspond to the major geological features they are associated with them. Biogenic structures commonly develop on the tops of seamounts where occasionally isolated shelves form that have carbonate-dominated sedimentation