Chapter 6
Seafloor Morphology and Processes
in the Alboran Sea
Gemma Ercilla, Juan-Tomás Vázquez, Belén Alonso, Patricia Bárcenas,
David Casas, Elia d’Acremont, Ferran Estrada,
Luis Miguel Fernández-Salas, Jesús Galindo-Zaldívar, Carmen Juan,
Francisco Lobo, Nieves López-González, Desirée Palomino,
Olga Sánchez-Guillamón, Mimoun Chourak, Antonio Gil,
María Gómez-Ballesteros, Bouschta El Moumni, José Antonio Peláez,
Javier Valencia, and Christian Gorini
6.1 Introduction
The Alboran Sea is one of the seas most widely studied by Spanish marine geologists. There are two main reasons: its structural framework and its oceanographic
circulation. The Alboran Sea is interesting from a structural point of view because it
is the site of collision between the Eurasian and African plates, and the basin is
located within the framework of an orogenic process forming the surrounding Betic
and Rif mountain belts. The westward displacement of the Alboran Domain (formerly the Alboran Microplate, Andrieux et al. 1971) between the two major plates
G. Ercilla (*) · B. Alonso · F. Estrada
Instituto de Ciencias del Mar, ICM-CSIC, GMC, Barcelona, Spain
e-mail: gemma@icm.csic.es; belen@icm.csic.es; festrada@icm.csic.es
J.-T. Vázquez · P. Bárcenas · N. López-González · D. Palomino · O. Sánchez-Guillamón
Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de Málaga, Fuengirola (Málaga),
Spain
e-mail: juantomas.vazquez@ieo.es; patricia.barcenas@ieo.es; nieves.lopez@ieo.es;
desiree.palomino@ieo.es; olga.sanchez@ieo.es
D. Casas
Instituto de Ciencias del Mar, ICM-CSIC, GMC, Barcelona, Spain
Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Madrid, Spain
e-mail: davidcasas@icm.csic.es
E. d’Acremont · C. Gorini
Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Université Paris 06, UMR 7193, ISTeP, Paris, France
e-mail: elia.dacremont@sorbonne-universite.fr; christian.gorini@sorbonne-universite.fr
L. M. Fernández-Salas
Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Cádiz, Spain
e-mail: luismi.fernandez@ieo.es
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
J. C. Báez et al. (eds.), Alboran Sea - Ecosystems and Marine Resources,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65516-7_6
157
Seafloor Morphology and Processes
in the Alboran Sea
Gemma Ercilla, Juan-Tomás Vázquez, Belén Alonso, Patricia Bárcenas,
David Casas, Elia d’Acremont, Ferran Estrada,
Luis Miguel Fernández-Salas, Jesús Galindo-Zaldívar, Carmen Juan,
Francisco Lobo, Nieves López-González, Desirée Palomino,
Olga Sánchez-Guillamón, Mimoun Chourak, Antonio Gil,
María Gómez-Ballesteros, Bouschta El Moumni, José Antonio Peláez,
Javier Valencia, and Christian Gorini
6.1 Introduction
The Alboran Sea is one of the seas most widely studied by Spanish marine geologists. There are two main reasons: its structural framework and its oceanographic
circulation. The Alboran Sea is interesting from a structural point of view because it
is the site of collision between the Eurasian and African plates, and the basin is
located within the framework of an orogenic process forming the surrounding Betic
and Rif mountain belts. The westward displacement of the Alboran Domain (formerly the Alboran Microplate, Andrieux et al. 1971) between the two major plates
G. Ercilla (*) · B. Alonso · F. Estrada
Instituto de Ciencias del Mar, ICM-CSIC, GMC, Barcelona, Spain
e-mail: gemma@icm.csic.es; belen@icm.csic.es; festrada@icm.csic.es
J.-T. Vázquez · P. Bárcenas · N. López-González · D. Palomino · O. Sánchez-Guillamón
Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de Málaga, Fuengirola (Málaga),
Spain
e-mail: juantomas.vazquez@ieo.es; patricia.barcenas@ieo.es; nieves.lopez@ieo.es;
desiree.palomino@ieo.es; olga.sanchez@ieo.es
D. Casas
Instituto de Ciencias del Mar, ICM-CSIC, GMC, Barcelona, Spain
Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Madrid, Spain
e-mail: davidcasas@icm.csic.es
E. d’Acremont · C. Gorini
Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Université Paris 06, UMR 7193, ISTeP, Paris, France
e-mail: elia.dacremont@sorbonne-universite.fr; christian.gorini@sorbonne-universite.fr
L. M. Fernández-Salas
Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Cádiz, Spain
e-mail: luismi.fernandez@ieo.es
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
J. C. Báez et al. (eds.), Alboran Sea - Ecosystems and Marine Resources,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65516-7_6
157