has determined the development of the Arc of Gibraltar, within which the arc-shaped,
semi-enclosed basin of the Alboran Sea is formed. The mentioned tectonic collision
favours the development and activity of faults with associated crustal earthquakes. It
has also contributed to the modelling of a highly irregular seafloor relief that reflects
the complexity of the tectonic processes (Galindo-Zaldívar et al. 2018; Estrada et al.
2018). From an oceanographic point of view, the Alboran Sea is interesting because
it is where the Mediterranean Waters (MWs) escaping toward the Atlantic Ocean
encounter the Atlantic Water (AW) entering the Mediterranean Sea (e.g. Parrilla et al.
1986). This meeting of water masses produces a complex oceanography where the
bottom layers of the Atlantic and Mediterranean water masses interact with the
complex and irregular seafloor, conditioning the transport, sedimentation, and
reworking of the near surface sediments, and forming sedimentary reliefs that
increase the topographic complexity of the seafloor (Ercilla et al. 2016).
These geological and oceanographic characteristics of the Alboran Sea make this
sea an ideal context in which to analyse the morphological features and sedimentary
deposits, from shallow waters, where the continental shelf is generally poorly
developed, to deep sea areas, dominated by a highly irregular topography. This
contribution summarises the geomorphology of the Alboran Sea, based on recent,
local and regional, interdisciplinary studies. After presenting the geological and
oceanographic frameworks, we offer an up-to-date summary of the main
J. Galindo-Zaldívar
Departamento de Geodinámica, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, CSIC, Armilla, Spain
e-mail: jgalindo@ugr.es
C. Juan
Instituto de Ciencias del Mar, ICM-CSIC, GMC, Barcelona, Spain
Université de Lille, Lille, France
F. Lobo
Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, CSIC, Armilla, Spain
e-mail: pacolobo@iact.ugr-csic.es
M. Chourak
Université Mohammed Premier, Oujda, Morocco
A. Gil · J. A. Peláez
Universidad de Jaén, Jaén, Spain
e-mail: ajgil@ujaen.es; japelaez@ujaen.es
M. Gómez-Ballesteros
Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Madrid, Spain
e-mail: maria.gomez@ieo.es
B. El Moumni
Université Abdelmalek ESSAADI, FST-Tanger, Tanger, Morocco
e-mail: elmoumni@fpl.ma
J. Valencia
LYRA, Engineering Consulting, Gazteiz, Spain
158
G. Ercilla et al.
semi-enclosed basin of the Alboran Sea is formed. The mentioned tectonic collision
favours the development and activity of faults with associated crustal earthquakes. It
has also contributed to the modelling of a highly irregular seafloor relief that reflects
the complexity of the tectonic processes (Galindo-Zaldívar et al. 2018; Estrada et al.
2018). From an oceanographic point of view, the Alboran Sea is interesting because
it is where the Mediterranean Waters (MWs) escaping toward the Atlantic Ocean
encounter the Atlantic Water (AW) entering the Mediterranean Sea (e.g. Parrilla et al.
1986). This meeting of water masses produces a complex oceanography where the
bottom layers of the Atlantic and Mediterranean water masses interact with the
complex and irregular seafloor, conditioning the transport, sedimentation, and
reworking of the near surface sediments, and forming sedimentary reliefs that
increase the topographic complexity of the seafloor (Ercilla et al. 2016).
These geological and oceanographic characteristics of the Alboran Sea make this
sea an ideal context in which to analyse the morphological features and sedimentary
deposits, from shallow waters, where the continental shelf is generally poorly
developed, to deep sea areas, dominated by a highly irregular topography. This
contribution summarises the geomorphology of the Alboran Sea, based on recent,
local and regional, interdisciplinary studies. After presenting the geological and
oceanographic frameworks, we offer an up-to-date summary of the main
J. Galindo-Zaldívar
Departamento de Geodinámica, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, CSIC, Armilla, Spain
e-mail: jgalindo@ugr.es
C. Juan
Instituto de Ciencias del Mar, ICM-CSIC, GMC, Barcelona, Spain
Université de Lille, Lille, France
F. Lobo
Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, CSIC, Armilla, Spain
e-mail: pacolobo@iact.ugr-csic.es
M. Chourak
Université Mohammed Premier, Oujda, Morocco
A. Gil · J. A. Peláez
Universidad de Jaén, Jaén, Spain
e-mail: ajgil@ujaen.es; japelaez@ujaen.es
M. Gómez-Ballesteros
Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Madrid, Spain
e-mail: maria.gomez@ieo.es
B. El Moumni
Université Abdelmalek ESSAADI, FST-Tanger, Tanger, Morocco
e-mail: elmoumni@fpl.ma
J. Valencia
LYRA, Engineering Consulting, Gazteiz, Spain
158
G. Ercilla et al.