Belén Alonso

• PhD
• Professor (Full) at Institute of Marine Sciences, Barcelona-ICM.Spanish National Research-CSICch Council

This work aims to establish the role of liquefaction in a shallow submarine environment defined by a canyon head reaching the coast. The study area is the Garrucha submarine canyon head, which is located in the western Mediterranean Sea. The potential of liquefaction is approached empirically by two methods in parallel, undrained cyclic direct simp...

Marine sediments comprise the primary long‐term sink of organic matter (OM) in marine systems. Disentangling the diverse origins of OM and the influence of the main processes that determine organic carbon (OC) fate at a global scale has proven difficult due to limited spatial data coverage. Thus, comprehensive studies of the spatial distribution of...

The Gulf of Cadiz and the Alboran Sea are characterized by tectonic activity due to oblique convergence at the boundary between the Eurasian and Nubian plates. This activity has favored a variety of tsunamigenic sources: basically, seismogenic faults and submarine landslides. The main tsunamigenic faults in the Gulf of Cadiz would comprise the thru...

Rabaute A.; Gorini C.; Leroy S.; Alonso B.; Le Roy, P .; Frigola J.; Emmanuel L. ; Ketzer M.; Praeg D. ; Lopez-Gonzalez N. and the ALBACORE Scientific party 1 EGU22-6547 EGU General Assembly 2022 © Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. The Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean) is a relatively s...

Earthquakes are the most commonly cited cause of offshore slope failure, followed by high sedimentation rates and ensuing pore pressure build-up. In the South Alboran Sea, the moderate seismicity (Mw = 6.4) of the strike-slip Al Idrissi Fault Zone does not appear to control directly the landslides distribution. To provide a preliminary geohazard as...

We present a multidisciplinary study of morphology, stratigraphy, sedimentology, tectonic structure, and physical oceanography to report that the complex geomorphology of the Palomares continental margin and adjacent Algerian abyssal plain (i.e., Gulf of Vera, Western Mediterranean), is the result of the sedimentary response to the Aguilas Arc cont...

Despite the drive towards equality between women and men in research institutions in recent years and the progress that has been made, there is still a long road ahead. Science is still associated with the male image, and women’s work and contributions are often invisible. Like many other spheres of society, research institutions contribute to the...

The Holocene morpho-stratigraphic evolution of a compound submarine deltaic system linked with the Antas and Almanzora Rivers on the narrow (< 5 km) shelf along the Palomares margin (southeastern Iberia) has been reconstructed from the integrated analysis of geomorphology, seismo-stratigraphy and sedimentology. The shelf morphology is characterized...

A marine hazard is a potentially damaging event, phenomenon or activity in the marine environment that may cause loss of human life, social and economic disruption or environmental degradation. In the last 30 years, natural and human-induced hazards have caused over 1.6 million victims and the economic losses average 300 thousand million dollars pe...

Offshore geological hazards can occur in any marine domain or environment and represent a serious threat to society, the economy, and the environment. Seismicity, slope sedimentary instabilities, submarine volcanism, fluid flow processes, and bottom currents are considered here because they are the most common hazardous processes; tsunamis are also...

The Alboran Basin is a Neogene-Quaternary extensional basin located within the Betic-Rif alpine cordillera. The region where the current basin is located holds great oceanographic relevance, as it lies in the area of connection between the western (Atlantic Ocean basin) and eastern seas (ocean basins of the Ligurian Tethys and then Western Mediterr...

The seafloor of the Alboran Sea reflects its complex tectonic, sedimentary, and oceanography dynamics as a consequence of the geological context, involving interaction between the Eurasian and African plates, and oceanographic context, as it is where the Atlantic and Mediterranean waters meet. Their physiography has a semi-enclosed configuration ch...

The seafloor of the Alboran Sea reflects its complex tectonic, sedimentary, and oceanography dynamics as a consequence of the geological context, involving interaction between the Eurasian and African plates, and oceanographic context, as it is where the Atlantic and Mediterranean waters meet. Their physiography has a semi-enclosed configuration ch...

Two Quaternary plastered contourite drifts, with terraced and low-mounded morphologies, make up the continental slope and base-of-slope in the northwestern Alboran Sea, respectively, between the Guadiaro and Baños turbidite systems, close to the Strait of Gibraltar. Considering their significant lateral extent, the link between the contourite drift...

The Western Mediterranean Deep Water (WMDW), on its way out toward the Atlantic Ocean, has favored the formation of contourite drifts in the Alboran Sea (SW Mediterranean) since the opening of the Strait of Gibraltar. Resolving the nature of these deposits is crucial for reconstructing the WMDW variability at a millennial scale, deciphering its bot...

This article offers an overview of the main sedimentary systems defining the geomorphology of deep sea environments from low to high latitudes. Mass-transport deposits, turbidite systems, contourites, volcaniclastic aprons, glacial trough mouth systems, carbonate mounds and other bathyal systems, such as pelagites, hemipelagites, mid-ocean channels...

A morphological and seismic-stratigraphic analysis of the Gulf of Cadiz area near the Strait of Gibraltar is presented in this work, focused on the sedimentary evolution of the upper and proximal middle-continental slope since the Mid-Pleistocene. Based on the analysis of seismic reflection profiles and swath bathymetry data, this work analyses the...

A new basin-scale comprehensive view of contourite features, turbidite systems, and mass-wasting deposits comprising the Spanish and Moroccan margins and basins of the Alboran Sea has been achieved after a new detailed seismic stratigraphic analysis and the construction of sedimentary maps for the Pliocene and Quaternary sedimentary units. Multiple...

Progress in the understanding and dating of the sedimentary record of the Alboran Basin allows us to propose a model of its tectonic evolution since the Pliocene. After a period of extension, the Alboran Basin underwent a progressive tectonic inversion starting around 9–7.5 Ma. The Alboran Ridge is a NE–SW transpressive structure accommodating the...

Abstract. Progresses in understanding the sedimentary dynamic of the Western Alboran Basin lead us to propose a model of evolution of its tectonic inversion since the Pliocene to present-time. Extensive and strike-slip structures accommodate the Miocene back-arc extension of the Alboran Basin, but undergo progressive tectonic inversion since the To...

This code was used in the open access research article in Marine Geology titled "Quantitative characterisation of contourite deposits using medical CT" by Vandorpe et al. (2019). doi: 10.1016/j.margeo.2019.106003

The Djibouti Ville Drift is part of a contourite depositional system located on the southern side of the Djibouti Ville Seamount in the Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean). The sedimentary record of a core located in the drift deposits has been characterized to achieve the possible sediment sources for the Saharan dust supply and the paleocurrent v...

New insights into the Cenozoic depositional architecture based on the seismic stratigraphy of the northern Argentine continental slope, off Bahia Blanca, allow us to reconstruct its sedimentary evolution. Five major seismic boundaries, B1 to B5 (from oldest to youngest) represent the main discontinuities bounding six seismic units: I (Eocene), II (...

Progresses in understanding the sedimentary dynamic of the Western Alboran Basin lead us to propose a model of evolution of its tectonic inversion since the Pliocene to present-time. Extensive and strike-slip structures accommodate the Miocene back-arc extension of the Alboran Basin, but undergo progressive tectonic inversion since the Tortonian. A...

Five sediment cores, retrieved from four different depositional contouritic morphological settings (a sheeted drift, a confined mounded drift, a mounded elongated drift and a plastered drift) from the Northern Gulf of Cadiz and the Alboran Sea have been analysed using medical X-ray computed tomography (medical CT). A quantitative approach has been...

The Miocene is an essential period in the configuration of the present-day relief of the Betic Cordillera and the South Iberian continental margin, which determined the structure and evolution of the Neogene sedimentary basins (Fig. 3.1). The crustal thinning processes that occurred during the early and middle Miocene, after the main metamorphic ev...

The C5 core, collected on the Apulia continental slope in the Gulf of Taranto was, sampled with the aim of identifying very high-frequency climatic variations. Sedimentological analyses were performed. They are particle size analysis with laser, calcimetric analysis and terrigenous / biogenous content, the latter observing the sample under a micros...

This is an interdisciplinary study that combines morphoseismics, sedimentology and numerical modelling to elucidate at different scales of resolution the influence of alongslope processes on the turbidite systems (TSs) and canyons in the Alboran Sea (southwestern Mediterranean). Nine TSs are mapped in the Spanish margin (La Linea, Guadiaro, Baños,...

Abstract In active basins, tectonics can segment the continental shelf and control its stratigraphic architecture and physiography. Segmentation can explain the local evolution and morphology of the continental shelf because of sea-level variations, local tectonic segmentation and hydrodynamic processes. Here we investigate the tectonically active...

The Eurasian-African NW-SE oblique plate convergence produces shortening and orthogonal extension in the Alboran Sea Basin (Westernmost Mediterranean), located between the Betic and Rif cordilleras. A NNE-SSW broad band of deformation and seismicity affects the Alboran central part. After the 1993-94 and 2004 seismic series, an earthquake sequence...

In active basins, tectonics can segment the continental shelf and control its stratigraphic architecture and physiography. Segmentation can explain the local evolution and morphology of the continental shelf because of sea-level variations, local tectonic segmentation and hydrodynamic processes. Here we investigate the tectonically active Morocco c...

The seafloor of the Alboran Sea shows morphological evidence of the activity of several tectonic structures that basically correspond to two large families of conjugated strike-slip faults, the first of WNW-ESE to NW-SE trend and right-lateral movement, and the second of NNE-SSW to NE-SW trend and left-lateral movement, likewise it has been recogni...

The Alboran Sea, since the end of the Miocene, has been under a deformation regime resulting from the collision between the Eurasian and African plates. Consequently, a system of conjugate faults NNE-SSW and WNW-ESE with an angle of 75º was formed. These faults develop around the northern end of a rigid block spur of the African plate and are the o...

The central transect of the Alboran Sea is affected by an NNE-SSW seismic activity band and deformation zone. After the seismic series of 1993-94 and 2004, a new series has occurred in its southern sector during 2016-17 (main event Mw = 6.3, 01/25/2016), with epicenters grouped in two alignments. The northern one, WSW-ENE, is associated with focal...

High-resolution bathymetric data and seafloor sampling were used to characterize the most recent volcanic eruption in the Azores region, the 1998–2001 Serreta submarine eruption. The vent of the eruption is proposed to be an asymmetric topographic high, composed of two coalescing volcanic cones, underlying the location where lava balloons had been...

The Alboran Sea constitutes a Neogene–Quaternary basin of the Betic–Rif Cordillera, which has been deformed since the Late Miocene during the collision between the Eurasian and African plates in the westernmost Mediterranean. NNE–SSW sinistral and WNW–ESE dextral conjugate fault sets forming a 75° angle surround a rigid basement spur of the African...

The active Eurasia-Nubia plate boundary runs across the Alboran Sea in the Western Mediterranean Sea, where the connection between the Atlantic and Mediterranean water masses occurs. Earthquakes above magnitude Mw>6 may favor the occurrence of landslides within contouritic drifts in the Alboran Sea. A compilation of recent multibeam data reveals fo...

The dynamics of sorted bedforms on the inner shelf off El Masnou coast (NW Mediterranean) was investigated based on time-series of swath bathymetry and backscatter and grain-size analysis of grab samples spanning 4 years (2006–2009). The sorted bedforms are superimposed on the edge of a shallow infralittoral wedge with an orientation nearly perpend...

Earthquakes and submarine landslides are recurrent and widespread manifestations of fault activity offshore SW Iberia. The present work tests the effects of sea-level rise on offshore fault systems using Coulomb stress change calculations across the Alentejo margin. Large-scale faults capable of generating large earthquakes and tsunamis in the regi...

Seafloor morphotectonic features on the NE Alboran Sea have been analyzed using a mosaic of multibeam bathymetry and a mesh of reflection seismic profiles. A geomorphologic analysis and their relationship with active and Quaternary tectonic structures has been realized. Morphotectonic features are: i) fault scarps; ii) elongated ridges correspondin...

Pleistocene succession at Sites U1386 and U1387 (IODP 339) from palaeo-moat and drift domains of the Faro Drift has been examined to characterize the lithofacies and to identify the most useful criteria for distinguishing between contourite and gravity-flow deposits. Three lithofacies, A, B, and C, are defined based on a combination of sedimentolog...

General book DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.CH.2015.07.en

Pleistocene succession at Sites U1386 and U1387 (IODP 339) from palaeo-moat and drift domains of the Faro Drift has been examined to characterize the lithofacies and to identify the most useful criteria for distinguishing between contourites and gravity-flow deposits. Three lithofacies, A, B, and C, are defined based on a combination of sedimentolo...

A seismic analysis of the Pliocene and Quaternary stratigraphy was conducted in the Alboran Sea (westernmost Mediterranean) using more than 1250 profiles consisting of single- and multi-channel seismic records. This allowed for the updating and renaming of the stratigraphic boundaries and the establishment of a new Pliocene and Quaternary seismic s...

The analysis of a data set of multibeam bathymetry plus high resolution seismic and parametric profiles allow us to characterize the geomorphologic units on the Alboran Sea-floor as well as the evolution of morpho-sedimentary systems along the Pliocene and Quaternary, later than the main erosive Messinian event. Since the opening of the Gibraltar S...

Morphological features (escarpments, depressions and valleys) identified on the Guadalquivir Bank, within the middle slope of the Gulf of Cadiz, have been investigated based on high- and mid-resolution geophysical datasets. Themorphological and seismic stratigraphic analyses allowed their interpretation as the result of the interaction between ocea...

The Diego Cao channel is located on the central-north middle slope of the Gulf of Cadiz. It separates the Bartolomeu Dias and Faro sheeted drift plateaus to the north of the Guadalquivir Bank margin uplift. A striking linear series of circular depressions occur parallel to the channel on the Bartolomeu Dias sheeted drift (western channel flank), wh...

Contourite drifts are one the main morphosedimentary features in the Alboran Sea and their sediments are important archives of the past oceanographic conditions and sedimentary processes. The end-member modelling approach lets to decompose multimodal grain-size distribution into genetically meaningful subpopulation that may be related to different...

Several morphosedimentary signatures produced by the interaction between alongslope and downslope sedimentary processes have been identified in the Pliocene and Quaternary records as well as on the present-day seafloor of the Alboran Sea. The scenarios of interaction move between two-end-members: from bottom currents dominating gravity flows to gra...

A new data set of 88 marine surface sediment samples and related oceanic environmental variables (temperature, salinity, chlorophyll a, oxygen, etc.) was studied to quantify the relationship between assemblages of coccolithophore species and modern environmental conditions in the western Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, west of the Strait...

We present an interdisciplinary study of the geomorphology, sedimentology and physical oceanography of the Alboran Sea (south-western Mediterranean Sea) to evaluate the potential role of bottom currents in shaping the Spanish andMoroccan continental margins and adjacent basins. Bathymetric and seismic data have allowed the recognition of the contou...

A new dataset of 88 marine surface sediment samples and related oceanic environmental variables (temperature, salinity, chlorophyll a, oxygen, etc.) was studied to quantify the relationship between assemblages of coccolithophore species and modern environmental conditions in the Western Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, west of the Strait o...

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 domai...

Turbidite systems or submarine fans are considered the most important clastic accumulations in the deep sea and represent the sediment-transfer system between the hinterland source area and the deep-sea depositional sink. Their deposits contain information about global factors and local factors. Different scales and varying observational methods ha...

This work is devoted to the mathematical modeling and numerical hindcast simulation of an hypothesized ancient submarine landslide occurring in the Alboran Sea Basin and the associated generated tsunami. Seafloor features related to former mass movement systems (MMS) have been identified by the interpretation of multibeam bathymetry data and high t...

The key goals to studying submarine landslides and associated tsunamis are to better assess the magnitude information of palaeo-tsunamis and to contribute to assessing future tsunami risks. The numerical modelling of submarine landslides and the tsunamis thus generated comprises important interdisciplinary research that requires knowledge of both g...

Le bassin de Boudinar est un des principaux bassins néogènes de la marge marocaine qui a enregistré l’évolution post-rift des marges du bassin d’Alboran. La sédimentation dans ce bassin a démarré au Miocène supérieur et s’est poursuivie jusqu’à l’actuel. L’objectif de ce travail est de décrire la dynamique sédimentaire de cette portion de la marge...

The analysis of multibeam bathymetric data and high resolution seismic profiles has allowed us to define the tectonic geomorphology of the Adra margin, northern Alboran Sea. Four geomorphic tectonic-related structures have been analyzed: (i) Longitudinal ridges (N50-70); (ii) Linear scarps (N30, N55, N130, N165, N-S); (iii) Tectonic depressions (N1...

La zona central de la Cuenca de Alborán se caracteriza por presentar los elementos fisiográficos más importantes de Alborán, como son las dorsales de Alborán y Adra que limitan la depresión del Canal de Alborán. Estos elementos morfoestructurales son el resultado de la convergencia de las placas Africana y Euroasiática. El análisis de datos batimét...

Seismic profiles and sedimentological data (bulk fraction) of two sediment cores recovered from the Djibouti Ville Drift (SW Mediterranean Sea) indicate that bottom currents have played a fundamental role in shaping the sediment drift. The deposits are composed of biogenous to mixed muddy and silty contourites. A grain size analysis of the terrigen...

Seismic profiles and sedimentological data (bulk fraction) of two sediment cores recovered from the Djibouti Ville Drift (SW Mediterranean Sea) indicate that bottom currents have played a fundamental role in shaping the sediment drift. The deposits are composed of biogenous to mixed muddy and silty contourites. A grain size analysis of the terrigen...

The Gulf of Cadiz records the interplay of a variety of sedimentary processes related to the circulation of water masses. The most important one is the Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) that exits the Mediterranean Sea, but other water masses also affect the seafloor, with complex variations along time and space. This work studies the interplay bet...

Multidisciplinary work between oceanography, geomorphology and sedimentology has uncovered evidence explaining the uneven development of the turbidite systems (TSs) in the Alboran Sea. Nine TSs have been mapped in the Spanish margin, ranging from sandy to mixed sand-mud fans, and which become sandier towards the Strait of Gibraltar; in contrast TSs...

A multiple Contourite Depositional System has been defined in the Plio-Quaternary sedimentary register in the Alboran Sea. This multiple system formed by the Atlantic and the low density and high density Mediterranean Waters, which shaped the margins and basins since the opening of the Gibraltar Strait. Three different (paleo)circulation scenarios...

The main aim of this work is the knowledge of the detailed morphology of the Portimao Bank which is an E-W structural seamount located in the distal sector of the South Portuguese margin, northeastern area of the Gulf of Cadiz, and it is bordered to the north by the Don Carlos Valley and to the south by the Cádiz Valley. This seamount has been desc...

A detailed geomorphological study of the northern part of the Alboran Sea Basin has been realized based on the combined analysis of multibeam swath bathymetric data and medium to very high resolution seismic profiles (singled Sparker, Airgun, TOPAS and Atlas PARASOUND P35). This has enabled us to define several tectonic-related seafloor features an...