Sandra de Castro

• PhD in Marine Geology
• Tech Transfer & Innovation consultant at Innovalia Association

El objetivo principal del proyecto ALGEMAR (PID2021-123825OB) es mejorar el conocimiento de los depósitos marinos profundos, concretamente aquellos generados por la interacción de procesos sedimentarios gravitacionales y por corrientes de fondo. El estudio de estos depósitos es un tema de gran actualidad tanto en el mundo académico, ya que su regis...

The bi-gradational sequence (C1-C5) is the standard facies model for fine-grained, mixed mud-sand contourites. Drilling in the Gulf of Cadiz during IODP 339 recovered over 4.5 km of contourites with over 1600 distinct contourite sequences, having an average thickness of 3 m (range 0.5-7.5 m). This study documents the past 1.1 My of contourite succe...

Along-slope bottom currents and a series of secondary oceanographic processes interact at different scales to form sedimentary deposits referred to as contourite and mixed (turbidite-contourite) depositional systems. The recent proliferation of both academic and industry research on deep-marine sedimentation documents significant advances in the un...

Deepwater Sedimentary Systems: Science, Discovery and Applications helps readers identify, understand and interpret deepwater sedimentary systems at various scales – both onshore and offshore. This book describes the best practices in the integration of geology, geophysics, engineering, technology and economics used to inform smart business decisio...

Idealized facies of bottom current deposits (contourites) have been established for fine‐grained contourite drifts in modern deep‐marine sedimentary environments. Their equivalent facies in the ancient record however are only scarcely recognized due to the weathered nature of most fine‐grained deposits in outcrop. Facies related to the erosional el...

The purpose of this study is to differentiate and characterise contouritic sands in two different locations with variable sediment compositions (siliciclastic and bioclastic) based on a multiproxy approach that includes the analysis of sedimentary texture, semi-quantitative geochemistry, microfacies and ichnological information, as well as a Princi...

Despite numerous efforts to properly differentiate between contourites and other deep-water deposits in cores and outcrops, reliable diagnostic criteria are still lacking. The co-occurrence of downslope and along-slope sedimen-tary processes makes it particularly difficult to differentiate these relatively homogeneous deposits. The main aim of this...

The differentiation of pure turbidites and contourites from mixed deposits —as the bottom current reworked sands (BCRS) — in sedimentary cores and outcrops from the modern or ancient records is still challenging. An accurate evaluation of facies associations calls for detailed understanding of processes controlling these deep-water systems and how...

One of the defining characteristics of contourite systems is the marked cyclicity in grain-size and related sediment properties. This property led to the definition of the bi-gradational contourite sequence (C1-C5) as the standard facies model for mixed grade mud/sand contourites. Drilling in the Gulf of Cadiz during IODP 339 recovered over 4.5 km...

Infilling of trace fossils can serve as a proxy for sediment otherwise missing from basin deposits. The Petra Tou Romiou section (southern Cyprus) includes calcilutite/calcarenite material that represents deep-marine deposits of Eocene age. Lateral and vertical variation indicates pelagic, gravitational, and bottom-current processes simultaneously...

The northern shelf of the Strait of Gibraltar adjacent to Camarinal Sill, defined here as the Cape Paloma continental shelf, has been investigated by analyzing a set of geophysical data including multibeam bathymetric images, a side-scan sonar mosaic and high-resolution seismic profiles, and the simulation of water-mass circulation patterns along t...

This study investigates two bedrock-controlled palaeo-coastal embayments on the Barbate Platform off Cape Trafalgar near the Strait of Gibraltar (Gulf of Cadiz shelf, SW Iberian Peninsula), aiming to reveal their infilling dynamics and the influence of rocky outcrops on shallow-water hydrodynamics and sediment transport. The approach relies on deta...