V. Díaz-del-Río

• Dr.
• Instituto Español de Oceanografia

The toponymy of the main submarine physiographic and morphological features of the Alboran Sea and the Strait of Gibraltar has been compiled without taking into account the coastal places that can be obtained from standardized land cartographic bases. For this, a review of the bibliography has been carried out and the most widely used features have...

Análisis de imagen para la identificación de objetos en filtros procedentes de las plumas de turbidez Image analysis to identify objects in filters obtained from turbidity plumes Abstract: The study of turbidity plumes developed in front of the river mouth, have an increasing scientific interest due to its contribution to infralittoral sediment tra...

Advances in remotely-sensed techniques have revolutionized mapping methods and our understanding of the seabed environment. In particular, multibeam backscatter data nowadays allows developing quantitative studies on the composition of the seafloor, which represents an important baseline for habitat mapping. Usually, the acoustic response is consid...

The northeastern sector of the Gulf of Cadiz continental margin has been deeply studied the last two decades. The seafloor is characterized by the Gulf of Cadiz Contourite Depositional System, strong diapirism and seepage related to the mobility of the frontal units of the Gibraltar Arc. Since 2010 high resolution bathymetric data and high and very...

Ocean scientists are increasingly more interested in monitoring underwater ecosystems. Nowadays gathering that kind of data is practically limited to exploration expeditions which usually involve a very high cost for the information acquired. Underwater networks can be used to provide a quasi-real-time and continuous data flow, but the current capa...

The seabed morphology and the sub-bottom characteristics of a sector of the Gulf of Cádiz continental slope have been analyzed from different data sets. The morphological characteristics, the type of sediments and dominant benthic species of Gazul mud volcano and adjacent areas have been studied. The morphological characteristics identified were gr...

The evolutionary stages of the submarine delta off the Adra River are investigated in this study, under the context of climatic fluctuations entangled with increasing human activities and interventions in the drainage basins and adjacent shores during the Middle to Late Holocene. To achieve that goal, we used an extensive database comprising a set...

The Gulf of Cádiz (GoC) represents an area of ecological importance within the northeastern Atlantic Ocean due to the presence of Mediterranean and Atlantic water masses, a heterogeneous seafloor and a biological confluence. Nevertheless, information on the presence of vulnerable deep-sea habitats is still very scarce and it is of importance for fu...

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...

Se presentan nuevas evidencias de actividad tectónica reciente en la plataforma continental del margen Bético del Golfo de Cádiz. La identificación y caracterización de fallas normales activas cuaternarias, principalmente en la plataforma media y externa existente entre la desembocadura del río Guadalquivir hasta la Bahía de Cádiz, está basada en l...

Very high resolution parametric echosounder (TOPAS) data interpretation obtained during CADHYS0713, INDEMARES/CHICA1011 and ARSA0313 cruises along the middle, external shelf and upper slope of the eastern Gulf of Cadiz between 50 and 400 m depth has allowed us the identification of several active tectonic structures acting since the Holocene. To da...

The seabed morphology and the sub-superficial characteristics of the Cristóbal Colón diapir located on the continental slope of the Gulf of Cadiz have been analysed from data obtained in the framework of the LIFE+INDEMARES/CHICA project. The aim of this study is to recognize the morphological features and the geological processes generated by the b...

Two fields of prodeltaic undulations located off the Guadalfeo River were studied by integrating surficial (multibeam bathymetry, backscatter, sediment samples) and sub-surface (seismic profiles, sediment cores) data. Our main motivation was to analyze the along- and across-shelf variability of the seafloor undulations, in order to obtain useful in...

Quantitative characterization of the size and shape of volcanic edifices is an essential step towards the understanding of factors controlling volcano growth and morphology (Grosse et al., 2012). The study of volcano morphology can give valuable insights into these processes and their underlying causes, i.e. tectonic/structural setting, magma compo...

Mud volcanoes are conical edifices formed by the vertical migration of muddy sediments and fluids (hydrocarbons and brines) that are extruded by successive emissions. Mud breccia is the distinctive material of these volcanoes which is composed by clasts of varied lithologies embedded in a clayey ma-trix. This material is pushed out by the central d...

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...

Morphostructural interpretation based on high and very high resolution reflection seismic profiles and a bathymetric mosaic acquired along several oceanographic cruises have allowed the neotectonic char-acterization of a sector of the Gulf of Cádiz continental shelf, which is extended from the Guadalquivir river mouth to the Bay of Cádiz. High reso...

This work deals with 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 to v...

The Cadiz Contourite Channel is the largest and most prominent contourite channel in the middle slope of the Gulf of Cadiz, and is known to channelise the southern branch of the Lower Core of Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) as it flows westwards from the Gibraltar Gateway. The channel lies in water depth between 650 and 1500 m, is 150 km long, 2-...

In this paper, we present the preliminary results of the high-resolution study of the seafloor undulations on the outer continental shelf from the southeastern Spanish. Multibeam bathymetry and very high-resolution seismic system TOPAS data have been used. The study area is located between 65 and 105 m depth off the town of Aguilas (Murcia) and Cap...

The paper provides the connection between the seabed morphology and the invertebrate benthic species communities along the western upper-middle slope of Hatton Bank between 600 and 2,000 m water depth, an important area for deep-sea fisheries. This work is supported by the ECOVUL/ARPA project (Instituto Español de Oceanografía), which was carried o...

121 Emplazamiento de algunas estructuras submarinas relacionadas con la tectónica salina y la expulsión de gases en el talud superior y medio del Golfo de Cádiz Emplacement of some submarine structures related to salt tectonics and leaking gasses in the upper and middle slope of the Gulf of Cádiz V. Díaz-del-Río (A set of methane expulsion related...

Cold seeps and mud volcanoes represent heterogeneous seafloor structures that promote a wide variety of geological features, habitat types and associated biota. In Spanish waters of the Gulf of Cádiz, a total of 11 mud volcanoes have been found so far, containing more than 15 habitat types (according to EUNIS and LPRE) and around 850 species. Some...

We discuss in this presentation the preliminary results on the structural characterization of the continental shelf of the Gulf of Cádiz (SW Iberian Peninsula) from the Guadalquivir river mouth to the Bay of Cádiz. It is based on interpretation of very high (Geopulse) and high resolution reflection seismic sections (Topas) acquired by several ocean...

We discuss in this presentation the preliminary results on the structural characterization of the continental shelf of the Gulf of Cádiz (SW Iberian Peninsula) from the Guadalquivir river mouth to the Bay of Cádiz. It is based on interpretation of very high (Geopulse) and high resolution reflection seismic sections (Topas) acquired by several ocean...

The Gulf of Cadiz displays a high biodiversity due to its complex oceanographic circulation, geological evolution, heterogeneity of sediment and habitat types as well as its biogeographic context, among other reasons. In this area, emissions of hydrocarbon-rich fluids (mainly methane) cause the formation of sub-surface structures, such as mud volca...

Chemosymbiotic bivalves are important members of cold seep communities and information on their distribution in the European waters is still quite scarce. This study reports the presence of living populations and shell remains of some recently described bivalves such as Lucinoma asapheus, Solemya elarraichensis and Acharax gadirae as well as Bathym...

A morpho-structural analysis of several mud volcanoes on the Moroccan Atlantic margin (Gulf of Cádiz) is presented. Multibeam data (bathymetry and backscatter), very high resolution seismic profiles from ultra-high resolution topographic parametric sounder (TOPAS) and gravity core data have been used. Analysis reveals an episodic mud extrusion dyna...

This work is devoted to the study of submarine landslide generated tsunamis in the Alboran Sea. Seafloor features related to former mass movement systems have been identified by the interpretation of multibeam bathymetry data and high to very high resolution seismic profiles. The possible tsunami originated by one of the mass movement systems has b...

The bottom-current component of ocean circulation contributes significantly to shaping the deep seafloor and the settlement and development of benthic communities. In this paper, a data integration of speed and direction of bottom flow, geomorphology and habitat-forming benthic species distribution is shown from data collected within the framework...

This book started as an idea at the GeoHab meeting held in Noumea, New Caledonia, in May 2007. We noticed that multibeam bathymetry maps of geomorphic features, sometimes shown as 3D fly-thru movies, followed by detailed sampling and photographic data (including underwater videos) illustrating the substrate conditions and associated biota was a con...

Southeastern Bay of Biscay (Basque coast) seafloor characterization and benthic habitat mapping was carried out integrating data from multibeam echosounder, topographic and bathymetric LiDAR, video, and sediment and biological sampling ranging from the intertidal zone up to 100 m depth over 1,096 km 2. The area shows high geomorpho-logic diversity...

I_Marco_General_Sudatlantica_tcm7-203272.pdf

Studies on seamounts from the Djibouti Banks (Alboran Sea) are very scarce. The special interest of these seamounts is their location between At-lantic and Mediterranean water masses and the peculiar hydrodynamic, physicochemical and sedimentological characteristics. The granulometric and geochemical analyses as well as the benthic foraminiferal as...

The seabed morphology in the vicinity of the seamounts on the Motril Marginal Plateau (northern Alboran Sea) was investigated using high-resolution (sparker) and very high-resolution (TOPAS) seismic reflection profiles and multibeam bathymetry. The aim of the study was to determine the recent geological processes, and in particular those that contr...

Living specimens of the amphi-Atlantic asteroid Hacelia superba have been collected in different areas of Gazul mud volcano in the Gulf of Cadiz, south-western Iberian Peninsula, at depths of 380–487 m. This starfish displayed low abundances (~1 ind. 2000 m−2) in beam trawl catches on the mud vulcano and adjacent soft bottoms. The absence of previo...

Recent surficial sedimentary processes led by hydrodynamic forcing and by laterally variable fluvial supplies are investigated in the eastern shelf of the northern Alboran Sea margin. This study highlights the high spatial variability of sedimentary processes in a relatively small area with an abrupt physiography and subjected to a seasonal and str...

The Gulf of Cadiz is located in the SW Iberian Peninsula and can be considered as the structural front of the Betic-Rifian Arc, located at the westernmost tectonic belt of the Alpine-Mediterranean convergence zone between the African and Eurasian plates. This front is an olistostrome, comprising a large volume of shale and salt diapirism. A variety...

Son muchos los trabajos relacionados con las estructuras y morfologías a gran escala espacio-temporal relacionados con los procesos tectónicos en el talud continental del Golfo de Cádiz, sin embargo, son escasos los trabajos dedicados al estudio detallado de los procesos neotectónicos que pongan de manifiesto la actividad tectónica actual de este s...

Una revisión de la base de perfiles sísmicos existente en el sector septentrional de la plataforma continental del Golfo de Cádiz ha permitido identificar y caracterizar una serie de fallas normales que afectan a las unidades sedimentarias del Cuaternario superior. En el margen Bético, zona comprendida entre las localidades de Chipiona y Conil de l...

Two oceanographic surveys have been carried out using very high-resolution acoustic techniques in 2010. These surveys have allowed us to improve the knowledge of two sectors of the Spanish continental shelf in the Gulf of Cadiz: the first one, from the mouth of the Guadalquivir River to the Bay of Cadiz, and the second one, between Cadiz and Chicla...

The occurrence of a living population of the giant deep-sea oyster Neopycnodonte zibrowii is reported on the slopes of Hespérides Mud Volcano Complex in the Gulf of Cádiz, south-western Iberian Peninsula, in 720 m depth. A noteworthy circumstance of this new record is its situation on a sea bottom which was suitable for the operation of a rock dred...

A large suite of Fe–Mn nodules (561 samples) were recovered during the Anastasya2001 cruise (TASYO project) along the continental margin of the Gulf of Cadiz (Eastern Central Atlantic), at the confluence of the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean, where extensive nodule fields were discovered. Based on wide previous studies that included swat...

The recent evolution of the Adra River delta in southeastern Spain has been reconstructed from historical maps, aerial photographs, and submarine multibeam bathymetric data. We have distinguished three main evolutionary stages whose development took place as a direct response to the main anthropic and natural influences on the river system. The fir...

Herein we describe a suite of fluid escape depression features, including pockmarks and collapse structures, discovered in the Gulf of Cádiz (Spain) during several recent cruises. We also establish an evolutionary model for these depressions and discuss the generation of bottom undercurrent furrows from fluid-flow structures, considering the oceano...

Resumen: A partir de un estudio detallado de datos de batimetría multihaz se ha realizado el análisis morfométrico de 8 campos de ondulaciones desarrollados sobre prodeltas ubicados en la plataforma continental del margen norte del Mar de Alborán. Los parámetros morfológicos obtenidos se han relacionado con el régimen hídrico asociado a los sistema...

We compare the sea-floor backscatter distribution obtained from multibeam bathymetric data of the eastern Alboran Sea shelf with wind-and tide-forced current patterns generated during two storm situations. We were able to identify three areas with distinct hydrodynamic behaviour and the leading control of westerly winds. Introduction Grain size dis...

The Spanish interdisciplinary research project ECOVUL/ARPA focuses on the western slope of Hatton Bank (NE Atlantic Ocean). As part of this project, interpretation of multibeam bathymetry data, very high resolution seismic profiles and sediment samples collected by the Instituto Español de Oceanografía, permitted to identify the Talismán Slide, an...

Based on new discoveries of submarine chimneys and pavements related to leaking gases in the Gulf of Cadiz, we discuss in this paper the role of this submarine structures in terms of habitats. Location of shallow mud volcanoes surrounding the Laberinto Field let us think that this structures could also be found in shallower areas of the margin, inc...

This Submission by Spain to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf has been made pursuant to Article 76 and Annex II of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, with a view to defining the outer limits of the continental shelf in the Galicia area beyond 200 nautical miles. This partial Submission deals only with the...

In order to establish the history and conditions of nucleation and growth of pyrite formed inside methane-derived carbonate chimneys collected in the seafloor of the Gulf of Cadiz, we compared the size distributions, morphologies, textures and geochemical compositions of framboidal and euhedral pyrite as well as iron oxyhydroxides pseudomorphs. Mor...

This paper presents a computational model for mapping the regional 3D distribution in which seafloor gas hydrates would be stable, that is carried out in a Geographical Information System (GIS) environment. The construction of the model is comprised of three primary steps, namely: (1) the construction of surfaces for the various variables based on...

Durán Muñoz, P., Sayago-Gil, M., Cristobo, J., Parra, S., Serrano, A., Díaz del Rio, V., Patrocinio, T., Sacau, M., Murillo, F. J., Palomino, D., and Fernández-Salas, L. M. 2009. Seabed mapping for selecting cold-water coral protection areas on Hatton Bank, Northeast Atlantic. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 2013–2025. Research into vulnerabl...

Many structures associated with fluid escape, including mud volcanoes, mud-carbonate mounds, pockmarks and slides, have been identified and characterized in the Gulf of Cádiz. Most of the mud volcanoes following NE–SW and NW–SE main trends are found at 350–2000 m depth in the eastern domain of the Gulf of Cádiz, which corresponds to the Betic–Rifea...

More than 500 Fe–Mn nodules were sampled during the Anastasya-01 cruise (TASYO project) along the continental margin of the Gulf of Cadiz (eastern Central Atlantic), at the confluence of the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean, where extensive nodule fields were discovered. Based on wide previous studies that included swath bathymetry, multi-...

El objetivo de este trabajo es discutir los rasgos morfológicos que ha impuesto la actividad hidrodinámica del Estrecho de Gibraltar sobre los fondos rocosos que componen el Umbral y las crestas de Hispalis (Figura 1), desde el mismo momento de su apertura. La morfometría de las depresiones excavadas sobre los afloramientos rocosos permitirá ava...

A multibeam bathymetric and high- (airgun and sparker) to very high-resolution (Topas) seismic study of the western slope of Hatton Bank (NE Atlantic), located between 600 m and 2,000 m water depth, has revealed a highly variable range of current-controlled morphological features. Two major seabed areas can be distinguished: (1) a non-depositional...

A wide variety of bedforms, both depositional and erosional in origin, has been recognized on the deep seafloor and attributed to the influence of bottom currents. These range in scale from those visible in bottom photographs (centimeter to decimeter), to those recorded with seafloor bathymetric imaging (meter to kilometer). In many cases it has be...

The well-exposed systems of prograding beach ridges on the Carchuna–Calahonda (Granada) and Campo de Dalías–Roquetas (Almería) coastal plains continue offshore as infralittoral prograding wedges (IPW). The Holocene IPW is a narrow morpho-sedimentary unit up to 2.5 km wide which develops seaward from the lower edge of the shoreface to 15–20 m depth,...

Contourite depositional systems have been the focus of much recent research, but still relatively little is known about contourite erosive features and their associated processes. Based on multibeam bathymetry, side-scan imagery and different resolution seismic records, a detailed description and classification of the major erosive submarine valley...

Based on a detailed study of very-high-resolution subbottom profiles (3.5 kHz), the presence of different morphologic and echo character types in the recent sedimentary infill of Palma Bay have been identified. 19 morphologic types have been recognized, whic have been grouped according to their origin. Furthermore, 9 acoustic types were differentia...

This paper analyzes the morphology of the paleochannels system developed in Palma Bay during the Quaternary. These channels were the main pathways to transport the sediments from land to the open sea. They have been formed by both fluvial and tidal processes and they have been affected mainly by eustatic changes during the Quaternary and recent tec...

This paper aims to investigate the iron mineralization hosted in the submarine hydrocarbon seep-related carbonate chimneys, from the Gulf of Cadiz continental slope (SW Iberia). Chimneys are made of a general fine groundmass of major Fe-rich dolomite, ankerite and calcite, small grains of quartz and phyllosilicates, and some foraminifer tests and o...

The knowledge of the influence of the hydrological regime of river basins on submarine sedimentary processes in deltaic systems may have wider implications from the point of view of global climate change. Under this consideration, the present study aims to analyse morphometric parameters extracted from multibeam echosounder data collected by the In...

Numerous structures associated with fluid escape have been identified in the Gulf of Cadiz: mud volcanoes, carbonate-mud mounds bearing carbonate chimneys and pockmarks. Most of the mud volcanoes are found in the eastern domain of the Gulf of Cadiz, which corresponds to the Betic-Rifean Margin, at 400-1400 m depth, following NE-SW and NW-SE trends....

This work has the main aims of the sedimentary instabilities characterization on the flanks of Submarine canyons in the upper slope of the Algarve continental margin (SW Iberian Peninsula). High resolution seismic (Sparker) has been used to carry out a morphometric study. Depth, slope, length, width and area on the canyons and sedimentary instabili...

Fractures associated with volcanic rock outcrops on the inner shelf of Alboran Island, Western Mediterranean, were mapped on the basis of a side-scan sonar mosaic. Absolute maximum fracture orientation frequency is NW–SE to NNW–SSE, with several sub-maxima oriented NNE–SSW, NE–SW and ENE–WSW. The origin of the main fracture systems in Neogene and Q...

Resumen: La evolución reciente del delta del Río Adra se ha reconstruido usando el uso de mapas históricos, fotografías aéreas y batimetría submarina. Se han diferenciado tres etapas principales. Una etapa de formación de un delta triangular asimétrico (delta antiguo u occidental) (4000 a.C. a 1872) con poca influencia antrópica. Una segunda etapa...

Several fields of seafloor undulations from pro-deltaic wedges in the northern margin of Alboran Sea, Western Mediterranean Basin, are described in this paper. A series of elongated, subparallel bathymetric undulations are distinguished in the foreset-to-bottomsets regions of the Holocene pro-deltaic wedges related with the Guadalfeo and Verde–Seco...

The Gulf of Cadiz is situated geologically at the Gibraltar Arc, the westernmost arc of the Alpine-Himalayan orogenic belt. Based on extensive previous studies that include swath bathymetry, multi-channel and very high-resolution seismic reflection, gravimetry, magnetism, heat flow probes, and underwater photography surveys, more than 500 polymetal...

The Gulf of Cádiz area has been extensively surveyed in recent years and several gas-related fluid escape seafloor structures have been identified. In this study, gravity cores, collected during the ANASTASYA/00 and ANASTASYA/01 cruises, on mud volcanoes, hemipelagic sediments and dredged material from diapiric structures, have been studied. A comp...

In this paper we present the study of pyrite crusts and aggregates and one carbonate chimney from the Guadalquivir Diapiric Ridge and the Vernadsky Ridge areas (eastern Central Atlantic). Samples were collected from zones of emission of hydrocarbon-enriched fluids (presently active or inactive) linked with located communities of micro-organisms and...

Recently developed high-resolution profiling (multibeam, sonar) and surface sampling were used to map seafloor morphology of the Gulf of Cádiz middle continental slope. Multichannel seismic profiling has made it possible to elucidate the geologic origin of these features as well as the main triggering mechanisms of gas-related morphologies, princip...

Contourite deposits in the central sector of the middle slope of the Gulf of Cadiz have been studied using a comprehensive acoustic, seismic and core database. Buried, mounded, elongated and separated drifts developed under the influence of the lower core of the Mediterranean Outflow Water are preserved in the sedimentary record. These are characte...

Underwater images taken from deepwater carbonate-mud mounds located along the continental margin of the Gulf of Cádiz (eastern Central Atlantic) have identified a great variety of hydrocarbon seep-related geomorphic features that exist on the sea floor. An extensive photographic survey was made along the Guadalquivir Diapiric Ridge, after detailed...

This paper provides for the first time a detailed vertical and spatial representation of Quaternary evolution of the contourite depositional system (CDS) in the Gulf of Cadiz, based on the results of careful morphological, structural and stratigraphic analyses using high-resolution seismic reflection profiles as well as oil company borehole data, a...

En este trabajo presentamos el primer descubrimiento y recolección de nódulos de Fe-Mn en el Golfo de Cádiz. Los nódulos recuperados (más de 500 muestras) se han encontrado sobre corteza continental en los alrededores de los montículos fangoso-gasíferos del Ridge Diapírico del Guadalquivir. Presentan un amplio rango de tamaños y masas con morfologí...

Based on recently gathered swath-bathymetry, high- to ultra-high-resolution seismic, and underwater camera data, along with dredging and coring samples, this paper examines the relationship between sea-floor features and the nature of hydrocarbon-enriched fluid and gas leaks from degassing of deeply buried sediments along the continental margin of...