El Canal de Diego Cao y sus depresiones morfológicas (margen del Banco del Guadalquivir, Golfo de Cádiz). Implicaciones oceanográficas y sedimentológicas

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), while a remarkable amphitheater-shaped escarpment affects the channel eastern flank. Their morphological and high- and medium-resolution stratigraphic analysis allows inferring their origin as the result of a complex interplay between oceanographic (bottom currents), mass-wasting and tectonic processes. All features seem to have a common origin, related to an especially active tectonic phase during the Mid-Pleistocene, probably related to adjustments of the deep structural features. Since then, the action of the bottom currents and the local influence of structural processes have shaped the present-day topography. The Diego Cao channel is re-interpreted as a contourite moat associated to a complex mounded, separated drift that includes the circular depressions. They result from contourite deposition over the erosional surface originated by widespread mass-wasting events during the Mid-Pleistocene.Versión del edito