Late Pleistocene-Holocene sediments on the Spanish continental shelves: Model for very high resolution sequence stratigraphy

Sequence stratigraphy analysis of high resolution seismic profiles (Geopulse, Uniboom and 3.5 kHz) of late Pleistocene-Holocene sediments has been carried out on five sectors of the Spanish continental margin. Four types of depositional settings are distinguished in these sectors: (1) low subsident ramps (Alborán Margin-Cádiz Gulf); (2) high subsident (2m/kyr) ramps (Alicante-Valencia); (3) “Ria”-type morphology on the Atlantic passive margin (Ria de Muros); and (4) fault-scarp morphology systems with subsidence (Balearic Margin). A Type 1 sequence is interpreted in all these sectors, being composed of lowstand systems tract, transgressive systems tract and highstand systems tract. This conforms to the basic concepts of sequence stratigraphy and each systems tract correlates with a particular part of the last eustatic hemicycle. Characteristic shelf features such as terraces, terraces with beach deposits and progradational sediment wedges evidence a complex stacking of lesser sub-sequences in all the systems tracts, which must be related to very-short period sea-level stillstands and fall. We propose a very high resolution sequence stratigraphy model in which the last sea-level hemicycle is punctuated by: “P” cycles (4500 years), which give rise to the neo-glacial events; “h” cycles (2200-950 years), and “c” cycles (500-50 years). These cycles interact with each other, thus establishing the placing of the high and low sea levels.

This attention to detail: (1) explains sedimentary evolution on both the shelf and upper slope during late Pleistocene-Holocene time; (2) illustrates some departures from the classical sequence stratigraphy model; and (3) also demonstrates that the late Pleistocene-Holocene eustatic curve is not one simple transgression but is modulated by three differing-period cycle groups below the Milankovitch band. Our model is delimited by fluctuating sea level during Pleistocene-Holocene times. Such features should be identifiable on any continental margin. However, localized features occur due to subsidence and continental shelf morphology which determ ine the location and depth of sedimentary bodies generated in each eustatic cycle.