Salt Diapirs, Salt Brine Seeps, Pockmarks and Surficial Sediment Creep and Slides in the Canary Channel of NW Africa
Circular to elliptical mounds in the Canary Channel with reliefs of 75 to 375 m and diameters of 4 to 8 km partially surrounded by moats with reliefs of 25 to 75 m, were formed by piercement of the seafloor by Mesozoic evaporites. Several long gullies, <1 km wide, with abrupt terminations and poc...
| Autores: | , , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2003 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) |
| Repositorio: | Docta Complutense |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/52931 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/52931 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | 556.3 Salt diapirism Mounds Canary Channel Multibeam mapping Fluid seepage Hidrología 2508 Hidrología |
| Sumario: | Circular to elliptical mounds in the Canary Channel with reliefs of 75 to 375 m and diameters of 4 to 8 km partially surrounded by moats with reliefs of 25 to 75 m, were formed by piercement of the seafloor by Mesozoic evaporites. Several long gullies, <1 km wide, with abrupt terminations and pockmarks associated with these mounds were probably eroded by dense brine and hydrocarbon seeps. The salt brines that eroded the gullies were formed where salt diapirs intersect the seafloor, or in the subsurface by circulating ground water heated by igneous activity along the Canary Ridge. If the brines originated in the subsurface they reached the seafloor along faults. Displacement of the surficial sediments by sliding and creep is probably the result of the expulsion of hydrocarbons and/or vertical motion of the Mesozoic evaporites. Microtopographic features along or near the east flank of the Canary Ridge are the creation of uplift of the ridge, hydrothermal activity, mass wasting processes and turbidity currents. |
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