Estimating paleogeographic, hydrological and climatic conditions in the upper Burdigalian Vallès-Penedès basin (Catalunya, Spain)

During the evolution of the Vallès-Penedès basin, several transgressive pulses in the upper Burdigalian led to a partial flooding of the western part of the basin, leaving locally sabkha-salina evaporite sediments in the area of the village of Vilobí. Due to its geometric configuration with a restri...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Bitzer, K.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2004
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:86068
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/86068
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1344/105.000001423
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Vallès-Penedès half-graben
NW Mediterranean
Vilobí sequence
Evaporites
Sedimentation
Simulation
Evaporation outflow
Descripción
Sumario:During the evolution of the Vallès-Penedès basin, several transgressive pulses in the upper Burdigalian led to a partial flooding of the western part of the basin, leaving locally sabkha-salina evaporite sediments in the area of the village of Vilobí. Due to its geometric configuration with a restricted access to the open sea, deeper marine evaporites do not occur in the basin. A mathematical model of fluid circulation, evaporation outflow, solute transport and evaporite deposition is applied in order to test possible paleogeographic, hydrological and climatic conditions which may have influenced salinity of sea water in the upper Burdigalian Vallès-Penedès embayment. Simulation results indicate that the absence of marine gypsum sediments in the basin may be related to a significant freshwater supply. The shift from the Neogene basin drainage pattern along the complete basin axis with elevated freshwater discharge to the river drainage towards the Barcelona area occurred at later stages of the basin evolution.