Skip to main content
Log in

Mediterranean outflow through the Strait of Gibraltar since 18,000 Years B.P.: Mineralogical and geochemical arguments

  • Published:
Geo-Marine Letters Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Data obtained from mineralogical and geochemical analyses of piston and gravity cores, recovered from an area off Lisbon (Portugal) to the Alboran Sea (Mediterranean), serve as a basis for better understanding the past 18,000 years of hydrological exchanges at Gibraltar. Tracers used in this study are smectite, kaolinite, Ta, Th, La. One of the primary sources of particles both into and out of the Mediterranean is the Guadalquivir River. These particles are transported back into the Atlantic in the Mediterranean outflow water, and deposited along the Iberian slope. No evidence for reversal of this outflow current was found in those cores, since 18,000 years B.P.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Auffret GA, Pastouret L, Chamley H, Lanoix F (1974) Influence of the prevailing current regime on sedimentation in the Alboran Sea. Deep-Sea Research 21:839–849

    Google Scholar 

  • Biscaye PE (1965) Mineralogy and sedimentation of recent deepsea clays in the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas and oceans. Geological Society American Bulletin 76:803–832

    Google Scholar 

  • Biscaye PE, Eittreim CE (1977) Suspended particulate loads in the nepheloid layer of the abyssal Atlantic Ocean. Marine Geology 22:155–172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cassement P, Chamley H, Pastouret L (1983) Considérations sur la sédimentation du Quaternaire terminal en Mer d'Alboran (Méditerranée Occidentale). Annales de la Société du Nord, 02/ 11/83:17–24

  • Devaux M (1985) Foraminifères et isotopes légers, indicateur stratigraphiques et environnementaux de la dernière déglaciation Quaternaires: Golfe de Cadix, Mer d'Alboran. Thèse 3° cycle, Université Bordeaux I, #2062, 168 pp

  • Diester-Hass L (1973) No current reversal at 10,000 yrs B.P. in the Strait of Gibraltar. Marine Geology 15:M1-M9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elant M (1985) Les ostracodes et les relations hydrologiques Atlantique-Méditerranée, du dernier Glaciaire à l'Actuel. Thèse 3° cycle, Université Bordeaux I, #2065, 219 pp

  • Faugères JC, Gonthier E, Stow DAV (1984) Contourites drift molded by deep Mediterranean outflow. Geology 12:296–300

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang TC, Stanley DJ (1972) Western Alboran Sea: sedimentary dispersal ponding and reversal currents. In: Stanley DJ (ed) The Mediterranean Sea, Dowden Hutchinson & Ross, Inc., 521–559 pp.

  • Mélières F (1974) Recherches sur la dynamique sédimentaire du Golfe de Cadix, Espagne. Thèse Doctorat d'Etat, Université Paris VI, 224 pp

  • Pierce JW, Stanley DJ (1975) Suspended sediment concentration and mineralogy in the central and western Mediterranean and mineralogic comparison with bottom sediments. Marine Geology 19:M15-M25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rossignol-Strick M, Nesteroff V, Olive P, Vergnaud-Grazzini C (1982) After the deluge: Mediterranean stagnation and sapropel formation. Nature 295:105–110

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sonnenfeld P (1974) No current reversal at 10,000 yrs B.P. in the Strait of Gibraltar: a discussion. Marine Geology 17:339–340

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stanley DJ, Gehin CE, Bartolini C (1970) Flysch-type sedimentation in the Alboran Sea, Western Mediterranean. Nature 228: 979–983

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Treuil M, Jaffrezic H, Deschamps N, Derre C, Guichard F, Joron JL, Pelletier B, Courtois C, Novotny S (1973) Analyse des lanthanides, de Hf, Sc, Cr, Mn, Co, Cu et Zn, par activation neutronique. Journal of Radioanalytical Chemistry 18:55–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Valette JN (1972) Etude minéralogique et géochimique des sédiments de la Mer d'Alboran: résultats préliminaires. Comptes Rendus de l Académie des Sciences 275(D):2287–2290

    Google Scholar 

  • Vergnaud-Grazzini C, Bartolini C (1970) Evolution paléoclimatique de sédiments wurmiens et post-wurmiens en Mer d'Alboran. Revue de Géographie Physique et de Géologie Dynamique Série 2, 12:325–361

    Google Scholar 

  • Wedepohl KH (1960) Spurenanalitische untersuchungen en Tiefseetonen aus dem Atlantik. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta 18:200–231

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Worthington LV (1976) On the North Atlantic circulation. The John Hopkins Oceanographic Studies 6, 110 pp

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Grousset, F.E., Joron, J.L., Biscaye, P.E. et al. Mediterranean outflow through the Strait of Gibraltar since 18,000 Years B.P.: Mineralogical and geochemical arguments. Geo-Marine Letters 8, 25–34 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02238003

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02238003

Keywords

Navigation