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Multiple generations of buried cold-water coral mounds since the Early-Middle Pleistocene Transition in the Atlantic Moroccan Coral Province, southern Gulf of Cádiz
Vandorpe, T.; Wienberg, C.; Hebbeln, D.; Van den Berghe, M.; Gaide, S.; Wintersteller, P.; Van Rooij, D. (2017). Multiple generations of buried cold-water coral mounds since the Early-Middle Pleistocene Transition in the Atlantic Moroccan Coral Province, southern Gulf of Cádiz. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 485: 293-304. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.06.021
In: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. Elsevier: Amsterdam; Tokyo; Oxford; New York. ISSN 0031-0182; e-ISSN 1872-616X
Peer reviewed article  
Available in  Authors 
    Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee: Non-open access 304099 [ request ]
Keyword
    Marine/Coastal
Author keywords
    Glacial; Sediment input; Bottom currents; Early-Middle Pleistocene transition
Authors  Top 
  • Vandorpe, T.
  • Wienberg, C.
  • Hebbeln, D.
  • Van den Berghe, M.
  • Gaide, S.
  • Wintersteller, P.
  • Van Rooij, D.
Abstract
    Cold-water coral mounds are common seabed features in the North Atlantic Ocean, where they are mainly restricted to water depths between 200 m and 1000 m. Coral mounds consist of coral fragments and hemipelagic sediments, reflecting an often complex history of mound aggradation and erosion linked to coral vitality. In the southern Gulf of Cádiz along the Moroccan margin, a large field (extension: 1800 km2) of 781 comparatively small buried and exposed mounds (average height: about 20 m) has recently been discovered. The mounds in the so-called Atlantic Moroccan Coral Province (AMCP) initiated on at least ten different horizons, all of them most likely related to glacial periods since the Early-Middle Pleistocene Transition. A strong link between the intensification of bottom currents and the number of coral mounds rooting on each of the identified horizons is assumed. Also a shift of the average water depth at which coral mounds initiated towards deeper regions and an accompanied increase in mound height is observed between MIS 14 and MIS 12. Finally, reduced or low sediment input is regarded as one of the main factors causing the rather small size of coral mounds in the AMCP in comparison to other Atlantic mound provinces.
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