Submerged Marine Terraces Identification and an Approach for Numerical Modeling the Sequence Formation in the Bay of Biscay (Northeastern Iberian Peninsula)

Abstract

Submerged sequences of marine terraces potentially provide crucial information of past sea-level positions. However, the distribution and characteristics of drowned marine terrace sequences are poorly known at a global scale. Using bathymetric data and novel mapping and modeling techniques, we studied a submerged sequence of marine terraces in the Bay of Biscay with the objective to identify the distribution and morphologies of submerged marine terraces and the timing and conditions that allowed their formation and preservation. To accomplish the objectives a high-resolution bathymetry (5 m) was analyzed using Geographic Information Systems and TerraceM(R). The successive submerged terraces were identified using a Surface Classification Model, which linearly combines the slope and the roughness of the surface to extract fossil sea-cliffs and fossil rocky shore platforms. For that purpose, contour and hillshaded maps were also analyzed. Then, shoreline angles, a geomorphic marker located at the intersection between the fossil sea-cliff and platform, were mapped analyzing swath profiles perpendicular to the isobaths. Most of the submerged strandlines are irregularly preserved throughout the continental shelf. In summary, 12 submerged terraces with their shoreline angles between approximately: -13 m (T1), -30 and -32 m (T2), -34 and 41 m (T3), -44 and -47 m (T4), -49 and 53 m (T5), -55 and 58 m (T6), -59 and 62 m (T7), -65 and 67 m (T8), -68 and 70 m (T9), -74 and -77 m (T10), -83 and -86 m (T11) and -89 and 92 m (T12). Nevertheless, the ones showing the best lateral continuity and preservation in the central part of the shelf are T3, T4, T5, T7, T8, and T10. The age of the terraces has been estimated using a landscape evolution model. To simulate the formation and preservation of submerged terraces three different scenarios: (i) 20-0 ka; (ii) 128-0 ka; and (iii) 128-20 ka, were compared. The best scenario for terrace generation was between 128 and 20 Ka, where T3, T5, and T7 could have been formed.