Evaluate marine geological risks in the southwestern Mediterranean Sea

Evaluate marine geological risks in the southwestern Mediterranean Sea https://i1.wp.com/www.eresviral.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Evalúan-los-riesgos-geológicos-marinos-del-suroeste-del-mar-Mediterráneo.jpg?fit=219%2C146&ssl=1

Evaluate marine geological risks in the southwestern Mediterranean Sea







The study of submarine canyons in relation to the continental margins where they are located has revealed great interest for the scientific community, especially interested in understanding their interactions in oceanographic dynamics as sediment transfer agents from the continent to the ocean and for being potential risk factors in the breakdown of submarine infrastructures.



In this regard, since October 4 and until the end of the month, the University of Salamanca (Spain) participates on board the oceanographic vessel Sarmiento de Gamboa in the research project FAUCES (geological risk factors associated with submarine cannon headwaters in the Mediterranean continental margins of southern Iberia), sponsored by the Ministry of Economy and in which a multidisciplinary group of scientists and technicians from different institutions such as CSIC, IGME and IEO, among others, participates.



The geologists of the USAL Mariano Yenes and José Nespereira are the researchers responsible for the geotechnical part of this initiative in which the geological risks associated with the areas of the continental margins of the southeastern area of ​​the Mediterranean Sea are studied. Specifically, three submarine cannon headers located on the Mediterranean continental margins of southern Iberia, Almanzora-Alías-Garrucha on the continental margin of Palomares, and La Línea and Guadiaro on the Alborán margin, are the protagonists of the study as they pose a threat because of its proximity to the coastline.







Sarmiento de Gamboa the day of his departure from Las Palmas. (Photo: DICYT)



The participation of the University of Salamanca in underwater geotechnical reconnaissance campaigns on board the oceanographic vessel has also provided a perfect framework for the implementation of the Innovation and Teaching Improvement Project "Interference between Research and Teaching Activities: ¿Problem u opportunity?". Thanks to him, the third-year students of the subject Geotechnics of the Degrees of Geology and Geological Engineering and the Degree in Civil Engineering of the USAL taught at the Salamanca and Zamora campuses receive practical classes in real time through videoconferences Weekly programmed "thus enriching the usual teaching program," Mariano Yenes underlines USAL Communication.



The teaching innovation initiative, presented by Yenes and Nespereira themselves, along with professors Serafín Monterrubio, of the Department of Geology, and Gabriel Santos, of the Department of Cartographic and Terrain Engineering, allows students to learn first-hand about the development of the campaign and some of its research results. In the words of Mariano Yenes, "thanks to the videoconferences we moved the activity of marine geotechnical prospecting that takes place on the ship to the classroom", but, in addition, "we show them how an oceanic research ship is and the no less striking daily life of its occupants, "he says.



FAUCES is a national and international scientific cooperation project focused on the study of marine geological risks. Generally the submarine canyons are located on the edge of the platform and continental slope, but some excavate the platform to the point that their headwaters are only hundreds of meters from the coastline, as are those under study in the investigation. In these cases the configuration supposes a high geological risk when dealing with very active geomorphological features.



The canyon headwaters located near the coastline are subject to changes due to interaction with coastal processes (deposition and erosion), the action of bottom currents or seismic activity related to tectonic processes. All this determines factors of predisposition and / or detonation of sedimentary instability that can lead to the rupture of wiring or plumbing infrastructure, as well as the destruction of fishing habitats, variations in the morphology and ecosystem of the seabed and even produce tsunamis that, although of small extension, they can suppose a risk for the coastal zones populated.



The geologists of the USAL Mariano Yenes and José Nespereira, attached to the Faculty of Sciences and the Higher Polytechnic School of Zamora, respectively, disembark on October 31 in Cádiz after an arduous campaign in which they coordinated, through a different methodology, the observation and sampling of sediment from the seabed. For this, the research activity of the scientists of the Salamanca academic institution consisted mainly in obtaining geophysical profiles that made it possible to study the structure of the sediments in depth, on the other hand, geotechnical tests were carried out with piezoconus that allow to determine the mechanical properties of the sediments of these singular areas.



The integrated study of geological and geotechnical data in the three marine areas under study will characterize the complex morphology of these environments and the dominant sedimentary processes to finally estimate the risk associated with their evolution. (Source: USAL / DICYT)

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