What the Margins of Spain's Ebro River Basin Looked Like 6 Million Years Ago

ScienceDaily ^ | June 2011 | Roger Urgeles et al

[SunkenCiv]

A Spanish research team, using 3-D reflection seismology, has for the first time mapped the geomorphological features of the Ebro river basin 5 to 6 million years ago. The images obtained show that the surface analysed is today 2.5 or 3 kilometres below the sea bed.

"The results shed light on the way in which the sea level fell during the Messinian (between 5.33 and 6 million years ago), and imply that the subsequent inundation of the river margins happened extremely quickly," says Roger Urgeles, lead author of the study and a researcher at the Department of Marine Geology of the Institute of Sea Sciences (CSIC)...

According to Urgeles, the images obtained show that the Ebro river of six million years ago eroded and penetrated up to 1,300 metres into the continental margin. "The numerical simulations of fluvial transport and drainage evolution show that the Ebro in the Messinian period was similar in size and drainage basin to the Ebro of today,"

...

"The sea level during this period and in this part of the Mediterranean basin fell by around 1,300 metres," says Urgeles. The results also make it possible to determine the extent of the clastic structures associated with this drop in the sea level. "These structures are of interest to the oil industry, since they can act as a reservoir for hydrocarbons."

...

This study was based on a 3-D reflection seismology block made available by the oil company British Gas, along with the diagraphs (physical properties of the sediments extracted in a survey drill) of a three kilometre-deep well also made available by the company.

[Rudder]

I tried to create a 3-d mind image when reading the text, too hard to do, then I got to the pic., too small. So I went to the article, pic too small. I copied the pic and enlarged it--written in ?SPanish.(and very rough image quality). Otherwise, I liked the post.

But: closing Pillars of Hercules and the Med basin drop, I understand. I'm not sure of the significance, or even the structure, of the Ebro Basin.