%0 Journal Article
%A Martín Chivelet, Javier
%A Fregenal Martínez, María Antonia
%A Chacón Pichaco, Beatriz
%T Mid-depth calcareous contourites in the latest Cretaceousof Caravaca (Subbetic Zone, SE Spain). Origin andpalaeohydrological significance
%D 2003
%@ 0037-0738
%U https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/58319
%X Deep marine carbonates of Late Campanian to Early Maastrichtian age that crop out in the Subbetic Zone near Caravaca (SESpain) contain a thick succession of dm-scale levels of calcareous contourites, alternating with fine-grained pelagites/hemipelagites. These contourites, characterised by an abundance and variety of traction structures, internal erosive surfaces andinverse and normal grading at various scales, were interpreted as having been deposited under the influence of relatively deepocean currents. Based on these contourites, a new facies model is proposed.The subsurface currents that generated the contourites of Caravaca were probably related to the broad circumglobal,equatorial current system, the strongest oceanic feature of Cretaceous times. These deposits were formed in the mid-depth(200–600 m), hemipelagic environments at the ancient southern margin of Iberia. This palaeogeographic setting wassusceptible to the effects of these currents because of its position close to the narrowest oceanic passage, through which thebroad equatorial current system flowed in the westernmost area of the Tethys Seaway. Regional uplift, related to the onset ofconvergence between Iberia and Africa, probably favoured the generation of the contourites during the Late Campanian to theEarly Maastrichtian.
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