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The magma-poor rifted continental margin of Galicia has an extremely complex structure. Its formation involved several rifting episodes that occurred ultimately during the early Cretaceous near a ridge triple junction, which produced a change in the orientation of the main structures in its transition to the north Iberia margin. In addition, there is a superimposed partial tectonic inversion along its northwest and northern border which developed from the Late Cretaceous to at least Oligocene times. The present study integrates a large volume of new geophysical information (mainly marine gravity data and 2-D seismic reflection profiles) to provide insights on the formation of this rift system and on the development of its later inversion. The combined interpretation and modeling of this data enable the presentation of a new crustal and structural domain map for the whole Galicia margin. This includes the rift domains related to the extreme thinning of the crust and the lithospheric mantle (stretched, necking, and hyperextension and mantle exhumation domains), as well as a domain of intense compressional deformation. New constraints arise on the origin, the deep structure, and the characterization of the along-and across-strike variation of the continent-ocean transition of the margin, where a progressive change from hyperextension to partial inversion is observed. The development of both rifting and later partial tectonic inversion is influenced by the existence of former first-order tectonic features. Most of the tectonic inversion is focused on the hyperextension and mantle exhumation domain, which in some areas of the northwestern margin is completely overprinted by compressional deformation.

This study presents the results of seafloor habitat identification and mapping of a NE Atlantic deep seamount. An "assemble first, predict later" approach has been followed to identify and map the benthic habitats of the Galicia Bank (NW Iberian). Biotic patterns inferred from the survey data have been used to drive the definition of benthic assemblages using multivariate tools. Eight assemblages, four hard substrates and four sedimentary ones, have been described from a matrix of structural species. Distribution of these assemblages was correlated with environmental factors (multibeam and backscatter data) using binomial GAMs. Finally, the distribution model of each assemblage was applied to produce continuous maps and pooled in a final map with the distribution of the main benthic habitats. Depth and substrate type are key factors when determining soft bottom communities, whereas rocky habitat distribution is mainly explained by rock slope and orientation. Enrichment by northern water masses (LSW) arriving to GB and possible zooplankton biomass increase at vertical-steep walls by "bottom trapping" can explain the higher diversity of habitat providing filter-feeders at slope rocky breaks. These results concerning vulnerable species and habitats, such as Lophelia and Madrepora communities and black and bamboo coral aggregations were the basis of the Spanish proposal of inclusion within the Natura 2000 network. The aim of the present study was to establish the scientific criteria needed for managing and protecting those environmental values.

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The north flowing Falkland / Malvinas Current has generated sediment drifts at a depth of 1200-1600 m in the Patagonian middle continental slope out of early Holocene hemipelagics, late Pleistocene ice rafted clastics, and Neogene fluvial sediments. Possibly there may be two generations of drifts, Pleistocene on the outer middle slope and Holocene on the inner shelf. The ice rafted debris originated in Antarctica, at a distance of 2000 to 4000 km south of Patagonia. Scattered over the upper and middle slopes, at depths ranging from 300 to 1400 m, are cold-water coral reefs of less than a meter to about ten of meters in relief. It is inferred that most of cold-water coral structures flourish as a consequence of the Falkland /Malvinas Current that concentrates the food supply at the reef sites. Growth of cold-water coral reefs, documented by digital submarine photographs on the upper slope, at a depth of 300/400 m, may be promoted by upwelling 2 of nutrient-rich waters and associated plankton blooms created by the intrusion of Falkland /Malvinas Current onto the outer shelf.

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The northern margin of Hispaniola records the oblique collision/underthrusting of the Bahamas Carbonate Province with the island-arc. Due to the collision, northern Hispaniola has suffered several natural disasters caused by major earthquakes and tsunamis, such as the historic earthquake of 1842, the tsunami caused by earthquake-driven slumping in 1918 in the Mona Passage, the seismic crisis of 1943-1953 with five events of M>7.0 or the seismic crisis of 2003 with a main shock of M6.3 and a large aftershock of M5.3. Using new swath multibeam bathymetry data and vintage single-and multi-channel seismic profiles, we have performed a regional scale analysis and interpretation of the shallow surface and active processes along the northern margin of the Dominican Republic. We have identified three morphostructural provinces: a) the Bahamas Banks, b) the Hispaniola Trench and c) the Insular Margin, which are divided into two tectonic domains, the Collision Domain and Underthrusting Domain. The southern slope of the Bahamas Carbonate Province shows a very irregular morphology produced by active erosive processes and normal dip-slip faulting, evidence of an extensional tectonic regime and margin collapse. This collapse is of major extent in the Oblique Collision Domain where there are erosive and fault escarpments with higher dip-slip fault throws. The Hispaniola Trench, is formed by the Caicos and Hispaniola basins in the underthrusting domain, and by the Santisima Trinidad and Navidad basins in the Oblique Collision Domain. They have a flat seafloor with a sedimentary filling of variable thickness consisting of horizontal or sub-horizontal turbiditic levels. The turbiditic fill mostly proceeds from the island arc through wide channels and canyons, which transports sediment from the shelf and upper slope. The Insular Margin comprises the Insular Shelf and the Insular Slope. The active processes are generated on the Insular Slope where the Northern Hispaniola Deformed Belt is developed. This Deformed Belt shows a very irregular morphology, with a WNW-ESE trending N verging imbricate thrust-and fold system. This system is the result of the adjustment of the oblique collision/underthrusting between the North American plate and the Caribbean plate. In the Oblique Underthrusting