The Origin and Evolution of Late Holocene Tsunamiites in the Doñana National Park (SW Spain): Trace Elements as Geochemical Proxies

Abstract

The elemental content—mainly trace elements—of samples from two boreholes (PLN, CM) with evidence of tsunamiites, located in the Doñana National Park (SW Spain), were studied. The geochemical variations of the REE, LILE, HFSE, and other elements (Al, Ti, S, Na, Br, Sc, Co, Cr) were interpreted according to the mineralogy present in the samples. The results obtained show the geochemical complexity of the estuarine paleoenvironments, in this case with the existence of three Holocene-age tsunamigenic deposits (around 4.25, 3.56 and 2.2–2 kyr BP). The statistical analysis of the samples’ geochemistry, by means of linear correlation and factor analysis, made it possible to differentiate two associations. The first is representative of an inherited mineralogy (REE-Y-Rb-Sr-Cs-Th-U-Hf-Al-Ti-Co-Cr-Sc); the second includes elements (Br-Na) linked to mineral formation under evaporite conditions (halite). The trace element geochemistry of sediments thus becomes an excellent tool to identify tsunamiites in the studied zone, especially those elements that are clear proxies for marine incursions (Na, Br, Sr) and high energy events (Hf, Ti). The parent area of the provenance of the materials is mainly of felsic composition.

New Geological Evidence of the 1755 Lisbon Tsunami from the Rock of Gibraltar (Southern Iberian Peninsula)

“…Along the Mediterranean coast of Morocco, the historical tsunami catalogues do not include any references to damage caused by the 1755 Lisbon tsunami [56]. This tsunami did not affect the Rock of Vélez de la Gomera and the town of Melilla (Figure 1), another two Spanish cities located in North Africa about 160 km and 250 km east of Gibraltar, respectively [17]. In addition, this high-energy event is not included in the list of tsunami events reported for northern Algeria from the NOAA-NGDC database (http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/, accessed on 3 September 2021).…”

“…Furthermore, few papers have considered both the mineralogical and geochemical features of tsunamiites [15,16]. The use of a multivariate analysis to differentiate tsunamigenic layers and infer the provenance of the materials that they contain has been even rarer [17].…”

Plata y bismuto como trazadores de la contaminación histórica en el estuario de los ríos Tinto y Odiel (S.O. de España)

“…Una parte sustancial de estas investigaciones se centra en el análisis multidisciplinar de testigos continuos, con especial atención a su evolución textural y sedimentológica (Caporizo et al, en prensa), registro paleontológico (Irabien et al, 2020), contenido mineralógico (Yan et al, 2020) o en su datación y creación de modelos de edad (Ahn et al, 2021). La geoquímica también aporta interesantes contribuciones, y especialmente el análisis de elementos mayores, elementos traza o más específicamente tierras raras (Pozo et al, 2020).…”