Marine seismogenic-tsunamigenic prone areas:The Gulf of Cadiz

Abstract

It It is well documented that, in the past, catastrophic earthquakes and tsunamis affected the area as described in the historical records from the countries bordering the Gulf of Cadiz: Portugal, Spain and Morocco (cf. Baptista and Miranda, 2009; Figure 6.1). The main mechanism behind geohazard generation in this area is the interplate deformation arising from the relative motion between the Eurasian and Nubian (African) plates. The plate boundary crosses the Gulf of Cadiz but the precise location of its trace is not yet well understood. In the Gulf of Cadiz the morphology is complex and characterized by a series of large ridges and seamounts, the Gorringe Bank, the Coral Patch and Ampère seamounts (cf. Figure 6.1 for locations), bounding major morphological depressions such as the Horseshoe and Tagus abyssal plains and discrete segments of plate boundary are hard to identify due to diffuse deformation over an area 200km wide (Sartori et al., 1994; Tortella et al., 1997).