Impact of halite dissolution subsidence on Quaternary fluvial terrace development: Case study of the Huerva River, Ebro Basin, NE Spain

Distinctiveness and Diversity of Arid Zone River Systems

“…In the western Mediterranean, diapirism and solution-induced subsidence has also influenced the long-term development of many dryland rivers (e.g. Harvey and Wells, 1987;Benito et al, 2000;Mather, 2000;Stokes and Mather, 2003;Candy, Black and Sellwood, 2004;Guerrero, Gutiérrez and Lucha, 2008;Maher and Harvey, 2008;Stokes, 2008). Quaternary environmental changes have affected the region, with fluctuations in palaeoprecipitation and palaeotemperature having combined to create conditions both drier and wetter than present.…”

Evaluating and comparing methods of sinkhole susceptibility mapping in the Ebro Valley evaporite karst (NE Spain)

“…Boreholes drilled a few kilometers to the south of Zaragoza reveal the presence of a halite unit 75 m thick whose top is situated at an elevation of 10 m below that of the Ebro River floodplain. Moreover, glauberite units (Na 2 Ca [SO 4 ] 2 ) 10 m thick have been perforated at elevations above the Ebro River floodplain (Salvany et al, 2007;Guerrero et al, 2008a). The presence of salts in the subsurface is an important factor for the development of dissolution and subsidence processes.…”

Geomorphic and stratigraphic evidence of incision-induced halokinetic uplift and dissolution subsidence in transverse drainages crossing the evaporite-cored Barbastro–Balaguer Anticline (Ebro Basin, NE Spain)

“…These include the Tajo, Jarama and Manzanares rivers in the Madrid Tertiary Basin (Pérez González, 1971;Pinilla et al, 1995;Silva, 2003;Uribelarrea et al, 2003;Silva et al, in press), the Ebro, Gállego and Huerva rivers in the central sector of the Ebro Tertiary Basin (Benito et al, 1998(Benito et al, , 2000(Benito et al, , 2010Guerrero et al, 2004Guerrero et al, , 2008Guerrero, 2008), the Jalon-Jiloca fluvial system in the Calatayud Graben, Iberian Chain (Gutiérrez, 1996(Gutiérrez, , 1998a and the Alfambra River in the Teruel Graben, also an intramontane post-orogenic basin situated within the Iberian Chain (Gutiérrez, 1998a, b). In these fluvial systems dissolution-induced subsidence is recorded by: (1) local alluvium thickenings with cumulative wedge-outs that fill dissolution basins generated by synsedimentary subsidence-these subsidence bowls reach more than 10 km in length and 100 m of structural relief; (2) superposition of the deposits corresponding to different terrace levels; and (3) abundant syn-and post-sedimentary gravitational deformation.…”