title: Geological characterization of the Prestige sinking area.
abstract: The tanker Prestige sank off NW Iberia on the 19th November 2002. The stern and bow of the Prestige wreck are located on the southwestern edge of the Galicia Bank, at 3565 m and 3830 m water depths, respectively. This bank is a structural high controlled by major faults with predominant N-S, NNE-SSW, and NNW-SEE trends. It is characterized by moderate to low seismic activity. The faults have controlled the local depositional architecture, deforming, fracturing, relocating and distributing sediments since the Valangian (early Cretaceous). The Prestige sinking area corresponds to an asymmetric half-graben structure with a N-S trend, which conditions the present-day morphology. The faulted flank outcrops and its activity and erosion have favoured the occurrence of mass-movements (slumps, slump debris, mass-flows and turbidity currents), building valleys and depositional lobes. Nearsurface sediments comprise mostly terrigenous and biogenous turbiditic muds and sands with a minor presence of hemipelagic muds, except on the fault scarp where pelagites predominate. Potential geological hazards resulting from tectonic and sedimentary processes affect almost the entire Prestige sinking area.
authors.affiliation: Instituto Ciencias del Mar, CSIC, Paseo Marítimo de la Barceloneta, 37-49, 08003 Barcelona, Spain. gemma@icm.csic.es
authors.forename: Gemma
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ercilla
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Córdoba
authors.forename: Josep
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gallart
authors.forename: Eulalia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gràcia
authors.forename: Josep A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Muñoz
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Somoza
authors.forename: Juan T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Vázquez
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vilas
mesh_terms: D001267:Atlantic Ocean; D004190:Disasters; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005648:Fuel Oils; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry*; D055593:Geological Phenomena; D005844:Geology; D006801:Humans; D012623:Seawater; D012767:Ships; D013030:Spain; D014877:Water Pollution, Chemical
chemical_list: D005648:Fuel Oils