The Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean) revisited with a view from the Moroccan Margin

This paper presents a new depth to acoustic basement map based on a grid of seismic profiles. In the Western Alboran Basin the basement is more than 10 km deep. An examination of a seismic profile of this region suggests that Late Oligocene-Early Miocene 5 km thick synrift formation has been accumulated in this basin. This West Alboran basin has been formed in an extensional setting, but in a fore-arc position, south of the Balearic Islands then westwards transported behind a subduction zone. © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.