Closure of a seaway:: stratigraphic record and facies (Guadix basin, Southern Spain)

During the late Tortonian (upper Miocene), the Guadix Basin in S Spain formed one of the Betic corridors that connected the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean. The closure of this connection occurred in a series of steps, documented by three sedimentary units. A lower unit, consisting of basinal marls, shallow-water calcarenites and sands records the formation of a wide seaway. During deposition of the following unit this narrowed to a strait no more than 2 km in wide, triggering an intensification of currents that caused migration of submarine dunes preserved as giant cross-beds in bioclastic sands and conglomerates. Current flowed from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. The third unit constitutes the youngest marine episode of the filling of the Guadix Basin. At this stage, the connection between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean was broken, and a system of coastal coral reefs was established in the northern part of the Basin.