UNCORRECTED PROOF ARTICLE IN PRESS 1 The Balearic Promontory geomorphology 2 (western Mediterranean): morphostructure and active processes 3 Juan Acosta a, * , Miquel Canals b , Jero ´nimo Lo ´pez-Martı ´nez c , Araceli Mun ˜oz a , 4 Pedro Herranz a , Roger Urgeles b , Carlos Palomo a , Jose L. Casamor b 5 a Instituto Espan ˜ol de Oceanografı ´a, Corazo ´n de Marı ´a 8, 28020 Madrid, Spain 6 b GRC Geocie `ncies Marines, Departament d’Estratigrafia, Paleontologı ´a i Geocie `ncies Marines, Facultat de Geologı ´a, 7 Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain 8 c Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Auto ´noma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain 9 10 Received 4 October 2001; received in revised form 25 April 2002; accepted 27 April 2002 11 Abstract 12 In this paper, a detailed study of the submarine geomorphology surrounding the Balearic Promontory (western 13 Mediterranean), a northeast prolongation of the Neogene Betic Range in southern Spain, is presented from a series of high- 14 resolution tools including swath bathymetry and seismic reflection profiling. The study identifies the main features of the 15 continental shelf, slope and basins surrounding the Balearic Islands. We show a variety of seafloor relief that owes its origin to 16 several geologic processes, which ultimately control the transport of sediment from the shallower areas to the deep basin. The 17 most important processes are erosion of the shelf and upper slope (terraces associated with different Quaternary sea-level stands 18 and canyons), transport and sediment deposition in the lower slope and base-of-slope by turbidity currents, volcanism and 19 instability processes (landslides scarps and debris lobes). The swath data show that tectonics plays an important role in shaping 20 the submarine slopes of Eivissa and Formentera, the two southernmost islands, as well as its interplay with sedimentary 21 processes, especially mass wasting. Finally, several areas show evidence of pockmarks, which indicate that fluid migration take 22 place in the sediments, probably conditioning several other processes such as mass wasting. D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All 23 rights reserved. 24 25 Keywords: Submarine geomorphology; Morphostructure; Multibeam bathymetry; Balearic Promontory; Western Mediterranean 26 27 28 1. Introduction 29 The first attempt to collect modern bathymetric 30 data in the western Mediterranean Sea was that of 31 Bourcart (1960). Later, other authors attempted syn- 32 theses, e.g. Watson and Johnson (1968), Allan and 33 Morelli (1971) and Carter et al. (1971). The last 34 authors stated that in the Mediterranean Sea, a density 35 of bathymetric data resulting from lines spaced 36 ‘‘only’’ 20 km apart was the main task to be achieved. 37 Nevertheless, charts from Oliver (1959, 1960), 38 Oliver and Massuti (1974), Oliver and Oliver (1974) 39 and Canals et al. (1982) were relevant contributions to 40 the knowledge of the morphology and seafloor char- 41 acteristics of the Balearic Sea. 0169-555X/02/$ - see front matter D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII:S0169-555X(02)00168-X * Corresponding author. Tel.: +34-9134-73618; fax: +34-9141- 35597. E-mail address: juan.acosta@md.ieo.es (J. Acosta). www.elsevier.com/locate/geomorph Geomorphology 1203 (2002) xxx – xxx