The Late Holocene evolution of the Adra Delta subaqueous system (Northern Alboran Sea): Seismic-stratigraphic and geomorphic evidence of millennial scale climatic and anthropic effects

The formation and development of a small Mediterranean deltaic system are investigated through a primary seismic stratigraphic interpretation of a high-resolution seismic profile network, combined with multiple bathymetric data (including multibeam bathymetric imagery) and collated with shallow sediment cores collected with a vibro-corer device. The submarine delta of the Adra River is divided into a basal patchy seismic unit and five wedge-shaped younger seismic units that are related to the Holocene highstand stabilization. Limited age control indicates that the two uppermost seismic units are very recent, most likely related to a dearth of fluvial fluxes led by channel deviations and by sediment retention. The formation of the three older seismic units is correlated to three humid periods during the Middle Holocene, Late Holocene and Little Ice Age, under a general context of progressive aridification of southeastern Iberia. The stacking patterns and spatial distribution of individual seismic units document a history of episodic progradation of successive prodeltaic lobes, with a long-term evolution mediated by climatically-induced changes in the river basin and more recent anthropogenic interventions. Overall, the subaqueous deltaic system registers the complete modification of a deltaic system that evolves from a fluvial-dominated delta to recent wave-dominated wedges. In between, the deltaic system exhibits a progressive asymmetric character, due to the instauration of Atlantic waters on the shelf and their subsequent eastward redistribution. The Adra deltaic system is proposed as an outstanding example of a small deltaic system that reacts almost immediately to the complex interaction between natural changes in the system and anthropogenic interventions in the drainage basin. • The progressive growth and change of governing agents in a small deltaic system is reconstructed. • Late Holocene evolution from a fluvial-dominated delta to wave-dominated sediment wedges. • Distinct influences of climatic cycles and anthropogenic interventions. • Major phases of deltaic growth roughly correlate with other similar phases in the Mediterranean.