Neogene lithological units at the west end of the Guadalquivir Basin and their correlations with the Huelva-1 borehole (Huelva - Spain)

Abstract

A detailed surveying and a new geological map of the sheet at 1:50.000 number 999/1016 (Huelva - Los Caños), located at the west end of the Guadalquivir Basin, has been carried out. This data allows us to propose a new organization of the lithological units present at the west side of the Odiel River. These units include all the sedimentary record in this sector of the Guadalquivir Basin, ranging from Tortonian to Pliocene, but with shallower and coarser facies that are only present in this part of the basin. This fact is due to the location of the area, probably less subsiding due to a longer distance from Betic-Rif orogen. The lithological units are described concisely and a correlation with the core of the Huelva-1 borehole and with the outcrops of Huelva – Palos de la Frontera area is also proposed. The units are organized in a stack of sequences with a progradational pattern, typical of a basin margin, and highlighting a gradual reduction of the accommodation space in the late Messinian and during the Pliocene.