Processes and evolution of the Pleistocene coastal sedimentary succession of Es Codolar (Southern Eivissa, Balearic Islands, Western Mediterranean): insights from soft-sediment deformation structures

Abstract

AbstractWe analyze the evolution of the undeformed Middle to Late Pleistocene deposits of Es Codolar (Southern Eivissa, Western Mediterranean). The outcrop records a succession characterized by the alternation of aeolian, colluvial and alluvial fan deposits and palaeosols that result in a complex stratigraphic architecture. In this area, aeolian beds, colluvial deposits and palaeosols are exposed along sea-cliffs for almost 500 m, allowing detailed descriptions both of the general sedimentological and geomorphological features of the Middle to Late Pleistocene deposits. Several different types of soft-sediment deformation structures are described (load-casts structures, injection structures, water-scape structures, rizoconcretions), which will help us in the understanding of the climatic evolution and the syn- post-depositional processes. In this way, main processes triggering the formation of these structures seem to be sea level changes together with a wetter environment during warmer climatic episodes.