Middle Pleistocene to Holocene geochronology of the River Aguas terrace sequence (Iberian Peninsula): Fluvial response to Mediterranean environmental change

Our results from the River Aguas basin suggest that fluvial archives, travertine and slope deposits provide sensitive resolution records of environmental changes during the last 170 kyr. From the chronostratigraphic data sets we have established a model of middle and late Pleistocene river response for littoral basins on the southern Iberian Peninsula.U/Th and OSL dating indicate the major periods of travertine formation of the Alfaix travertine platform, which range from 169 to 26 kyr. At least four incision events interrupted this aggradation period: between 167 and 148 kyr, between 148 and 110 kyr, around 95 kyr and at 71 kyr. Aggradation ceased after 26 kyr and incision occurred during OIS 2. Subsequently, the terraces T4a and T4b were deposited. OSL dating of the T4a channel deposit provides maximum ages of 28, 20 and 18 kyr. However, short climatic events, such as the Younger Dryas, produced two more river incision episodes during OIS 2.Nonetheless, for river systems influenced by tectonics, climate and sea-level changes it is difficult to assess the weight of each controlling factor. Regarding the three mechanisms of Pleistocene river dynamics in middle-size catchment areas of the littoral region of southeastern Spain, our results support the hypothesis that large scale tectonics triggered the general downcutting trend, whereas the main aggradation and incision phases occurred during periods of major sea-level changes. Over short-time scales the influence of climate variability, as documented by pollen records, plays a decisive role. Thus, the river responses to the three cyclic mechanisms operate at different time scales although synergetic processes should be considered with respect to the magnitude of abrupt incision/aggradation events.