AbstractThe distribution of clay minerals in recent sediments on the continental shelf and in the Bay of Cádiz has been analysed as part of a wider study of sedimentary exchange between the continent and the continental margin. The clay minerals included in the muddy sediments consist mainly of illite, kaolinite, smectite, randomly mixed-layered illite-smectite, chlorite, vermiculite and randomly mixed-layered illite-chlorite. Distribution of the minerals indicates that inheritance from the adjacent continental areas is the most important process involved.The relations between the clay minerals were established by Q-mode and R-mode factor analysis. The main clay mineral associations are: (1) illite-kaolinite, (2) smectite-random mixed-layered illitesmectite, and (3) kaolinite-random mixed-layered illite-smectite-vermiculite. The main sources of sediment supply to the continental shelf are the Guadalquivir and Guadiana rivers. Sediment from these rivers and from the rivers flowing into the Bay of Cádiz (mainly the Guadalete) is transported to the part of the shelf outside the bay by ebb-tide currents. The path of this outflow to the continental shelf, where the sediment is partially deposited, is influenced by the morphology of the coast and by hydrodynamic processes.
Contribution of the UAS to the determination of the water budget in a coastal wetland: a case study in the natural park of the Bay of Cádiz (SW Spain)