Method for the calculation, analysis and spatial representation of the variable "time submerged below sea level during the last glaciation" on the Gulf of Cadiz continental shelf (Spain and Portugal)

In this paper we have mapped the time in which the continental shelf of the Atlantic coast of Andalusia (Spain) and Algarve (Portugal) has been emerged during the last glaciation, using a digital elevation model and a sea level model developed from the heights of twelve subperiods that encompass the entire glaciation. Since the Gulf of Cadiz coast has a wide continental shelf, the emerged surface during the glaciation was greater than at present, being its size dependent on the position of the sea level. Additionally, the last glaciation sea level model is compared with another simplified model based on two sub-periods, one of almost 100,000 years, of sea level decline, and another of about 12,000 years, of sea level rise. The results show that broad sectors of the continental shelf remained emerged for long periods of time, and that the methodological proposal made is significantly more accurate than any other approach, including that of the proposed simplified model.