Resumen: Sea level and climate changes archived in various coastal environments during the last part of the last glacial and present interglacial
periods are investigated by interpolating available geomorphology, sedimentology, palaeontology and geochronology
data. The coastal
response to these changes depended on the environment and geographic location. Changes of sea level during the rising, transgressive
phase are well recorded in the sedimentary filling of the estuaries, whereas during the phase of highstand they are best recorded in
beach–barrier environments. The postglacial rise of sea level took place in two phases: a rapid rise until 6500 cal BP, and a second phase
of near stability with minor oscillations of metric magnitude. Regarding climate changes, there is no record of changing temperatures in
the coastal zones of southern Spain, although there is in precipitation and wind intensity/velocity. After 7–5 cal ka BP, the general
climatic trend towards aridity was punctuated by several short-lived (centennial) episodes of increased aridity that occurred with a
millennial cycle, often coincident with Bond cool events and, in some cases, with decreases of sea surface temperatures. The absence of
human intervention in vegetation composition until 2000 BP suggests that most environmental coastal shifts were climatically driven.
Resumen: The coastal evolution of the El Abalario area (Huelva, southern Spain) during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene is
reinterpreted after a refinement of the available geochronology by means of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL)
dating.
New data come from the analysis of soft sediment deformation, palaeosols, geomorphological mapping, and published seismic
surveys on the onshore and offshore Gulf of Cadiz.
The present structure of El Abalario dome resulted from the complex interaction of littoral-catchment processes and sealevel
changes upon an emergent coastal plain, conditioned by the upwarping of the underlying Pliocene–Pleistocene
prograding deltaic sequence. Upwarping is probably related to escape of over-pressurized fluids, accompanied by dewatering,
prior to (?) and during OIS (Oxygen Isotopic Stage) 5. Continued upwarping produced the large NW–SE gravitational fault
of Torre del Loro (TLF) in the southwestern flank of the dome, roughly parallel to the present coastline during OIS 5–OIS 4.
The resulting escarpment favoured the accumulation of aeolian sand dunes (units U1, U2, and U3) from OIS 5 to early OIS
1. Unit U1 (OIS 5) ends upwards in a supersurface with a thick weathering profile that suggests moist and temperate climatic
conditions. Unit U2 accumulated mainly during OIS 4 and OIS 3 with prevailing W/E winds. The supersurface between U2 and U3 records a part of OIS 2, with relative low sea level. Sedimentation of unit U3 took place during the Last Deglaciation
(radiocarbon and OSL ages) with prevailing W/SW winds, under a temperate moist climate, that became more arid towards
the top (Holocene). A major supersurface with an iron crust-like layer (SsFe) developed during the Holocene Climatic
Optimum (OIS 1) under wetter and more temperate conditions than before, fossilizing the TLF. The supersurface is covered
by younger aeolian dunes (U4, U5, U6, and U7) transported by W–SW winds since the Late Neolithic–Chalcolithic cultural
period (~5.0 ky cal BP)
