The continental margin of the Catalonia is crossed by several submarine canyons of different evolutionary history (Fig. 1) (Canals et al., 2004a). The main characteristic of the circulation pattern on the Catalan coast is a slope current referred to as the Northern current, which is associated with a shelf–slope density front that in this area flows mainly towards the southwest (Font et al., 1988). This baroclinic current separates the low-salinity shelf waters from the denser open-sea saline waters

12 pages, 13 figures

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