Spain Advances Gibraltar Strait Tunnel Study with Seabed Seismometer Tender

The Spanish Company for Studies for Fixed Communication through the Strait of Gibraltar (SECEGSA), under the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, has launched this tender for the rental of four seabed seismometers (OBS) for the seismotectonic research campaign in the Strait of Gibraltar, which should last six months from the date of delivery of the devices to the Royal Institute and the Naval Observatory of San Fernando (Cadiz).

The amount of this contract is estimated at nearly 488,000 euros including tax, recalls La Razon, stressing that a prior acceptance test will be carried out and that the studies will be carried out depending on the weather conditions (wind and currents) in the strait.

The Morocco-Spain tunnel project dates back to 1980, the year the two countries signed an agreement in this framework, leading to the creation of SECEGSA, on the Spanish side, and the National Company for Strait of Gibraltar Studies (SNED), on the Moroccan side. Since then, several studies have been carried out to "understand the difficulties of the site from a geological, oceanographic, seismic and meteorological point of view," explains SECEGSA on its website.

Seismotectonic studies had been carried out in 2014 with three seismometers, in collaboration with Spanish navy ships, the Spanish company indicates. 38.5 kilometers long, including 27.7 kilometers underwater, the tunnel will connect Punta Paloma, near Tarifa, to Tangier, and will promote trade between Spain and Morocco, or even Europe and Africa.