The Gulf of Cádiz is located in the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean between 34°N and 37°15'N and 6°W to 9°45'W. It is enclosed by the southern Iberian and northern Moroccan margins, west of Gibraltar Strait.
The geological history of the Gulf of Cádiz is intimately related to plate tectonic interaction between Southern Eurasia and North Africa and is driven by two major mechanisms:
subduction associated with the westward emplacement of the Gibraltar Arc and formation of the Gulf of Cádiz accretionary wedge. The current activity of the subduction is unclear, with some advocating ongoing active subduction. Others suggest that subduction is inactive and that a new plate boundary has recently formed along a series of prominent WNW-ESE trending lineaments acting as a dextral strike-slip (transform) plate boundary.