Quaternary continental shelf basins of Saronikos Gulf, Aegean Sea
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ORIGINAL
Quaternary continental shelf basins of Saronikos Gulf, Aegean Sea Panagiotis M. Foutrakis 1
&
George Anastasakis 1
Received: 19 July 2019 / Accepted: 7 April 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract The Saronikos Gulf hosts the northwestern end of the South Aegean Active Volcanic Arc. It is affected by extensional back-arc tectonism in a prominent N-S direction, while older E-W rifting is also manifested. Recently acquired swath bathymetry and high-resolution seismic profiles led to the precise morphological mapping of five Quaternary continental shelf basins, along with their neotectonic delineations and their cross-correlation to the onshore active fault zones. Aegina and Methana basins, in the southeast Saronikos Gulf, display subsidence along ENE-WSW and NW-SE axes, and continuous marine sedimentation throughout the Upper Quaternary. Salamina basin in the northeast Saronikos Gulf is a shallow, relatively stable sedimentary basin, intermittently connected to the SE and NW Saronikos Gulf through the Aegina-Fleves and the Aegina-Salamina plateau respectively. In the western and most active region of Saronikos Gulf, the onshore E-W–trending faults of Kechrees and Agios Vassileios extend eastwards until the Salamina-Aegina plateau. The Megara basin is WNW-ESE oriented, possibly affected by the N-S Korfos fault valley, which connects the Megara and Epidavros basins. E-W–trending faults tilt the Quaternary sedimentary blocks, in compatibility to the N-S extensional tectonic regime of the adjacent Gulf of Corinth. Prograding clinoforms in the Megara and Epidavros basins reveal an Upper Quaternary-age intermittent connection to the open sea. Mass transport deposits and volcanic flows in-between the Upper Quaternary sediments of the Epidavros basin manifest the 500–400 ka tectonic phase that affected both the NE Peloponnese coast and the active N-S and NW-SE to WNW-ESE striking faults of the Epidavros basin margin. Keywords Continental shelf basins . Quaternary evolution . Rifting . Basin analysis . Seismic stratigraphy . Bathymorphology . Saronikos Gulf-Aegean Sea
Introduction The Saronikos Gulf hosts several neotectonic continental shelf basins, actively subsiding as a result of extensional tectonism in the back-arc region of the active Hellenic Subduction system (Papazachos and Comninakis 1971; Jolivet et al. 2013) where normal and strike slip faults are dominant (Royden and Papanikolaou 2011). Moreover, it marks the western termination of the South Aegean Active Volcanic Arc (SAAVA) resulting from the subduction of the African plate beneath
* George Anastasakis [email protected] Panagiotis M. Foutrakis [email protected] 1
Section of Historical Geology – Palaeontology, Department of Geology & Geoenvironment, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis, 157 84 Athens, Greece
the Aegean microplate and the rollback of the overriding microplate (Papazachos and Comninakis 1971; McKenzie 1972; Le Pichon and Angelier 1979; Mercier et al. 198
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