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Eustatic and tectonic controls upon Quaternary coastal sedimentation in the Corinth Basin, Greece

Department of Earth Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK

The late Quaternary sedimentology and palaeogeography of the Corinth Isthmus in central Greece is re-interpreted. A series of beach-to-shoreface sub-sequences are seen, each characteristically having an overall fining-up character. These occur within a coastal facies belt which has prograded to the west.

Computer modelling illustrates the interaction of tectonic displacements and eustatic sea-level variation as controls of facies patterns. Late Pleistocene-Holocene facies geometries are predicted on the basis of published sea-level data over that time interval. On coastlines undergoing tectonic uplift, such as the Isthmus of Corinth, depositional patterns may be characterized by transgressive wedges. These sub-sequences merge basinwards below sea-level minima. Each transgression relates to a major eustatic sea-level peak. Such first order models are modified by variations in the rate of tectonic deformation, the second control on relative sea-level position.

Modelled facies patterns are tested on the basis of new ²³⁰Th/²³⁴U dates obtained from sclerac-tinian corals of the Corinth canal area. Dated sub-sequence sediments correspond in age to late Pleistocene eustatic highs and observed facies patterns correlate with the major late Pleistocene-Holocene eustatic transgressions of c. 100 ka periodicity. Episodes of intrabasinal normal faulting are isolated from a structural history otherwise dominated by uplift across the Isthmus. Quantification of post-depositional vertical tectonic displacements is achieved, constraining the eustatic base-level at the time of deposition of a dated horizon by reference to the global late Quaternary sea-level curve. The original depositional level is then subtracted from the present outcrop level. Using available ²³⁰Th/²³⁴U dates to establish syn-depositional base-levels, minimum uplift rates of the order of 0.3 m ka^–1 are calculated across the area, averaged through the late Pleistocene and Holocene.

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