ALPINE BASEMENT OUTCROPS AT NORTHERN PELOPONNESUS: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE EARLY STAGES IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE CORINTH RIFT


Published: Jul 27, 2016
Keywords:
Post-orogenic extension Tripolis Unit Pindos Unit
E. Skourtsos
H. Kranis
A. Zambetakis-Lekkas
R. Gawthorpe
M. Leeder
Abstract

We focus on the central and eastern southern onshore parts of the Corinth Rift (CR), where basement outcrops are few and of limited extent, to study three key locations: a basement inlier east of Xylokastro, a new outcrop of the Tripolis Unit at the western edge of the Xylokastro horst, and a re-mapped and re-evaluated outcrop of the Pindos Unit northwest of Nemea. The results of this study show that there are elements which could help overcome the significant difficulties in our understanding of the structure and evolution of the rift, posed by the lack of basement outcrops in the central and eastern onshore parts of the Rift. This, in turn, calls for a reconsideration of the generally accepted idea that the broader onshore eastern sector of the CR lacks significant basement and intrabasinal faults.

Article Details
  • Section
  • Structural Geology
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
References
Armijo, R., Meyer, B., King, G., Rigo, A. and Papanastassiou, D., 1996. Quaternary evolution of
the Corinth Rift and its implications for the Late Cenozoic evolution of the Aegean,
Geophysical Journal International, 126, 11-53.
Aubouin, J., 1959. Contribution à l’étude géologique de la Grèce septentrionale, les confins de
l’Epire et de la Thessalie, Ann. Geol. Pays Hell. 10, 526.
Avallone, A., Briole, P., Agatza-Balodimou, A.M., Billiris, H., Charade, O., Mitsakaki, C.,
Nercessian, A., Papazissi, K., Paradissis, D. and Veis, G. 2004. Analysis of eleven years of
deformation measured by GPS in the Corinth Rift Laboratory area, Comptes Rendus
Géosciences, 336, 301-311.
Beckers, A., Hubert-Ferrari, A., Beck, C., Bodeux, S., Tripsanas, E., Sakellariou, D. and De Batist,
M., 2015. Active faulting at the western tip of the Gulf of Corinth, Greece, from highresolution
seismic data, Marine Geology, 360, 55-69.
Bell, R.E., McNeill, L.C., Henstock, T.J. and Bull, J.M., 2011. Comparing extension on multiple
time and depth scales in the Corinth Rift, Central Greece, Geophysical Journal International,
, 463-470.
Charalampakis, M., Lykousis, V., Sakellariou, D., Papatheodorou, G. and Ferentinos, G., 2014. The
tectono-sedimentary evolution of the Lechaion Gulf, the south eastern branch of the Corinth
graben, Greece, Marine Geology, 351, 58-75, doi: 10.1016/j.margeo.2014.03.014.
Clarke, P.J., Davies, R.R., England, P.C., Parson, B., Billiris, H., Paradissis, D., Veis, G., Cross,
P.A., Denys, P.H., Ashkenazi, V., Bingley, R., Kahle, H.-G., Muller, M.-V. and Briole, P.,
Crustal strain in central Greece from repeated GPS measurements in the interval 1989-
, Geophysical Journal International, 135, 195-214.
Dufaure, J.J. 1977. Néotectonique et morphogenèse dans une péninsule méditerranéenne: la
Péloponnèse, Revue de Géographie Physique et de Géologie Dynamique, 19(1), 27-58.
Fleury, J., 1980. Les zones de Gavrovo-Tripolitza et du Pinde-Olonos (Grèce continentale et
Péloponnèse du Nord). Evolution d'une plateforme et d'un bassin dans leur cadre alpin,
Memoire de la Soc. Geol. Nord, 651 pp.
Flotte, N., Sorel, D., Muller, C. and Tensi, J., 2005. Along strike changes in the structural evolution
over a brittle detachment fault: Example of the Pleistocene Corinth-Patras rift (Greece),
Tectonophysics, 403, 77-94.
Ford, M., Rohais, S., Williams, E.A., Bourlange, S., Jousselin, D., Backert, N. and Malartre, F.,
Tectono-sedimentary evolution of the western Corinth rift (Central Greece), Bas. Res.,
, 3-25.
Ford, M., Williams, E.A., Malartre, F. and Popescu, S.-M., 2009. Stratigraphic Architecture,
Sedimentology and Structure of the Vouraikos Gilbert-Type Fan Delta, Gulf of Corinth, Greece,
In: Nichols, G., Williams, E.A. and Paola, C., eds., Sedimentary Processes, Environments and
Basins: A Tribute to Peter Friend. Blackwell Publishing Ltd., Oxford, 49-90.
Jolivet, L. Labrousse, L., Agard, P., Lacombe, O., Bailly, V., Lecomte, E., Mouthereau, F. and Mehl,
C. 2010. Rifting and shallow-dipping detachments, clues from the Corinth rift and the Aegean,
Tectonophysics, 483, 287-304.
Koutsouveli, A. and Mettos, A., 1989. Geological Map of Greece, scale 1:50,000, Xylokastro Sheet,
Athens, Greece.
Kranis, H., Skourtsos, E., Gawthorpe, R., Leeder, M. and Stamatakis, M., 2015. Pre-rift basement
structure and syn-rift faulting at the eastern onshore Gulf of Corinth Rift, Geophysical
Research Abstracts, 17, EGU2015-2575, EGU General Assembly 2015.
Nixon, C., and fourteen others. Rapid spatio-temporal variations in rift structure during development
of the Corinth Rift, central Greece, Submitted to Tectonics.
Pomoni-Papaioannou, F.A. and Zambetakis-Lekkas, A., 2009. Facies associations of the late
Cenomanian carbonate platform of Tripolitza subzone (Vitina, Central Peloponnesus,
Greece): evidence of long-term/terrestrial subaerial exposure, Boll. Soc. Geol. It., 128, 1.
Rohais, S., Eschard, R., Ford, M., Guillocheau, F. and Moretti, I., 2007. Stratigraphic architecture
of the Plio-Pleistocene infill of the Corinth rift: Implications for its structural evolution,
Tectonophysics, 440, 5-28.
Skourtsos, E., 2002. The tectonic setting of the eastern margin of the Mt Parnon tectonic window.
Unpubl. PhD. Thesis, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens (in Greek with
English extended abstract).
Skourtsos, E. and Kranis, H., 2009. Structure and evolution of the western Corinth Rift, through new
field data from the Northern Peloponnesus, Geological Society, London, Special Publications,
, 119-138.
Skourtsos, E. and Lekkas, S., 2010. Extensional tectonics in Mt Parnon (Peloponnesus, Greece), Int.
J. Earth Sci. (Geol. Rundsch.), doi 10.1007/s00531-010-0588-0.
Taylor, B., Weiss, J.R., Goodliffe, A.M., Sachpazi, M., Laigle, M. and Hirn, A., 2011. The structures,
stratigraphy and evolution of the Gulf of Corinth rift, Greece, Geophysical Journal
International, 185, 1189-1219.
Tataris, A., Maragoudakis, N. and Kounis, G., 1970. Geological map of Greece, 1:50000 scale,
‘Nemea Sheet’, IGSR, Athens.
Zambetakis-Lekkas, A., Pomoni-Papaioannou, F. and Carotsieris, Z., 1988. A Middle Cenomanian
- Lower Turonian (?) emergence episode in the Tripolitza subzone (Central Peloponnesus,
Greece), Rev. de Paléobiologie, 7, 1, 129-136.
Zambetakis-Lekkas, A., Vartis-Matarangas, M. and Alexopoulos, A., 1995. La sédimentation sur la
plateforme de Tripolitza au Crétacé inférieur - Cénomanien en Crète centrale (Grèce),
Cretaceous Research, 16, 311-325.
Zambetakis-Lekkas, A., Pomoni-Papaioannou, F. and Alexopoulos, A., 1998. Biostratigraphical and
sedimentological study of Upper Senonian - Lower Eocene sédiments of Tripolitza platform
in Central Crete (Greece), Cretaceous Research, 19, 715-732.
Zambetakis-Lekkas, A., Pomoni-Papaioannou, F. and Alexopoulos, A., 2007. New stratigraphic and
palaeogeographic data from the Mesozoic strata of the Tripolitza platform in central Crete.
Evidence of subaerial exposures during Albian-Early Cenomanian, Hellenic Journal of
Geosciences, 42, 7-18.
Most read articles by the same author(s)