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The time of the onset and the nature of the extension in the Aegean area have been problematic owing to the confusion of neotectonic replacement structures with neotectonic revolutionary structures. This paper concerns two rift systems of different ages and orientations in the Gokova region of southwestern Anatolia. The first system has a northwest-southeast trend with a Middle to Upper Miocene infill, whereas the second system is orientated in an east-west direction and filled with Plio-Quaternary rocks. Structural and palaeomagnetic data indicate that the first system originally had a north-south trend, and then bodily rotated anticlockwise to its present orientation before the end of the Miocene. Both the orientations and the structural patterns of these cross-cutting rift systems suggest that they resulted from two different and successive tectonic regimes. Regional geology suggests that the generative regime of the older system was characterized by north-south compression and related to the palaeotectonic evolution of southwestern Anatolia, whereas that of the younger system is characterized by north-south extension and relates to the neotectonic evolution of this region. This inference contradicts, at least in southwestern Anatolia, some recent claims that the extensional tectonics and the related rift formation in the Aegean region began in the early Miocene, with the alleged demise of the compressional palaeotectonics during the late Oligocene, but is consistent with older views that placed the onset of north-south extension into the later middle Miocene. The formation of the Aegean Sea seems to be the result of these two complicated and contrasting, succesive tectonic regimes that have affected this region since middle Miocene times.

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An extensive rescue excavation has been conducted in the ancient harbor of İstanbul (Yenikapı) by the Sea of Marmara, revealing a depositional sequence displaying clear evidence of transgression and coastal progradation during the Holocene. The basal layer of this sequence lies at 6 m below the present sea level and contains remains of a Neolithic settlement known to have been present in the area, indicating that the sea level at ~ 8–9 cal ka BP was lower than 6 m below present. Sea level advanced to its maximum at ~ 6.8–7 cal ka BP, drowning Lykos Stream and forming an inlet at its mouth. After ~ 3 cal ka BP, coastal progradation became evident. Subsequent construction of the Byzantine Harbor (Theodosius; 4th century AD) created a restricted small basin and accumulation of fine-grained sediments. The sedimentation rate was increased due to coastal progradation and anthropogenic factors during the deposition of coarse-grained sediments at the upper parts of the sequence (7th–9th centuries AD). The harbor was probably abandoned after the 11th century AD by filling up with Lykos Stream detritus and continued seaward migration of the coastline.