The Corinth Rift, central Greece, enables analysis of early rift development as it is young (<5 Ma) and highly active and its full history is recorded at high resolution by sedimentary systems. A complete compilation of marine geophysical data, complemented by onshore data, is used to develop a high-resolution chronostratigraphy and detailed fault history for the offshore Corinth Rift, integrating interpretations and reconciling previous discrepancies. Rift migration and localization of deformation have been significant within the rift since inception. Over the last circa 2 Myr the rift transitioned from a spatially complex rift to a uniform asymmetric rift, but this transition did not occur synchronously along strike. Isochore maps at circa 100 kyr intervals illustrate a change in fault polarity within the short interval circa 620-340 ka, characterized by progressive transfer of activity from major south dipping faults to north dipping faults and southward migration of discrete depocenters at~30 m/kyr. Since circa 340 ka there has been localization and linkage of the dominant north dipping border fault system along the southern rift margin, demonstrated by lateral growth of discrete depocenters at~40 m/kyr. A single central depocenter formed by circa 130 ka, indicating full fault linkage. These results indicate that rift localization is progressive (not instantaneous) and can be synchronous once a rift border fault system is established. This study illustrates that development processes within young rifts occur at 100 kyr timescales, including rapid changes in rift symmetry and growth and linkage of major rift faults.

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The style of extension and strain distribution during the early stages of intra-continental rifting is important for understanding rift-margin development and can provide constraints for lithospheric deformation mechanisms.The Corinth rift in central Greece is one of the few rifts to have experienced a short extensional history without subsequent overprinting.We synthesise existing seismic re£ection data throughout the active o¡shore Gulf of Corinth Basin to investigate fault activity history and the spatio -temporal evolution of the basin, producing for the ¢rst time basement depth and syn-rift sediment isopachs throughout the o¡shore rift. A major basin-wide unconformity surface with an age estimated from sea-level cycles at ca. 0.4 Ma separates distinct seismic stratigraphic units. Assuming that sedimentation rates are on average consistent, the present rift formed at 1^2 Ma, with no clear evidence for along-strike propagation of the rift axis.The rift has undergone major changes in relative fault activity and basin geometry during its short history. The basement depth is greatest in the central rift (maximum $3 km) and decreases to the east and west. In detail however, two separated depocentres 20^50 km long were created controlled by N-and S-dipping faults before 0.4 Ma, while since ca. 0.4 Ma a single depocentre (80 km long) has been controlled by several connected N-dipping faults, with maximum subsidence focused between the two older depocentres.Thus isolated but nearby faults can persist for timescales ca. 1 Ma and form major basins before becoming linked.There is a general evolution towards a dominance of N-dipping faults; however, in the western Gulf strain is distributed across several active N-and S-dipping faults throughout rift history, producing a more complex basin geometry.

Detailed three‐dimensional (3‐D) observations of sandy point‐bar deposits from the River South Esk in Scotland were made using very closely spaced (metres) vibracores and ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) profiles. In order to explain the origin of the observed patterns of deposition, use was made of previous studies of channel geometry, flow and sediment transport. In addition, the mode and nature of channel migration and point‐bar accretion were determined using published maps, aerial photographs and detailed topographic surveys. Point‐bar deposits accumulated in response to channel‐bend expansion and downstream migration, resulting in preservation of sequences that fine upwards and downstream. Lower‐bar deposits are mainly very‐coarse to coarse sands with medium‐scale trough cross‐strata overlying basal gravels: associated radar facies are generally low‐amplitude, relatively discontinuous inclined reflectors. Upper‐bar deposits are mainly fine to medium sands with medium‐ and small‐scale cross‐strata and vegetation‐rich layers: associated radar facies are generally moderate‐ to high‐amplitude, laterally continuous, inclined reflectors. Large‐scale inclined stratasets seen in GPR profiles resulted from episodic point‐bar accretion. Abrupt lateral changes in inclination of these stratasets, and preservation of distinct unit bars (bar heads, scroll bars), lower‐bar platforms and inner‐bank swale fills, record discrete episodes of erosion and deposition associated with floods with recurrence intervals of decades to centuries. Such detailed 3‐D description and interpretation of these large‐scale features of point‐bar deposits was only possible through the use of GPR profiles tied closely to cores, and through the availability of much previously collected information on channel geometry, water flow, sediment transport, erosion and deposition.

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High resolution seismic reflection surveys over one of the most active and rapidly extending regions in the world, the Gulf of Corinth, have revealed that the gulf is a complex asymmetric graben whose geometry varies significantly along its length. A detailed map of the offshore faults in the gulf shows that a major fault system of nine distinct faults limits the basin to the south. The northern Gulf appears to be undergoing regional subsidence and is affected by an antithetic major fault system consisting of eight faults. All these major faults have been active during the Quaternary. Uplifted coastlines along their footwalls, growth fault patterns and thickening of sediment strata toward the fault planes indicate that some of these offshore faults on both sides of the graben are active up to present. Our data ground‐truth recent models and provides actual observations of the distribution of variable deformation rates in the Gulf of Corinth. Furthermore they suggest that the offshore faults should be taken into consideration in explaining the high extension rates and the uplift scenarios of the northern Peloponnesos coast. The observed coastal uplift appears to be the result of the cumulative effect of deformation accommodated by more than one fault and therefore, average uplift rates deduced from raised fossil shorelines, should be treated with caution when used to infer individual fault slip rates. Seismic reflection profiling is a vital tool in assessing seismic hazard and basin‐formation in areas of active extension.

We present evidence of the rates of late Quaternary tectonic uplift that have affected parts of central Greece during this period of active extension and basin formation. Dual lines of evidence indicate upper Pleistocene to Holocene uplift rates of the order of 0.3 mm yr -1 for the Corinth and Megara basins. First, U-series disequilibrium ages of Acropora sp. corals from uplifted marine sediments are used to derive minimum average rates of vertical displacement since deposition. Second, the geometries of cyclical transgressive sequences and of erosional terraces are consistent with the radiometric evidence and the known history of late Quaternary sea level fluctuations. Two types of uplift are distinguished on the basis of structural relationships: (1) fault block rotation about a horizontal axis (tilting) in response to footwall uplift on the active normal fault bounding the Alkyonides Gulf and (2) a more regional uplift which affects the Corinth Basin and Peloponnesos to the south. The results of U-series dating are discussed in the light of initial 234U/238U activity ratios, derived from the coral samples, which are higher than for average marine waters (1. 17-1.31 compared to 1.14). These values may be related to a variable freshwater input to the structurally confined Gulf of Corinth or, alternatively, they may reflect a previously higher global 234U/238U activity ratio in marine waters, or post-mortem enrichment in 234U, although the mechanism of the latter is not yet understood. Aegean has been an area of active crustal extension[McKenzie, 1978; Le Pichon and Angelier, 1981; Jackson et al., 1982a, 1982b]. Characteristic halfgraben and asymmetric graben basins are developing in response to the rapid extensional strain rates which are accompanied by intense seismicity [Jackson and McKenzie, 1988]. Very high rates of three-dimensional rotations are occurring between fault-bounded blocks [Jackson and McKenzie, 1988; Billiris et al., 1991].

Geophysical, structural, geochronological and geomorphological data indicate that the Psatha, East Alkyonides, Skinos and Pisia faults are Holocene-active structures whereas the status of the West Alkyonides, Strava, Perachora and Loutraki faults is less certain. We see no evidence for significant lateral surface fault growth. New data for late Pleistocene footwall uplift of the Psatha fault are comparable with previously estimated Holocene rates. Pre-Holocene stratigraphic sequences in the Alkyonides Gulf allow calculation of vertical displacement on the Skinos fault of 1.42–1.60 km over a period of >0.6 Ma. Previous palaeoseismological studies indicate comparable displacement rates extrapolated to 0.61–2.20 Ma, whereas extrapolation of previous geodetic data indicate a range of 0.17–0.46 Ma. The latter is too short given the evidence of the stratigraphic record, signifying either that these data may not be representative of longer-term rates, or that significant deformation has taken place elsewhere, for example, on offshore antithetic faults. A case is established for uniform late Quaternary (post-MIS 7) uplift of the Perachora peninsula at rates of c. 0.2–0.3 mm a–1. The lack of regional tilting over Perachora–Corinth–Isthmia is in marked contrast to the situation in the Alkyonides–Megara basins to the east