Dramatic coastline changes demonstrate rapid Quaternary uplift of Calabria in southern Italy. Because most of the west (Tyrrhenian Sea) coast is normal fault bounded, previous work has asserted that its uplift is local footwall uplift related to extension. However, the east (Ionian Sea) coast is also uplifting but is not normal fault bounded. This reanalysis, based on original fieldwork and reinterpretation of the literature, reaches the following conclusions. First, although radiometric dating of only one marine terrace sequence in Calabria is available, on the east coast at Crotone, terraces occur at similar elevations, and can thus be correlated, throughout this coast and the west coast of northern and central Calabria. Uplift rate at both coasts and across the region in between is the same, 1.0 ± 0.1 mm yr−1, provided my correlations are correct. Second, the oldest raised shorelines date from the 0.9 Ma marine highstand and have uplifted ∼700 m since ∼0.7 Ma. Regional uplift rate earlier was minimal, possibly zero. Third, localities on this west coast show marginally (up to ∼5%) higher uplift rates, indicating some local footwall uplift (at ∼0.05 mm yr−) associated with slow extension (at ∼0.1 mm yr−1). Fourth, the 12‐m Holocene marine terrace formed around 7 ka. Allowing for a 3‐m range of wave and tidal action, it is interpreted as the result of 7 m of tectonic uplift and 2 m of eustatic sea level fall during ∼6–4 ka. Finally, the west coast of southern Calabria shows significant elevation changes caused by active normal faulting, as well as regional uplift. Footwall localities have uplifted up to 1300 m since 0.9 Ma. The estimated maximum present‐day uplift rate of 1.67 mm yr−1 is interpreted as 1 mm yr of regional uplift plus 0.67 mm yr of local footwall uplift, indicating much faster extension than farther north. It is suggested that the Tyrrhenian Benioff zone detached from beneath Calabria shortly before 0.7 Ma. The regional uplift of the overlying landmass is thus explained as its transient isostatic response to removal of this load. Order‐of‐magnitude calculations suggest that 1 mm yr−1 uplift rate is reasonable, with ∼2 km total uplift expected, indicating that uplift will continue for > ∼1 Myr into the future. Extension of Calabria appears to have begun at ∼11 Ma, at the same time as formation of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the related subduction at its Benioff zone. Extension rate in southern Calabria abruptly increased from ∼0.1 to ∼1 mm yr−1 around 0.9–0.7 Ma., when the slab detached and the regional uplift began; extension in northern and central Calabria continues at the same ∼0.1 mm yr−1 rate as before.

R. (2007) 'Climatically controlled river terrace staircases : a worldwide quaternary phenomenon. ', Geomorphology.,. 285-315 . Further information on publisher's website:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph. 2006.12.032 Publisher's copyright statement:Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-pro t purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details.

The Middle East and eastern Mediterranean regions contain three major strike‐slip fault zones: the Dead Sea fault zone (DSFZ) and the North and East Anatolian fault zones (NAFZ and EAFZ). These accommodate northward motion of the African and Arabian plates relative to Eurasia and westward motion of the small Turkish plate. This study deduces an internally consistent solution for the present‐day kinematics of these plates, which is accurate to better than 20% and applicable throughout time since ∼5 Ma, by constraining the slip senses and rates on these strike‐slip fault zones. The 7 (±0.5) mm yr−1 left‐lateral slip rate on the DSFZ is associated with counterclockwise rotation of Arabia relative to Africa at 0.33° m.y−1 around an Eulcr pole near 33°N 23°E. The NAFZ takes up counterclockwise rotation of the Turkish plate relative to Eurasia at 0.83° m.y.−1 (±13%) around a pole at 31°N 35.5°E, with right‐lateral slip rate ∼15 mm yr−1. The resulting prediction for the EAFZ involves ∼14 mm yr−1 left‐lateral motion and ∼2 mm yr−1 of shortening between Arabia and Turkey. The triple junction of Africa, Arabia and Turkey is near the city of Kahramanmaras. This locality contains a narrow promontory, bounded by SSW‐trending left‐lateral faults at the edges of the Arabian and Turkish plates, which is loosely attached to the African plate, moving westward relative to its interior at ∼4 mm yr−1.

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In the Hellenic Trench south of Crete convergence between the southern Aegean Sea and Africa occurs at a rate of at least 60mm yr-'. Previously published first motion fault plane solutions show a variety of different fault orientations and types, but are not well constrained. Furthermore, the lack of reliable focal depths for these earthquakes has obscured any simple pattern of deformation that might exist. Nonetheless, the mechanisms of these earthquakes have strongly influenced views of the tectonics in the Hellenic Trench. We have improved estimates of the fault parameters and focal depths for 14 of these earthquakes, using long-period P-and SH-waveforms. The earthquake mechanisms fall into four groups: (a) normal faults with a N-S strike in the over-riding material above the subduction zone; (b) low-angle thrusts with an E-W strike at a depth of about 40km; (c) high-angle reverse faults with the same strike but shallower focal depths than (b); (d) events within the suducting lithosphere with approximately E-W P axes. The thrusting in groups (b) and (c) is probably the mechanism by which the sediments of the Mediterranean Sea underplate and uplift Crete. These events have slip vectors in the direction 025 f 12" which represents the convergence direction between Crete and Africa along the SW-facing boundary of the Hellenic Trench. One of the events in group (d) occurred beneath the Mediterranean Ridge and involved high-angle reverse faulting with a WNW-ESE P axis: almost perpendicular to the direction of shortening deduced from folds at the surface. The Mediterranean Sea floor in this region appears to be in a state of E-W compression, for reasons that are not clear.

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