Active faults, deformation rates and Quaternary paleogeography at Kyparissiakos Gulf (SW Greece) deduced from onshore and offshore data

Tsunami hazard assessment in the Ionian Sea due to potential tsunamogenic sources – results from numerical simulations

“…According to Papoulia et al (2008), the area extending from Zakynthos to Messinia is limited by two main fault zones: the one striking NE-SW, offshore Kyllini, dipping to the south east, and the other striking EW, offshore Pylos, dipping to the north. According to Mariolakos et al (1985) and Papanikolaou et al (2007), these fault zones are active and are the offshore extensions of EW trending faults of Western Peloponnese.…”

“…4). This potential tsunami source is an offshore fault recognised by a "clustering" of the seismicity; it has a NNW-SSE direction almost parallel to the nearby Peloponnesus coast, and it is a thrust fault with a length L=70 km and a width W =45 km (Papazachos and Papazachou, 1997;Papanikolaou et al, 2007). Several moderate to strong earthquakes have been attributed to this fault; in 1886 this was the source of the M=7.5 event (estimated from the observed maximum intensity X of MM scale), also the 1899 Kyparissia (M=6.5; Papazachou, 1997) andthe 1919 Kyparissia (M=6.3;Papazachos and Papazachou, 1997) earthquakes, have been related to this fault.…”

Tectonic Processes and Crustal Evolution on/Offshore Western Peloponnese Derived From Active and Passive Seismics

“…On Strophades island outcrops of salty evaporites have been described as tectonically emplaced diapirs into Pliocene marls, and hypothetically attributed to Messinian deposits (Lyberis and Bizon, 1981). Finally along the Peloponnese coasts of Kyparissiakos gulf outcrops of the Ionian, Gavrovo and Pindos alpine units are known together with continental, marine Pleistocene to Holocene deposits, truncated by E-W trending extensional active faults (Papanikolaou et al, 2007). Offshore only little information is available mainly from seismological and seismic studies.…”

“…Clement et al, (2000) have investigated the seismic structure of the intra-plate geometry between Cephalonia and Zakynthos. Monopolis and Bruneton (1982) and, more recently, Papanikolaou et al, (2007) have studied the shallow geological structure of this continental margin segment. Aubouin et al, (1976) andLe Pichon et al, (2002) have proposed continuity of the alpine units, and particularly of the Ionian thrusts, beneath most of the area.…”

Post- Alpine Late Pliocene – Middle Pleistocene Uplifted Marine Sequences in Zakynthos Island

“…Therefore, subsidence during the Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene and uplift during the Middle Pleistocene is witnessed not only in the Zakynthos sequence but also in the coastal zone of Kyparissiakos Gulf where formations of `Calabrian` marls are unconformably overlain by Pleistocene sandstones. This infers that an extensional depositional centre along the Zakynthos channel and Kyparssiakos Gulf developed during the Late Pliocene-Middle Pleistocene and was subsequently followed (in the Middle Pleistocene) by stronger uplift of the marine deposits in Western Peloponnesus (Papanikolaou et al, 2007) and weaker in eastern Zakynthos.…”