the puglia uplift se italy an anomaly in the foreland of the apenninic subduction due to buckling of a thick continental lithosphere the apenninic foreland shows two distinct structural signatures comparing the central adriatic sea and the puglia region during the pliocene pleistocene the central adriatic underwent high subsidence rates due to the eastward rollback of the hinge of the west dipping apenninic subduction the puglia region and the bradanic foredeep are located southward along strike in the same foreland but in contrast with the central adriatic after pliocene early pleistocene subsidence they underwent uplift since the middle pleistocene the geometry and the kinematics of the frontal accretionary wedge and related foreland changed from that moment on between the two areas at the front of the central northern apennines off scraping and subsidence continued whereas the foredeep and foreland of the southern apennines were buckled those differences are interpreted as being due to the larger subduction hinge rollback rate since middle pleistocene of the central adriatic lithosphere 70 km thick with respect to the thicker puglia 110 km the different thicknesses of the continental crust and lithosphere were inherited from the mesozoic rifting that disrupted the adriatic plate the different thicknesses appear to have controlled the variable degree of flexure of the lithosphere and its asthenospheric penetration rate the tremiti e w alignment is the right lateral lithospheric transfer zone of those different tectonic regimes the consequent different dip of the subduction in the two sections steeper west of puglia could also explain the lower elevation of the southern apennines compared to their central northern sector

the gargano promontory an important italian seismogenic tsunamigenic area abstract gargano is a small mountainous promontory protruding into the southern adriatic and from a structural point of view it is part of the apulia foreland deformative structures both inland and offshore the promontory are quite common and can partially be associated with a substantial quaternary uplifting seismogenically this area is well known because several historical strong earthquakes have been reported to occur here and recent important seismic sequences have been recorded this paper is a contribution to evaluate the seismogenic as well as the tsunamigenic potential of this region particular attention has been given to study the major events some of which were able to produce tsunamis the epicenter location of some of these earthquakes computed solely on the basis of macroseismic data would point to focal regions on land but this is questionable if tsunami generation is taken into account as regards the tsunamigenic potential statistical analysis is used to evaluate the local geographical distribution of expected tsunamis and the mean return periods it is found that large events are expected on average every 228 years while a tsunami of any size is generated every about 84 years which is in good agreement with the experimental observations

changes of relative sea level during the past 5000 years in the ancient harbor of marseilles southern france in the ancient harbor of marseilles marine fauna fixed upon archaeological structures as well as bio sedimentary units document a 1 5 m steady rise in relative sea level during the past 5000 years followed by a near stable level at present datum from about 1500 years ad to the last century this trend is similar to the one previously documented along the rocky coasts of the same region field observations inside and outside the harbor confirm that no sea level stand higher than the present ever occurred during the studied period in contradiction with the numerical model of peltier but in agreement with the glacio hydro isostatic models of lambeck and johnston and lambeck and bard q 2001 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

holocene evolution and sea level changes in the battaglia basin area eastern gargano coast apulia italy abstract the battaglia basin east gargano southern italy is a former waterbody represented as a lake on historical maps the detailed study of two cores bat1 and bat2 and additional information obtained from several other drill holes allowed reconstruction of the holocene evolution of the basin the earlier phases date back to before 7000 cal bp when a high energy beach developed around 6900 cal bp a shallow freshwater body was established before 5950 cal bp sea water flooded the area initially creating a sheltered bay followed by the hydrobiidae and abra segmentum lagoon around 2700 cal bp freshwater conditions were re established the battaglia basin phase lasted until recent times paleoenvironmental information in combination with 14c dating made possible the reconstruction of a local holocene relative sea level curve showing a continuous rise interrupted around 2730 yr bp by an abrupt drop after that sea level started again to rise this evolutionary pattern rise fast drop rise matches results obtained in other apulian areas although it has not been ascertained that the holocene battaglia evolution has been driven by tectonic movements considering the historical gargano activity the tectonic hypothesis looks reasonable

spatial distribution of sea level markers on lesvos island ne aegean sea evidence of differential relative sea level changes and the neotectonic implications article i nfo the aim of this study is to provide new data on relative sea level changes and neotectonics of the northeast ern aegean sea region eastern mediterranean through the analysis of the coastal geomorphology of lesvos the third largest greek island there is a paucity of presently available data in this sector of the aegean sea which is a tectonically active area strongly controlled by the north anatolian fault in this paper morpholog ical biological and sedimentary records of paleo sea levels have been used to reconstruct relative sea level changes to identify variations in the tectonic regimes as well as to assess the paleoseismicity in the studied areas according to the results late quaternary relative sea level changes at lesvos were not homogenous and variations in the tectonic setting played a crucial role in the coastal evolution the nw se trending faults on the southern shore of the island control a significant uplift affecting about 30 km of coastline this uplift trend is controlled by the footwall of the lesvos fault a major offshore normal fault that has been subject to relatively little quantitative investigation radiocarbon dating indicated that the last co seismic uplift took place at 3365 3963 cal yr bp and resulted in about 0 75 m of vertical displacement in contrast all the paleo sea level markers mapped in the northeastern sector were presently underwater and despite the high seismicity of the area no evidence of coastal uplift was observed in this part of the island thus the paper provides the first field evidence of a differential late quaternary evolution of lesvos island in addition results represent the first quantitative information on the activity of the lesvos fault suggesting a reconsid eration of its importance in the neotectonics of the area

holocene tectonic uplift patterns in northeastern sicily evidence from marine notches in coastal outcrops abstract marine notches are groove like features formed in rocky coastal outcrops in relation to past sea levels and are widely used as indicators of rates and patterns of tectonic activity examination of uplifted notches in the complex plate boundary setting of northeast sicily reveals the need for considerable care in their interpretation present notch forming processes are dominated by carbonate dissolution aided by microbial activity as waves surge and recede at the base of the cliffs and produce notches approximately 0 5 m above present biological mean sea level i e above an organic constructional rim of coralline algae used to define sea level at sea level dissolution is restricted through saturation and the bedrock protected by the outbuilding algal rim this assemblage varies in response to fetch exposure and uplift rate typically producing a complex band of uplifted notch features exposed above sea level correlations based on height of the shallow and discontinuous notch indentations within this band are unreliable however the upper margin of the band marked by the roof of the uppermost notch is a prominent and laterally persistent feature easily recognised as the boundary between subaerial and marine processes we propose that this is an approximately coeval datum formed when post glacial sea level rise decelerated in the mid holocene to match the rate of tectonic uplift a notion strengthened by the available dates of about 5 ka for this feature subsequent uplift outpaced later sea level rise taking the notches above sea level this proposed datum varies in height from about 2 m at capo milazzo on the north coast to about 5 m on the east coast bordered by the messina fault system the height differential is consistent with the respective elevations of nearby marine terraces dating from the last interglacial at about 125 ka but also exhibits shorter term variations suggesting holocene increases in activity rates on more localised structures affecting the localities involved regionally northeast sicily is characterised by long term differential uplift rather than behaving as a coherent block the highest uplift rate probably exceeding 2 mm a 1 calculated using the sea level curve from fairbanks r g 1989 a 17000 year glacio eustatic sea level record influence of glacial melting rates on the younger dryas event and deep ocean circulation nature 342 637 642 is suggested for a notch locality on the upthrown side of the malta escarpment rates of about 2 mm a 1 are indicated by the 5 m notch at localities bordered by the messina fault system and a rate close to 1 mm a 1 is suggested for the undated 2 m notch at capo milazzo

multiproxy assessment of holocene relative sea level changes in the western mediterranean sea level variability and improvements in the definition of the isostatic signal abstract a review of 917 relative sea level rsl data points has resulted in the first quality controlled database constraining the holocene sea level histories of the western mediterranean sea spain france italy slovenia croatia malta and tunisia we reviewed and standardized the geological rsl data points using a new multi proxy methodology based on 1 modern taxa assemblages in mediterranean lagoons and marshes 2 beachrock characteristics cement fabric and chemistry sedimentary structures and 3 the modern distribution of mediterranean fixed biological indicators these rsl data points were coupled with the large number of archaeological rsl indicators available for the western mediterranean we assessed the spatial variability of rsl histories for 22 regions and compared these with the ice 5g vm2 gia model in the western mediterranean rsl rose continuously for the whole holocene with a sudden slowdown at 7 5 ka bp and a further deceleration during the last 4 0 ka bp after which time observed rsl changes are mainly related to variability in isostatic adjustment the sole exception is southern tunisia where data show evidence of a mid holocene high stand compatible with the isostatic impacts of the melting history of the remote antarctic ice sheet our results indicate that late holocene sea level rise was significantly slower than the current one first estimates of gia contribution indicate that at least in the northwestern sector it accounts at least for the 25 30 of the ongoing sea level rise recorded by mediterranean tidal gauges such contribution is less constrained at lower latitudes due to the lower quality of the late holocene index points future applications of spatio temporal statistical techniques are required to better quantify the gradient of the isostatic contribution and to provide improved context for the assessment of 20th century acceleration of mediterranean sea level rise

sea level change along the french mediterranean coast for the past 30 000 years abstract observational evidence for sea level change along the french mediterranean coast has been examined and compared with glacio hydro isostatic models to predict the spatial and temporal patterns of change for about the past 30 000 14c years these predictions are pertinent to discussions of changing ocean volumes during this interval the tectonic stability or otherwise of the coastal areas mantle rheology and the timing of possible human occupation of the now submerged coastal plain and caves such as cosquer cave near marseille the principal results from the analysis are i sea levels along this section of the coast have risen continually since the time of the last glacial maximum lgm and at no time during the holocene has the mean sea level been higher than that of today ii the coast has been tectonically stable between marseille and nice as well as further to the west in roussillon western corsica may have experienced a slow tectonic uplift of between 0 15 0 3 mm year for the past 3000 years but northernmost corsica appears to have been stable during this same interval iii during the lgm sea levels along the coast and immediate off shore areas stood at between 105 115 m below present level the range reflecting the importance of the isostatic contributions during oxygen isotope stage 3 sea levels do not appear to have risen locally above about 60 m iv the rebound parameters describing the mantle rheology and ice sheets required to match the limited observational evidence are consistent with the results of similar analyses carried out for other parts of europe because of its distance from the former northern ice sheets the isostatic factors are particularly sensitive to the value of the lower mantle viscosity v the model predictions for sea level change at the cosquer cave site and for its immediate environments indicate that the cave was last readily accessible before about 10 700 500 14c years about 12 500 500 cal years bp and that the cave entrance was completely flooded by 9000 200 radiocarbon years bp between about 9800 and 10 300 calibrated years bp the cave was above sea level throughout the oxygen isotope stage 3

palaeoseismic studies in greece a review abstract there are numerous reports of ancient human constructions i offset and destroyed by seismic surface faulting or ii with small displacements along horizontal discontinuities testifying to high acceleration effects or iii containing destruction layers below which skeletons of people killed and buried by fallen debris have been found in these cases destructions can safely be assigned to earthquakes that can be dated with stylistic archaeological techniques in coastal areas on the other hand identification of exposed species of the sublittoral zone that have escaped erosion in the mid littoral or supralittoral zones testify to quick probably co seismic uplifts which can be dated with conventional or ams radiometric techniques the amplitude of these uplifts is up to 9 m in the hellenic arc and more than 1 m in the aegean back arc basin finally two cases of seismic faulting deduced from auger core study of the holocene stratigraphy are reported identification of such palaeoseismic effects has important implications for estimation of recurrence intervals and maximum magnitude of seismic shocks in study areas

investigating uplift in lesina marina southern italy with the aid of persistent scatterer sar interferometry and in situ measurements we apply persistent scatterer interferometry psi techniques to synthetic aperture radar sar data from ers and envisat satellites on the lesina marina area a coastal tourist village in apulia southern italy where the excavation of a canal exposed grey micro and meso crystalline gypsum which is now showing a high density of cavities and sinkholes due to gravitational collapse processes we observe ps objects undergoing displacements along the sensor line of sight forming the same relatively smooth pattern in all the processed data stacks vertical displacement rates derived through integration of ascending and descending geometries reach about 4 mm year on locations adjacent to the canal gently decreasing towards the western end of the built up area high precision leveling measurements performed in 1999 and 2010 reveal a substantial agreement with the envisat psi data taking into account a small bias due to the choice of the leveling reference point the dataset thus validated suggests the presence of an uplift phenomenon going on steadily for the entire timespan covered by the sar observations 1992 2009 these observations supported by petrographic data and in situ investigations seem only in part compatible with a residual diapirism and hint instead to more complex processes such as a combination of diapirism and the hydration of the residual anhydrite in the core of the gypsum mass these results confirm the importance of the integration between in situ geologic and geophysical remotely sensed investigations as the latter often represent an essential tool to infer whether a given phenomenon which can be hypothesized by the former is presently under development

adria seismicity and seismotectonics review and critical discussion abstract we review the most recent advances in research on the seismicity and seismotectonics of adria a large number of earthquakes associated with this lithospheric block occur near the adria boundaries and seismicity has been perhaps the first dataset to allow its identification as a specific lithospheric block adria also hosts significant intraplate seismicity mostly concentrated in specific zones of intraplate brittle deformation the most important being a deformation belt located at the central adriatic latitude and including the gargano promontory and the tremiti islands after a brief excursus on adria seismicity we address some relevant research points and open questions answers to such questions and more in general advances in research on adria seismotectonics and seismicity will not only provide invaluable information for the seismic hazard assessment of this region but also a precious tool to understand the current geodynamics of the central mediterranean

holocene uplift rates and historical rapid sea level changes at the gargano promontory italy this paper uses a combination of geomorphological and radiometric data from the northern coast of the gargano promontory comprising the fortore river coastal plain and punta delle pietre nere to reconstruct holocene uplift rates the coastal plain consists of a sandy progradational beach sequence that extends seawards from the base of a relict cliff this cliff probably marks the maximum position reached by the holocene transgression altimetric data compared with the age of beach deposits and the available eustatic sea level curves indicate an average holocene uplift rate of 1 5 mm yr 1 a similar uplift rate has been estimated by dating a bioherm constituted of calcareous algae vermetids and subordinately by cladocora caespitosa l which crops out in the locality of punta delle pietre nere this deposit which was previously assigned an interglacial age yielded a mid holocene age by means of th u and 14c age determinations our observations also reveal evidence for coseismic deformation along the northern coast of the gargano promontory during the last millennium vertical displacements of 0 5 m have affected the punta delle pietre nere coastal block and were preceded by periods of slow coastal subsidence which increased rapidly shortly before a major earthquake copyright 2002 john wiley sons ltd

relative sea level changes and regional tectonic evolution of seven coastal areas in nw greece since the mid holocene abstract this study presents relative sea level rsl curves for seven coastal areas in akarnania and the northwestern peloponnese nw greece since the mid holocene rsl fluctuations are deduced from 48 14c ams dated sedimentological sea level markers from 27 vibracores drilled in near coast geological archives as well as from six geoarchaeological sea level indicators of known ages seven palaeo sea level curves including uncertainty bands are reconstructed for a coastal zone spanning a distance of 150 km considerable intra regional differences in sea level evolution exist these differences are mainly due to tectonic reasons in general rsl in northwestern greece has never been higher than today rates of local sea level rise were highest until 5500 5000 cal bc up to 12 3 m ka and lowest during 4000 500 cal bc 0 2 1 4 m ka during the past 2500 or so years rsl has accelerated anew 0 7 2 7 m ka calculating differences between local mean sea level curves provides quantitative information on intra regional differences of tectonic activity the coastal plains of palairos and elis show signs of uplift whereas the mytikas and boukka plains are strongly subsiding compared to other areas of the eastern mediterranean northwestern greece has been subject to significant net long term subsidence regional tectonic events rtes were detected for the time around 4000 2500 500 and 250 cal bc as well as around 250 and 1250 cal ad rtes are characterized by changes of uplift subsidence rates or by the redirection of local tectonic movements the question if some of the rtes were of a supra regional nature is still open from a geodynamic point of view the results presented show that akarnania s southwestern fringe is being downwarped while the tectonic block as a whole is moving towards the southwest strongest subsidence rates are observed for central akarnania at akarnania s fringes subsidence is reduced by the influence of strong uplift of adjacent areas such as around preveza and the northern peloponnese

biological evidence of sea level rise during the last 4500 years on the rocky coasts of continental southwestern france and corsica on the rocky coasts of the northwestern mediterranean basin biogenic littoral rims built by the coralline rhodophyte lithophyllum lichenoides develop whose remains may be preserved for millennia when submerged in a rising sea environment these remains can be used as biological indicators of recent sea level variations our survey of the continental coasts of var and bouches du rhone west of marseilles southern france and of northern corsica shows that relative sea level rose about 1 6 m in the study area during the last 4500 years without exceeding the present datum the rate of sea level rise was 0 4 mm per year between 4500 and 1500 yr b p and slowed down to 0 2 mm per year from 1500 yr b p to present time there are also morphological indications of an acceleration of the rate of sea level rise during the last century supporting the evidence of tide gauges regions at the periphery of the above zone alpes maritimes italian border zone and the french and spanish catalonia regions were also surveyed but a weaker development of lithophyllum rims and bad preservation of algal remains led to unconvincing dates which could also be linked to regional tectonic trends

late holocene shoreline changes related to palaeoseismic events in the ionian islands greece a systematic multidisciplinary survey on the coasts of the ionian islands founded on 26 new radiocarbon accelerator mass spectrography ams dates has revealed the occurrence of sectors which were uplifted seismo tectonically during the late holocene in corfu two uplift movements of about 0 8m each took place in the central part of the island one of them around 790 400 cal bc and also at a more recent undetermined date in levkas up and down tectonic movements of metric order governed late holocene relative sea level changes at least in the northern part of the island submergence of at least 2 5 m occurred since 2400 years ago with a possible spasmodic subsidence around cal ad 500 700 in cephalonia two vertical displacements affected most of the island around cal ad 350 710 and in ad 1953 both movements resulted in uplift in the southeastern part of the island submergence seems to predominate round ithaca lastly in zante clear evidence of a holocene crustal block movement is limited

quaternary geomorphological evolution of the tremiti islands puglia italy abstract the archipelago of the tremiti islands situated in the centre of the adriatic sea is considered nationally and internationally a very important geological laboratory in the area of connection between the central and southern apennines already rich in cenozoic stratigraphic structural and seismological data this study discusses structural geomorphologic data with particular attention to features useful to define the islands quaternary evolution the identification of the main morphogenic events is based on the study of landforms that are spatially and chronologically comparable with depositional erosional features of the quaternary continental succession analysis of geomorphology and quaternary continental deposits supported by radiometric dating allows reconstruction of the islands quaternary evolution and provides some contributions at a regional scale

tectonic evidence for the ongoing africa eurasia convergence in central mediterranean foreland areas a journey among long lived shear zones large earthquakes and elusive fault motions an edited version of this paper was published by agu copyright 2010 american geophysical union

late holocene emergence in calabria italy abstract a field survey along the coasts of calabria has found little evidence of holocene emergence the greatest being no more than 1 0 1 5 m in elevation a former shoreline a thick crust of calcareous algae in growth position at about 0 6 m capping an elevated beachrock slab was dated 2990 60 yr b p this emergence is recent if compared to the time of the climatic optimum and relatively slight if late pleistocene uplift rates which in some cases exceed 1 mm yr are considered this apparent discrepancy can be explained by taking into account glacio and hydroisostatic effects of the last glaciation which have produced subsidence at decreasing rates during the late holocene in a wide area around the former scandinavian ice sheet which includes most of the mediterranean according to isostatic modelling the average subsidence rate during the last 6000 5000 years was between 0 4 and 1 mm yr near the coasts of calabria if global sea level changes can be neglected it is only when the subsidence rate of glaciohydro isostatic origin became slower than the local uplift that emergence at a slower rate than that of the tectonic uplift trend could have begun such emergence is therefore a recent phenomenon in the holocene and its rate is still much slower than that of tectonic uplift predominating in calabria over a longer time scale

human induced hydrogeological changes and sinkholes in the coastal gypsum karst of lesina marina area foggia province italy abstract in 1930 a canal was excavated to connect the lesina lagoon with the adriatic sea modifying the track of the previous existing acquarotta canal the 1100 m long stretch of the canal situated next to the coast exposed unknown highly cavernous gypsum bedrock underlying a loose sandy cover during the last two decades a large number of cover collapse and cover suffosion sinkholes have formed along two bands situated next to the canal impinging the adjacent lesina marina residential area the area affected by subsidence has increased exponentially from 1999 to 2009 the tight spatial correlation between the sinkholes and the canal reveals that the subsidence phenomenon has been induced by the local hydrogeological changes caused by the canal in the coastal evaporite aquifer 1 local lowering of the average water table 2 deflection of the groundwater flow lines towards the canal and increase in flow velocity 3 amplification of the groundwater level oscillations largely controlled by the tidal regime 4 local reversals in the groundwater flow changing the canal temporarily from effluent to influent these changes in the hydrogeological functioning of the system have favoured both internal erosion and karstification processes hydrochemical evidence reveals that gypsum dissolution is a currently active process favoured by fresh water and sea water mixing and cation exchange processes most likely the partial replacement of a concrete lining in the canal by pervious gabions in 1993 provided more adequate conditions for the evacuation of the sediments filling the karst conduits accelerating internal erosion and sinkhole development

late holocene tsunamogenic coseismic uplift in kerkira island greece the presence of a coralligenic like bioherm constituted by boulders up to 1 2 m in diameter cemented by bioconcretions of calcareous algae and vermetids spp has been recognized in the southernmost part of kerkira island this biostructure is placed at up to 1 4 m above the present mean sea level a few hundred meters north well developed beach rocks are at about the same elevation the morphological continuity of these landforms allows us to hypothesize that a recent coseismic uplift interested this area ams age determination has been performed on different vermetids sampled in the upper part of the raised bioherm moreover a complete review of the chronological data cited in the bibliography highlights the difficulties in the use of some bioindicators as chronologically precise sea level indicators the entire data set suggests a late holocene tectonic behaviour characterized by sequences of subsidence and coseismic uplift in particular the age of the raised bioherm suggests that a coseismic uplift occurred 3 ka bp due to an earthquake of regional interest capable of generating a strong tsunami that impacted the nearest coast of lefkada island and the plaghia peninsula

a critical revision of the seismicity of northern apulia adriatic microplate southern italy and implicationsfor the identification of seismogenic structures abstract northern apulia is an emerged portion of the adriatic microplate representing the foreland foredeep area of a stretch of the apennine chain in southern italy the interaction between the relatively rigid microplate and the contiguous more deformable domains is responsible for the intense seismicity affecting the chain area however strong sometimes even disastrous earthquakes have also hit northern apulia on several occasions the identification of the causative faults of such events is still unclear and different hypotheses have been reported in literature in order to provide guidelines and constraints in the search for these structures a comprehensive re examination and reprocessing of all the available seismic data has been carried out taking into consideration 1 the characteristics of historical events 2 the accurate relocation of events instrumentally recorded in the last 20 years 3 the determination of focal mechanisms and of the regional stress tensor the results obtained bring to light a distinction between the foreland and foredeep areas in the first region there is evidence of a regional stress combining nw compression and ne extension thus structures responsible for major earthquakes should be searched for among strike slip faults possibly with a slight transpressive character these structures could be either approximately n s oriented sinistral or e w dextral faults in the foredeep region there is a transition toward transtensive mechanisms with strikes similar to those of the previous zone or maybe also towards nw oriented normal faults more similar to those prevailing in the southern apennine chain in relation to a dominant ne extension this appears to be the effect of a reduction of the nw compression probably due to a decrease in efficiency of stress transmission along the more tectonised border of the adriatic microplate

a large drop in atmospheric 14c 12c and reduced melting in the younger dryas documented with 230th ages of corals paired carbon 14 14 c and thorium 230 230 th ages were determined on fossil corals from the huon peninsula papua new guinea the ages were used to calibrate part of the 14 c time scale and to estimate rates of sea level rise during the last deglaciation an abrupt offset between the 14 c and 230 th ages suggests that the atmospheric 14 c 12 c ratio dropped by 15 percent during the latter part of and after the younger dryas yd this prominent drop coincides with greatly reduced rates of sea level rise reduction of melting because of cooler conditions during the yd may have caused an increase in the rate of ocean ventilation which caused the atmospheric 14 c 12 c ratio to fall the record of sea level rise also shows that globally averaged rates of melting were relatively high at the beginning of the yd thus these measurements satisfy one of the conditions required by the hypothesis that the diversion of meltwater from the mississippi to the st lawrence river triggered the yd event

middle late pleistocene polycyclic evolution of a stable coastal area southern apulia italy abstract the otranto leuca coastal tract is marked by the presence of numerous sea caves placed close to present sea level they are located generally at the back of a shore platform covered by a sequence of breccia deposits marine sediments and speleothems at grotta di masseria dell orte marine cemented sands rest on a narrow shore platform at about 6 2 m above mean sea level and are covered by speleothems older than 185 ka at grotta del diavolo which is mostly filled by breccia deposits three beach levels have been detected at about 3 0 3 5 and 5 9 m above msl they are either covered by or overlie speleothems that yield an u th age of 340 78 ka and between 170 3 and 146 5 respectively geomorphological evidence and radiometric ages indicate that the area after a period of uplift has been tectonically stable since the last part of the middle pleistocene so that marine landforms close to the present shoreline underwent a polycyclic evolution the sedimentary fills of sea caves formed during middle late pleistocene glacial stages when arid or semiarid conditions promoted the removal of regolith and the development of thick breccia deposits during marine isotope stages mis 9 3 5 5 and 5 1 cave sediments were partially eroded whereas beach layers and related speleothems developed these are in fact the only marine isotope stages marked by a sea level position which in this mediterranean region was either close to or slightly higher than the present one

episodic uplift deduced from holocene shorelines in the perachora peninsula corinth area greece four raised shorelines between 1 1 m and 3 5 m have been identified at two localities on the perachora peninsula and were dated by ams 14c to between 6400 and 1500 calibrated years ago uplift movements seem to have occurred in increments of 0 8 0 3 m with a return period of about 1600 years the last uplift coincided with a regional tectonic paroxysm which has already been documented in several areas of the eastern mediterranean the average uplift rate was probably faster during the holocene than the average since the last interglacial period no important vertical displacement occurred in this area at the time of or after the 1981 earthquake but a new episode of coseismic uplift may be in preparation

geology of the east siberian sea russian arctic from seismic images structures evolution and implications for the evolution of the arctic ocean basin 1 the kinematics and history of the opening of the amerasia basin are closely linked to the geology of the wide shelves surrounding the arctic ocean in this context multichannel seismic reflection data from the virtually unexplored shelf of the east siberian sea russian arctic are discussed in combination with potential field data three seismic marker horizons were defined and mapped their ages were linked to main tectonic and regional events and to onshore findings the data reveal that there is no continuation of the large rift basins from the laptev shelf onto the east siberian shelf and there are no indications for the previously defined several hundred kilometers wide blagoveshchensk basin the east siberian shelf is best described as an epicontinental platform that synsedimentarily subsided continuously since late cretaceous times with stronger subsidence to the northeast resulting in the formation of a large depocenter some form of extensional transtensional stresses affected the area and created relatively small ese wnw striking basins within this depocenter these basins are filled with 6 km thick late cretaceous to tertiary sediments the general dip of the platform of the east siberian shelf toward the northeast may be explained by dip slip movements along a major transform fault that is proposed by the rotation model for the opening of the amerasia basin for the evolution of small sag shaped basins within the east siberian depocenter we suggest a link to the opening of the eurasia basin instead of to the opening of the makarov basin

benthic pelagic coupling and postdepositional processes as revealed by the distribution of opal in sediments the case of the ria de vigo nw iberian peninsula opal concentrations in dry bulk sediment were measured in 43 sampling stations in the ria de vigo at 0e1 1e2 4e5 10e11 and 14e15 cm sediment depths the amount of opal was correlated with the biogenic silicon flux to the sediment obtained by means of a box model the biosiliceous flux to the sediment annual mean is in good agreement with the content of opal found in the uppermost oxic layer revealing that pelagic primary production is the main factor controlling the biogenic silica content in surface sediments this correlation is illustrated by the equation opal wt 0 103bsif 0 414 r 2 0 95 where bsif is the biogenic silicon flux to the sediment in g si m 2 year 1 in the innermost part of the ria i e san simon inlet the content of opal is higher than predicted by the equation since other biogenic silica sources to the sediment may be involved as benthic diatoms proliferation or freshwater diatoms input elevated percentages recorded in the inner ria in the subsuperficial sediment respond to the establishment of suboxiceanoxic conditions that enhance the preservation of opal the input of faecal pellets to the surface sediment derived from mussel rafts also controls the opal distribution and concentration in the ria 2006 elsevier ltd all rights reserved

new relative sea level insights into the isostatic history of the western mediterranean abstract a recent suite of relative sea level rsl data for the past 12 ka bp has provided new insights into the sea level histories of the western mediterranean region our analysis of the chronostratigraphic context of sea level indicators from spain catalonia the balearic islands and the gulf of valencia france corsica island and italy sardinia island has yielded 162 new sea level index and limiting points these data have considerably enhanced previous rsl compilations in addition to improving the quality of spatio temporal sea level reconstructions and our capacity to estimate isostatic related vertical motions in the western mediterranean basin the glacial and hydro isostatic adjustment gia pattern elucidated by the new database shows discrepancy with respect to those predicted by the available gia models in particular the new results underscore a non coherent isostatic response of the central portion of the western mediterranean with the balearic islands manifesting significant departures from the sea level histories of corsica sardinia and more generally along most of the western mediterranean coast our results are a crucial contribution to defining both the pattern and the magnitude of the isostatic signal along the western mediterranean coast in fact vertical isostatic motions represent a key to better assess any possible post industrial acceleration in sea level rise and to define future scenarios of coastal inundation in the context of global change

crustal block movements from holocene shorelines crete and antikythira greece abstract marks of several shorelines left by sea level stands during the last 4000 yrs occur along the coasts of the islands of crete and antikythira in this area recent movements of the earth s crust were identified by using a systematic survey based on multidisciplinary analyses strengthened by 60 radiometric datings between 4000 and 1700 yr b p a block of lithosphere a about 150 km long fig 10 which included antikythira and the levka mountains in crete underwent a series of ten rapid subsidences from 10 to 25 cm each time without noticeable tilting these movements ended about 1 530 40 yr b p a further block of lithosphere b approximately 200 km long was then uplifted about 10 m and inclined northeastwards in a single event block b includes block a and extends 50 km further eastwards beyond the ida mountains as far as the iraklion sedimentary basin the tectonic movements were preceded by vertically reversed displacements of short duration on at least three occasions if the a block subsidences can be ascribed to gravitational forces then the b block uplift suggests a cause that originated at depth crustal consumption and elastic rebound to the east of the ierapetra graben the sitian peninsula appears to belong to a block of lithosphere c affected by a northeast tilting and separated by an active fault from the crustal block of khrisi koufonisi