Potential paleoseismological records in the Western Gulf of Corinth sediments (Greece) for the last 500 years

Related to the Gulf of Corinth rifting, five earthquakes of magnitude greater than 5.8 occurred in the last 35 years. Consequently, the question of earthquake (EQ) hazard is particularly relevant. Onland paleoseismological data are scarce and offshore data were absent before the present study. We investigated recent sediments bounding three well-defined major seismogenic faults: Aegion, Trizonia and Psathopyrgos faults. We retrieved 12 gravity cores from 50 to 85 cm long in three distinct sites: the southern shelf (40 to 50 m deep), a 180 m deep sub-basin, and a transect from the southern coast to the center of the gulf.
Chronology is based on 137Cs (Atmospheric Nuclear Experiments) and 210Pb decay for two sites (Aegion and Trizonia). Considering sedimentation rates estimates in these areas, the longer cores record about 500 years of sedimentary archives. We performed granulometry, magnetic susceptibility, loss on ignition and geochemical (X-Ray Fluorescence) measurements on cores from each site. Some samples were observed with a binocular to identify the nature of the grains. We sought to identify layers potentially attributed to EQ-related processes like liquefaction and tsunamis for the sites on the shelves or mass transport and turbidity currents for the basins. In Aegion, 3 coarser layers have been identified at identical depth in 3 cores across the scarp. 210Pb decay show erosion just under the first event, that we attributed to the 1995 tsunami (backwash deposit) (figure). In the Trizonia Sub-Basin, among 3 clear grain-size peaks, two have been attributed to the 1817 Aegion EQ and the 1660 Galaxidi EQ. In Psathopyrgos, 10 “events” (grain-size and Zr/Rb peaks) have been identified in the deepest part of the transect and at least 2 on the shelf. Their analysis is in progress.