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Transition from collision to subduction in Western Greece: the Katouna–Stamna active fault system and regional kinematics

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Abstract

Transition from subduction to collision occurs in Western Greece and is accommodated along the downgoing plate by the Kefalonia right-lateral fault that transfers the Hellenic subduction front to the Apulian collision front. Here we present an active tectonic study of Aitolo-Akarnania (Western Greece) that highlights how such a transition is accommodated in the overriding plate. Based on new multi-scale geomorphic and tectonic observations, we performed an accurate active fault trace mapping in the region, and provide evidence for active normal and left-lateral faulting along the Katouna–Stamna Fault (KSF), a 65-km-long NNW-striking fault system connecting the Amvrakikos Gulf to the Patras Gulf. We further show that the Cenozoic Hellenide thrusts located west of the KSF are no longer active, either in field observation or in GPS data, leading us to propose that the KSF forms the northeastern boundary of a rigid Ionian Islands-Akarnania Block (IAB). Cosmic ray exposure measurements of 10Be and 36Cl were performed on a Quaternary alluvial fan offset along the KSF (~50 m left-lateral offset). A maximum abandonment age of ~12–14 ka for the alluvial fan surface can be determined, giving an estimated KSF minimum geological left-lateral slip rate of ~4 mm year−1, in agreement with high GPS slip rates (~10 mm year−1). Despite this high slip rate, the KSF is characterized by subdued morphological evidence of tectonic activity, a gypsum-breccia bedrock and a low level of seismicity, suggesting a dominantly creeping behavior for this fault. Finally, we discuss how the IAB appears to have been progressively individualized during the Pleistocene (younger than ~1.5 Ma).

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Acknowledgments

This research work has been funded by the Laboratoire de Géologie de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris (PSL Research University). We thank V. Guillou, L. Léanni, L. Benedetti, G. Aumaître, K. Keddadouche, M. Arnold, and F. Chauvet for their warm welcome and help during chemistry preparation and AMS measurements at CEREGE. The AMS measurements were performed at the ASTER AMS national facility (CEREGE, Aix-en-Provence), which is supported by the INSU/CNRS, the ANR through the “Projets thématiques d’excellence” program for the “Equipements d’excellence” ASTER-CEREGE action, IRD and CEA. We are very grateful to Mary Ford for the English syntax corrections in the manuscript, and her very careful review. We thank Laurent Jolivet for valuable comments in his review. Both reviewers significantly improved the final version of this work. We also thank Leigh Royden and two anonymous reviewers for critical reviews of a previous version of this work.

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  1. E. Pérouse

    Present address: Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Géologie, UMR CNRS 8538, PSL Research University, Ecole normale supérieure, 24 rue Lhomond, 75005, Paris, France

    E. Pérouse, N. Chamot-Rooke, P. Briole & S. Arsenikos

  2. Institut des Sciences de la Terre de Paris, UMR 7193, Université Paris VI Pierre et Marie Curie, 75252, Paris Cedex 05, France

    M. Sébrier

  3. UMR 7193, CNRS, UPMC, case 129, 75252, Paris Cedex 05, France

    M. Sébrier

  4. Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS-IRD-Collège de France, UM 34 CEREGE, Technopôle de l’Arbois, BP80, 13545, Aix-en-Provence, France

    R. Braucher & D. Bourlès

  5. Saint Jayet, 36190, Orsennes, France

    D. Sorel

  6. Department of Geodesy, National Institute of Geophysics, Geodesy and Geography, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev str, bl. 3, 1113, Sofia, Bulgaria

    D. Dimitrov

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Pérouse, E., Sébrier, M., Braucher, R. et al. Transition from collision to subduction in Western Greece: the Katouna–Stamna active fault system and regional kinematics. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 106, 967–989 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-016-1345-9

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