RECENT SEDIMENTARY PROCESSES IN THE WESTERN GULF OF CORINTH, GREECE: SEISMIC AND ASEISMIC TURBITIDES

Abstract

The Corinth rift is counted among the most active tectonic grabens in the world, with extension rates up to 15 mm/yr (Western part). These high extension rates are associated with very strong seismic events that are, occasionally, responsible for submarine mass movements. These movements, their consequential bottom currents, and the differential river-discharging sediment accumulation in the whole gulf, strongly affect the modern marine sedimentary processes. The definition and understanding of these processes is the main aim of this project. This is attempted through via sedimentological, mineral and geochemical analyses on sediment samples from two ~1.1 m long, sediment cores from a WE submarine canyon (10 km long, 3 km wide) that lies in the Western tip of the gulf. The general sedimentation motif reveals the presence of hemipelagic deposits which are occasionally interrupted by sandy turbidites. Occasionally, these turbidites seem to have seismic origin. The sedimentation rates range between 2.57 mm/yr in the western part and 0.67 mm/yr in the eastern part.