Abstract
Fossil assemblages of foraminifera and thecamoebians from three salt-marsh cores recovered at Korphos, Greece, provided evidence for five transgression events since the mid Holocene. Marsh accretion rates based on radiocarbon-dated peat and geomorphic evidence from a series of discrete, v-shaped, submerged tidal notches indicated that these transgression events were rapid and episodic. Correlation of the tidal notches with the transgression horizons in the salt-marsh stratigraphy revealed a stepwise pattern of relative sea-level change at Korphos, which is best explained by coseismic subsidence related to fault displacement (earthquakes) associated with the Hellenic subduction zone. A comparison between the Korphos data and a model of Holocene sea-level change for the Peloponnesus reinforces this interpretation as sea-level rose in a series of jumps by amounts greater than accounted for by eustatic and glacio-hydro-isostatic factors (up to ~ 2.0 m). This study illustrates that by combining microfossil, sedimentary and geomorphic records of past sea-level change, problems frequently encountered with each record individually (e.g. dating submerged notches and autocompaction of marsh sediments) may be overcome.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 41-53 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Marine Geology |
| Volume | 257 |
| Issue number | 1-4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 15 2009 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Greece
- Holocene sea-level change
- foraminifera
- salt-marsh
- thecamoebians
- tidal notch