Applicationofswathbathymetrytoactive

tectonicproblems:
CasestudyoftheGulfofCorinth,
centralGreece
LisaMcNeill
C.Cotterill1,T.Henstock1,J.Bull1,A.Stefatos2,S.Hicks1,
R.Collier3,G.Papatheoderou2,G.Ferentinos2
1

SouthamptonOceanographyCentre,UniversityofSouthampton,UK
2UniversityofPatras,Greece
3SchoolofEarthSciences,UniversityofLeeds,UK

INTRODUCTION&OBJECTIVES
GulfofCorinth:
Regionofearthquakeactivity
Continentalplateisriftingorbreakingapart
Theearlystagesofforminganewoceanbasin
Thisstudy:
Detailedmarinegeophysicalsurveyofoffshoreactive
faultswhichgenerateearthquakesandallowextension
tooccur
Determinefutureearthquakesources
Constrainhowtheriftdeformsbetterunderstand
modelsofriftingandhowtheyevolvethroughtime

PLATETECTONICSOFE.MEDITERRANEAN

CORINTHRIFT,CENTRALGREECE

Eastern Eliki fault,

Western Gulf of Corinth
- one side of the fault
uplifts and one subsides

1981 extensional fault earthquake

rupture in Eastern Gulf of Corinth

1861
earthquake,
ElikiFault

DataAcquisition
Reson816050kHzSeabatmultibeamsonar
150swathacrosstrack,126beams
DGPSfedmotionsensor(militarygradeInertial
MeasurementUnit,IMU)forcalculationofsonar
position/orientation
CSP2200SparkerandCSP300PBoomerseismicsystem:
60channelhydrophone
AppliedAcousticscatamaranbasedsource
Boomer,multichannelstreamerandmultibeamequipment:
partofhighresolutiongeophysicsconsortiumgrant
Cardiff,Imperial(London),Southamptonuniversities,UK

JULY2003WESTERNCORINTHRIFTSURVEY

800m

50kHzReson8160swathbathymetry
Sparkerseismicprofilesacrossandlongrift

BoomerseismicprofilesofAigionfaulttippseudo3D

MultibeamSetup

CourtesyofTimLeBas,SOC

8160sonarandtheMVVassiliosG

Boomer/sparker
seismic sources

Custom 60 channel x1m

streamer, Geometrics
recording system

Deploymentofthemultichannel
streamerforseismicdata
acquisition

8160SWATHBATHYMETRY
northern
subbasin

faultcontrolled
axial
basement
channel
ridge

submarine
canyons

landslide
scar

CGF
AF

DF

Perspectiveviewtowest,showingfaultcontrolledridgesandthe
Canyonchannelsystemstransportingriversedimentsintothegulfbasin

BasinsedimentstilttowardsthenorthcontrolledbySdippingfaults
(SEratiniandSubchannelonnorthernmargin)
Halfgrabengeometrytiltedtonorthatthislocation

Multipleactivefaultsoffshoreandonshoredistributeddeformation

INTERPRETATION

subbasin

2
3

4MAJORFAULTSACROSSRIFTACCOMMODATEEXTENSION
(NEFNorthEratini;SEFSouthEratini;SCFSubchannel;AFAigion

CGFCapeGyftissa;WEFWesternEliki;EEFEasternEliki;DFDerveni)

Usingvariationsinsealevel
throughtime
Asamountoficeontheearthvaries,sealevelchangesinelevation
Thischangessystematicallyaswepassfromaglacialtoa
nonglacialperiod
Thecoastalshorelineweseetodayisalsoproducedduringaglacial
periodwhensealevelwasupto120mlower
Theseshorelinesarethendisplacedbyactivefaultstheirpresent
depthtellsushowfastthefaultmoves

NORTHERNSUBBASIN,SPARKERLINE11

NORTHERNSUBBASIN,SPARKERLINE11

NORTHERNSUBBASIN,SPARKERLINE10

~130 ka
shoreline

NORTHERNSUBBASIN,SPARKERLINE10

SHORELINESUBSIDENCEBYNERATINIFAULT
Shorelineswereoriginallyat6070mbelowcurrentsealevel
TheyarenowsignificantlydeeperduetosubsidencebytheNEratinifault

Age(ka)
Depth(m)
Subsidencerate
1113
9095
1.53.0mm/yr
~130
160170
0.70.9mm/yr
~240
200230
0.50.7mm/yr
~340
260300
0.60.7mm/yr
~430?
320350
0.60.7mm/yr
Wecomparetheserateswithotherfaultsinthegulf

Suggeststhisfaultmovesat~36mmperyear
Togetherthe4majorfaultstakeupextensionacrosstheriftwhichtotals~
1015mmperyear

Whyisitimportant?
Earthquakeandtsunamihazards
tolocalpopulations
Understandingtectonicprocesses
incontinentalriftshowdothey
evolvetoeventuallyproducenew
oceanbasins?

AIGIONFAULT

Adetailedstudyoftheendofoneyoungfault
toseehowitgrowswithsuccessiveearthquakes
Pseudo3DmultichannelBoomerseismic
surveyofthefaulttipplus8160multibeam
Linesspaced25100mapart
3Dinterpretationofdata
2km

Pantostietal,unpublished

Aigionfault
8160multibeamdata
1.5mgridcell

2km

Multi-channel boomer seismic data - example

N

Section across tip of extensional normal fault - Aigion fault

CONCLUSIONS
Majoractivefaultsareidentifiedoffshoreaswellasonshore
Multibeamdataconstraintheirsurfacegeometryandindicate
recentactivity(displacingyoungsedimentsonseafloor)
Subsurfaceseismicdataprovidecrosssectionsoffaults
systemsandallowlowstandshorelinestobeidentified
constrainrateofdisplacementonfaults
Multibeamdataresolvesedimenttransportsystemsand
indicatehowtheyareaffectedbyactivefaultsystems
Combineddatasets:
Resolvethegeometryoftheriftsysteminspaceandtime
Constrainmodelsoftheevolutionofriftsystems
Indicateactivefaultswiththepotentialtogeneratedamagingearthquakes
andtsunamis(verycommoninthehistoricandarchaeologicalrecord)
Understandhowfaultsgrowandinteractinspaceandtimewith
sequentialearthquakes

Aoracruise,Outer
Hebrides
LeBasetal

SOC,UniversityMarineBiologicalStation,Scotland,
ScottishNaturalHeritage,
JointNatureConservationCommittee
QueensUniversityBelfast
DeptAgricultureandRuralDevelopment,Belfast

OBJECTIVES
Marinehabitatmapping
Reconnaissancesurveyforfuture
samplingandcameratows

8101multibeam

8101backscatter

Detailofmultibeamandbackscatter

500m

Archaenagebedrockdominates
bathymetrichighs

EvidenceofSWNEcurrentdirections

Sandandgravelwaves