Environmental Analysis of Cores from the Helike Delta, Gulf of Corinth, Greece

Authors

S. Soter, American Museum of Natural History
Patricia Blackwelder, University of MiamiFollow
C. Tziavos, National Center for Marine Research - Greece
D. Katsonopoulou, The Helike Society Poste Restante - Greece
Terri Hood, University of Miami
Carlos A. Alvarez Zarikian, University of Miami

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal of Coastal Research

ISSN

0749-0208

Publication Date

Winter 2001

Keywords

Delta, Greece, Microfauna, Holocene, Transgression

Abstract

The fan delta southeast of Aigion on the southwest shore of the Gulf of Corinth was the site of ancient Helike, a city destroyed and submerged by an earthquake and seismic sea wave in 373 BC. Bore holes drilled on the Helike Delta yielded numerous ceramic fragments in the upper 12 meters, and a record of changing local environments on the delta during the Holocene period. At about 8 m below present sea level the core profiles show a general upward transition from marine to lacustrine/lagoonalc onditions.T he transition dates from about 8 kyr BP and is probably due to the deceleration of global sea level rise at the end of the last Ice Age. The deceleration apparently induced an upward and seaward progression of a zone of green clay and silt associated with brackish fauna.

Volume

17

Issue

1

First Page

95

Last Page

106

Comments

©2001 Coastal Education & Research Foundation, Inc.

NSUWorks Citation

S. Soter, Patricia Blackwelder, C. Tziavos, D. Katsonopoulou, Terri Hood, and Carlos A. Alvarez Zarikian. 2001. Environmental Analysis of Cores from the Helike Delta, Gulf of Corinth, Greece .Journal of Coastal Research , (1) : 95 -106. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_facarticles/431.