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Paleoseismological trenching across the Atalanti Fault (central Greece); evidence for the ancestors of the 1894 earthquake during the Middle Ages and Roman times

D. Pantosti, P. M. De Martini, D. Papanastassiou, F. Lemeille, N. Palyvos and G. Stavrakakis
Paleoseismological trenching across the Atalanti Fault (central Greece); evidence for the ancestors of the 1894 earthquake during the Middle Ages and Roman times
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (April 2004) 94 (2): 531-549

Abstract

The Atalanti fault bounds to the southwest the Evoikos Gulf, one of the major extensional basins of central Greece. This fault ruptured during the 1894 earthquakes, producing at the surface a complex, ca. 30-km-long rupture. Paleoseismological trenching performed at three sites along this fault provided the first insights on its seismogenic behavior. Unfavorable trench stratigraphy and scarcity of datable material made the identification and characterization of individual paleoearthquakes quite difficult. However, by integrating paleoseismological, geological, historical, and archaeoseismological data, we defined three surface-faulting earthquakes. The most recent event is the 1894 earthquake; the penultimate occurred during the Middle Ages between A.D. 770 and 1160, whereas the third event back occurred in Roman times between 50 B.C. and A.D. 230 and is interpreted to be the Opus earthquake of A.D. 105. These results suggest that 1894-type earthquakes repeat each 660-1120 yr. The average minimum slip per event and vertical slip rates are of the order of 45 cm and 0.4-1.6 mm/yr, respectively. These values are in agreement with other geological estimates and with geodetic measurements. Because of the short time elapsed since the 1894 earthquake, the Atalanti fault does not appear to contain an important seismogenic potential. On the other hand, these results may shed light on the potential of other seismogenic sources threatening the area.


ISSN: 0037-1106
EISSN: 1943-3573
Coden: BSSAAP
Serial Title: Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America
Serial Volume: 94
Serial Issue: 2
Title: Paleoseismological trenching across the Atalanti Fault (central Greece); evidence for the ancestors of the 1894 earthquake during the Middle Ages and Roman times
Affiliation: U. S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA, United States
Pages: 531-549
Published: 200404
Text Language: English
Publisher: Seismological Society of America, Berkeley, CA, United States
References: 36
Accession Number: 2004-057680
Categories: Quaternary geology
Document Type: Serial
Bibliographic Level: Analytic
Illustration Description: illus. incl. 1 table, geol. sketch maps
N38°34'60" - N38°40'00", E23°00'00" - E23°15'00"
Secondary Affiliation: Simon Fraser University, CAN, Canada
Country of Publication: United States
Secondary Affiliation: GeoRef, Copyright 2018, American Geosciences Institute.
Update Code: 200417
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