Unravelling post-Messinian evolution of the Aegean with tectonic integrations

The geodynamic drivers responsible for the extension mechanisms presently seen in the Aegean Sea and the Hellenic Arc have been promoting scientific debate for decades. Back- arc crustal extension driven by rollback of the underthrusting African slab controls the slow north-south extension active since several tens of million years in the Aegean Sea. Younger fast east-west extension along steep faults trending N-S in the Hellenic Arc seem unrelated to subduction processes; normal faults are not strictly perpendicular to the subduction interface along strike, but instead open radially away from its southernmost tip. We strive to unravel the geodynamic drivers behind the apparently disagreeing extension modes in post- Messinian times by producing tectonic integrations at the scale of the Aegean. We produce integrations at two “zoom levels” (regional, 103-104 km; and tectonic, >105 km) that respect the particularities and complexity of the information of studies at the local-scale (<103 km). First, we included available tectono-morphological, stratigraphic, and structural data onland. We revised and refined these data along the Hellenic Arc with fieldwork observations, as well as with the detailed analysis of satellite imagery and 0.5m-resolution DEMs at key sites. At these key locations, where active extensional tectonics is irrefutable, we mapped Plio- Pleistocene marine basins presently exposed onshore, active faults and marine terraces with unprecedented detail, and produced chi maps to characterize drainage geometry. On a second (still ongoing) step, we aim at integrating bathymetric data, wells and other offshore inputs, such as seismic reflection data, for onshore-offshore correlations and re-mapping of active faults as well as producing paleogeographic reconstructions. In a later step, we will attempt 4D reconstructions at tectonic scale to be used as input for numerical models, hopefully providing a better understanding of the dynamically changing state of stress and derived strain in the Aegean, northeast Mediterranean area and elsewhere.