Late Quaternary rates of stream incision in Northeast Peloponnese, Greece

Abstract

This study focuses on defining rates of fluvial incision for the last 580±5 kyr along valley systems of eight streams that drain the eastern part of the northern Peloponnese. The streams are developed on the uplifted block of the offshore-running Xylokastro normal fault, one of the main faults bounding the southern edge of the Gulf of Corinth half-graben, and have incised a set of ten uplifted marine terraces having an amphitheatric shape. These terraces range in age from 60±5 kyr to 580±5 kyr and have been mapped in detail and correlated with late Pleistocene oxygen-isotope stages of high sea-level stands by previous studies. The terraces were used in this paper as reference surfaces in order to define fluvial incision rates at the lower reaches of the studied streams. To evaluate incision rates, thirty-three topographic valley cross-sections were drawn using fieldwork measurements as well as using a highly accurate (2×2 cell size) Digital Elevation Model (DEM) at specific locations where streams cut down the inner edges of the marine terraces. For each cross-section the ratio of valley floor width to valley height (Vf) and long-term mean stream incision rates were estimated for the last 580±5 kyr, while rock uplift rates were estimated for the last 330±5 kyr. The geomorphic evolution of the valleys on the uplifted block of the Xylokastro fault has been mainly driven by the lithology of the bedrock, sea level fluctuations during the late Quaternary, and incision of the channels due to the tectonic uplift. Stream incision rates range from 0.10±0.1 mm/yr for the last 123±7 kyr to 1.14±0.1 mm/yr for the last 310±5 kyr and are gradually greater from east to west depending on the distance from the trace of the fault. Downcutting rates are comparable with the rock uplift rates, which range from 0.4±0.02 mm/yr to 1.49±0.12 mm/yr, over the last 330±5 kyr.