The impacts of sea-level changes during latest Pleistocene and Holocene times on the morphology of the Ionian and Aegean seas (SE Alpine Europe)

Abstract

The tentative coastline configuration in the Ionian and Aegean seas in three Late Pleistocene–Holocene time slices is given, based on the global eustatic sea-level curve in combination with local geological and geoarcheological data. At lowstand stage 2 (21 500 cal yr BP (years before present), sea level −120 m), extensive shelves existed in the northern Aegean Sea and, to a second degree, in the eastern Aegean Sea and in the northern and central parts of the Ionian Sea. Many islands were connected with each other and with the mainland. A great part of the periphery of gulfs that have an entrance less than 120 m deep was subaerially exposed, while in their central parts lakes were formed. At 11 500 cal yr BP (sea level −60 m) the exposed shelf was much restricted, most of the gulfs were overflowed by the advancing sea and only a few islands were still connected with the mainland. Finally, at 8000 cal yr BP and onward, the sea initially intruded the lowlands and the gulfs, but the subsequent sediment input by the rivers regressed the sea to its present position. Thus many human settlements and old cities that were maritime during Hellenistic or older times are now a few to tens of kilometers inland.