THE 1953 SEISMIC SURFACE FAULT - IMPLICATIONS FOR THE MODELING OF THESOUSAKI (CORINTH AREA, GREECE) GEOTHERMAL-FIELD

The 1953, Ms = 5.7 Corinth (Central Greece) earthquake was associated with a hitherto unknown, at least 3 km long, NW-trending seismic surfa ce normal fault with its SW block downthrown by about 8 cm. This fault abutted to the less than 2000 years old solfatara, in the low enthalp y Sousaki geothermal field, at the NW end of the Aegean volcanic are. This result confirms and refines previous hypotheses for a structural control of the Sousaki geothermal field by crossing E-W and NW-SE tren ding faults, and reveals that the circulation of geothermal fluids and gases is controlled by the fault that broke in 1953. The most promine nt area for geothermal exploration can therefore be identified with a narrow zone along the edge of the hanging wall block of the Sousaki se ismic fault; this zone coincides with the area of maximum subsurface t emperatures.