Seismic coastal uplift in a region of subsidence: Holocene raised shorelines of Samos Island, Aegean Sea, Greece

At. least three raised shorelines, micro-benches and notches, spanning a di stance of more than 10 km and marked by a well-preserved marine fauna have been identified along the NW coast of Samos Island, Aegean Sea, and area hi therto assumed to be characterised by a Holocene marine transgression. Thes e fossil shorelines are nearly horizontal, approximately 0.6, 1.1 and 2.3 m above sea level, and can be assigned to hitherto unnoticed earthquakes, wh ich occurred approximately 500, 3600-3900 and possibly 1500 years ago. Some evidence of Quaternary and longer-term uplift has been found as well. The observed uplift may be related to a zone of intense seismicity and faulting following the Great Meander (Buyuk Menderes) River graben in Western Anato lia, but its structural explanation is not clear. New evidence indicates th at the geomorphological evolution of Samos Island and of the wider Eastern Aegean is not simply a result of marine transgression and of regional-scale tectonics, but also of earthquakes, and that local-scale tectonics are res ponsible for the evolution and present-day morphology of at least a parr of the coast of Samos Island, as well as of other Aegean coasts. (C) 2000 Els evier Science Ltd All rights reserved.