Plio-Quaternary Extension and Strike-Slip Tectonics in the Aegean

Abstract Detailed review and integrated reinterpretation of geological, seismological, and geodetic data indicate a major change in the style of deformation of the Aegean microplate since the Early Pliocene. Widespread, arc-perpendicular, back-arc extension in the Miocene has been replaced by extensive shearing along strike-slip zones in the Plio-Quaternary. The Aegean crust “flows” toward SSW, confined between its northern (North Anatolian and Kephallinia faults) and southern boundaries (East Hellenic Trench). It undergoes extension predominantly accommodated by strike-slip tectonics. Dextral shearing along major NE-SW strike-slip zones associated with conjugate NW-SE sinistral and WNW-ESE normal faults dominates over most of the Aegean region and creates a complex pattern of localized transtensional features and the formation of new basins, along with local transpressional deformation and local uplift. Sinistral NE-SW to ENE-WSW trending shearing prevails in the southeastern Aegean, parallel to the sinistral shear zones of the Pliny and Strabo Trenches. The formation of the various Plio-Quaternary basins, the kinematic characteristics of individual faults, and the spatial distribution of volcanoes of the Volcanic Arc can be adequately explained in the frame of the proposed deformation and kinematic pattern.