Late Cenozoic extension in Limni Basin in northern Evia, Greece

Abstract

The Aegean region has undergone several episodes of extensional deformation from early Miocene to present time. Among the structures that accommodate extension are faults that bound and cut sediments within young fault-controlled sedimentary basins. The objective of this study is to add to constraints on the history of within the upper plate of the Hellenic subduction zone. In particular, this study is aimed at mapping and, eventually, dating sediments and related normal faults in the Limni-Istiea basin of northern Evia. Field mapping in the southern portion of this basin reveals eight sedimentary units and suggests several periods during which steep relief was formed within and adjacent to the basin, interspersed with periods of deposition in fluvial and shallow lacustrine environment. The three sets of faults identified in the mapped area are consistent with the orientation of structures observed at the western end of the North Aegean trough system and within the Central Hellenic shear zone. The oldest faults are low-angle, north-south trending and east-dipping; younger structures are high angle, west-east or southwest-northeast trending and generally south-dipping; the youngest faults are high-angle, northwest-southeast trending and dipping to the southwest. The paleomagnetic analyses results show clockwise rotation of the Limni- Istiea basin by 18° during or after the last stages of extension within the basin.