New DFG-funded research project on the neotectonic evolution of Rhodes
5. August 2020
The Island of Rhodes is situated in the eastern Mediterranean Sea and in the collision zone between the African and Eurasian plates. The east coast of the island contains microfossil-rich sedimentary archives, which provide the opportunity to reconstruct tectonically-induced past vertical motions of the island. Specifically, the project will focus on better understanding the regional extent of long-term and short-term tectonic events that affected the east coast of the island during the Pleistocene. Of particular importance will be the study of exhumed beach terraces and microfossil-rich strata separated by tectonic faults. Hence, the research team will pursue a strongly interdisciplinary approach combining micropaleontological and structural geological methods, complemented by statistical and chronostratigraphic analyses. A more comprehensive view on the regional neotectonic evolution of the island during the early to mid-Pleistocene is crucial since the different sedimentary depocenters along the east coast of Rhodes may have independently undergone vertical motions. Detailed quantitative paleo-water depth reconstructions of these depocenters, corrected for precession-driven changes in trophic conditions and glacio-eustatic effects, will allow the team to accurately estimate rates of past local vertical motions. These estimates will be compared to each other and to neotectonic crustal deformation kinematics derived from remote sensing and field-based kinematic analyses of prominent faults by using the present sea level as reference level. The integrated scientific approach of the project is expected to provide new insight into the overall spatial and temporal neotectonic dynamics of Rhodes, which promises to furnish important baseline data for the validation of regional subduction models, notably in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.
The 3-year project will be spearheaded by Dr. Yvonne Milker (micropaleontology) and includes Prof. Gerhard Schmiedl (micropaleontology) and Prof. Dr. Ulrich Riller (structural geology) as well as two Ph.D. students focusing on micropaleontology and structural geology.