Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T19:22:08.597Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

High-Resolution Seismic Reflection Profiles for the Reconstruction of Postglacial Transgressive Shorelines: An example from Greece

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Tjeerd H. van Andel  and
Nikolaos Lianos
Tjeerd H. van Andel
Affiliation:
Geology Department, Stanford University, Stanford, California, 94305
Nikolaos Lianos
Affiliation:
Ephoria Enalion Archaiotiton, 58 Omirou, Athens, Greece
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In 1982 we carried out a shallow-penetration, high-resolution seismic profiling study on the shelf of the southern Argolid, Peloponnesos, Greece, to identify and map the shores of the late Pleistocene and Holocene, and to establish their coastal environments. Portable equipment and a local boat were used. The lowest glacial shore occurs at −115 to −118 m, within the range of global values. The subsequent rise across the distinct old land surface left behind many shore features (scaps, beaches and beach ridges, channels and lagoons) now buried under a few meters of post-transgressive deposits. These features cluster at a small number of depths below present sea level, suggesting that the rise of the sea, usually too fast to leave an imprint, was episodically interrupted by brief stillstands or even temporary reversals of climatic or tectonic origin. The clusters can be roughly dated with reference to a global sea-level-rise curve; after 6000 yr B.P. sparse archaeological data establish a local curve. The seismic profiling technique, convenient and not costly, holds promise for the identification of postglacial shores elsewhere prior to sampling for dating. It has wide application for environmental reconstructions of vanished coastal zones as a basis for prehistoric resource assessments. These applications are illustrated with examples from this study.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , July 1984 , pp. 31 - 45
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Berger, W.H. (1977). Deep-sea carbonate and deglaciation preservation spike Nature (London) 269 301 304 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berger, W.H. (1982). Deglacial CO2 buildup: Constraints on the coral reef model Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 40 235 253 Google Scholar
Berger, W.H. Killingley, J.S. (1982). Box Cores from the equatorial Pacific: 14C sedimentation rates and benthic mixing Marine Geology 45 92 105 Google Scholar
Bloom, A.L. (1977). Atlas of Sea Level Curves International Geological Correlation Programme Project 61 Cornell University Ithaca Google Scholar
Clark, J.A. Farrell, W.E. Peltier, W.R. (1978). Global changes in postglacial sea level Quaternary Research 9 265 287 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curray, J.R. (1960). Sediments and history of Holocene transgression, continental shelf, northwest Gulf of Mexico Recent Sediments, Northwest Gulf of Mexico Shepard, F.P. Phleger, F.B. van Andels, T.H. American Association of Petroleum Geologists 221 266 Google Scholar
Curray, J.R. Moore, D.G. (1963). Facies delineation by acoustic reflection: Northern Gulf of Mexico Sedimentology 2 130 148 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curray, J.R. Moore, D.G. (1964). Pleistocene deltaic progradation of continental terrace, Costa de Nayarit, Mexico Marine Geology of the Gulf of California van Andel, T.H. Shor, G.G. American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Memoir 3 193 215 Google Scholar
Delmas, R.J. Ascenzio, J.M. Lefand, M. (1980). Polar ice evidence that atmospheric CO2 20,000 years B.P. was 50% of present Nature (London) 284 155 157 Google Scholar
Denton, G.H. Karlén, W. (1973). Holocene climate variations: Their pattern and possible cause Quaternary Research 3 155 205 Google Scholar
Dillon, W.P. Oldale, R.N. (1978). Late Quaternary sea level curve: Reinterpretation based on glaciotectonic influence Geology 6 56 60 Google Scholar
Donn, W.L. Farrand, W.R. Ewing, M. (1962). Pleistocene ice volumes and sea level lowering Journal of Geology 70 206 216 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duplessy, J.C. Delibrias, G. Turon, J.L. Pujol, C. Duprat, J. (1981). Deglacial warming of the North Atlantic Ocean: Correlation with the Paleoclimatic Evolution of the European Continent Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 35 121 145 Google Scholar
Fairbridge, R.W. (1961). Eustatic changes in sea level Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 4 99 185 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fairbridge, R.W. (1976). Shellfish-eating preceramic Indians in coastal Brazil Science 191 353 359 Google Scholar
Flemming, N.C. (1968). Holocene Earth movements and eustatic sea level changes in the Peloponnese Nature (London) 217 1031 1032 Google Scholar
Flemming, N.C. (1978). Holocene eustatic changes and coastal tectonics in the northern Mediterranean: Implications for models of crustal consumption Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series A 289 405 458 Google Scholar
Flint, R.F. (1971). Glacial and Quaternary Geology Wiley New York Google Scholar
Gifford, J.A. (1983). Core sampling of a Holocene marine sequence and underlying Neolithic culture material off Franchthi Cave, Greece Masters, P.M. Flemming, N.C. Quaternary Coastlines and Marine Archaeology: Towards the Prehistory of Land Bridges and Continental Shelves Academic Press New York 269 282 Google Scholar
Jacobsen, T.W. (1976). 17,000 years of Greek prehistory Scientific American 234 76 87 Google Scholar
Kennett, J.P. Shackleton, N.J. (1975). Laurentide ice sheet meltwater recorded in Gulf of Mexico deep-sea cores Science 188 147 150 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mörner, N-A. (1976). Eustatic changes during the last 8000 years in view of radiocarbon calibration and new information from the Kattegatt region and other northwest European coastal areas Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 19 63 86 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moody, D.W. Van Reenan, E.B. (1967). High Resolution Subbottom Seismic Profiles of the Delaware Estuary and Its Bay Mouth United States Geological Survey Professional Papers 575-D 247 252 Google Scholar
Pastouret, L. Chamley, H. Delibrias, G. Duplessy, J.C. and Thiede, J. (1978). Late Quaternary climate changes in western tropical Africa deduced from deep-sea sedimentation off the Niger delta Oceanologica Acta 1 217 232 Google Scholar
Peltier, W.R. (1980). Models of glacial isostasy and the relative sea level American Geophysical Union, Geodynamics Series 1 111 128 Google Scholar
Shackleton, J. C. (in press). Reconstructing past shorelines as an approach to determining factors affecting shellfish collecting in the prehistoric past. In “Coastal Archaeology”; (Bailey, G. N. and Parkington, J. Eds.). Cambridge Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Shackleton, J.C. van Andel, T.H. (1980). Prehistoric shell assemblages from Franchthi Cave and evolution of the adjacent coastal zone Nature (London) 288 357 359 Google Scholar
Shackleton, J. C. van Andel, T. H. and Runnels, C. N. (in press). Coastal palaeogeography of the central and western Mediterranean during the last 125,000 years and its archaeological implications. Journal of Field Archaeology .Google Scholar
Shackleton, N.J. (1977). The oxygen isotope stratigraphic record of the late Pleistocene Philosophical Transactions Royal Society of London B 280 169 182 Google Scholar
van Andel, T.H. Calvert, S.E. (1971). Evolution of sediment wedge, Walvis Shelf, southwest Africa Journal of Geology 79 585 602 Google Scholar
van Andel, T.H. Jacobsen, T.W. Jolly, J.B. Lianos, N. (1980). Late Quaternary history of the coastal zone near Franchthi Cave, southern Argolid, Greece Journal of Field Archaeology 7 389 402 Google Scholar
van Andel, T.H. Lianos, N. (1984). Prehistoric and historic shorelines of the southern Argolid Peninsula: A subbottom profiler study Journal of Nautical Archaeology and Underwater Exploration 12.4 303 324 Google Scholar
van Andel, T.H. Sachs, P.L. (1964). Sedimentation in the Gulf of Paria During the Holocene transgression: A subsurface acoustic reflection study Journal of Marine Research 22 30 50 Google Scholar
van Andel, T.H. Shackleton, J.C. (1982). Late Paleolithic and Mesolithic coastlines of Greece and the Aegean Journal of Field Archaeology 9 445 545 Google Scholar
Vita-Finzi, C. Higgs, E.S. (1970). Prehistoric economies in the Mount Carmel area of Palestine, site catchment analysis Proceedings Prehistoric Society 36 1 33 Google Scholar
Wright, L.D. Thom, B.G. (1977). Coastal depositional landforms Progress in Physical Geography 1 412 459 CrossRefGoogle Scholar