Neotectonic evolution of the island of Rhodes (Greece) during the Pleistocene: an integrated micropaleontological and structural geology approach (NERHO)

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The Island of Rhodes (eastern Mediterranean Sea) is situated at the collision zone between the African and Eurasian plates and contains microfossil-rich sedimentary archives, thus, provides the opportunity to reconstruct tectonically-induced past vertical motions of the island based on microfossil assemblages. We specifically propose to study the neotectonic evolution of the island during the Pleistocene and in recent times to better understand long-term and short-term tectonic events during ongoing plate convergence in the eastern Mediterranean region. To reach our aims, we plan to apply an interdisciplinary approach combining micropaleontological and structural geological methods and will further use a set of statistical and chronostratigraphic methods. 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 in these depocenters, corrected for precession-driven changes in trophic conditions as well as glacio-eustatic effects, will allow us to accurately estimate rates of past local vertical motions. These estimates will be compared (1) to each other and (2) to neotectonic crustal deformation kinematics derived from remote sensing and field-based kinematic analyses of first-order structural discontinuities by using the present sea level as reference level. With our integrated approach we will bring new insights into the overall spatial and temporal neotectonic dynamics of Rhodes, and thus will provide relevant baseline data for the validation of regional subduction models and to better understand modern subduction processes in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea region.