Clarifying stages of alluvial fan evolution along the Sfakian piedmont, southern Crete: New evidence from analysis of post-incisive soils and OSL dating

Pope, Richard J.; Wilkinson, Keith; Skourtsos, Emmanuel; Triantaphyllou, Maria; Ferrier, G.

doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2007.05.007

Cited by 57 publications

(121 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…This simple model of Late Pleistocene river development, which was widely used especially by the archaeological community, was not further developed until the mid-late 1980s when new dating techniques, most notably thermoluminescence (TL), infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) and subsequently optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and uranium-series techniques, were first applied, initially in Greece [50,51] and subsequently in Spain [52] and other parts of the Mediterranean. These and other studies extended field investigations of Quaternary river records into the desert margins of the Mediterranean in North Africa [53], steepland environments on the islands of the Mediterranean, including Crete [1,54] and Mallorca [55], and glaciated catchments in southern Europe, most notably in the Pindus Mountains of northwest Greece [30]. This now geographically extensive body of river development case studies, many with good dating control, allows the relationship between the Late Pleistocene climate change and the fluvial record to be explored in some detail.…”

Section: Field Stratigraphic Evidence (A) Pleistocenementioning

confidence: 58%

The fluvial record of climate change

Macklin

Lewin

Woodward

2012

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

173

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Fluvial landforms and sediments can be used to reconstruct past hydrological conditions over different time scales once allowance has been made for tectonic, base-level and human complications. Field stratigraphic evidence is explored here at three time scales: the later Pleistocene, the Holocene, and the historical and instrumental period. New data from a range of field studies demonstrate that Croll–Milankovitch forcing, Dansgaard–Oeschger and Heinrich events, enhanced monsoon circulation, millennial- to centennial-scale climate variability within the Holocene (probably associated with solar forcing and deep ocean circulation) and flood-event variability in recent centuries can all be discerned in the fluvial record. Although very significant advances have been made in river system and climate change research in recent years, the potential of fluvial palaeohydrology has yet to be fully realized, to the detriment of climatology, public health, resource management and river engineering.

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Section: Field Stratigraphic Evidence (A) Pleistocenementioning

confidence: 58%

The fluvial record of climate change

Macklin

Lewin

Woodward

2012

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

173

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“…Climate in the eastern Mediterranean is generally drier during glacial or stadial intervals relative to the present day, whereas interstadials are thought to be analogous to today's climate (e.g., Tzedakis, 2009). Sediment production is inferred to be higher during much of the late Quaternary relative to the modern production, especially during climatic transitions that force variations in hillslope vegetation communities, as evidenced by available geochronology for large alluvial fans along the south coast (e.g., Pope et al, 2008Pope et al, , 2016Wegmann, 2008;Gallen et al, 2014). Most of the rivers draining the Asteroúsia and Díkti mountains are ephemeral.…”

Section: Tectonic Geomorphology Of South-central Cretementioning

confidence: 99%

River profile response to normal fault growth and linkage: an example from the Hellenic forearc of south-central Crete, Greece

2017

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Abstract. Topography is a reflection of the tectonic and geodynamic processes that act to uplift the Earth's surface and the erosional processes that work to return it to base level. Numerous studies have shown that topography is a sensitive recorder of tectonic signals. A quasi-physical understanding of the relationship between river incision and rock uplift has made the analysis of fluvial topography a popular technique for deciphering relative, and some argue absolute, histories of rock uplift. Here we present results from a study of the fluvial topography from south-central Crete, demonstrating that river longitudinal profiles indeed record the relative history of uplift, but several other processes make it difficult to recover quantitative uplift histories. Prior research demonstrates that the south-central coastline of Crete is bound by a large ( ∼ 100 km long) E-W striking composite normal fault system. Marine terraces reveal that it is uplifting between 0.1 and 1.0 mm yr −1 . These studies suggest that two normal fault systems, the offshore Ptolemy and onshore South-Central Crete faults, linked together in the recent geologic past (ca. 0.4-1 My BP). Fault mechanics predict that when adjacent faults link into a single fault the uplift rate in footwalls of the linkage zone will increase rapidly. We use this natural experiment to assess the response of river profiles to a temporal jump in uplift rate and to assess the applicability of the stream power incision model to this setting. Using river profile analysis we show that rivers in south-central Crete record the relative uplift history of fault growth and linkage as theory predicts that they should. Calibration of the commonly used stream power incision model shows that the slope exponent, n, is ∼ 0.5, contrary to most studies that find n ≥ 1. Analysis of fluvial knickpoints shows that migration distances are not proportional to upstream contributing drainage area, as predicted by the stream power incision model. Maps of the transformed stream distance variable, χ, indicate that drainage basin instability, drainage divide migration, and river capture events complicate river profile analysis in south-central Crete. Waterfalls are observed in southern Crete and appear to operate under less efficient and different incision mechanics than assumed by the stream power incision model. Drainage area exchange and waterfall formation are argued to obscure linkages between empirically derived metrics and quasi-physical descriptions of river incision, making it difficult to quantitatively interpret rock uplift histories from river profiles in this setting. Karst hydrology, break down of assumed drainage area discharge scaling, and chemical weathering might also contribute to the failure of the stream power incision model to adequately predict the behavior of the fluvial system in south-central Crete.

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“…Technological advances in rare earth element (REE) and trace element analysis in soils promoted the identification of redox fronts and weathering processes, respectively (Laveuf et al 2008(Laveuf et al , 2012Long-Jiang et al 2009;Zhaoliang et al 2006). These processes can be projected on a historical time series with the use of optically stimulated luminescence dating (OSL) as it has already been used in sediments landscape evolution, geoarcheology (Pope et al 2008;Zacharias et al 2009), and pedogenic processes (Lair et al 2009). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sediment provenance, soil development, and carbon content in fluvial and manmade terraces at Koiliaris River Critical Zone Observatory

et al. 2014

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Purpose The purpose of this study was the investigation of sediment provenance and soil formation processes within a Mediterranean watershed (Koiliaris CZO in Greece) with particular emphasis on natural and manmade terraces. Material and methods Five sites (K1-K5) were excavated and analyzed for their pedology (profile description), geochemistry [including rare earth elements (REEs) and other trace elements], texture, and mineralogy along with chronological analysis (optical luminescence dating). The selected sites have the common characteristic of being flat terraces while the sites differed with regard to bedrock lithology, elevation, and land use.

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Clarifying stages of alluvial fan evolution along the Sfakian piedmont, southern Crete: New evidence from analysis of post-incisive soils and OSL dating

Cited by 57 publications

References 55 publications

The fluvial record of climate change

The fluvial record of climate change

River profile response to normal fault growth and linkage: an example from the Hellenic forearc of south-central Crete, Greece

Sediment provenance, soil development, and carbon content in fluvial and manmade terraces at Koiliaris River Critical Zone Observatory

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