Sedimentary processes in straits based on outcrop analogue and oceanographic data in the rift of Corinth (Greece)

Abstract

Tidal straits are narrow passages of water between two larger bodies, dominated and influenced by tidal amplification. The straits are a key area to the transfer of water heat, biota or sediments. The study of straits’ dynamics is based on models, but the use of outcrop analogues is mandatory to remove the human timescale constrain. This thesis focuses on the two straits that have existed in the Corinth Gulf and includes a comparison between the present day Rion-Antirion strait (W) and the supposed outcrop analogue of the “Corinth Canal” (E). On the one hand, we investigate the Rion strait with an oceanographic survey: ADCP, MBES bathymetry, CTD and Satellite SST data. This strait revealed a tidal strait influenced by an internal wave and bottom currents from the Gulf of Corinth. On the other hand, thanks to the uplift, the Corinth Canal outcrops over 6 km long and 80 m high. This allows to conduct a sedimentological survey combined with a 3D photogrammetric model to bridge the gap between the facies- and the basin-scale. We document the evidence of a tidal-strait characterized by conglomeratic tidal dune-bedded structures. Both tidal-straits document specific oceanographic- and sedimentological-processes which highlight an internal tide, or a tidal amplification probably caused by the West and East opening the Corinth gulf 300 ka ago.