Quaternary Environmental Changes in the Corinth Rift Area: the IODP 381 palaeovegetation record

The primary objectives of the International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 381: “Corinth Active Rift Development” expedition are to target the active continental Corinth Rift (Greece) in order to: a) obtain high spatial and temporal resolution records of the rifting process dynamics, b) to study the interaction of climate and tectonics on sedimentary and surface processes in a rift zone, and c) to improve regional hazard assessments in one of the most seismically active regions of Europe (http://www.ecord.org/expedition381).   

The International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 381: Corinth Active Rift Development was conducted in late 2017 (offshore phase-drilling campaign) and early 2018 (onshore phase-Bremen Core Repository-BCR). The drilling (October 17th-November) was realized on the DV Fugro Synergy platform. Three cores were derived (1905m of sediment in total).  

The second phase of the research expedition (IODP 381 Science Party; SP) took place in February 2018 at the Bremen Core Repository in Marum. In Marum, the cores were opened, described and sampled in detail for multiple scientific purposes. The multidisciplinary approach followed during sampling, aims to create a valid age model for the deposits and explore the evolution of the palaeoenvironments. This will allow us to estimate the procedures that led to the development of the rift. The first results from the analysis of the recovered deposits were published in the IODP Scientific Proceedings (Proceedings of the International Ocean Discovery Program, McNeill et al., 2019b). 

References 

McNeill L, Shillington D, Carter G (2017) Expedition 381 Scientific Prospectus: Corinth Active Rift Development. International Ocean Discovery Program.https://doi.org/10.14379/iodp.sp.381.2017. 

McNeill, L.C., Shillington, D.J., Carter, G.D.O., Everest, J.D., Le Ber, E., Collier, R.E.L.,Cvetkoska, A., De Gelder, G., Diz, P., Doan, M.-L., Ford, M., Gawthorpe, R.L., Geraga, M., Gillespie, J., Hemelsdaël, R., Herrero-Bervera, E., Ismaiel, M., Janikian, L., Kouli, K., Li, S.,Machlus, M.L., Maffione, M., Mahoney, C., Michas, G., Miller, C., Nixon, C.W., Oflaz, S.A., Omale, A.P., Panagiotopoulos, K., Pechlivanidou, S., Phillips, M.P., Sauer, S., Seguin, J., Sergiou, S., Zakharova, N.V. (2019b) Corinth Active Rift Development. Proceedings of the International Ocean Discovery Program, 381: College Station, TX (International Ocean Discovery Program). https://doi.org/10.14379/ iodp.proc.381.2019