Analysis demonstrates the timing of slip on the Pisia fault aligns with Holocene notch formation, suggesting a connection between tectonics and sea-level stability.
We report agreement between the timing of slip on an active normal fault recovered from in situ 36 Cl cosmogenic fault scarp dating with independently 14 C dated Holocene coastal notches deformed along the strike of the fault, reinforcing the validity of slip‐rate timing and magnitude fluctuations implied by 36 Cl fault scarp dating. The 36 Cl‐dated Pisia fault, central Greece, shows slip‐rate fluctuations but the timing of slip derived from this cosmogenic isotope have not been confirmed with an independent dating approach. However, Holocene coastal notches dated with 14 C on fossils occupying the notches exist around the Pisia fault, these can only form when the interplay between eustatic sea‐level and tectonics result in stable relative sea‐level. The 36 Cl site close to the center of the Pisia fault records ongoing slip from ∼9.6 to 5.2 (±0.5) ka and 2.0 ± 0.5 ka to the present day which was interrupted by a low slip‐rate period. Holocene sea‐level stabilized close to its current elevation after 7.0–6.5 ka, so the combination of low slip‐rate and stable sea‐level allowed notch formation. During this time, notches were uplifted by slip on the offshore Strava fault, indicated by elastic half‐space modeling. Toward the center of the Pisia‐Skinos fault, these notches were then submerged during the high slip period from 2.0 ± 0.5 ka. Our findings reveal that spatial patterns of deformed radiocarbon‐dated Holocene notches agree with the timing of high slip earthquake clusters/quiescent anti‐clusters from 36 Cl slip histories and support use of 36 Cl to investigate normal faults, crustal rheologies and seismic hazard.
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Robertson et al. (2025) studied this question.
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