Impact of Holocene tsunamis detected in lagoonal environments on Corfu (Ionian Islands, Greece): Geomorphological, sedimentary and microfaunal evidence

In this paper, we present for the first time geomorphological, sedimentary and microfaunal evidence of palaeotsunami impact on Corfu (Ionian Islands, Greece). The island of Corfu is located in an area of exceptional tectonic stress: towards the south, the African oceanic plate is being subducted underneath the Aegean plate, whereas towards the north, the Adriatic and European plates form a continental collision zone. Recent publications provide evidence of earthquake related co-seismic movements that potentially trigger extreme wave events as well as relative sea level fluctuations. In this context, we investigated two selected near-coast geological archives – the Chalikiopoulou Lagoon in the east and the Korission Lagoon in the southwest of Corfu Island. Our results clearly document that the eastern as well as the southwestern coasts of Corfu were repeatedly affected by palaeotsunami impact during the Holocene. With regard to the local topographical constellation and the recent geomorphodynamic potential of each study area, evidence of high-energy wave impact is based on the stratigraphical and microfaunal record of selected vibracoring sites as well as on numerical modelling results. It is concluded that the eastern coast of Corfu is preferably affected by high-energy wave impacts from a southern direction. Such impacts are most likely related to teletsunamis from the major seismical zone of the Hellenic Trench. In contrast, the southwestern coast of Corfu is endangered by impacts from both western and southern directions. Such impacts may comprise teletsunamis triggered in the Hellenic Trench or the Etna regions but may also be caused by local submarine landslides at the steeply sloping continental shelf directly west of Corfu. Our study builds a bridge between palaeotsunami-research conducted in the southern Ionian Sea and the Adriatic Sea and allows to better discriminate between the effects of teletsunamis and locally triggered events within one of the seismically most active regions in the eastern Mediterranean.