An uplift history of Crete, Greece, from inverse modeling of longitudinal river profiles

We jointly invert Cretan drainage networks to determine a temporal and spatial history of regional uplift. Our model assumes that longitudinal river profiles are controlled by uplift rate history and moderated by the erosional process. We have parameterized fluvial erosion using an advective–diffusive formulation. The inverse model recovers the smoothest uplift rate history that best fits a data set of ~ 250 longitudinal river profiles. Residual misfit between theoretical and observed river profiles decreases from 18 to 4 during optimization. Results suggest that Crete has been uplifted by 1–2 km during the last 4 Ma. The central Iraklion Ridge first became emergent at ~ 4 Ma, with eastern and western ends of Crete emerging ~ 1 Ma later. Maximum uplift rates of 1–1.2 mm/yr occurred in central and western Crete between 0 and 1 Ma. This calculated history of uplift is consistent with independent sedimentological, stratigraphic, and paleontological constraints.