Holocene emergence in Euboea island (Greece)

Detailed mapping along the northwestern coastline of Euboea has provided new evidence of colonization by Lithophaga lithophaga (L.) reaching about 3.8 m above the present biological MSL. Such marine biological marks, together with morphological notches, correspond to the occurrence of two sequences of Holocene vertical displacements higher than those reported by previous studies, on the central part of the southern coast and along the northern coast of the island. A well developed emerged notch is found at + 1.7 ± 0.1 m above present mean sea level, whereas the uppermost part of the lithophagid holes suggest a former emerged shoreline at least at + 3.8 ± 0.1 m. Radiocarbon AMS dating of Lithophaga shells found in their burrows, showed that the lower uplifted shoreline corresponds to a tectonic event (probably coseismic) apparently dated at 2200 a BP, while the higher shoreline corresponds to an older relative sea-level transgression, possibly of tectonic origin, apparently dated about 5570 a BP. The apparent radiocarbon age of lithophagid shells can be about 350 to 400 years older than the uplift event that exposed them, due to incorporation of host-rock carbon. Nevertheless, the two new paleoshorelines provide evidence that repeated uplift movements, greater than those reported by previous authors, occurred during the late Holocene, uplifting the western part of the island.

► Holocene vertical displacements.
► Two new paleoshorelines.
► Repeated uplift movements.
► Lithophagid radiocarbon dates.