An exploration of open-system uranium-series history of marine terrace corals, Perachora Peninsula, Greece and San Nicolas Island, California, USA

Abstract

Emergent marine terraces record past periods of relatively high sea level and are common on uplifting coasts worldwide. Such landforms are extensive around the Gulf of Corinth area of Greece and along the coast of California, USA. In the Gulf of Corinth region, marine terraces record Quaternary uplift due to ongoing basin extension on the northern side of the Africa-Eurasia-Aegean Sea plate boundary. Although dating of terrace fossils has been extensive in the Perachora Peninsula part of this region, some apparent ages are much older (∼190 ka to ∼150 ka) and some are much younger (∼91 ka to ∼69 ka) than expected for a marine terrace that has long been hypothesized to be of last-interglacial (∼120 ka) age. New uranium-series analyses of terrace corals from two previously studied localities are reported here. As with previous work, the new results show that these corals have behaved as open systems, with back-calculated, initial 234 U/ 238 U values higher than those found in modern seawater. New and previously published U-series analyses of last-interglacial corals from San Nicolas Island, California (USA) illustrate the possible mechanisms of open-system behavior, which include both “early” alpha-recoil-derived additions of 230 Th and 234 U, and “continuing” alpha-recoil-derived additions of these nuclides. Many corals from the Perachora Peninsula appear to have experienced the “continuing” alpha-recoil-derived open-system history, which explains the apparent older ages, and permits an interpretation that all analyzed corals likely date to the last interglacial period, ∼120 ka. If the estimated age of ∼120 ka reported here is correct, this age, along with considerations of glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) modeling of past sea level, indicates that the southern side of the Perachora Peninsula has experienced uplift rates ranging from ∼0.23 m/kyr to ∼0.57 m/kyr, increasing to the southeast, in agreement with previous work. Interpretation of the geomorphology of the northern side of the peninsula has been controversial for more than four decades. The “stepped” topography has been interpreted as either a series of successively higher and older marine terraces, as on the southern side, or a marine terrace of one age that has been displaced by a series of shore-parallel, northward-dipping normal faults. In the second interpretation, topographic steps in the landscape are interpreted to be fault scarps, not ancient sea cliffs. Interpretation of the open-system U-series ages indicates that marine deposits at elevations of ∼22 m and ∼44 m are both likely ∼120 ka, supporting the scenario that steps in the landscape are likely fault scarps, not sea cliffs. Using the new U-series ages of ∼120 ka, along with GIA-modeled paleo-sea level confirms another previous study that uplift rates on the northern side of the peninsula are at least as high as 0.39–0.46 m/kyr.