Quaternary basin sedimentation and geodynamics in SW Peloponnese (Greece) and late stage uplift of Taygetos Mt.

In this paper we study the geodynamic phenomena that affected SW Peloponnese (Greece) during the Quaternary and we propose a neotectonic evolution for this region from Late Pliocene and onwards. As SW Peloponnese is located at the western part of the Aegean arc system, a few kilometers away from the Hellenic trench, it represents one of the most tectonically and seismically active areas of the Africa-Eurasia collision zone. The study area is a part of the External Hellenides where regions dominated by extensional tectonics transit to regions with compressional tectonic regime. Thus, it offers the opportunity to understand how this transition in different stretching regimes is expressed and study the interplay of extension and compression in basin evolution. These different regimes interact or superimpose each other producing several geodynamic phenomena such as seismicity, normal faults, crustal uplift, folds and detachment faults. More specifically, we are focusing on the following aspects: i) the sedimentation of the various Quaternary basins occurring in the study area, ii) the extensional and compressional structures affecting the study area since the Upper Miocene, iii) the neotectonic configuration of SW Peloponnese, iv) the neotectonic evolution of SW Peloponnese during the Quaternary in conjunction with the kinematic evolution of the various macrostructures and their marginal faults. Moreover special attention is given to the interpretation of the occurrence of large size metamorphic pebbles in terrestrial deposits located at the southern part of Pylia Peninsula originated from the metamorphic rocks of Taygetos Mt. as nowadays Messiniakos Gulf (a deep subgraben) isolates these two uplifted landmasses.