Late Holocene sea-level evolution of Paros Island (Cyclades, Greece)

Relative sea-level (RSL) reconstructions are essential to answer a variety of scientific questions, ranging from the investigation of crustal movements to the calibration of earth rheology models and ice sheet reconstructions. It is generally assumed that most Cycladic islands (Aegean Sea, Greece) are affected by a gradual subsidence, attributed to the crustal thinning and to hydro-isostatic processes that accompanied the post-glacial rise in sea level. In this paper, we produce new RSL data from sedimentary records on Paros Island. We compare and contrast these RSL data with published data from the nearby island of Naxos. Our results are further compared with sea-level predictions from two different GIA models in an attempt to better quantify the tectonic regime of the wider study area. Our results suggest average tectonic subsidence rates close to 1.0 ± 0.4 mm/yr since 5500 cal BP. These rates are not linear in time and have increased since 2500 cal BP.