Quaternary and Holocene coastal uplift in Ikaria Island, Aegean Sea

Geomorphological, biological and AMS radiocarbon dating provide evidence of an about lm high elevated palaeo-shoreline at the NE coast of Ikaria Island,Aegean Sea, and to a seismic uplift which occurred after AD950-1150 and was probably responsible for damage in an ancient tower. These data are important for several reasons. They provide evidence for a strong earthquake in an island usually assumed aseismic, coastal uplifts and coastal fauna are scarce in this region, while the Late Holocene uplift correlates with a flight of marine terraces of probably Quaternary age, at least up to 40m high. Long-term uplift is not observed at the footwall of a fault bounding a major graben north of Ikaria, it represents a structural puzzle and it may help to shed some light to the evolution of various extensional terranes.