Syn-rift systems: outcrop analogues and subsurface applications

In the project, we are using a field area on the Southern Margin fo the Gulf of Corinth, Greece, characterising a suite of mid-Pleistocene deepwater and deltaic syn-rift exposures in the now uplifted hangingwall of a major rift-margin border fault. By combining conventional fieldwork, behind outcrop boreholes and digital outcrop modelling we are aiming to understand the variety of density flow processes and their evolution in response to rift basin floor topography, structural evolution and palaeoclimatic variation.

This ultimately has the broader implication of understanding the nature, timing and relative strength of allogenic versus autogenic controls on deepwater and deltaic syn-rift architecture. The field area provides an excellent analogue to subsurface deepwater and deltaic syn-rift depositional systems.