Naxos is the largest island of the Cyclades (Aegean Sea, Greece), covering an area of ca 450 km². Its 150 km long coasts exhibits various morphological features such as cliffs, lagoons and beaches. These latter are largely preserved along the western coast, between the main city (Chora) and Pyrgaki, and are associated with well-developed dune fields. A few dunes fields are also preserved along the Eastern part (Azala Bay, Psili Ammos). Field study made it possible to propose an updated geomorphological mapping of the dune fields. Four landforms have hence been recognized, especially on the basis of their form, size, location and vegetation cover. Assuming that these various landforms relate to at least three Holocene aggradation periods, a geochronological approach was developed in order to unravel the climate influence on the Naxos dunes formation. 24 OSL dating were performed at the Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics (LIAG, Hannover, Germany) on samples from two main dune fields : Aliko (West coast) and Psili Ammos (East coast). We here present the first results and interpretations of these geochronological research.

Global models of glacio-isostatic adjustment (GIA) depend critically on assumptions about the rheology of the mantle and the history of ice melting since the Last Glacial Maximum. Here we employ different viscosity profiles in the range of 0.4 x 10^21 Pa.s for upper mantle and 4 x 10^21Pa.s for lower mantle and several late- Pleistocene ice sheets chronologies to interpret relative sea level (RSL) observations collected along the Tyrrhenian coasts. Neglecting the tectonic contributions to sea level variations and supposing a laterally uniform rheology, in these regions, RSL curves depart from eustasy mainly because of the effects of melt water loading, responsible for a widespread subsidence reaching its largest amplitude in the bulk of the basin. We reassess the importance of archaeological sea level indicators along the Tyrrhenian coasts of Italy (Lazio, Italy), recently revisited within the European COST Action ES0701. It appears that the local sea level rise since 2000 y ears ago can be estimated of the order of about half a meter, that agrees with the classical literature about this topic, rather than ~1.35 m, as recently proposed. The mismatch between observations from field data and model predictions can be partly attributed to the poor knowledge of the visco-elastic property of the mantle and to uncertainties of the details of the melting history. By forward modelling based on a modified ICE5G chronology, and using data from Tyrrhenian coast of Italy and SE Tunisia, we also evaluate the effects of a melt water pulse of the history of RSL, according to distinct assumptions about its origin (Antarctic or Northern Hemispheric).

Detailed mapping of coastline around Theologos area revealed the existence of well developed permanently submerged notches 75 ± 10 cm below present mean sea level. The regional occurrence of well preserved submerged tidal notches suggests their coseismic origin. The submergence of this Holocene shoreline possibly occurred at 1894 AD. Average submergence rate of 6.08 mm/yr may be estimated by a well preserved recumbent U-shaped notch. The retreating point depth suggests that the developing period of the notch might have been of the order of as much as three thousand years. Several non in situ large rock blocks, containing marine fossils (Lithophaga, Vermetids, Serpulids) in growth position, seem to have been projected on the coast by a tsunami wave, which might have been caused by the same coseismic episode.

Present morphological and tectonic image of Ikaria island is the complex result of both the tem-poral evolution of the island, as part of the geodynamical evolution of the Hellenic Arc, especially that of the last stages (from the upper Miocene and after), and the exogenous factors. Also human impact functions as an additional parameter for the formation of Ikaria geoenvironment.According to field data and their analysis, computing and estimation which took part with the use of modern technologies (use of GIS, analysis of geographical and descriptive databases) the mor-photectonic units of Ikaria Island were defined. The definition of the morphotectonic units was based on their special features and more precisely on the lithological differentiation (granite, metamorphic rocks and post alpine formations) as well as the complex ductile and brittle structures (large scale ductile shear-zones and brittle detachment faults, normal faults, strike-slip transfer faults and join sets) and the morphological features (slope distribution, asymmetry of the drainage system, planation surfaces, morphological discontinuities etc).The synthesis of the special features of each morphotectonic unit in combination with the human impact (fires, overgrazing etc), defines the kind, the intensity and the geographical localization of the natural hazards which occur in various sites of the island, such as landslides, erosion, floods, seismic activity, relief changes, coastline changes etc.

Paros Island is part of the complex of Cyclades Islands, situated in the central Aegean Sea, Greece. The climate of Paros Island is representative of the Mediterranean type, with abrupt rainfalls and lower temperatures during winters and long term sunshine accompanied by dry periods during the summer, conditions able to cause severe problems on the land. The island's low vegetation leaves the ground exposed to erosion. Also, the recent change from the local's people agricultural activities to touristic ones-especially the abandonment of the agricultural terraces during the last 50 years-has influenced the soil cover of the island in an unfavorable way, leading to total soil loss and exposure of the bedrock in many areas. Aggravating this fact, the island's steep slopes render soil regeneration almost impossible. The transferred soil is either moving towards the small alluvial plains or, in most cases, is being deposited directly to the sea. In the following paper an effort is being made to depict the currently existing situation on the island by delineating the areas still appearing to be at a high risk for erosion and to estimate the average amount of soil loss. For the later, the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) was tested on the data of the island. The application of the USLE was implemented via MapInfo and ArcGIS Tools Software. The main result of the present study is that it outlines the areas where severe erosion might occur and also gives a good example for land users what is the best scenario o protect their land against erosion and which plant they should use or avoid to protect their soil from erosion.

This paper focuses on the study of the geomorphological processes and the impact of neotectonic deformation on the geomorphological structure. A vast database was developed, containing different kinds of information, concerning geology, topography, drainage characteristics, vegetation and land use of the Ionian Islands. A geographic information system platform was developed in order to analyse the data, and to model and finally map the prevailing geomorphological processes: the erosion and deposition zones.Erosion risk factors have been processed in order to develop erosion risk maps demonstrating vulnerable to erosion areas. This study also concludes that the Ionian Islands are strongly influenced by the neotectonic processes that have defined their current morphology.

The assessment of an aquifers’ vulnerability to pollution is of great importance, and can be used as a tool to augment planning, effective protection and management of groundwater resources’ quality, especially in the case of karstic aquifers. The present study aims to assess the intrinsic vulnerability of a karstic groundwater system, with the use of a modified version of the PI method. The assessments are functional to the effectiveness of the protective cover, as well as to the degree to which the protective cover is bypassed due to flow conditions. The used data was obtained by field work, empirical and semi-quantitative approaches regarding lithology, fissuring and karstification of bedrock, soil characteristics, hydrology, hydrogeology, topography and vegetation. The combinational effect of the above parameters, as processed with the aid of a GIS system, yielded the final calculation of the protection factor (π) and subsequently the vulnerability of the aquifer to pollution.

Environmental history often reveals the contribution of humans in the modification of natural environment, always in relation with the climatic factors. Archaeological settlements may be preserved through desiccation, however, they are commonly found in floodplain sediments. Archaeological evidences may provide with useful information about the processes and extent of environmental changes, but they may also be used as tools for the analysis of floodplain sedimentation, relative chronology of sedimentation events and for the geomorphological evaluation of the particular archaeological site. The characteristics of archaeological indicators and the deposits in which they occur, may indicate important aspects of their source, transportation way and age. Evidence of river migration may be found in alluvial plains, through careful observations. The study area is located in Kalavrita region in northern Peloponnese. The archaeological excavations carried out revealed the fortification wall of the ancient city of "Kleitor"which is dated between the 3rd and 2nd century BC (Hellenistic Period). It may also provide clues for land surface development, reworking of sedimentary deposits, paleoenvironmental and climatic conditions. Sediments indicating considerable climatic changes are alluvial deposits of considerable thickness, covering areas with human impact. All the aforementioned become a tool for dating the course changes of the rivers and consequently a geomorphological instability. The relationship between geomorphology and history is recognizable also in the settlement distribution. This close relationship between environment and man provides a tool to understanding the landscape evolution from a geomorphological and historical point of view.

This research applies the fuzzy set theory via Geographical Information Systems (GIS) - based analysis to investigate the slope erosion by water. The main steps of this procedure are the definition of the input variables (rocks’ susceptibility to erosion, slope angle, slope morphology), the development of a fuzzy inference system based on theoretical and empirical knowledge, transforming the input to output variables (erosion – deposition) and the visualization of the output variables (spatial distribution of the erosion-deposition processes). The method was applied at the Corinth drainage basin, located in the north-eastern part of Peloponnese (Greece), where a series of catastrophic erosional events have recently occurred.

The possibility of Holocene subsidence along the northern coast of the Corinth Gulf is often mentioned in the literature; however, systematic detailed evidence that submergence (e.g. of archaeological remains) does not simply depend from eustatic sea-level rise is most often missing. In this paper, a new detailed study of submerged tidal-notch profiles along the limestone coast has shown that periods of sea-level stability are intercalated with periods of rapid subsidence or gradual relative sea-level rise. It appears that most of the sites considered, seem to have been affected by a relatively recent co-seismic subsidence of about half a meter, whereas during the longer period, by stages of relative sea-level stability and/or gradual relative sea-level rise. This evidence of subsidence is confirmed by radiocarbon dating in doline sediments, suggesting that during certain periods, a relative sea-level rise was much faster than the raising suggested by glacio-eustatic or hydro-isostatic estimations. Juxtaposing a list of known earthquakes occurred in the area shows that several earthquakes (e.g. the 1981 one for the easternmost sites considered) are potential candidates for the recent co-seismic displacements and thus supporting the geomorphological interpretations.