Field trips are an essential part for geoscience students, as the field is intrinsic for understanding what they are taught in the classroom. Yet, distance learning has never been more necessary than today. Despite their significance in the students’ education, field trips cannot be performed under the present conditions with the COVID-19 pandemic. Educators are called to find, use and evolve various tools in order to offer students quality education, with an effort to eliminate the drawbacks of the lack of physical contact and “live” field work. Virtual field trips are one such tool through which one can virtually see any place on the globe by means of a computer, tablet, or even mobile phone, without physically visiting it. In this paper, we present the results of a virtual field trip developed for students following the Geomorphology course of the Faculty of Geology and Geoenvironment, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens; it can, however, be used from other universities with similar courses not only in Greece but also in other countries as well. The purpose of this study is the evaluation of virtual field trips, both as an alternative to and/or substitute for in situ field work and as a means of preparation for live field trips, by taking into consideration the students’ views through an anonymous questionnaire. Our findings suggest that virtual field trips are useful for geoscience students, and they provide a good alternative during restriction periods, and although they can under no circumstances substitute real field trips, they can be a valuable additional tool when preparing for a live field trip.

Geoscience courses, such as geology and geomorphology, require not only classroom lessons and laboratory exercises, but field trips as well. However, the COVID-19 restrictions did not allow the prosecution of most planned field trips, and an alternative needed to be developed. The use of virtual field trips is one such alternative. Through them, one can not only visit any area of interest, but prepare themselves for any actual educational or exploratory field trip as well. Even though they do not, and should not, substitute any physical visit of a site of interest, they have many advantages when combined with a "live" field work, in comparison to a field trip for which no preparation has been made.Through this research, we compare the advantages and disadvantages of both virtual and real educational field trips based on the opinions of our students. We thus performed a virtual navigation on the island of Naxos, Cyclades (Aegean Sea, Greece) for a series of virtual field trips, which took place during webinars in the framework of Erasmus+ CIVIS. The virtual fieldtrip was also presented to the third-year students of the Faculty of Geology & Geo-environment, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, in the framework of the obligatory course of Geomorphology. Upon completion, all participating students were asked to fill in a questionnaire in order to evaluate the contribution of virtual field trips to their education regarding geomorphology and state their opinion as to whether they can supplement and/or substitute actual field trips. Most of them stated that virtual field trips can aid, but not substitute the actual field work. Most students mentioned that they would attend another virtual field trip in the future, both as an alternative to classroom lessons and as a means of preparation for an actual field trip, but not in order not to attend the actual one.

In some islands of the Aegean, there is evidence of the occurrence of repeated rapid subsidences during the Late Holocene. In this paper, the shape of tidal notches that may be well-preserved underwater is recalled in order to reconstruct sequences of coseismic subsidences and other relative sea-level changes, which occurred during, at least, the last few millennia. A reanalysis of the published measurements of submerged tidal notches in several islands reveals that subsidence trends in many areas of the Aegean are not continuous with gradual movement but, also, are the result of repeated coseismic vertical subsidences of some decimetres at each time. The estimated average return times are of the order of approximately some centuries to one millennium. Although the results cannot be used for short-term predictions of earthquakes, they may provide useful indications on the long-term tectonic trends that are active in the Aegean region.

On 30th October 2020, the eastern Aegean Sea was shaken by a Mw = 7.0 earthquake. The epicenter was located near the northern coasts of Samos island. This tectonic event produced an uplift of the whole island as well as several cases of infrastructure damage, while a small tsunami followed the mainshock. Underwater and coastal geological, geomorphological, biological observations and measurements were performed at the entire coast revealing a complex character for the uplift. At the northwestern part of the island, maximum vertical displacements of +35 ± 5 cm were recorded at the northwestern tip, at Agios Isidoros. Conversely, the southeastern part was known for its subsidence through submerged archaeological remains and former sea level standstills. The 2020 underwater survey unveiled uplifted but still drowned sea level indicators. The vertical displacement at the south and southeastern part ranges between +23 ± 5 and +8 ± 5 cm suggesting a gradual fading of the uplift towards the east. The crucial value of tidal notches, as markers of co-seismic events, was validated from the outcome of this study. The co-seismic response of Samos coastal zone to the 30th October earthquake provides a basis for understanding the complex tectonics of this area.