Stratigraphic Play Types in Syn-Rift Sequences: Examples from the Gulf of Corinth Asymmetric Grabens, Greece

R. L. Gawthorpe, R. E. L. Collier, M. R. Leeder

Since the late Miocene, the Gulf of Corinth system in central Greece has extended approximately north-south within a back-arc environment. Major east-southeast-west-northwest-trending normal faults dissect prerift sequences, creating asymmetric grabens on kilometers to tens of kilometers scales. Episodic activity on discrete fault segments controls rates of footwall uplift and basinal subsidence. These together with regional uplift across north Peloponnesus generate a complex sedimentary response.

Syn-rift sequences range from continental to deep marine facies. Facies architecture reflects competing lateral and axial supply contributions, each creating distinct reservoir geometry and stratigraphic trap styles.

Lateral systems are developed off fault margins to the Megara subbasin and the present Gulf of Corinth, forming characteristic fan geometries dependent on basin margin morphology and position relative to transfer zones. Axial sand bodies of both fluvial and marine facies are positioned according to structural tilt, location of intrabasinal fault blocks, and progradational extent of lateral systems. These tectonic effects are well displayed in the Gulf of Corinth and the Corinth subbasins.

During periods of tectonic quiescence, sediment distribution patterns may be modified by the increased role of climate and eustacy as controls on sedimentation. Episodic tectonic activity through basin evolution and resultant sediment cyclicity may thus create a series of stratigraphic traps.

These neotectonic examples may be used as templates for the interpretation of syn-rift sequences and the identification of play types in other rift basins.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91032©1988 Mediterranean Basins Conference and Exhibition, Nice, France, 25-28 September 1988.