Kaulonia, southern Italy: Calabrian Arc tectonics inducing Holocene coastline shifts

Abstract

Kaulonia, an ancient Greek settlement (~700 to 389 B.C.), is positioned in a tectonically mobile setting on the Ionian coast of Calabria in southern peninsular Italy. Several extensive back-and-forth shoreline migrations have occurred along this coast since the mid-Holocene. These large-scale shifts, from 100 m landward of the present shoreline to 300m offshore, are recorded by tracing the lateral distribution of archaeological material and a distinct Holocene stratigraphic marker unit (beachrock-cobble sequence). Landward-directed (transgressive) shifts were induced during tectonically calmer periods when phases of relative sea-level rise prevailed. In contrast, a major seaward (regressive) coastal migration resulted primarily from an important ‘see-saw’ phase, with uplift landward and at the coast and a downward seafloor tilt. This Calabrian Arc tectonic event, leading to this offshore displacement in the mid- to late Holocene, is also recorded elsewhere in southern Italy. The approach used here, integrating geological and archaeological databases, serves to more precisely interpret settings where major nearshore changes have been driven largely by effects of structural mobility.

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