Mountain chain located on the southern margin of the Aegean Sea Plate
Hellenic arc
A combined diagram of the Aegean and Anatolian Plates. The southern margin of the Hellenic arc is shown, which is the trend line of the faults separating the arc and the Hellenic Trench. The body of the arc is the chain called the outer Hellenides, which includes west Peloponnesus, Crete, Rhodes, southwestern Turkey, and all the islands between.
The Hellenic arc or Aegean arc is an arcuate mountain chain of the southern Aegean Sea located on the southern margin of the Aegean Sea Plate. Geologically it results from the subduction of the African Plate under it along the Hellenic subduction zone. The Hellenic Trench trends parallel to its southern side. The Aegean Sea Plate, a microplate, is often considered part of the Eurasian Plate from which it is in the process of diverging. The arc itself is mainly marine, the mountaintops appearing as islands in the Ionian Sea, Crete and its environs, or in the Dodecanese group. It encroaches on mainland terrain in the Peloponnesus, on Crete, on Rhodes, and on the southern coast of Anatolia, thus being encompassed by both Greece and Turkey.
The direction of subduction is northward. Locations on the arc or near it on the north side are therefore called "outer" as they are at the outer margin of the plate. Locations further north are "inner." Generally the motion of subduction is from outer to inner. It so happens that, due to back-arc extension, the Hellenic Arc and Trench are moving in the reverse direction, from inner to outer, accounting for the severe arcuate form. There are in essence two layers at the subduction zone, a bottom one moving from outer to inner, and a top one moving from inner to outer.
The extension of the top layer required for this excursion of the arc and the trench comes from thinning of the back-arc ("in back of the arc"), weakening the crust there. There was already a mountain chain north of the arc, a legacy from the Alpine Orogeny, called the "inner arc." Its tops are the Cyclades. In addition, a chain of volcanos has appeared across it, due to magma breaking through the weakened crust; hence, this "inner arc" is termed the South Aegean Volcanic Arc. The two arcs are considered distinct, being from different orogenies. The term "Hellenic Arc" most often refers to the marginal, or "non-volcanic" arc, also called the Aegean forearc in the direction from outer to inner, which is consonant with the Hellenic Trench being the foredeep.
The Hellenicarc or Aegean arc is an arcuate mountain chain of the southern Aegean Sea located on the southern margin of the Aegean Sea Plate. Geologically...
The Hellenic Trench (HT) is an oceanic trough located in the forearc of the HellenicArc, an arcuate archipelago on the southern margin of the Aegean Sea...
effect of back-arc extension Hellenicarc, the arc of islands positioned over the Hellenic Trench in the Aegean Sea off Greece Back-arc basin, a subsided...
majority of geoscientists regarded the Hellenic trenches as features within the forearc region of the Hellenicarc, created by some combination of extension...
archaeological remains becoming well preserved under the volcanic ash. HellenicarcHellenic subduction zone Minoan eruption Santorini Mountrakis 2005, p. 1...
direction. The Hellenic Subduction carries the leading edge of the African Plate under the Aegean Sea Plate at the Hellenic Trench. It follows an arc around the...
Island arcs are long chains of active volcanoes with intense seismic activity found along convergent tectonic plate boundaries. Most island arcs originate...
and at Alexandria. It badly damaged the Lighthouse of Alexandria. The Hellenicarc, the most likely location for this earthquake, is an arcuate tectonic...
Aeolian Islands Aegean or Hellenicarc South Aegean Volcanic Arc Lesser Antilles, including the Leeward Antilles Scotia Arc South Sandwich Islands Insular...
earthquakes per century, owing to its location on the seismically unstable Hellenicarc. Pausanias mentions in the Descriptio Graeciae, writing ca. 174, how...
Peloponnesian War. Sparta was located on what is currently called the Hellenicarc which is predisposed to large seismic activity due to the convergence...
Island arcs must be offshore, but they do not necessarily have to be volcanic (e.g. the non-volcanic Hellenicarc). Oceanic arcs are volcanic arcs built...
Greece. The term Hellenic is the endogenous synonym for Greek. The Hellenic Army is the largest of the three branches of the Hellenic Armed Forces, also...
in the Hellenic orogeny, becoming different modern zones of rock. Subsequent to the compressional regime back-arc extension of the Hellenicarc, the outer...
Greece. The Kythira–Antikythira Strait is situated within the Western Hellenicarc. It measures approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi) in length and is situated...
thinned continental crust. The subduction compels the formation of the Hellenicarc, which includes Santorini and other volcanic centres, such as Methana...
thrusting, extension and strike slip. It sits in what is known as the Hellenicarc, which is in an area that is highly vulnerable to seismic activity, and...
Aegean is the location of the volcanic arc and is characterised by extension. To the east of Crete along the HellenicArc, strike-slip tectonics with some extension...
California, United States Strike-slip Active 1868 Hayward (M6.3–6.7) HellenicArc 1000 East Mediterranean Sea Thrust/Strike-slip 365 AD (M8.5+); 1303 AD...
Crete belongs, the Hellenicarc, the curved southern border of the Aegean Sea from the Peloponnesos to Rhodes. To the south, the Hellenic Trench, as much...
the island. The Kythirian Straits are nearby. Kythira is close to the Hellenicarc plate boundary zone, and thus highly prone to earthquakes. Many earthquakes...
Dikti Mountains in the east (2,148 m). Geologically Crete is part of the Hellenicarc, created by the collision of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates...
the Eastern Mediterranean: strong earthquakes and tsunamis in the East HellenicArc and Trench system" (PDF). Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences....
Volcanic Arc to the south and the continuation of the North Anatolian Fault to the north. The extension is a result of the bulging out of the Hellenicarc due...
uplifting the Hellenicarc on the north side of the Hellenic Trench, and the subsequent rotational back-arc extension pushing the arc southward and rotating...
tectonics in the Aegean Sea caused by the southward migration of the Hellenicarc. The easternmost part of Turkey lies on the western end of the Zagros...
eastern Mediterranean Sea: Strong earthquakes and tsunamis in the west HellenicArc and Trench system" (PDF). Journal of Earthquake and Tsunami. Archived...
Transform Fault, which also produced earthquakes in 2003 and 1973. The Hellenicarc is known for its frequent seismological activity and generating historically...
Global Information
