Effects of inheritance and surface processes on strain localization during the early stages of the Corinth Rift system development

From 5 to ca. 2 million years ago, faulting in the Corinth Rift, in central Greece, was concentrated onshore, to the south of the present-day Gulf of Corinth. Between 2 to 1.8 Ma the active fault network migrated northward, accompanied by footwall uplift, which led to active faulting and the rift being localized offshore in the present-day Gulf of Corinth. The factors controlling this fault migration remain unknown. Overall rift evolution is controlled by tectonics, but climate-driven surface processes affect rift topography, the development and longevity of normal faults, and overall rift evolution. A simple yet effective method for assessing strain distribution within a fractured region is the Kuiper’s test, which quantifies how much a line sampled through a faulted area deviates from a uniform distribution. By calculating the cumulative extension of faults distributed along a line, it is possible to infer if the strain in this section is distributed homogeneously throughout the fractures (values close to the uniform distribution) or if the strain is localized in few large faults (large departure of the uniform distribution), and whether this variation is statistically significant. We use the finite element thermo‐mechanical numerical model Fantom-2D coupled with the landscape evolution model FastScape to investigate how inheritance and surface processes control rift faulting and progressive localization during the early stages of continental rift evolution. We test different values of crustal strength and of frictional-plastic strain weakening to evaluate the response of the models. We tested each model without surface processes, and with different aggradation and progradation rates. We evaluated fault distribution, depocenter migration and rift localization through time and compared them to high resolution datasets from the present-day Corinth Rift and central Greece. The degree of localization obtained through the Kuiper’s test for five regions in the Corinth Rift were used to further validate the models. Using datasets of a rift system with a relatively simple extension history such as the Corinth Rift helps to better constrain numerical modelling parameters and improve rift evolution models.