Tectonic evolution and mass wasting within the Lefkada west coast

On 17th November 2015, a strong earthquake affected the southern part of the Lefkada Island, Greece. After the earthquake extensive translational debris slides triggered cross most of west coast of the island in a distance of about 15 km. The majority of these slides concentrated at Egremni beach which is a famous touristic destination. The cliff is crossed by the Cephalonia Fault Zone and this is considered as a major factor provoking the steep slope, large-scale co-seismic and post-seismic mass wasting and disturbance of the forest of the cliff. Seven years after the 2015 event, the cliff remains at retreat due to limited forestation, seismicity and storms in the area. Monitoring of the cliff was performed between 2015 and 2021 including extensive field measurements, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flight campaigns and a sediment trap. The high-resolution images acquired by the UAV were used for the creation of orthophoto maps and digital surface models (DSMs) of the cliff. The data indicates that Egremni cliff is slowly entering a stage of equilibrium due to climatic forcing, alongside minor seismicity and absence of forestation. Mass-wasting processes remained significant across the Lefkada west coast seven years after the 2015 earthquake sequence.