AFG - Active Faults Greece: a comprehensive geomorphology-based 1:25,000 fault database
Cite as:
Begg, John; Mouslopoulou, Vasiliki; Heron, David; Nicol, Andrew (2025): AFG - Active Faults Greece: a comprehensive geomorphology-based 1:25,000 fault database. GFZ Data Services. https://doi.org/10.5880/fidgeo.2025.047
Status
I N R E V I E W : Begg, John; Mouslopoulou, Vasiliki; Heron, David; Nicol, Andrew (2025): AFG - Active Faults Greece: a comprehensive geomorphology-based 1:25,000 fault database. GFZ Data Services. https://doi.org/10.5880/fidgeo.2025.047
Abstract
Greece is Europe’s most seismically active nation, as it is being deformed by an active subduction system and one of the world’s fastest-spreading rifts. Onshore active faults pose seismic hazard that cannot be reliably assessed in the absence of a comprehensive map of potential earthquake sources. Here, we use high-resolution Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), in conjunction with hillshades and slope models, to map and characterise faults in Greece at a scale of 1:25000. The Active Faults Greece (AFG) database records a total of 3815 fault-traces assigned to 892 interpreted faults. Of the AFG traces, 53% were mapped here for the first time, with their geometries and slip-sense constrained by displacement of landscape features. AFG includes >2000 active and 1632 probably active fault-traces, while 30 traces result from historic surface-rupturing earthquakes since 464 BC. About 57% of faults exhibit strong depositional control (DC) on sedimentation patterns, with active faults being characterised by approximately equal numbers of sharp (32%), moderate (29%) and rounded (29%) scarps. AFG is the first fault database in Greece generated using nationwide interpretation of geomorphology and has applications in paleoseismology, seismic-hazard assessment, mineral-resources exploration, and resilience planning.
Data Access:
- Download archive version via GFZ Data Services (upper left)
- Web-Map Server: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/a6c85b1edf9d4d17a3f01a70cef6d2b2
- GIS Users: https://services2.arcgis.com/T7iULq65Kp9Elquk/arcgis/rest/services/Active_Faults_Greece/FeatureServer
- Layerfiles for use in ArcGIS Pro and QGIS: https://noaig.maps.arcgis.com/sharing/rest/content/items/4b93c25b931744dabc4851abf9c8ae38/data
Authors
Begg, John;National Observatory of Athens, Athens, Greece
Mouslopoulou, Vasiliki;National Observatory of Athens, Athens, Greece;GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany
Heron, David;Earth Science New Zealand (formerly GNS Science), Lower Hutt, New Zealand
Nicol, Andrew;University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
Contact
Mouslopoulou, Vasiliki
(Senior Scientist); National Observatory of Athens, Athens, Greece; ➦
Keywords
Active faults, Earthquakes, Greece, Geomorphology, Landscape Analysis, Normal fault, Fault scarp, Topography, Paleoearthquakes, Historic ruptures
CharacterString: Greece is Europe’s most seismically active nation, as it is being deformed by an active subduction system and one of the world’s fastest-spreading rifts. Onshore active faults pose seismic hazard that cannot be reliably assessed in the absence of a comprehensive map of potential earthquake sources. Here, we use high-resolution Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), in conjunction with hillshades and slope models, to map and characterise faults in Greece at a scale of 1:25000. The Active Faults Greece (AFG) database records a total of 3815 fault-traces assigned to 892 interpreted faults. Of the AFG traces, 53% were mapped here for the first time, with their geometries and slip-sense constrained by displacement of landscape features. AFG includes >2000 active and 1632 probably active fault-traces, while 30 traces result from historic surface-rupturing earthquakes since 464 BC. About 57% of faults exhibit strong depositional control (DC) on sedimentation patterns, with active faults being characterised by approximately equal numbers of sharp (32%), moderate (29%) and rounded (29%) scarps. AFG is the first fault database in Greece generated using nationwide interpretation of geomorphology and has applications in paleoseismology, seismic-hazard assessment, mineral-resources exploration, and resilience planning.
Data Access:
- Download archive version via GFZ Data Services (upper left)
- Web-Map Server: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/a6c85b1edf9d4d17a3f01a70cef6d2b2
- GIS Users: https://services2.arcgis.com/T7iULq65Kp9Elquk/arcgis/rest/services/Active_Faults_Greece/FeatureServer
- Layerfiles for use in ArcGIS Pro and QGIS: https://noaig.maps.arcgis.com/sharing/rest/content/items/4b93c25b931744dabc4851abf9c8ae38/data
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CharacterString: Mouslopoulou, Vasiliki
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CharacterString: National Observatory of Athens, Athens, Greece
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Released
Dataset
Abstract
;National Observatory of Athens, Athens, Greece
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