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1.
Iraq has experienced significant agricultural land use changes throughout its history, including recent changes initiated by the 2003 US-led military invasion, the end of United Nations' economic sanctions and the onset of overt domestic conflict. Conflict and sociopolitical forces are important drivers of land use/land cover change and often have disproportionate impacts on agricultural systems. However, there has been little research to investigate recent changes in agricultural land use/land cover in Iraq over the recent tumultuous period that has included war and the transition of its political system from a dictatorship to an emerging but beleaguered democracy. Our objectives were to (1) determine if cropland area in Iraq changed significantly between 2001 and 2012, (2) identify regional patterns of cropland area change, and (3) identify sociopolitical forces driving those changes. We used MODIS Land Cover Product yearly data to quantify the amount of land cover dedicated to croplands. We regressed cropland area (ha) on time (2001, 2002, 2003,…) and years with drought influence (yes, no). The results revealed significant changes in cropland area for Iraq as a whole, with cropland area decreasing over 30,000 ha per year. Regionally, there were significant decreases in the Kurdish Autonomous Region and central Iraq, and initial increases in the southern marshlands followed by decreases related to drought. 相似文献
2.
Sequential application of the single shift Normal Homogeneity Test (NHT) to the time series of Sahel rainfall revealed three clusters of discontinuities or breakpoints separating climatically stationary periods: 1933–1944, 1955–1974, and 1980–1989. At least one breakpoint was detected in 33 of the 55 series analyzed, while two breakpoints occurred in 12. The breakpoints of 1933–1944 marked the termination of spatially localized droughts in western Burkina Faso and southern Mali. Generally speaking, the Sahel drought that began in the late 1960s, persisted into 1998. However, abrupt positive shifts that occurred during the late 1980s restored mean annual rainfall to pre-drought levels at isolated locations. The stationarity of the periods between breakpoints suggests that the abrupt shifts are the dominant source of inhomogeneity in Sahel rainfall. Unlike the widely used climatic normal periods (CNPs), stationary periods are suitable for calculating various empirical indices for application in agriculture and rural water-resources planning in the area. The large number of breakpoints detected at different time periods suggests that Sahel rainfall series are prone to sudden transitions between quasi-stable climatic regimes; much like the onset, drought may terminate abruptly through a sudden shift in the mean annual rainfall. [Key words: Sahel, West Africa, drought, rainfall.] 相似文献
3.
David Changnon 《自然地理学》2013,34(1):29-46
Hydroclimatic parameters were examined to identify spatial variability among 19 Midwestern basins during the 1950–1990 period. The magnitude of annual streamflow variability values increased westward across the Midwest and appeared to be associated with a similar pattern in annual precipitation variability. Basin seasonal streamflow values were analyzed to determine the occurrence of hydrologic drought. A criterion that combined duration and severity of low-flow characteristics was used to determine hydrologic droughts. Sixteen of the 19 basins experienced between one and four hydrologic droughts, whereas 3 experienced none. The temporal distribution and spatial extent of the 45 hydrologic droughts indicated that there were two classifications of Midwestern hydrologic drought during this period. The first type–“long-term” hydrologic drought–occurred over: (1) a period of 12 or more consecutive seasons and (2) a broad latitudinal belt across the Midwest. Long-term hydrologic droughts occurred during the period from the early 1950s through the late 1960s. Since 1970, hydrologic droughts can be described as “short-term” and are characterized as having occurred over: (1) periods generally less than two years and (2) a smaller region. This information could assist hydrologists and water managers in understanding the more precise nature of temporal and spatial differences that exist in Midwestern hydrologic drought. [Key words: hydrologic drought, hydroclimatic variability, Midwest United States.] 相似文献
4.
广东省水稻旱灾的评价及防旱抗旱对策 总被引：9，自引：0，他引：9
根据广东省水稻旱灾实况，提出了水稻旱情和干旱灾情没的评价指标，分析了广东省解放后历年旱，晚稻旱情和灾情及分布和变化规律，并针对本省的自然条件和灌溉现状提出了防旱抗旱措施。 相似文献
5.
The dendrochronological study of shrubs is a new field, particularly with respect to desert areas. Using a dendrochronological perspective, we studied the radial growth and the climatic response model of the common beancaper (Zygophyllum xanthoxylum Maxim) in three sampling sites in the Badain Jaran Desert of northwestern China. The results showed that the radial growth of the common beancaper was primarily affected by precipitation during the pre-growing and growing seasons, especially during July. Variation in wet/drought periods over the last 160 years in the study area was analyzed using a radial growth climatic response model and data on regional chronology. Using decadal time scales, three wet periods were identified in the Badain Jaran Desert: the 1840s to early 1850s, the early 1890s to the 1900s and the late 1970s to the mid-1980s. Similarly, transitions from dry to wet periods over the last 160 years occurred in the late 1850s, mid-1870s, early 1880s, early 1900s, mid-1920s, early 1950s, early and late 1970s and early 1990s. These results are helpful for understanding regional climate change and the desertification process in arid desert regions. 相似文献
6.
干旱强度及发生时间对华北平原五省冬小麦产量影响 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
本文利用2001-2016年时间分辨率为8 d的MOD09A1和MOD16A2的数据集,构建了基于NDVI和ET/PET的干旱指数(DSI),分析华北平原五省不同程度的干旱在时间和空间上的分布情况,探究不同程度的干旱作用于冬小麦不同生长阶段对农作物产量产生的影响。研究表明:①年际分布上,2001-2002年干旱最为严重,其余年份干旱显著减缓,年内分布上,干旱主要集中发生在春季和秋季,夏季次之,冬季最少;②空间分布上,河北北部、河南南部、安徽及江苏的中部和北部、山东东部是干旱多发区;③干旱对冬小麦产量的影响研究表明,越冬期发生初旱对产量起促进作用,而在乳熟成熟阶段发生初旱则会导致农作物减产;轻旱发生在乳熟期会对冬小麦产量产生显著影响,而中旱发生在开花、乳熟成熟期都会对产量产生显著影响,随干旱程度加重,干旱对作物产量产生显著负作用的生长期越长;此外,在播种时若出现水分短缺也会对冬小麦的产量产生影响,尤其是发生重旱和特旱。研究不同强度干旱发生在不同生长阶段对冬小麦产量的影响,对研究区的灌溉时间规划以及保墒增产具有重要理论与现实意义。 相似文献
7.
1960-2009年西南地区极端干旱气候变化(英文) 总被引：9，自引：1，他引：8
Based on the daily data of temperature and precipitation of 108 meteorological stations in Southwest China from 1960 to 2009, we calculate the monthly and yearly surface humid indexes, as well as the extreme drought frequency. According to the data, the temporal and spatial characteristics of the extreme drought frequency in inter-annual, inter-decadal, summer monsoon period and winter monsoon period are analyzed. The results are indicated as follows. (1) In general, the southwestern Sichuan Basin, southern Hengduan Mountains, southern coast of Guangxi and northern Guizhou are the areas where the extreme drought frequency has significantly increased in the past 50 years. As for the decadal change, from the 1960s to the 1980s the extreme drought frequency has presented a decreasing trend, while the 1990s is the wettest decade and the whole area is turning wet. In the 2000s, the extreme drought frequency rises quickly, but the regional differences reduce. (2) During summer monsoon period, the extreme drought frequency is growing, which generally occurs in the high mountains around the Sichuan Basin, most parts of Guangxi and "the broom-shaped mountains" in Yunnan. It is distinct that the altitude has impacts on the ex-treme drought frequency; during winter monsoon period, the area is relatively wet and the extreme drought frequency is decreasing. (3) During summer monsoon period, the abrupt change is observed in 2003, whereas the abrupt change during winter monsoon period is in 1989. The annual extreme drought frequency variation is a superposition of abrupt changes during summer monsoon and winter monsoon periods. The departure sequence vibration of annual extreme drought frequency is quasi-5 years and quasi-12 years. 相似文献
8.
Summer Moisture Variability in East Central Sweden Since the Mid-Eighteenth Century Recorded in Tree Rings 总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2
Hans W. Linderholm Mats Niklasson Tina Molin 《Geografiska Annaler: Series A, Physical Geography》2004,86(3):277-287
To make predictions of future climate it is necessary to understand the past climate—temperature as well as precipitation. While a wealth of temperature proxies exist from northern latitudes, there is still a lack of information about past precipitation variability. Here we present a 300‐year‐long tree‐ring width chronology from xeric‐site Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris L.) in Tyresta National Park, east central Sweden. Tree‐ring widths were compared to the long observed temperature and precipitation records from Stockholm during 1786–2000. Analyses of the climate/growth relationship showed that, in general, May–June precipitation had a dominating influence on pine growth. However, during dry periods, negative responses to June–July temperature were stronger, especially evident in the late nineteenth century. Periods of below‐average growth were associated with dry conditions in May–June, but occasionally periods of wet and cool summers also produced narrow rings. Periods of above‐average growth were linked to wet, but sporadically also cool and dry, early summers. The years between 1815 and 1833 appear to be particularly dry in the 300‐year context. Since growth anomalies are found in other Swedish drought‐sensitive tree‐ring chronologies during this period, it is likely that this dry period had a regional extent. This is the first tree‐ring chronology from southern Sweden that provides multi‐century information of past summer drought and moisture variability with high resolution and the study will add important information regarding past climate variability in southern Sweden. 相似文献
9.
塔里木盆地南缘4 ka B.P.以来气候环境演化与古城镇废弃事件关系研究 总被引：11，自引：6，他引：5
策勒绿洲沉积地层及地球化学元素的研究表明,虽然近４ ｋａ Ｂ．Ｐ．来本地区气候环境的干旱状况持续未变,但期间仍有若干次相对湿润与干旱化加剧时期的波动。结合年代学的研究,以约２ ０００ ａＢ．Ｐ．为界,其以前气候以相对湿润为主,而此以后,则以持续干旱为主要特征,且揭示出４ 次具有突变性质的气候转干时期,即自约１ ５００ａ Ｂ．Ｐ．开始,类似本地区现今气候环境特征已经出现,自约１ ２００ ａ Ｂ．Ｐ．至１ ０００ ａ Ｂ．Ｐ．、１ ０００ ａ Ｂ．Ｐ．至６３０ ａＢ．Ｐ．期间和２００ ａ Ｂ．Ｐ．以后,策勒地区沙漠化进程急剧加强。本研究揭示了４ ｋａ Ｂ．Ｐ．来本地区持续干旱化的特征,并有后期加剧的趋势,而上述气候的转干事件与塔里木盆地古城废弃事件之间具有良好的吻合关系,表明气候环境的自然演化是影响人地关系的重要因素之一。 相似文献
10.
明代济南地区旱灾发生频次分析 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
通过对明代济南地区历史文献中干旱灾害记载的整理统计,分析了该时期济南地区旱灾的时间变化特征、等级和成因。结果表明,在明代276 a间,济南地区共发生旱灾92次,平均每3 a发生1次。明代济南地区旱灾主要分为两个发生阶段: 1370—1460年代旱灾偏少期和1470—1630年代旱灾多发期。从明代早期到晚期,济南地区旱灾发生频次呈明显增加趋势,而明代中后期旱灾呈较明显的波动变化特点。明代济南地区干旱灾害可划分为4个等级:①以三级大旱灾发生频次最多,为36次,平均每7.7 a发生1次,占旱灾总次数的39%;②一级轻度旱灾和二级中度旱灾,各发生25次和22次,分别占旱灾总次数的27%和24%;③四级特大旱灾发生次数最少,共9次,约占旱灾总次数的10%。气候干旱、降水稀少是旱灾发生的主要原因,人为因素有可能加重了本区旱灾的危害强度。 相似文献
11.
黄淮海平原地处燕山以南、淮河以北,包含黄河、淮河和海河冲积平原及部分丘陵山区,属于半干旱、半湿润地区,年降水量500~900 mm,是我国主要的冬小麦种植区。利用黄淮海平原49个农气站点1961—2017年日值气象数据,采用Penman-Monteith模型计算的日尺度SPEI指数,从气象干旱的角度分析了黄淮海平原近56 a冬小麦主要生育阶段干旱持续时间和干旱强度的变化,并采用R/S方法对干旱未来变化趋势进行预测。结果表明:(1)从空间分布上来看,冬小麦的营养生长期和并进期,北部干旱持续时间较短,干旱强度较小,南部干旱持续时间较长,干旱强度较大,而冬小麦生殖生长期与前两个生育期干旱分布相反。(2)从各站点变化趋势来看,在冬小麦整个生育期内干旱持续时间与干旱强度呈相反趋势。(3)从时间变化趋势上来看,1961—2017年干旱有明显减缓趋势,除个别站点外,在冬小麦的营养生长期和并进期,干旱持续时间和干旱强度自2003年起干旱有逐渐减缓趋势,在生殖生长期则从2007年起干旱有逐渐减缓趋势。(4)从未来变化趋势来看,营养生长期干旱持续时间将缩短,干旱强度将减小,并进期的干旱持续时间和干旱强度的变化将和过去56 a基本保持一致,生殖生长期干旱持续时间将有所增长,干旱强度将有所加重。本研究分析了黄淮海平原冬小麦生育阶段干旱特征,旨在认识分析和掌握冬小麦生育期干旱演变特征以及干旱发生规律,对保障粮食安全和防旱减灾提供了科学依据。 相似文献
12.
中国南方调整水稻种植格局——一种水稻生产预先适应气候变化的选择(英文) 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
Rice planted in southern China accounts for 94% of the total in sown acreage and 88% of the total in production, which matters a lot to Chinese food security. However, due to the prolonged conflict between water availability and rice growth in spatial/temporal distribu-tion, rice production suffers from seasonal drought at acreage of 16%-22%, which compro-mises food production capacity and food security. Focusing on the spatial distribution of seasonal drought with rice and the practices to adapt to it, and based on an analysis of bal-anced water supply for and demand by rice at a growing season scale during 1981-2030, this paper assesses the changing seasonal drought in the process of rice production under the changing climate in the future, and identifies general rice re-cultivation options for climate change adaptation. Some conclusions can be drawn as follows. (1) Rice suggests a decline in seasonal drought, with early season rice (early rice hereafter) by 12,500 km2, middle season rice (middle rice) by 80,000 km2, and in particular late season rice (late rice) by 25,000 km2, which accounts for almost 20% of its cultivated acreage. It is indicated that due to climate change, seasonal drought in major rice producing areas tends to alleviate in general, late season rice in particular. (2) Future climate change brings about a significant impact on the spatial/temporal distribution of water resources in rice producing areas in China. Based on ’pre-designed’ adaptation actions for rice-re-cultivation, the rice cultivation pattern undergoes a significant alteration between 1981-2000 and 2001-2030. In eastern Guizhou and western Hunan, the pattern of single early plus single dry farming is changed into double cropping. In eastern Hunan, the pattern of dry cropping is changed into single early plus single dry farming. In northern Anhui, the pattern of dry farming cropping is changed into middle rice. All this is aimed at a potential adequate availability of water for rice production in the future. (3) Rice re-cultivation patterns developed in this paper help re-balance water demand and supply for rice growth using the spatial analysis tool to adapt rice growth to the changing water avail-ability from spatial perspective, and come up with rice producer-friendly re-cultivation options in response to climate change. 相似文献
13.
Abstract The post early Carboniferous subsidence history of the Central North Sea basin can be separated into three major periods: Permian, Triassic and post Mid-Jurassic. Prior efforts to account for this subsidence within an extensional framework have concentrated on the post Mid-Jurassic. These efforts have assumed that the effects of the previous periods of extension necessary to create the Permian and Triassic subsidence are negligible. We consider the 80-km value for the Mid-Jurassic-mid-Cretaceous extension from these efforts a reasonable upper estimate of the likely amount of extension. This value has received considerable criticism as it is almost four times as great as that determined by summing the horizontal displacement (heave) on faults observed on industry seismic lines in the area.
We treat the two earlier phases of extension as one phase and develop a method to estimate the maximum value of this extension. We use this value, with estimates of the total extension from the early Carboniferous to Present, to determine a likely minimum value for the mid-Mid-Jurassic through mid-Cretaceous extension. After justifying the use of Airy isostasy for the loading response of the lithosphere we show that the observed unloaded basement subsidence history is compatible with the parameters we derive for the pre and post Mid-Jurassic extension. Our minimum estimate of 38 km is still significantly higher than that: made by summing the heave on the faults active throughout the Upper Jurassic and lower Cretaceous. 相似文献
We treat the two earlier phases of extension as one phase and develop a method to estimate the maximum value of this extension. We use this value, with estimates of the total extension from the early Carboniferous to Present, to determine a likely minimum value for the mid-Mid-Jurassic through mid-Cretaceous extension. After justifying the use of Airy isostasy for the loading response of the lithosphere we show that the observed unloaded basement subsidence history is compatible with the parameters we derive for the pre and post Mid-Jurassic extension. Our minimum estimate of 38 km is still significantly higher than that: made by summing the heave on the faults active throughout the Upper Jurassic and lower Cretaceous. 相似文献
14.
Stéphane Homke Jaume Vergés Peter Van Der Beek Manel Fernàndez Eduard Saura Luis Barbero Balazs Badics Erika Labrin 《Basin Research》2010,22(5):659-680
We present the first fission‐track (FT) thermochronology results for the NW Zagros Belt (SW Iran) in order to identify denudation episodes that occurred during the protracted Zagros orogeny. Samples were collected from the two main detrital successions of the NW Zagros foreland basin: the Palaeocene–early Eocene Amiran–Kashkan succession and the Miocene Agha Jari and Bakhtyari Formations. In situ bedrock samples were furthermore collected in the Sanandaj‐Sirjan Zone. Only apatite fission‐track (AFT) data have been successfully obtained, including 26 ages and 11 track‐length distributions. Five families of AFT ages have been documented from analyses of in situ bedrock and detrital samples: pre‐middle Jurassic at ～171 and ～225 Ma, early–late Cretaceous at ～91 Ma, Maastrichtian at ～66 Ma, middle–late Eocene at ～38 Ma and Oligocene–early Miocene at ～22 Ma. The most widespread middle–late Eocene cooling phase, around ～38 Ma, is documented by a predominant grain‐age population in Agha Jari sediments and by cooling ages of a granitic boulder sample. AFT ages document at least three cooling/denudation periods linked to major geodynamic events related to the Zagros orogeny, during the late Cretaceous oceanic obduction event, during the middle and late Eocene and during the early Miocene. Both late Cretaceous and early Miocene orogenic processes produced bending of the Arabian plate and concomitant foreland deposition. Between the two major flexural foreland episodes, the middle–late Eocene phase mostly produced a long‐lasting slow‐ or nondepositional episode in the inner part of the foreland basin, whereas deposition and tectonics migrated to the NE along the Sanandaj‐Sirjan domain and its Gaveh Rud fore‐arc basin. As evidenced in this study, the Zagros orogeny was long‐lived and multi‐episodic, implying that the timing of accretion of the different tectonic domains that form the Zagros Mountains requires cautious interpretation. 相似文献
15.
Muhammad Hassaan Jan I. Faleide Roy H. Gabrielsen Filippos Tsikalas 《Basin Research》2021,33(1):91-117
An extensive, reprocessed two‐dimensional (2D) seismic data set was utilized together with available well data to study the Tiddlybanken Basin in the southeastern Norwegian Barents Sea, which is revealed to be an excellent example of base salt rift structures, evaporite accumulations and evolution of salt structures. Late Devonian–early Carboniferous NE‐SW regional extensional stress affected the study area and gave rise to three half‐grabens that are separated by a NW‐SE to NNW‐SSE trending horst and an affiliated interference transfer zone. The arcuate nature of the horst is believed to be the effect of pre‐existing Timanian basement grain, whereas the interference zone formed due to the combined effect of a Timanian (basement) lineament and the geometrical arrangement of the opposing master faults. The interference transfer zone acted as a physical barrier, controlling the facies distribution and sedimentary thickness of three‐layered evaporitic sequences (LES). During the late Triassic, the northwestern part of a salt wall was developed due to passive diapirism and its evolution was influenced by halite lithology between the three‐LES. The central and southeastern parts of the salt wall did not progress beyond the pedestal stage due to lack of halite in the deepest evaporitic sequence. During the Triassic–Jurassic transition, far‐field stresses from the Novaya Zemlya fold‐and‐thrust belt reactivated the pre‐salt Carboniferous rift structures. The reactivation led to the development of the Signalhorn Dome, rejuvenated the northwestern part of the salt wall and affected the sedimentation rates in the southeastern broad basin. The salt wall together with the Signalhorn Dome and the Carboniferous pre‐salt structures were again reactivated during post‐Early Cretaceous, in response to regional compressional stresses. During this main tectonic inversion phase, the northwestern and southeastern parts of the salt wall were rejuvenated; however, salt reactivation was minimized towards the interference transfer zone beneath the centre of the salt wall. 相似文献
16.
《The Australian geographer》1995,26(1):71-86
The upper Nepean River has been progressively regulated for water supply to Sydney and Wollongong since 1886 by the Upper Nepean Water Supply Scheme which consists of four large dams, two small dams and two diversion weirs. Secular rainfall changes produced periods of high rainfall and large floods (flood‐dominated regimes) between 1857 and 1900 and 1947 and the present, and an intervening period (1901–46) of low rainfall and small floods (drought‐dominated regime). Upstream impoundment and flow regulation significantly reduced flood magnitudes for most return periods during both types of flood regimes. The probability distribution of mean daily flows was also changed significantly by flow regulation such that during the drought‐dominated regime, the high and low frequency flows were reduced substantially but the moderate frequency flows were increased due to dam releases; the change from a regulated drought‐dominated regime to a regulated flood‐ dominated regime resulted in a substantial increase in discharge for most durations; and increased water diversions to Wollongong during the current flood‐dominated regime produced a marked downward shift in the whole flow duration curve. Nepean Dam reduced downstream suspended sediment yields by two orders of magnitude because it traps in excess of 99 per cent of the inflowing suspended sediment load. Streamflow releases are urgently required from the two diversion weirs to improve downstream water quality and to ensure the viability of the resident ‘potentially threatened’ eastern Macquarie perch (Macquaria nov. sp.). 相似文献
17.
红壤丘陵区土地可持续利用中的干旱约束与调控研究 总被引：3，自引：2，他引：3
本文选择红壤丘陵区江西余江县作为研究样点 ,运用Zi指数等定量方法衡量区域干旱问题 ,辨识区域存在的干旱及其类别等级 ;运用“制约强度指数”衡量干旱对土地农业利用的约束程度。研究表明 ,红壤丘陵区一定频度的干旱 ,制约着土地利用的过程、形式与效果及其时空变异性 ,其制约强度与土地利用的方式及其结构、作物种类等密切相关。旱地的盲目扩展等不适当人为活动 ,在水利效用受局限之后对干旱成灾的影响作用日渐突出。科学的调控不仅需要完善水利工程网络建设 ,对水源利用采取蓄、引、节、保措施 ,也需要改进土地利用模式与技术 ,重视修订总体规划并进行土地利用的结构性调整。 相似文献
18.
19.
中国现代干旱灾害的时空特征* 总被引：28，自引：0，他引：28
本文提出了一个考虑前期降水短缺影响的干旱指数。利用1951-1991年逐月全国160个站的降水资料划分干旱等级,分析了我国干旱,包括多旱、重旱和持续干旱的区域分布,指出我国主要有四大干旱中心;分析了干旱随时间的变化,发现全国及多数区域的现代干旱存在着线性增长的趋势。最后利用全国干旱受灾和成灾面积讨论了干旱的影响,指出全国近代干旱受灾和成灾面积存在着三个高值期,且总体线性增长趋势也很明显。 相似文献
20.
Crustal thickening north of the Hellenic subduction zone continued in the most external zones (e.g. Crete) probably until the late middle Miocene. The following period of predominant extension has been related by various workers to a number of causes such as: (1) trench retreat (roll back) driven by the pull of the African slab and (2) gravitational body forces associated with the thickened crust, both in combination with NNE motion of the African plate combined with westward extrusion of the Anatolian block along the North Anatolian Fault. To verify these hypotheses an inventory of fault orientations and fault-block kinematics was carried out for central and eastern Crete and adjoining offshore areas by combining satellite imagery, digital terrain models, and structural, seismic, sedimentary and stratigraphical field data, all set up in a GIS. The GIS data set enabled easy visualization and combination of data, which resulted in a relatively objective analysis. The geological results are discussed in the light of a numerical model that investigated the intraplate stresses resulting from the above mentioned forces. Our tectonostratigraphic results for the late Neogene of central and eastern Crete show three episodes of basin extension following a period of approximately N–S compression. In the earliest Tortonian, N130E- to N100E-trending normal faults developed, resulting in a roughly planar, arc-parallel fault system aligning strongly asymmetric half-grabens. The early Tortonian to early Messinian period was characterized by an orthogonal fault system of N100E and N020E faults resulting in rectangular grabens and half-grabens. From the late Tortonian to early Pleistocene, deformation occurred along a pattern of closely spaced, left-lateral oblique N075E faults, orientated parallel to the south Cretan trenches. Deformation phases younger than early Pleistocene are dominated by normal to oblique faulting along WSW–ENE (N050E) faults and dextral, oblique motions along NNW–SSE (N160E) faults. Many faults that were generated during previous deformational episodes appear to be reactivated in later periods. Our tectonostratigraphy points to a three step anticlockwise rotation of active fault systems since the late middle Miocene compressional phase. We suggest here that the rotation is associated with a reorganization of the stress field going from SSW–NNE tension in the early late Miocene to NE–SW left-lateral shear in the Quaternary. The rotation is likely to be a response to arc-normal pull forces combined with a progressive increase of the curvature of the arc. During the Pliocene to Recent period, the SSW-ward retreat of the arc and trench system relative to the African plate was accomplished by transform motions in the eastern (Levantine) segment of the Hellenic Arc, resulting in, respectively, NNW–SSE and NE–SW left-lateral shear on Crete. 相似文献