Helike — Selinous River Mouth Tsunami Horizon
Helike Selinous Delta Horizon · Selinous Tsunami Sand South
Early Bronze Age to Classical (3000 – 373 BCE)·Achaean Greek, river engineers·🇬🇷 Peloponnese, Achaea, Selinous River delta mouth east of Bouras Plain, Gulf of Corinth, Greece
About
About Helike — Selinous River Mouth Tsunami Horizon
1 m below delta plain, cored 2020–2023 (Univ. Patras). The sand contains reworked Selinous fluvial clasts plus fully marine foraminifera (Ammonia, Elphidium), proving coeval fluvial–marine mixing during the 373 BCE inundation — a textbook tsunamiite vs storm discriminant. The delta's Classical levee (stone-revetted, 4th c. BCE) is truncated by the sand, showing the river avulsed during the earthquake. 2 m below the tsunamiite demonstrate long delta human use.
The horizon complements Bouras Plain western field by showing lateral tsunami variability across the Helike chora.
Why it mattersFluvial–marine tsunami discriminant for 373 BCE event; delta avulsion chronology for Gulf of Corinth neotectonics.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Whether Selinous avulsion was coseismic or tsunami-caused
- 02EH delta fields extent under tsunamite
Theories
- 01373 BCE event was combined earthquake + Selinous dam-break flood + tsunami — compound disaster
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- Selinous levee c.450 BCE; delta occupied Early Helladic
- Period
- Early Bronze Age to Classical (3000 – 373 BCE)
- Culture
- Achaean Greek, river engineers
- Builders
- Helike chora dwellers
- Purpose
- Selinous flood control levee and delta field system engulfed by tsunami
- Abandoned
- 373 BCE tsunami and river avulsion; chora abandoned
- Rediscovered
- 2020 Patras delta coring
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.3000 BCE
Early Helladic delta fields at 6.2 m depth
c.450 BCE
Classical stone levee built on Selinous
Winter 373 BCE
Tsunami + Selinous avulsion deposits 45 cm tsunamiite
2020
Patras cores find marine foram mixed with fluvial clasts
On the ground
Structures & features
38.2152° N · 22.1428° E · 1 m · 3 mapped features
Tsunamiite Graded Sand (45 cm)
geological marker45 cm graded tsunami sand with marine forams at 3.2 m
38.2154° N · 22.1430° EClassical Stone Levee Truncated
hydraulicStone levee truncated by tsunami sand, 4th c. BCE
38.2150° N · 22.1425° EEarly Helladic Delta Field Under
settlementEH sherds at 6.2 m below tsunamite in delta field
38.2152° N · 22.1428° E