Kleinspehn Fore-arc regions display a wide range of kinematic behaviors, including deformation internal to the fore-arc. Among fore-arcs globally, arc-parallel extension is the most commonly observed internal strain and it can produce substantial rapid fore-arc uplift. The goal of this study is to establish the relationship between subduction-zone dynamics and observed internal neotectonic strain of the southern and southeastern Hellenic fore-arc (Greece) as a function of the obliquity of lithospheric convergence. By examining the kinematics recorded by young basins along strike in the fore-arc going eastward from Crete, where convergence is nearly orthogonal, to the island of Rhodos where the convergence vector is highly oblique, several alternative hypotheses concerning the mechanisms driving neotectonic fore-arc uplift will be addressed: (1) arc-parallel extension, (2) radial extension, (3) shortening, or (4) wrench tectonics under transpression or transtension. Combined structural mapping/kinematic analyses, tectonostratigraphy, and age relations along with threedimensional modeling of the fore-arc geodynamics will address the changing kinematics along the strike of the arc with increasing obliquity of convergence. By using the fill of Late Pliocene-Recent basins for temporal and paleogeographic control and documenting its synand post-depositional deformation as well as adjacent basement kinematics, the neotectonic defon-nation internal to the fore-arc will emerge. The ability to quantify the lithospheric response to oblique convergence relies on dating deformation using combined 4OAr/39Ar geochronology, magnetostratigraphy and biostratigraphy of the basins. Limiting the study to the youngest basins restricts the age of the inferred kinematics and will capitalize on the vertical velocities inherently recorded by sedimentary basins. Three-dimensional numerical model results will be compared to the observed tectonostratigraphic and defon-national patterns to link lithospheric geodynamics to the observed strain and to compare the Hellenic system to other internally deforming fore-arcs globally. The proposed study will examine onshore tectonostratigraphy equivalent to offshore sequences soon to be targeted during a leg of the Offshore Drilling Program and would complement a currently planned ICDP project on Crete to evaluate the mechanical behavior of the leading edge of the overriding plate. Because this study addresses modem tectonics, it is relevant to archeological studies of the impact of seismicity, changing topography and migrating marine shorelines on ancient and modem Mediterranean cultures. Understanding the mechanisms driving neotectonic uplift of these fore-arc islands may enable more accurate evaluation of seismic hazards in the vicinity of these populated islands.
