2 The Middle Pleistocene: archaeological and paleoenvironmental research in the Megalopolis Basin 7. Structural control, depositional environment and geo-archaeological conditions in the Megalopolis basin, Southern Greece

Abstract

The Megalopolis Basin (MB) is an intra-montane basin, located in the actively extending domain of the Hellenic Arc, in the central Peloponnese (Fig 1). Its sedimentary fill includes an initial deposition of Pliocene lacustrine marly sands and marls, succeeded by Pleistocene fluvial and lacustrine, lignite-bearing sediments and Late Quaternary fluvial terraces of the Alfeios river (Lüttig and Marinos, 1962; Vinken, 1965). The paleogeographic setting and depositional environment(s) of the MB were controlled by the interplay between tectonic activity and climatic fluctuations throughout the Quaternary, two controlling factors that function at different time scales.