Published In

Journal of Geophysical Research Solid Earth

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-1-2026

Subjects

Hellenic Subduction System -- Geology -- Greece

Abstract

The Hellenic subduction system is the primary locus of Nubia‐Eurasia convergence, yet thedistribution of strain accumulation along it is still debated. Here, we invert 832 geodetic velocities and 146earthquake slip vectors to assess the spatial variability of interseismic locking and provide new constraints onthe rate of slip deficit accumulation. We find that the subduction interface beneath southwestern Peloponneseand across the area from offshore south Peloponnese to offshore southwest of western Crete hosts three patchesof low to moderate locking (0%–40%) at 10–50 km depth whose slip rate deficits account for ∼15–30% of thetotal plate convergence. The offshore weakly locked patches show a good spatial correlation with largeinterplate earthquakes, while the patch beneath southwestern Peloponnese overlaps with a past transient slow‐slip event, suggesting that similarly locked areas along the interface can exhibit different slip behavior. Ouranalysis further reveals that the Hellenic Trough fault displays a low‐coupled area that spatially correlates withthe coseismic slip of the 365AD Crete earthquake and also identifies a confined region offshore of Gavdosisland exhibiting higher degrees of locking. Finally, our modeling indicates that the eastern Hellenic subductionsystem is completely uncoupled, highlighting a fundamental difference with the heterogeneous locking of thewestern part. This work demonstrates that although most of the Nubia/Eurasia convergence is accommodatedaseismically, localized patches prone to accumulating elastic strain do exist and it provides, for the first time,evidence for a connection between interseismic locking and large subduction‐related earthquakes along theHellenic subduction system.

Rights

Copyright (c) 2026 The Authors Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.1029/2025JB033219

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/45228

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