The onshore central Corinth rift contains a syn‐rift succession >3 km thick deposited in 5–15 km‐wide tilt blocks, all now inactive, uplifted and deeply incised. This part of the rift records upward deepening from fluviatile to lake‐margin conditions and finally to sub‐lacustrine turbidite channel and lobe complexes, and deep‐water lacustrine conditions (Lake Corinth) were established over most of the rift by 3.6 Ma. This succession represents the first of two phases of rift development – Rift 1 from 5.0–3.6 to 2.2–1.8 Ma and Rift 2 from 2.2–1.8 Ma to present. Rift 1 developed as a 30 km‐wide zone of distributed normal faulting. The lake was fed by four major N‐ to NE‐flowing antecedent drainages along the southern rift flank. These sourced an axial fluvial system, Gilbert fan deltas and deep lacustrine turbidite channel and lobe complexes. The onset of Rift 2 and abandonment of Rift 1 involved a 30 km northward shift in the locus of rifting. In the west, giant Gilbert deltas built into a deepening lake depocentre in the hanging wall of the newly developing southern border fault system. Footwall and regional uplift progressively destroyed Lake Corinth in the central and eastern parts of the rift, producing a staircase of deltaic and, following drainage reversal, shallow marine terraces descending from >1000 m to present‐day sea level. The growth, linkage and death of normal faults during the two phases of rifting are interpreted to reflect self‐organization and strain localization along co‐linear border faults. In the west, interaction with the Patras rift occurred along the major Patras dextral strike‐slip fault. This led to enhanced migration of fault activity, uplift and incision of some early Rift 2 fan deltas, and opening of the Rion Straits at ca. 400–600 ka. The landscape and stratigraphic evolution of the rift was strongly influenced by regional palaeotopographic variations and local antecedent drainage, both inherited from the Hellenide fold and thrust belt.

Continental rift deposits contain critical clues concerning the evolution of extensional tectonics, yet such evidence is often obscure due to poor geochronology, burial by younger deposits, or later tectonic overprinting. We revisit Corinth rift development, which began as distributed extension created synrift depocenters with rivers flowing into shallow (<50 m) lakes. Subsequent focused deformation initiated a “Great Deepening” event, evidenced by fan deltas prograding into 300–600-m-deep water. A chronology is provided for the event from ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating of the Xylocastro ash by single-crystal CO₂ laser fusion, yielding a precise age of 2.550 ± 0.007 Ma (1σ, full error propagation). Sedimentological data indicate that the ash-bearing sediments were deposited as turbidites and hemipelagites on sublacustrine fans fed from the Mavro fan delta at the faulted south-central rift margin. The ash age and turbidite provenance data enable stratigraphic constraints for an estimate of central rift climax occurring between 3.2 and 3.0 Ma. This is some 0.8–1.0 m.y. earlier than radioisotopic- and magnetostratigraphic-constrained estimates for the eastern Corinth rift. Central rift climax was probably triggered by initial counterclockwise rotation of the Peloponnesus block with respect to central Greece. The rotation pole of this block subsequently migrated to its present position as rift climax moved eastward in an “unzipping” action, with the southern active margin also migrating northward. These events are unlikely to be due to local or regional fault kinematics, but rather to the consequences of deep-seated interactions between the rapidly southward-moving Aegean continental forearc and the slowly northward-subducting African oceanic plate. A possible scenario involves forearc “pushback” with décollement on a low-angle subducting lower plate. This causes acceleration and counterclockwise rotation of Peloponnesus with respect to central Greece and strain localization across the boundary; the Corinth rift.

Despite being relatively rare, Mediterranean tropical-like cyclones, also known as Medicanes, induce significant impacts on coastal Mediterranean areas. Under climate change, it is possible that these effects will increase in frequency and severity. Currently, there is only a broad understanding of the types and mechanisms of these impacts. This work studied Medicane Ianos (September 2020) and its effects on the Ionian Islands, in Greece, by developing a database of distinct impact elements based on field surveys and public records. Through this archive, the study explored the range of Ianos’ impacts to develop a systematic categorization. Results showed different types of effects induced on the natural and the built environment that can be grouped into 3 categories and 39 sub-categories in inland and coastal areas, indicating an extensive diversity of impacts, ranging from flooding and geomorphic effects to damages in various facilities, vehicles and infrastructure. The systematic description of the typology of Medicanes’ effects presented in this study is a contribution to a better understanding of their consequences as means to improve our ability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from them, a necessary stepping stone in improving the overall preparedness of both the general public and relevant authorities.

Extensional structures with geometrical and kinematic features analogous to the known Gulf of Corinth faults, are found further to the south of what is considered to be the southern margin of the of Proto-Corinth Gulf, reaching south to the northern flanks of Mt Mainalon. This mountain front is marked by the North Mainalon Fault Zone, which comprises a series of normal fault segments with NNE dips. Assuming a listric or ramp-flat geometry for the North Mainalon Fault Zone, it could flatten at a depth of 6–8 km, underneath Mt Khelmos. Its southern, shallow part has been truncated by NNE- and NNW-trending faults, which may be linked to northward propagation of the east–west extension in the Southern Peloponnesus, causing further uplift in the central and northern Peloponnesus, while its deeper part is still active and may reach further north and sole onto the hypothesized detachment zone beneath the Gulf of Corinth.

Cephalonia, located in the middle of the central Ionian Islands, has been affected by destructive earthquakes during both the instrumental and the historical period. Despite the fact that it is widely studied from several scientific viewpoints, limited research has been conducted so far regarding the earthquake-triggered landslides (ETL) and the related susceptibility. In the context of the present study, an inventory with 67 ETL from 11 earthquakes that occurred from 1636 to 2014 is presented. Given this record, the study further examines the ETL susceptibility exploiting 10 landslide causal factors in the frame of a GIS-based Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Four factors (i.e., slope, PGA, tectonic structures and lithology) were associated in a higher degree to the locations where ETL occurred on the island. Based on the comparison of the ETL inventory and the landslide susceptibility index (LSI) map, the distribution of ETL in Cephalonia is not random, as their majority (82%) were generated within high to critically high susceptible zones. This fact, along with the AUC values of 80.3%, reveals a fair-to-good accuracy of the landslide susceptibility assessment and indicate that the contribution of the studied variables to the generation of ETL was effectively determined.