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Gulf of Corinth

Inlet between mainland Greece and the Peloponnese

Summary

Inlet between mainland Greece and the Peloponnese

Field	Value
name	Gulf of Corinth
native_name	el
other_name
image	Golful_Corintului.JPG
caption	Gulf of Corinth within the green box north of Peloponnese
caption_bathymetry
coordinates
type	gulf
part_of	Ionian Sea (Mediterranean)
basin_countries	Greece
date-built
date-flooded
length	130 km
min_width	8.4 km
width	32 km
area	2400 sqkm
depth
max-depth	935 m
volume
shore
elevation
temperature_high
temperature_low
cities
pushpin_map	Greece#Mediterranean#Europe
pushpin_map_caption

| date-built = | date-flooded = | max-depth = 935 m The Gulf of Corinth or the Corinthian Gulf (, ) is an inlet of the Ionian Sea, separating the Peloponnese from western mainland Greece. It is bounded in the east by the Isthmus of Corinth which includes the shipping-designed Corinth Canal and in the west by the Rion Strait which widens into the shorter Gulf of Patras (part of the Ionian Sea) and whose narrowest point has been crossed since 2004 by the Rio–Antirrio bridge. The gulf is bordered by the large administrative divisions (regional units): Aetolia-Acarnania and Phocis in the north, Boeotia in the northeast, Attica in the east, Corinthia in the southeast and south and Achaea in the southwest. The tectonic movement across the gulf is comparable to parts of Iceland and Turkey, growing by 10 mm per year.

In the Middle Ages, the gulf was known as the Gulf of Lepanto (the Italian form of Naupactus).

Shipping routes between the Greek commercial port Piraeus (further away from ultimate destinations but larger and better connected to the south than the north-western Greek port of Igoumenitsa) to western Mediterranean and hemisphere ports pass along this gulf. A ferry crosses the gulf to link Aigio and Agios Nikolaos, towards the western end of the gulf.

Geology

Main article: Gulf of Corinth basin

The gulf was created by the expansion of a tectonic rift due to the westward movement of the Anatolian Plate, and is expanding by 10 mm per year. The surrounding faults can produce earthquakes up to magnitude around 6.5, though they are relatively uncommon. On June 15, 1995, an earthquake of magnitude 6.2 occurred near the city of Aigion. Much of the northern margin of the gulf has gentle gradients (between 10 and 20 degrees). The southern margin of the gulf has largely steep gradients (between 30 and 40 degrees).

Nature

Cetaceans such as fin whales and dolphins are known to enter the Gulf occasionally.

Gulfs and bays

Alkyonides Gulf, east
Crissaean Gulf (Gulf of Crissa), north
Bay of Antikyra, north
Dombraina (Domvrena), north
Rion Strait, links the Gulf to the Ionian Sea

Islands

Trizonia (the only inhabited island), Alcyonides Islands (group of islets), Ampelos (islet), Fonias (islet), Prasoudi (islet)

Bridges

Rio–Antirrio bridge

Cities and towns

The main cities and towns that lie next to the gulf are, from the northwest clockwise, and grouped by regional unit:

Aetolia-Acarnania: Antirrio, Nafpaktos
Phocis: Galaxidi, Itea, Kirra
Boeotia: Antikyra, Paralia Distomou
West Attica
Corinthia: Loutraki, Corinth, Assos, Vrachati, Velo, Kiato, Kato Diminio, Xylokastro
Achaea: Aigeira, Diakopto, Aigio, Rododafni, Agios Vasileios, Aktaio

Tributaries

Tributaries are listed west to east:

Northern

Mornos
Pleistos

Southern

Selemnos
Volinaios
Foinikas
Selinountas
Vouraikos
Krathis
Krios
Zacholitikos
Fonissa
Sythas
Elissonas
Asopos

References

''Thalassographica'', Institute of Oceanographic and Fisheries Research, vol. 11–15, p. 35, (1988){{title missing. (November 2024{{author missing). (November 2024)
(19 December 2019). "Greece's first electric ferry announced".
(1997). "Seismicity and strain in the Gulf of Corinth (Greece) since 1694". Journal of Earthquake Engineering.
(1994). "Tectonic Controls and Signatures in Sedimentary Successions". The International Association of Sedimentologists; Wiley.
(19 May 2013). "Fin Whale in the Gulf of Korinth".
[http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2011/08/10/trapped-whale-in-greece-video/ "Trapped Whale in Greece" (video)] ''Keep Talking Greece''. 2011. {{Webarchive. (2017-11-22). [link](https://web.archive.org/web/20171122181229/http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2011/08/10/trapped-whale-in-greece-video/ . Retrieved November 6. 2014)

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

gulf-of-corinth rifts-and-grabens landforms-of-aetolia-acarnania landforms-of-phocis landforms-of-boeotia landforms-of-corinthia landforms-of-attica landforms-of-achaea landforms-of-western-greece landforms-of-central-greece landforms-of-peloponnese-(region) inlets-of-greece

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