On 23 December 2020, an intense seismic crisis started in the Western Gulf of Corinth with an Mw 4.6 event at the northern coast, near Marathias. It was followed by several larger events. Right after the CRL team activated and took some immediate actions. The sequence culminated with a 17 February 2021 Mw 5.3 event, north of the eastern edge of the Psathopyrgos fault. The westward expansion of the crisis raised concerns regarding potential impact on the densely populated urban area of Patras. There has been three joint research papers of the CRL partners, aiming to characterize the structures activated during the sequence:
- Serpetsidaki, A., Kapetanidis, V., Elias, P., Rigo, A., Spingos, I., De Barros, L., … & Voulgaris, N. (2023). The 2020–2021 seismic sequence in the Western Gulf of Corinth: Insights on the triggering mechanisms through high resolution seismological and geodetic data analysis. Tectonophysics, 863, 230011.
- Zahradník, J., Aissaoui, E. M., Bernard, P., Briole, P., Bufféral, S., De Barros, L., Descamps A., Elias P.,… & Voulgaris, N. (2022). An Atypical Shallow Mw 5.3, 2021 Earthquake in the Western Corinth Rift (Greece). Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 127(9), e2022JB024221.
- Kaviris, G., Elias, P., Kapetanidis, V., Serpetsidaki, A., Karakonstantis, A., Plicka, V., … & Bernard, P. (2021). The Western Gulf of Corinth (Greece) 2020–2021 seismic crisis and cascading events: First results from the Corinth Rift Laboratory network. The Seismic Record, 1(2), 85-95.