The geological development of the Balkan Peninsula related to the approach, collision and compression of Gondwanan and Eurasian units

Abstract

Abstract The Balkan Peninsula includes the margins of both Eurasia (the Moesian microplate) and Gondwana (the Adria microplate as a promontory); it also includes ophiolitic belts that represent remnants of Tethys and its marginal seas. Various terranes docked to larger crustal units and were incorporated to form new units. Most units within the Balkan Peninsula moved northwards to their present positions, jointly or independently, from positions around, or south of, the Equator from the end of the Palaeozoic to the present day. The assembly of these units was associated with generally northeastward subduction of Tethys. The first main period of docking was in the Carboniferous. Later, from the Permian to the Maastrichtian, marginal seas opened and later closed. Island arcs formed within the northwestern part of Tethys, and parts of continental margins were detached and relocated, or were transported along transcurrent faults. In the Maastrichtian the entire oceanic area was closed and the main units sutured. The resulting assemblage later underwent additional compression, rotation and transcurrent displacement of some units.