Depositional sequences and Palaeography of the Adriatic Carbonate Platform

Abstract

The area of the Adriatic Carbonate Platform, i.e. the Karst region of the Dinarides, although significantly reduced in size during the Cenozoic (especially because of Late Tertiary tectonics), is still unique and one of the few relatively well preserved carbonate systems of the Peri-medeterranean realm. This is especially true if three dimensional data are considered ; the carbonate pile is 4.5-8 km thick, composed of almost solely shallow-water carbonates deposited over a time span of approximately 220 Ma, i.e. from the Middle Permian to Middle Eocene. On the basis of stratigraphic relationships the entire succession is subdivided into three megasequences: (1) Middle Permian-Late Ladinian (2) Late Norian-Late Cretaceous and (3) Palaeocene-Middle Eocene.