the origin and age of the metamorphic sole from the rogozna mts western vardar belt new evidence for the one ocean model for the balkan ophiolites abstract this study brings new geochronological and petrochemical data from the metamorphic sole beneath the rogozna mts western vardar ophiolite belt the rogozna metamorphic sole is located at the base of a serpentinite nappe and consists of amphibolites and talc chlorite schists the rogozna amphibolites are medium to fine grained rocks with nematoblastic texture and pronounced foliation they consist of green amphibole 70 vol with variable silica contents 6 4 to 7 8 si apfu as well as mg molmg mg fe tot 0 53 to 0 77 and variably albitized plagioclase 30 vol ab 24 ab 98 amphibolites are overprinted by a retrograde assemblage containing actinolite epidote clinoclore sericite chlorite and magnetite the amphibolites formed due to metamorphism of two basaltic suites subalkaline tholeiitic and alkaline subalkaline tholeiitic amphibolites possess low zr nb y th hf tio 2 and p 2 o 5 values and a lree depleted pattern typical for the n morb normal mid ocean ridge basalt to bab back arc basalt origin alkaline amphibolites show elevated concentrations of zr nb y th hf tio 2 and p 2 o 5 with a lree enriched pattern typically displayed by oib ocean island basalt amphibolites were crystallized during intra oceanic thrusting at temperatures between 685 c and 765 c and at a depth of 12 17 km 40 ar 39 ar cooling ages of amphibole ranging from 165 to 170 ma slightly postdate the sole formation talc chlorite schists are related to retrograde greenschist facies metamorphism they consist of fe rich talc and cr rich chlorite peninite diabantite pseudomorphs after amphibole and morb type cr al spinel surrounded by al and mg poor ferrit chromite the occurrence of ferrit chromite is related to earlier amphibolite facies metamorphism chlorite pseudomorphs after amphibole were formed at 300 410 c this study suggests that there is no essential difference in the emplacement age of the dinaric and west vardar ophiolite belts supporting the interpretation involving a single mesozoic ocean in the balkan sector

the nappe structure of the central northern calcareous alps and its disintegration during miocene tectonic extrusion a contribution to understanding the orogenic evolution of the eastern alps the classical concept of the nappe structure of the central northern calcareous alps nca is in contradiction with modern stratigraphic structural metamorphic and geochronological data we first perform a palinspastic restoration for the time before miocene lateral tectonic extrusion which shows good continuity of structures facies and diagenetic metamorphic zones we present a new nappe concept in which the tirolic unit practically takes the whole area of the central nca and is divided into three subunits nappes lower and upper tirolic subunit separated by the upper jurassic trattberg thrust and the metamorphic ultra tirolic unit the hallstatt iuvavic nappe s formed the highest unit but were completely destroyed by erosion after nappe stacking remnants of the hallstatt nappes are only represented by components of up to 1 km in size in middle upper jurassic radiolaritic wildflysch sediments hallstatt melange belonging to the tirolic unit destruction of the continental margin started in middle to upper jurassic time and prograded from the oceanic side towards the shelf the original substratum of the external nappes bavaric units of the nca was largely the austroalpine crystalline basement of the internal nappes tirolic units the weakly metamorphosed palaeozoic sequences greywacke zone and equivalents eocene movements caused limited internal deformation in the tirolic unit

how many oceans meliata vardar and pindos oceans in mesozoic alpine paleogeography the timing of rifting and subduction in the meliata vardar and pindos zones of the hellenic dinaric carpathian region indicates that they cannot be considered remnants of a single ocean basin in contrast to several recently published mesozoic paleogeographies sea floor spreading in the meliata zone culminated in middle triassic ladinian time and ceased in the late triassic and subduction occurred from this time until late jurassic closure in contrast sea floor spreading in the vardar zone began in early jurassic time and culminated in the middle jurassic and subduction occurred from latest jurassic time in the pindos zone sea floor spreading was initiated in the early triassic with late jurassic and early tertiary subduction

late jurassic blueschist facies pebbles from the western carpathian orogenic wedge and paleostructural implications for western tethys evolution in spite of the absence of ophiolitic slices at the surface some traces of the lost tethys ocean are recorded along the pieniny klippen belt pkb a narrow decollement thrust system sutured at the transpressive boundary between the outer and inner carpathians the enigmatic precollisional evolution of western carpathians can be deciphered from some late albian to campanian flysch conglomerates which display chrome spinel grains ophiolitic detritus and pebbles of blueschist facies tholeiitic metabasalts yielding a 40ar 39ar plateau age of 155 4 0 6 ma other detrital components are represented by extrabasinal pebbles of limestones arc volcanics and igneous to metamorphic basement rocks from southern sources our results suggest a markedly northward extension of the sublongitudinal triassic vardar meliata ocean and its subduction since the late middle jurassic supposedly balanced westward by coeval spreading in the ligurian piedmont basin of the apennine western alpine tethys a lateral kinematic connection between these diachronous and roughly parallel tethys branches was provided on the north by a left lateral east west trending shear zone running from the swiss austrian penninic domain to the northern carpathians this reconstruction replaces the classic model of two paired north penninic and south penninic oceanic basins and eastern homologues with the brianconnais hochstegen and czorstin microcontinents in between the late jurassic early cretaceous evolution of the carpathian active margin was characterized by subduction metamorphism and accretion of a wide orogenic wedge in this time the shallowing to deeply subsiding basins inferred from facies analyses on the sedimentary units of the pkb were likely floored by individual sections of the growing wedge later some exhuming blueschist ophiolitic units of the wedge were uplifted to the surface and functioned in the albian campanian as an exotic ridge supplying clasts to the forearc basin finally the colliding wedge became a cryptic paleostructure when since the latest cretaceous it disappeared beneath the inner carpathian orogenic lid and was incorporated within the eastward moving infrastructure of the carpathian orocline

tectonosedimentary evolution related to extreme crustal thinning ahead of a propagating ocean example of the western pyrenees 1 in this paper we describe the tectonosedimentary evolution and its subsequent inversion of a basin that underwent extreme crustal thinning in a transtensional setting ahead of a propagating ocean in the western pyrenees the labourd mauleon area situated in the western pyrenees at the termination of the v shaped bay of biscay is an ideal natural laboratory to study how such complex basins evolve in time and space because of a mild inversion of the basin during pyrenean compression the rift structures and their relations to basement rocks and sediments are exposed and can be directly studied in the field the basin shows a complex polyphase evolution that starts with left lateral dominated transtension in latest jurassic early aptian time this event is overprinted by a late aptian early albian extension that is related to the counterclockwise rotation of iberia away from europe leading to the opening of the bay of biscay during this stage the late triassic to jurassic carbonate platform was stretched salt migrated and detachment faults exhumed upper and lower crustal and mantle rocks to the seafloor the final structure of the basin resembles a sag basin floored by exhumed rocks overlain by extensional allochthons and compartmentalized by n40 to n60 transfer faults the sedimentary architecture is characterized by late aptian synrift sediments e g urgonian limestones that were deposited in fault bounded basins and are overlain by thick latest aptian to albo cenomanian sediments e g flysch noir that define a sag sequence the complex tectonosedimentary evolution of the basin is associated with salt tectonics and overprinted by a major magmatic thermal event that postdates mantle exhumation

geodynamic evolution of the northern dinarides and the southern part of the pannonian basin abstract most of the recent geodynamic interpretations of the pannonian basin focus on its relation to the formation of the carpathians and the alpine orogeny however also the dinarides were severely affected by neogene tectonics related to the formation of the pannonian basin especially in the northernmost dinarides neogene deformation played a very important role in the evolution of this mountain chain geological records clearly show evidence of two phases of plate convergence along the northern and eastern margins of the present day dinarides at the end of the jurassic the dinaridic parts of the tethys ophiolites were obducted onto the northeastern margins of the apulian microplate the second phase is documented in the central part of the northernmost dinarides it is genetically related to an ancient volcanic arc as indicated by late cretaceous palaeogene trench sediments with blueschist olistolithes which are interlayered by basalt rhyolites pyroclastics medium pressure metamorphosed trench sediments and associated synkinematic granitoids in the northern part of the dinarides subduction processes terminated with the eocene compressional event which caused the uplift of the dinarides numerous intramontane basins with shallow marine fluviatile and lacustrine deposits were generated during the oligocene penecontemporaneous andesites which are found along the drava and sava depressions of the south pannonian neogene basin can be correlated with the easternmost periadriatic tonalites however observations do not indicate strike slip faulting at that time in this area the neogene rift stage initiated the evolution of the pannonian basin it is marked by extruded submarine trachyandesites of karpathian age badenian basalts andesites dacites and rhyolites and pannonian alkali basalts which are interlayered by coeval sedimentary rocks main evidence for the large scale tectonic transport of large dinaridic blocks into the pannonian basin area are the periadriatic sava and zagreb zemplen fault systems and subparallel faults the late sarmatian global sea level drop which coincided with a compressional phase is regionally marked by an unconformity throughout the pannonian basin as reported by horvath horvath f 1995 phases of compression during the evolution of the pannonian basin and its bearing on hydrocarbon exploration mar pet geol 12 8 837 844 due to thermal subsidence during the pliocene more than 2000 m of lacustrine freshwater sediments were deposited in the south pannonian basin the pliocene compression phase can be observed in the transdanubian zone and also south of the mura and drava rivers by south and southwest dipping reverse fault systems

nappe stacking resulting from subduction of oceanic and continental lithosphere below greece we quantitatively investigate the relation between nappe stacking and subduction in the aegean region if nappe stacking is the result of the decoupling of upper crustal parts 5 10 km thick from subducting lithosphere then the amount of convergence estimated from balancing the nappe stack provides a lower limit to the amount of convergence accommodated by subduction the balanced nappe stack combined with the estimated amount of completely subducted lithosphere indicates 700 km of jurassic and 2400 km of post jurassic convergence from seismic tomographic images of the underlying mantle we estimate 2100 2500 km of post jurassic convergence we conclude that 1 the imaged slab represents the subducted lithosphere that originally underlay the nappes 2 since the early cretaceous subduction in the aegean has occurred in one single subduction zone and 3 the composition of the original basement of the nappes indicates that at least 900 km of sub upper crust continental lithosphere subducted in the aegean

ultra high pressure metamorphism and orogenesis an alpine perspective article i nfo the pressure temperature time deformation evolution of the high to ultra high pressure units of the western alps has been progressively refined in the last 40 years leading to several paradigm shifts in the understanding of orogenesis this set of information combined with cretaceous tertiary plate kinematic reconstructions and mesozoic palaeogeography indicates that the western alps represent the amalgamation of a cretaceous and an eocene orogen which developed at the expense of the adriatic and european rifted margins respectively in the cretaceous nne directed drift of the adriatic plate parallel to the inherited jurassic structural trends led to the development of a highly oblique subduction boundary in this setting the canavese zone and parts of the sesia zone derived from the hyper extended adriatic margin underwent deformation and metamorphism at conditions ranging from sub greenschist to eclogite facies a lower eocene switch to nnw directed motion perpendicular to the rift related jurassic structural trends culminated in the collision between the proto alps and the brianconnais block at ca 44 ma as a result the brianconnais domain and parts of its hyper extended margin preserved in the u hp piemonte units were accreted to the orogen continued convergence was subsequently accommodated by subduction of the more external valaisan basin and of the thinned european margin the arrival of thick european continental crust at the subduction zone at ca 35 30 ma marked the onset of the final continental collision to a first order the orogen grew through the progressive episodic accretion of units located towards north westerly positions accretion of subducting units at the front of the orogen was coeval with kinematic reworking of tectonic contacts in the hangingwall units locally resulting in renewed deformation metamorphism

tectonics of the mattinata fault offshore south gargano southern adriatic sea italy implications for active deformation and seismotectonics in the foreland of the southern apennines the mattinata fault is an e w trending feature 50 km long that cuts across the gargano promontory in the foreland of the southern apennines most researchers agree that it is a strike slip fault although the timing of activity is not well known mainly because of the scarce occurrence of cenozoic sediments this contribution aims to describe the eastward extent of the mattinata fault in the adriatic sea using a grid of multichannel seismic profiles specifically acquired for this study and taking advantage of the occurrence of offshore oligocene to quaternary sediments to help date the deformation results indicate that from the late miocene to the quaternary compression dominated and only a limited component of strike slip occurred along the fault a strike slip tectonic regime on the other hand was likely dominant during the late cretaceous to paleogene seismicity affects gargano at basement depth and extends northward into the central adriatic suggesting that the offshore extent of the mattinata fault may not currently represent the main site of foreland deformation within the adriatic region although the mattinata fault probably originated as a crustal scale strike slip fault it has been subsequently reactivated in different tectonic regimes the strike slip ml 5 4 2002 san giuliano molise earthquake located 70 km west of the mattinata fault outcrop seems to have been related to the reactivation of a set of preexisting foreland faults and it does not characterize the seismotectonics of the entire mattinata fault our reconstruction has wide implications not only for a better understanding of the tertiary evolution and active tectonics of the adriatic foreland but also for general relationships among preexisting structures foreland tectonics and seismotectonics

on late oligocene to pliocene depocentre migrations and the evolution of the carpathian pannonian system abstract the late oligocene to pliocene evolution of foredeep basins of the eastern alps carpathians fold and thrust belt is marked by pronounced internal to external and lateral depocentre shifts the latter shifts covering a present along arc distance of 1700 km portray accelerating rates of foredeep depocentre migration particularly so in the late early and in the middle miocene from about 7 to about 45 cm yr lateral depocentre migration came to a close at the beginning of the late miocene the subsequent late miocene to pliocene foredeep infill history was characterized by exponentially increasing accumulation rates in the intersection area of the east european ukrainian and moesian platforms successive steps in the evolution of the foredeep basins had pronounced counterparts in the intra carpathian area the beginning of acceleration of foredeep depocentre migration in latest early miocene times was coeval with the inception of intra carpathian extensional tectonics the extremely rapid middle miocene depocentre shift coupled with a change in direction of foredeep depocentre migration corresponded with maximum extension in the intra carpathian area the ensuing end of foredeep depocentre migration around the middle late miocene transition was coeval with the end of extension of the intra carpathian area which in turn was followed by the inception of overall thermal subsidence at about 11 5 ma the timing of and spatial relationships between discrete coeval events in arc and intra arc evolution put unambiguous geological constraints on geodynamic modelling of the evolution of the carpathian pannonian system it is speculated that the geological observations may best be understood in terms of the surficial effects of lateral migration of slab detachment such effects would mirror the dominant role of a concentrating slab pull taken to result in e g a time progressive acceleration of foredeep depocentre migration

are fluid inclusion planes useful in structural geology abstract quantification of deformation or stresses in structural geology is often difficult due to the uncertainity of the paleodepth or fluid pressure the best records of fluid percolation are paleofluids trapped as fluid inclusions in healed microcracks of the rock forming minerals fluid inclusion planes fip are mode i cracks which form in sets with a predominant orientation perpendicular to the least principle stress 3 however the repeated microfracturing and healing of the rock forming minerals yield complex superimposed patterns of healed microcracks such patterns are often difficult to interpret due to the lack of suitable chronological criteria these problems have been recently documented and solved by coupling deformation studies detailed examination at all scales of the relationships between trapped fluids and their host structures and studies of fluid inclusions this paper summarizes recent advancements in fip analysis and suggests further ways for research

tidal flow through the straits of dover abstract results are presented from the first long term deployment of the mark ii oscr high frequency radar system this new system measures surface currents at 700 preselected locations every 20 minutes at a range up to 25 km offshore tidal analysis in 11 monthly blocks of measurements made in the straits of dover indicate consistent results for seven major constituents m2 s2 n2 o1 k1 m4 and ms4 synthesized current ellipse distributions for these constituents are compared with corresponding values from a 2 5 km grid numerical model the synthesis involved both spatial and temporal averaging with quality checks on the associated standard deviations a simple point model of vertical current structure is used to extrapolate the surface observations to provide depth integrated flows for horizontal integration to compute net fluxes spatial harmonic functions are used to fit streamline distributions to the array of point measurements by these means the net residual transport arising from nonli

the western alps from the jurassic to oligocene spatio temporal constraints and evolutionary reconstructions abstract despite extensive research in the last 150 years the regional tectonic reconstruction of the western alps has remained controversial the curved orogenic belt consists of several ribbon like continental terranes sesia austroalpine internal crystalline massifs brianconnais which are separated by two or more ophiolitic sutures piemonte valais antrona lanzo canavese high pressure hp metamorphism of each terrane occurred during distinct orogenic episodes at 65 ma in the sesia austroalpine at 45 ma in the piemonte zone and at 35 ma in the internal crystalline massifs it is suggested that these events reflect individual accretionary episodes which together with kinematic indicators and the speed and direction of plate motions provide constraints for the discussed reconstruction model the model involves a prolonged orogenic history that took place during relative convergence of europe and adria here considered as a promontory of the african plate the first accretionary event involved the sesia austroalpine terrane final closure of the piemonte ocean occurred during the eocene 45 ma and involved ultra high pressure uhp metamorphism of the piemonte oceanic crust incorporation of the brianconnais terrane in the accretionary wedge occurred thereafter possibly during or after subduction of the valais ocean in the late eocene 45 35 ma this subduction was terminated at ca 35 ma when the internal crystalline massifs i e the assumed internal parts of the brianconnais terrane were buried into great depths and underwent hp and uhp metamorphism

tertiary subduction and slab break off model of the carpathian pannonian region abstract this paper illustrates the application of multidisciplinary data analysis to the carpathian pannonian region and presents a new tertiary development model that incorporates all multidisciplinary parameters during the late cretaceous eocene the future carpathian orogen was part of the larger alpine carpathian orogen formed by the southeastward subduction 135 55 ma of the penninic ocean and the ultimate collision 55 40 ma of the european and adriatic continents the subduction in the alpine region ended by the slab break off of the subducting oceanic lithosphere from the continental one and by the related magmatism 43 24 ma while the eocene alps were under continental collision the eocene remnant carpathian flysch basin rcfb was still subducting the carpathians and eastern parts of the alps started to occupy the region of the present carpathians during the early miocene the oceanic plate underlying the rcfb subducted southwestwards later westwards while the northeastward and eastward migration velocity of the accreting plate boundary decreased through time the slower subduction rate caused a steeper dip of the subducting slab the beginning of the eggenburgian 22 19 ma and following duration of extension in the orogenic hinterland accompanied by the asthenosphere upwelling the onset of the crustally derived volcanism above the risen asthenosphere and the younger mantle derived volcanism progressively less contaminated by the crustal material all contemporaneous with a shortening in the carpathian accretionary wedge the subduction of the rcfb finally led at the end of the early miocene to a collision with the continental margin along the westernmost part of the present carpathian arc the subduction roll back of the subducting slab of the rcfb under the advancing inner carpathians the oblique closure of the basin the progressive change of the subduction to collision from the west to the east along the carpathian arc drove a scissors like break off of the subducting oceanic slab along the west carpathians the break off in the east carpathians was driven by the weight of a subducting oceanic slab and buoyancy of the attached continental slab the break off started in the west of the carpathian arc in the early miocene ran along the arc to its present position in the bend area between the east and south carpathians and separated the oceanic slab that subducted passively under its own weight from the european continental margin the lateral propagation rate of the slab tear decreased with time the break off related volcanism was synchronous with the final stages of the collision

surface to subsurface velocity projection for shallow water currents sea surface currents in coastal oceans are accessible to continuous direct observations by shore based high frequency doppler radar systems inferring current structure in shallow water from such surface current observations is attempted the approach assumes frictionally dominated flow and vertically varying current velocity on the scale of the ekman boundary layer the approximation of the velocity variation with depth is consequently derivable in terms of orthogonal basis functions from the sea surface kinematic and dynamic boundary conditions specifically the viscous momentum and shear equations evaluated at the sea surface the inference procedure developed is demonstrated with sea surface data obtained in the coastal high resolution remote sensing experiment on the continental shelf off cape hatteras despite uncertainties in the surface measurements qualitative agreement is obtained between the inferred subsurface current and the current measured in situ the sensitivity of the inference to the measurement uncertainties as well as to the model assumptions is investigated and the inferred result is found to be generally robust

p wave tomography of the mantle under the alpine mediterranean area 1 we study the upper mantle p wave velocity structure below the euro mediterranean area down to 1000 km depth by seismic travel time tomography we invert summary residuals constructed with both regional and teleseismic first arrival data reported by the international seismological centre isc 1964 1995 introducing some alternative strategies in the travel time tomographic approach and a new scheme to correct teleseismic data for global mantle structure our high resolution model pm0 5 is parameterized with three dimensional 3 d linear splines on a grid of nodes with 0 5 spacing in both horizontal directions and 50 km vertical spacing we obtain about 26 root mean square rms reduction of residuals by inversion in addition to roughly 31 reduction after summary rays formation and selection sensitivity analyses are performed through several test inversions to explore the resolution characteristics of the model at different spatial scales the distribution of large scale fast anomalies suggests that two different stages of a convection process presently coexist in very close regions the mantle dynamics of western central europe is dominated by blockage of subducted slabs at the 660 km discontinuity and ponding of seismically fast material in the transition zone contrarily in the eastern mediterranean fast velocity material sinks into the lower mantle suggesting that the flow of the cold downwelling here is not blocked by the 660 km discontinuity on a smaller scale the existence of tears in the subducted slab lithospheric detachment all along both margins of the adriatic plate as proposed by some authors is not supported by our tomographic images

flat versus steep subduction contrasting modes for the formation and exhumation of high to ultrahigh pressure rocks in continental collision zones abstract flat and steep subduction are end member modes of oceanic subduction zones with flat subduction occurring at about 10 of the modern convergent margins and mainly around the pacific continental margin subduction normally follows oceanic subduction with the remarkable event of formation and exhumation of high to ultrahigh pressure hp uhp metamorphic rocks in the continental subduction collision zones we used 2d thermo mechanical numerical models to study the contrasting subduction collision styles as well as the formation and exhumation of hp uhp rocks in both flat and steep subduction modes in the reference flat subduction model the two plates are highly coupled and only hp metamorphic rocks are formed and exhumed in contrast the two plates are less coupled and uhp rocks are formed and exhumed in the reference steep subduction model in addition faster convergence of the reference flat subduction model produces extrusion of uhp rocks slower convergence of the reference flat subduction model results in two sided subduction collision the higher lower convergence velocities of the reference steep subduction model can both produce exhumation of uhp rocks a comparison of our numerical results with the himalayan collisional belt suggests two possible scenarios 1 a spatially differential subduction collision model which indicates that steep subduction dominates in the western himalaya while flat subduction dominates in the extensional central himalaya and 2 a temporally differential subduction collision model which favors earlier continental plate flat subduction with high convergence velocity in the western himalaya and later flat subduction with relatively low convergence velocity in the central himalaya

complex structural pattern of the alpine dinaridic pannonian triple junction due to the political boundaries between the central european countries on one hand and the thick tertiary cover in the pannonian basin on the other the eastward continuation of the alpine and dinaridic units has been ambiguous and poorly documented based on comparative analyses the aim of the present paper is to define the pre tertiary structural units in the junction area of the alpine dinaridic and pannonian regions in the sw part of the pannonian basin and to draw conclusions on the continuation of the alpine and dinaridic units according to diagnostic characteristics of the periadriatic lineament system the balaton lineament system may be considered as its direct eastern continuation north of the periadriatic balaton lineament system the transdanubian range unit due to its pre tertiary paleogeographic setting shows mainly south alpine facies relations however its present structural position is identical to that of the upper austroalpine nappes between the periadriatic balaton and zagreb zemplin lineament systems heterogeneous structural units are juxtaposed forming the sava composite unit in the northern part of this composite unit non metamorphosed nappes occur which can be considered the eastern continuation of the south alpine units these nappes are overthrust onto internal dinaridic units in the tertiary the zagreb zemplin mid hungarian lineament separates the sava unit from the tisza unit showing close affinity to the tethyan margin of the eurasian plate during the early stage of the alpine evolution

geodynamic evolution of the central dinarides abstract the central part of the dinarides unlike the northwestern and southeastern dinarides shows a consistent pattern in the distribution of the large tectonostratigraphic units from southwest apulia to northeast the following five main units originating in different parts of the mesozoic tethys can be distinguished 1 adriatic dinaridic carbonate platform formations 2 carbonate clastic units flysch bosniaque of the passive continental margin 3 ophiolite bearing formations of the dinaridic ophiolite zone also containing radiolarites greywackes and shales including melange formations and overstepped late jurassic to cretaceous cover sequences 4 active continental margin units represented by upper cretaceous palaeogene trench sediments with blueschists tectonized ophiolite melange alpine medium pressure metamorphic rocks originated from upper cretaceous palaeogene sediments and alpine synkinematic granitoids 5 a nappe consisting of allochthonous palaeozoic triassic formations which is thrust onto the ophiolites and genetically related sedimentary formations the frontal parts of this nappe directly overlie the northeastern margin of the adriatic dinaridic carbonate platform i e the external dinarides the evolution of the central dinarides was controlled by a sequence of tectonic events which took place within the alpine cycle 1 rifting processes lasting some 40 50 ma which started in the late permian and ended in the norian 2 opening of the oceanic dinaridic tethys commenced in the late triassic and persisted for some 70 80 ma until the end of the jurassic 3 subduction processes and emplacement of ophiolites started in late jurassic early cretaceous times during the closing phase of the dinaridic ocean or dinaridic tethys the palaeozoic triassic nappe was emplaced on the ophiolites the thrusting was accompanied by alpine metamorphism 120 100 ma 4 the main alpine deformational event and medium pressure metamorphism with synkinematic granite plutonism took place in late eocene early oligocene times when the ophiolite and palaeozoic triassic nappes were emplaced on the adriatic dinaridic carbonate platform which at the same time was deformed resulting in the development of the external dinarides fold and thrust belt

the role of rift inherited hyper extension in alpine type orogens alpine type orogens are interpreted to result from the collision of former rifted margins as many present day rifted margins consist of hyper extended domains floored by thinned continental crust 10 km and or exhumed mantle this study explores the influence of rift inheritance on the architecture and final evolution of alpine type orogens we propose that rift related necking zones separating weakly thinned 25 to 30 km thick crust from hyper extended domains may act as buttresses during the transition from subduction to collision as a result former necking zones may now be found at the boundary between a highly deformed and overthickened nappe stack made of relics of hyper extended domains and an external weakly deformed fold and thrust belt which largely escaped significant rift related crustal thinning and orogeny related thickening therefore the role of rift inheritance is of critical importance and is largely underestimated in controlling the architecture and evolution of alpine type orogens

constraining south atlantic growth with seafloor spreading data recent models of south atlantic opening history focus on early plate divergence by incorporating intracontinental deformation which is poorly constrained aiming to avoid the uncertainties in this approach we model the entire divergence history with a joint inversion for seafloor spreading data for this history the pre campanian motion parameters are the first to feature formal uncertainty estimates we date the onset of spreading at 138 ma with movement along intracontinental accommodation zones leading to the assembly of south america by 123 ma and africa by 106 ma part of the ridge in the agulhas basin jumped westward soon afterward toward the bouvet plume initiating the motion of a short lived malvinas plate the ne georgia and maud rises and agulhas plateau formed as a large igneous province over the plume farther north part of the ridge jumped eastward toward the tristan plume around 94 93 ma but seems not to have resulted in independent plate motion our results show that the south atlantic grew by diachronous breakup of continents on just two plates cretaceous intracontinental deformation in south america and africa can be interpreted in terms of the accommodation of stress associated with northward propagation of this process the pattern of accommodation is usually envisaged as focusing all of the strain in narrow belts with our rotations a commonly used set of such belts accounts instead for just 42 67 of the implied total strain we suggest that the remainder was accommodated at all scales within the continental interiors and the extended continental margins

paradigms new and old for ultrahigh pressure tectonism regional ultrahigh pressure uhp metamorphic terranes exhibit a spectrum of lithological structural and petrological characteristics that result from the geodynamic processes that formed and exhumed them at least six geodynamic processes can be envisioned to have carried continental rocks to mantle depths i continental margin subduction ii microcontinent subduction iii sediment subduction iv intracontinental subduction v subduction erosion and vi foundering of a crustal root most of these processes have been investigated through numerical or analog models and most have been invoked for one or more specific occurrences of uhp rocks at least six geodynamic processes can be envisioned to have exhumed uhp continental rocks i eduction ii microplate rotation iii crustal stacking iv slab rollback v channel flow and vi trans mantle diapirs most of these processes have also been investigated through numerical or analog models and all have been invoked to explain the exhumation of at least one uhp terrane more detailed and systematic field investigations are warranted to assess the predictions of numerical models and more sophisticated and realistic numerical models are required to replicate and explain the petrological structural and chronological data obtained from uhp terranes

on the accuracy of hf radar surface current measurements intercomparisons with ship based sensors high frequency hf radar systems can provide periodic two dimensional vector current estimates over an area approaching 1000 km as the use of these hf systems has gained wider acceptance a number of attempts have been made to estimate the accuracy of such systems however comparisons of hf radar current estimates with in situ sensors are difficult to interpret since hf systems measure currents averaged over an area of 1 km 2 and to a depth of only 50 cm while in situ sensors measure currents at a point and somewhat greater depths 1 to 10 m previous studies of the accuracy of hf radar technology have thus attributed the differences observed between hf radar and in situ sensors to an unknown combination of vertical shear horizontal inhomogeneity in situ instrument errors and hf radar system errors this study examines the accuracy of hf radar current measurements using data from the 1993 high resolution remote sensing experiment conducted off cape hatteras north carolina data from four shipborne in situ current meters are compared with data from an ocean surface current radar oscr a commercial current measuring radar we attempt to discern the predominant sources of error in these data by using multiple simultaneous measurements from different sensors and by examining the variation of observed current differences as a function of location the results suggest an upper bound on the accuracy of the oscr derived radial currents of 7 to 8 cm s the measurement of near surface currents in the coastal environ ment is an important problem

a new view of near shore dynamics based on observations from hf radar abstract since 1984 the oscr hf radar system has been used in over 50 deployments to measure near shore surface currents for both scientific and engineering applications the enhanced scope resolution and accuracy of these measurements have yielded new insights into the tidal wind and density driven dynamics of the near shore zone tidal current ellipses obtained from these radar measurements have been shown to be in good aggrement with values calculated by numerical models both for the predominant constituents and also for higher harmonics coherent patterns of wind forced currents ahve been determined with strong evidence of a slab like surface response in one deployment with offshore winds blowing over relatively deep water this slab rotated clockwise at near inertial frequency strong up to 20cm s 1 persistent surface residual currents are commonly observed these are almost certainly generated by small horizontal density gradients these observed surface residuals provide ideal data for rigorous testing of 3 d numerical models with a threatened rise in sea level hf radar is well suited for observing the expected changes in the dynamics of near shore regions continuing development of these radar systems offers exciting prospects of remote sensing of both surface waves and currents future applications may extend beyond the near shore region to measurements along the shelf edge in oceanic gyres and for beach processes

tertiary paleomagnetic results and structural analysis from the transdanubian range hungary rotational disintegration of the alcapa unit abstract we carried out an integrated paleomagnetic and structural study in the transdanubian range western and central hungary as a result the tertiary tectonic history of this area can be characterized by three events of counterclockwise ccw rotation and four or five phases of brittle deformation the change of the orientation of stress axes between phases is mainly apparent and reflects the rotation of the faults predating a particular rotation event the first two rotation events r1 and r2 were probably governed by the rollback mechanism of the subducting european plate we suggest that these rotations were taking place from 18 17 and 16 14 5 ma respectively i e simultaneously with the rotations of the north hungarian paleogene basin and the main part of the western carpathians however the angle of both rotations was less in the transdanubian range due to increasing distance from the subduction front the differential rotation was accommodated by extensional faulting by formation of a graben system on the other hand the youngest rotation event r3 seems to be connected to the renewed rotation of the adriatic plate around 5 ma our combined data set strongly supports earlier conclusions namely that the different subunits of the eastern alpine western carpathian northern pannonian unit alcapa did not form a rigid unit although they moved in similar manner

cenozoic granitoids in the dinarides of southern serbia age of intrusion isotope geochemistry exhumation history and significance for the geodynamic evolution of the balkan peninsula two age groups were determined for the cenozoic granitoids in the dinarides of southern serbia by high precision single grain u pb dating of thermally annealed and chemically abraded zircons 1 oligocene ages kopaonik drenje eljin ranging from 31 7 to 30 6 ma 2 miocene ages golija and polumir at 20 58 20 17 and 18 06 17 74 ma respectively apatite fission track central ages modelling combined with zircon central ages and additionally local structural observations constrain the subsequent exhumation history of the magmatic rocks they indicate rapid cooling from above 300 c to ca 80 c between 16 and 10 ma for both age groups induced by extensional exhumation of the plutons located in the footwall of core complexes hence miocene magmatism and core complex formation not only affected the pannonian basin but also a part of the mountainous areas of the internal dinarides based on an extensive set of existing age data combined with our own analyses we propose a geodynamical model for the balkan peninsula the late eocene to oligocene magmatism which affects the adria derived lower plate units of the internal dinarides was caused by delamination of the adriatic mantle from the overlying crust associated with post collisional convergence that propagated outward into the external dinarides miocene magmatism on the other hand is associated with core complex formation along the southern margin of the pannonian basin probably associated with the w directed subduction of the european lithosphere beneath the carpathians and interfering with ongoing dinaridic hellenic back arc extension

the fine structure of nearshore tidal and residual circulations revealed by h f radar surface current measurements abstract using the ocean surface current radar oscr developed by the rutherford appleton laboratory uk 30 days of synoptic hourly surface current vectors were obtained for 84 locations within a nearshore region some 18 kms square tidal analyses of these data show that the currents associated with the predominant m2 constituent sweep smoothly and regularly through the area unaffected by the finer topographic features moreover contours of the amplitude of the m2 semi major axis are mutually consistent to a precision of better than 0 5 cm s 1 statistical analyses of these data indicate that the standard error of oscr current measurements is less than 4 cm s 1 by contrast the major higher harmonic constituent m4 shows pronounced but ordered spatial variability relating the observed distributions for m4 and m2 is foreseen as an instructive modeling problem that should advance our knowledge of shallow water tidal interaction processes standard relationships between residual surface currents and

tectono stratigraphic and kinematic evolution of the southern apennines calabria peloritani terrane system italy abstract temporal controls such as sedimentation ages in foredeep and wedge top basins combined with information about stratigraphic and metamorphic evolution ages and characterization of magmatic rocks deep structures burial and exhumation histories allowed us to obtain kinematic estimations of the southern apennines calabria peloritani terrane system evolution from the late oligocene to recent calculated thrust front velocities suggest to subdivide the orogenic evolution in main five kinematic stages characterized by different velocity trends nine kinematic complexes from a to i i e sets of tectonic units deformed in the same time range are determined according to foredeep ages these complexes bounded by main regional thrust faults encompass one or more tectonic sub units and successions of different paleoenvironment domains paleogeographic evolution model indicates according to available paleomagnetic data a counterclockwise rotation with a mean angle of 60 for the apennine platform carbonates whereas a mean angle of 20 for the eastern sector of the apennine platform and western side of apulian platform shortening estimations for the apennine successions show values ranging between 55 and 88 and a linear best fit indicating an increase from 60 nw sector to ca 90 se sector such high values are consistent with a deformation dominated by a thin skinned tectonics on the contrary the low value of 28 calculated for mt alpi suggests an exhumation ruled by high angle deep seated structures characterized by limited displacements tectonic vergences referred to middle late miocene late miocene and pliocene middle pleistocene when restored indicate an average eastward tectonic transport finally tectonic evolution is summarized in eleven schematic cross sections and corresponding paleogeographic maps

subduction evolution of the dinarides and the cretaceous orogeny in the eastern alps hints from a new paleotectonic interpretation

geodynamic evolution of ophiolites from albania and greece dinaric hellenic belt one two or more oceanic basins all the geological constraints for an exhaustive reconstruction of the triassic to tertiary tectonic history of the southern dinaric hellenic belt can be found in albania and greece this article aims to schematically reconstruct this long tectonic evolution primarily based on a detailed analysis of the tectonic setting the stratigraphy the geochemistry and the age of the ophiolites in contrast to what was previously reported in the literature we propose a new subdivision on a regional scale of the ophiolite complexes cropping out in albania and greece this new subdivision includes six types of ophiolite occurrences each corresponding to different tectonic units derived from a single obducted sheet these units are represented by 1 sub ophiolite melange 2 triassic ocean floor ophiolites 3 metamorphic soles 4 jurassic fore arc ophiolites 5 jurassic intra oceanic arc ophiolites and 6 jurassic back arc basin ophiolites the overall features of these ophiolites are coherent with the existence of a single though composite oceanic basin located east of the adria pelagonian continental margin this oceanic basin was originated during the middle triassic and was subsequently early jurassic affected by an east dipping intra oceanic subduction this subduction was responsible for the birth of intra oceanic arc and back arc oceanic basins separated by a continental volcanic arc during the early to middle jurassic from the uppermost middle jurassic to the early cretaceous an obduction developed during which the ophiolites were thrust westwards firstly onto the neighboring oceanic lithosphere and then onto the adria margin

evidence for jurassic subduction from the northern calcareous alps berchtesgaden austroalpine germany the closure of the western part of the neotethys ocean started in late early jurassic the middle to early late jurassic contraction is documented in the berchtesgaden alps by the migration of trench like basins formed in front of a propagating thrust belt due to ophiolite obduction these basins propagated from the outer shelf area hallstatt realm to the interior continent hauptdolomit dachstein platform realm the basins were separated by nappe fronts forming structural highs this scenario mirrors syn orogenic erosion and deposition in an evolving thrust belt active basin formation and nappe thrusting ended around the oxfordian kimmeridgian boundary followed by the onset of carbonate platforms on structural highs starved basins remained between the platforms rapid deepening around the early late tithonian boundary was induced by extension due to mountain uplift and resulted in the reconfiguration of the platforms and basins erosion of the uplifted nappe stack including obducted ophiolites resulted in increased sediment supply into the basins and final drowning and demise of the platforms in the berriasian the remaining early cretaceous foreland basins were filled up by sediments including siliciclastics the described jurassic to early cretaceous history of the northern calcareous alps accords with the history of the western carpathians the dinarides and the albanides where 1 age dating of the metamorphic soles prove late early to middle jurassic inneroceanic thrusting followed by late middle to early late jurassic ophiolite obduction 2 kimmeridgian to tithonian shallow water platforms formed on top of the obducted ophiolites and 3 latest jurassic to early cretaceous sediments show postorogenic character

recognizing episodic lithospheric thinning along a convergent plate margin the example of the early oligocene alps large scale tectonic mode switches from lithospheric shortening to lithospheric extension may play a fundamental role in the tectonometamorphic evolution of orogens located along convergent plate margins short lived episodes of lithospheric extension can be inferred from the concomitant occurrence of bimodal magmatism rapid exhumation of rock units activity of extensional shear zones steep geothermal gradients and possibly topographic collapse of the orogenic belt here we provide a synthesis of existing data from the european alps supporting the hypothesis on tectonic mode switches data are interpreted to suggest that at ca 38 34 ma a period of n s orogen perpendicular shortening led to the formation of medium to ultra high pressure mineral assemblages by lithosphere scale thrust imbrication a tectonic mode switch took place at ca 34 ma marked by the onset of e w extension during this extensional event internal units of the western and central alps were rapidly exhumed to mid crustal level in the footwall of regional scale extensional shear zones tectonic thinning was also accomplished through pervasive e w stretching of the nappe pile lithospheric stretching resulted in the onset of an anomalous thermal regime which was responsible for the overprint of the older medium to ultra high pressure mineral assemblages by barrovian type mineral assemblages and by migmatization at the same time attenuation of the isotherms led to partial melting of mantle lithosphere and to bimodal magmatism contemporaneous topographic collapse of the orogen is suggested by the deposition in the foreland of flysch units rich in minerals that were probably derived from erosion of the early oligocene calc alkaline volcanics erupted in the hinterland this short lived episode of lithospheric stretching took place in no more than 4 myr from ca 34 ma to ca 32 30 ma renewed lithospheric thickening which is observed in seismic tomography studies resulted in large scale folding of the extensional structures and the in rapid generation of topographic relief feeding abundant clastic sedimentation in the peripheral basins

subduction tectonic erosion and late cretaceous subsidence along the northern austroalpine margin eastern alps austria abstract the late cretaceous to early tertiary subsidence history of the northern calcareous alps nca records the effect of two independent basin formation mechanisms at the northern leading margin of the austroalpine unit the terrestrial to shallow marine sediments of the lower gosau subgroup were deposited mainly within small fault bound basins during a phase of strike slip faulting from the late turonian onwards after a short period of uplift deformation and erosion of 1 to 3 ma renewed rapid subsidence followed during this period the whole nca subsided into bathyal to abyssal depths the characteristics of this second evolutionary phase are 1 a short period of uplift and erosion followed by strong subsidence of the whole nca with tectonic subsidence rates up to 700 m ma 2 sedimentation of turbidites and hemipelagites upper gosau subgroup 3 northward tilting of the depositional area 4 elimination of an accretionary wedge north of the nca as the main source for the sediments and 5 a pronounced migration of the subsidence event from the northwest to the southeast from late turonian santonian to the maastrichtian these features can be explained by a model of subduction tectonic erosion along the northern margin of the austroalpine unit a part of the adriatic microplate tectonic erosion as compared to recent analogues and fore arc modelling may be due to the collision and oblique subduction of an oceanic swell or ridge of the penninic plate beneath the overriding austroalpine unit with the nca on its leading northern margin

the pindos fold and thrust belt greece inversion kinematics of a passive continental margin continuous exposure in the pindos mountain chain greece and the detailed stratigraphic measurements in the area enable us to construct eight balanced cross sections across the pindos fold and thrust belt pftb and to approach quantitatively some parameters which controlled foreland evolution the 160 km wide passive continental margin of the apulian continent in greece was progressively shortened from east to west at rates of 6 mm year between the early oligocene and late eocene from the rear to the frontal part of the wedge fault bend folds duplexes and imbricates were formed while strain was partitioned into faulting 34 layer parallel shortening 23 and buckling 9 foreland subsidence and internal deformation of the orogenic wedge are strongly affected by two parameters of equal importance the thrust load of the overthrusted microcontinents and the rigidity of the underthrusted apulian passive margin changes in the thickness of the pre orogenic sediments and reactivated transform faults induced salients during the lower miocene the orogenic wedge in the peloponnese suffered additional uplift and westward gravitational gliding induced by the intracontinental subduction of the palaeozoic rift zone of the phyllite quartzite series which was reactivated and returned to the earth s surface during the hellenic orogeny

recognizing remnants of magma poor rifted margins in high pressure orogenic belts the alpine case study magma poor rifted margins are being increasingly recognized in present day atlantic type systems however findings of fossil areas floored by exhumed mantle or hyper extended crust are comparatively rare within orogenic belts that were originated through the inversion of pre existing rifted margins this discrepancy may be due to the common reactivation of lithological contacts during subduction orogeny potentially masking pre orogenic relationships and most importantly to the frequent lack of a preorogenic layer cake architecture hindering retro deformation of multiply deformed tectonic units this study outlines a methodology to detect sections of magma poor hyper extended rifted margins without a layer cake architecture in multiply deformed metamorphosed terrains this approach is defined by comparison to well studied examples of fossil analogues preserved in weakly deformed parts of alpine orogens in the latter domains continental basement and hydrated peridotites were exhumed at the basin floor during jurassic rifting along long offset detachment systems extensional geometries locally resulted in tectonic sampling of laterally discontinuous slivers of allochthonous continental basement and pre rift sediments fromthe hanging wall blocks lithostratigraphic associations consisting of continental basement rocks directly juxtaposed with syn to post rift meta sediments and or serpentinized subcontinental mantle are widespread within sections of alpine type orogenic belts that underwent high to ultra high pressure metamorphism however similar associations may arise from a variety of processes other than rift related lithospheric thinning in magma poor environments including subduction melange dynamics or deposition of sedimentary melanges along convergent divergent margins the partial preservation of rift related lithostratigraphic associations may still be assessed despite the lack of biostratigraphic evidence by 1 the consistency of the lithostratigraphic architecture over large areas despite pervasive alpine deformation which rules out chaotic mixing during subduction exhumation 2 the presence of clasts of basement rocks in the neighboringmeta sediments indicating the original proximity of the different lithologies 3 evidence of brittle deformation in continental basement and ultramafic rocks pre dating alpine metamorphism indicating that theywere juxtaposed by fault activity prior to the deposition of post rift sediments and 4 the similar alpine tectono metamorphic evolution of ophiolites continental basement and meta sediments a re assessment of basement cover relationships in the north western alps following this approach combined with published studies on exhumedmantle domains sampled in the rest of thewestern alps indicates that several tectono metamorphic units fromthemost deformed metamorphosed part of the belt between the canavese line and the penninic front sample hyper extended lithosphere related to the jurassic opening of the western tethys relative plate motion during cretaceous tertiary basin inversion was largely accommodated at the transition between areas floored by hyper extended crust or hydrated subcontinental mantle and domains consisting of thicker continental crust as a result distal margins were preferentially subducted whereas the proximal domains and the brianconnais paleo high underwent relatively minor deformation and metamorphism the high pressure alpine tectono metamorphic units were probably detached from the downgoing lithosphere along a hydration front that is typically observed in present day distal margins the recognition of preserved pre alpine relationships between continental basement post rift sediments and or serpentinized ultramafic rocks calls for a re assessment of the relative role of subduction and rifting dynamics in establishing the present day orogen architecture

late cretaceous intra oceanic magmatism in the internal dinarides northern bosnia and herzegovina implications for the collision of the adriatic and european plates abstract the kozara mountains of northern bosnia and hercegovina form part of the internal dinarides and host two tectonically juxtaposed ophiolitic successions of different age the southern part of the kozara mountains exposes the western vardar ophiolitic unit which was obducted onto the adriatic margin in the late jurassic the northern part exposes a bimodal igneous succession that was thrust onto the western vardar ophiolitic unit during the latest cretaceous to early paleogene this bimodal igneous succession comprises isotropic gabbros doleritic dikes basaltic pillow lavas and rhyolites pelagic limestones intercalated with pillow lavas yielded a campanian globotruncanid association consistent with concordant u pb ages on zircons from dolerites and rhyolites of 81 39 0 11 and 81 6 0 12 ma respectively chondrite normalised rare earth element patterns of the bimodal igneous rocks show enrichment of lree over hree primitive mantle normalised multi element diagrams do not reveal significant depletion of hfse the end t and initial 87sr 86sr isotopic values range from 4 4 to 6 3 and from 0 70346 to 0 70507 respectively suggesting an intraoceanic origin the bimodal igneous succession is unconformably overlain by maastrichtian to paleocene siliciclastics that contain abundant ophiolitic detritus suggesting reworking of the campanian magmatics an eocene turbiditic sandstone succession unconformably covers both the western vardar ophiolitic unit and the late cretaceous bimodal igneous successions these observations suggest that the adriatic plate and the europe derived tisza and dacia mega units were still separated by a deep basin floored by oceanic lithosphere until the campanian and that its closure did not occur before the maastrichtian to earliest paleogene this late cretaceous oceanic domain probably represented a remnant of the vardar ocean or alternatively the alpine tethys possibly the traces of both oceanic domains were connected in the area

effects of low frequency current variability on near inertial submesoscale vortices from september 30 to october 14 1993 and from may 18 to june 13 1994 ocean surface currents along the inshore boundary of the florida current were measured using a land based ocean surface current radar oscr deployed along the florida keys a dual station oscr mapped the current fields at 20 min intervals with a horizontal resolution of 1 2 km over a 30 44 km domain using the high frequency hf 25 4 mhz mode an upward looking narrowband acoustic doppler current profiler adcp was moored in 150 m of water seaward of the shelf break concurrently sampling the three dimensional current vector between 15 and 130 m at 30 min intervals regression analyses between surface and subsurface currents at 15 m depth from the adcp indicated biases of 3 12 cm s 1 and slopes of o 0 8 1 root mean square differences were about 18 cm s 1 because of a 15 m depth separation between the two measurements and bulk current shears were o 10 3 s 1 in the florida current where maximum velocities exceeded 150 cm s 1 between 40 and 70 m surface tidal currents were 2 10 cm s 1 in the diurnal and semidiurnal bands and revealed fine scale variability in the tidal ellipses due to topographical variations differences in the tidal current amplitudes between the surface and 15 m ranged from 1 to 3 cm s 1 in these constituents and explained more of the current variance with depth during the second experiment a submesoscale surface feature was detected along the shelf break and progressed eastward at a rate of about 30 cm s 1 this feature was embedded in the near inertial wave band where the local inertial period was 29 hours that may have been forced by an abrupt change in the wind direction this transient feature was trapped and advected along the inshore edge of the florida current where the anticyclonic vorticity of the subinertial flow shifted the frequency of the nearinertial motions by a few percent of f these energetic near inertial currents of 15 20 cm s 1 had horizontal and vertical wavelengths of 40 km and 50 100 m respectively

an assessment of local coastal dynamics observed with high frequency radar an assessment is made of the dominant processes governing the circulation in a 30 km by 40 km area off the coast of cape hatteras north carolina where surface current velocity vectors have been obtained using shore based high frequency radars in the high resolution remote sensing experiment in 1993 although the currents in this region are constantly under the influence of winds and tides frequent intrusion of energetic flows into the area apparently mostly of gulf stream origin is shown to have a strong influence on the current variability analysis of vorticity and divergence shows that the flow intruding into the area is strongly rotational with positive vorticity this rotational motion is not in geostrophic balance with the surface pressure gradient and an inertial oscillation is often excited as a result with vorticity and divergence oscillating 90 out of phase on average the geostrophic imbalance generates a net surface flow divergence which in turn induces negative vorticity that more than offsets the positive vorticity advected into the region however vertical viscous transfer of positive vorticity from subsurface to surface is shown to be required to complete the surface vorticity balance the same energetic cyclonic shear flows that intrude into the area are suggested as the source of the subsurface vorticity as these flows of gulf stream origin are known to be subducted under buoyant shelf water

evolution of the adriatic carbonate platform palaeogeography main events and depositional dynamics abstract the adriatic carbonate platform adcp is one of the largest mesozoic carbonate platforms of the perimediterranean region its deposits comprise a major part of the entire carbonate succession of the croatian karst external or outer dinarides which is very thick in places more than 8000 m and ranges in age from the middle permian or even upper carboniferous to the eocene however only deposits ranging from the top of the lower jurassic toarcian to the top of the cretaceous can be attributed to the adcp defined as an isolated palaeogeographical entity although the entire carbonate succession of the karst dinarides was deposited within carbonate platform environments there were different types of carbonate platforms located in different palaeogeographical settings carboniferous to middle triassic mixed siliciclastic carbonate deposits were accumulated along the gondwanian margin on a spacious epeiric carbonate platform after tectonic activity culminating by regional middle triassic volcanism recorded throughout adria the african promontory a huge isolated carbonate southern tethyan megaplatform abbreviated as stm was formed with the area of the future adcp located in its inner part tectonic disintegration of the megaplatform during the middle to late early jurassic resulted in the establishment of several carbonate platforms including the adriatic apenninic and apulian separated by newly drowned deeper marine areas including the adriatic basin as a connection between the ionian and belluno basins lagonero basin and the area of the slovenian and bosnian troughs the adcp was characterised by predominantly shallow marine deposition although short or long periods of emergence were numerous as a consequence of the interaction of synsedimentary tectonics and eustatic changes also several events of temporary platform drowning were recorded especially in the late cretaceous when synsedimentary tectonics became stronger leading up to the final disintegration of the adcp the thickness of deposits formed during the 125 my of the adcp s existence is variable between 3500 and 5000 m the end of adcp deposition was marked by regional emergence between the cretaceous and the palaeogene deposition during the palaeogene was mainly controlled by intense synsedimentary tectonic deformation of the former platform area some carbonates mostly eocene in age were deposited on irregular ramp type carbonate platforms surrounding newly formed flysch basins and the final uplift of the dinarides reached its maximum in the oligocene miocene the adriatic carbonate platform represents a part although a relatively large and well preserved one of the broader shallow water carbonate platform that extended from ne italy to turkey although its continuity is somewhat debatable in the area near albanian greece boundary this large carbonate body which was deformed mostly in the cenozoic including a significant reduction of its width needs a specific name and the central mediterranean carbonate platform is proposed abbreviated to cmcp although the local names such as adcp for its nw part should be kept to enable easier communication and to facilitate description of local differences in platform evolution

a numerical model study of parameters influencing tidal currents in the irish sea the mathematical formulation of a mixed finite difference modal three dimensional tidal model of the irish sea using quadratic bottom friction is briefly presented by using an expansion of modes in the vertical a continuous current profile from sea surface to seabed can be computed and accurate comparisons made with tidal currents measured at a range of positions throughout the water column the sensitivity of current profiles to various eddy viscosity formulations and coefficients of bottom friction are examined in detail also the influence of open boundary conditions and water depths upon computed tidal elevations and currents is examined in common with other earlier published calculations initial results show that with previous formulations of eddy viscosity and friction an accurate distribution of sea surface elevations is accompanied with computed currents which exceed observations by the order of 20 cm s 1 however results from the sensitivity study presented here show that elevations and currents above the bottom boundary in good agreement with observations can be obtained with alternative formulations of viscosity and other friction coefficients together with current input to the radiation condition however computed near bed currents are still larger than those observed although a slight increase in water depth and bottom friction coefficients corrects this calculations clearly show that the computation of near bed currents subject to the constraints of obtaining accurate elevation and current distributions is the most sensitive test of the model excellent agreement between computed and observed currents and elevations was obtained in a final series of calculations using appropriate parameterizations of eddy viscosity and bottom friction

kinematics of retreating subduction along the carpathian arc romania kinematic axes and resultant vectors of displacement along the carpathian arc and the apuseni mountains aid in the reconstruction of retreating subduction along the carpathians the recent vertical position of the subducted slab below the vrancea area of the eastern carpathians represents the final rollback stage of a small fragment of oceanic lithosphere formerly situated between the moesian and east european plates the ages and locations of the eruption centers of the andesitic volcanic chain along the carpathian arc in the overriding plate as well as the thrust directions are used as markers to reconstruct the rollback area of the subducted slab between the moesian and east european plates

refining the timing of eclogite metamorphism a geochemical petrological sm nd and u pb case study from the pohorje mountains slovenia eastern alps high pressure metamorphism in the pohorje mountains of slovenia austroalpine unit eastern alps affected n morb type metabasic and metapelitic lithologies thermodynamic calculations and equilibrium phase diagrams of kyanite phengite bearing eclogites reveal pt conditions of 2 1 gpa at t 750 c but within the stability field of quartz metapelitic eclogite country rocks contain the assemblage garnet phengite kyanite quartz for which calculated peak pressure conditions are in good agreement with results obtained from eclogite samples the eclogites contain a single population of spherical zircon with a low th u ratio combined constraints on the age of metamorphism come from u pb zircon as well as garnet whole rock and mineral mineral sm nd analyses from eclogites a coherent cluster of single zircon analyses yields a 206pb 238u age of 90 7 1 0 ma that is in good agreement with results from sm nd garnet whole rock regression of 90 7 3 9 and 90 1 2 0 ma end 8 for two eclogite samples the agreement between u pb and sm nd age data strongly suggests an age of approximately 90 ma for the pressure peak of the eclogites in the pohorje mountains the presence of garnet omphacite and quartz inclusions in unfractured zircon indicates high pressure rather than ultrahigh pressure conditions the analysed metapelite sample yields a sm nd garnet whole rock scatterchron age of 97 15 ma these data probably support a single p t loop for mafic and pelitic lithologies of the pohorje area and a late cretaceous high pressure event that affected the entire easternmost austroalpine basement including the koralpe and saualpe eclogite type locality in the course of the complex collision of the apulian microplate and europe