TITLE:
Geodynamics of the South Balkan and Northern Aegean Regions Driven by the Westward Escape of Anatolia
AUTHORS:
Enzo Mantovani, Marcello Viti, Daniele Babbucci, Caterina Tamburelli, Ismail Hoxha, Luigi Piccardi
KEYWORDS:
South Balkan, North Aegean, Geodynamics, Tectonics, Seismicity
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Geosciences,
Vol.14 No.5,
May
31,
2023
ABSTRACT: The Plio-Quaternary deformation pattern of the northern Aegean and south
Balkan regions is interpreted as an effect of the interaction between the
Anatolian-Aegean-Pelagonian system (Tethyan belt), undergoing westward
extrusion and strong deformation, and the surrounding plates (Nubia, Europe and
Adriatic). Since the middle-late Miocene, the collision of the Tethyan belt
with the continental Adriatic domain has caused strong E-W shortening in the
outer Hellenides and Albanides, also involving the southward extrusion of the
Peloponnesus wedge, at the expense of the Ionian oceanic domain. The roughly
E-W extension recognized in the western South Balkan zones (Macedonia and eastern Albania) is related to the
divergence between the Pelagonian
belt (Albanides and Hellenides) and the Rhodope-Moesia domain. Stressed by the westward displacement of the central
Anatolian plateau and by the southward bowing of the Cycladic Arc, the northern
Aegean zone has contemporaneously undergone E-W compression and N-S extension,
which has generated a series of dextral shear faults, delimiting a number of
slats. The westward displacement and deformation of such slats can explain the
morphological features of the northern Aegean zone. During this phase, the push
of the central Anatolian plateau also caused the separation of the Rhodope
massif from the Moesian European domain, with the consequent formation of the upper Thrace basin. This hypothesis can
explain the Plio-Quaternary compressional deformations recognized in a
sector of the North Anatolian fault system, the Ganos-Gelibolu zone. The
proposed geodynamic/tectonic interpretation may help to explain some features
of the time-space distribution of major earthquakes in the study area.