Towards resolving Cretaceous to Miocene kinematics of the Adria–Europe contact zone in reconstructions: Inferences from a structural study in a critical Dinarides area

Abstract

One key element in the current debate analysing the Central Mediterranean evolution is the Cretaceous structure and kinematics of the present-day oroclinal bent contact between Adria- and Europe-derived continental units in the Dinarides, interpreted in different tectonic reconstructions as a subduction-related thrust system or a large-scale strike-slip fault zone. We provide a solution to the debate by a structural and kinematic study in a key area located in central Serbia along the Europe–Adria orogenic suture of the Sava Zone. The results demonstrate that large-scale, top-SW, in- to out-of-sequence thrusting is the dominant mechanism that deformed the observed accretionary wedge-trench sediments during the Late Cretaceous subduction of the Neotethys Ocean and the ensuing Adria–Europe collision. The subsequent Oligocene–Miocene extension of the Pannonian Basin was associated with opposite-sense rotations of different Sava Zone segments, which created the observed ~80° oroclinal bending.