Published: 2022-08-31
Magmatism of the Sava Vardar Zone as an example of how complex tectonomagmatic divisions can be
Authors: Vladica Cvetković
Abstract:
The Sava Vardar Zone (Pamić, 2002) or the Sava Zone (Schmid et al., 2008) is a discontinued belt of Late Cretaceous to Palaeogene variably metamorphosed flysch-like deposits associated with roughly contemporaneous magmatic rocks, varying in composition from basalt (gabbro) to rhyolite (granite). The belt can be followed along the Sava River, from Zagreb to Belgrade (WNW-ESE), and further south, towards the Gulf of Thessaloniki. Actual geotectonic reconstructions of the central Balkan Peninsula recognize the Sava Vardar Zone (SVZ) as the NW-dipping suture between the African (the Dinarides) and European (Tisza- Dacia) plates, however, its true tectonomagmatic history is still debatable. Some authors (see Schmid et al., 2020) consider this zone remnants of an back-arc ocean that still existed in the latest Cretaceous; in this context, they regard the SVZ magmatic rocks as either ophiolites or/and products of forearc magmatism related to Late Cretaceous subduction, the very same one that was responsible for the formation of the Banatite-Timok-Srednogorie Belt. Other authors (e.g., Prelević et al., 2017) think that the Neotethys was completely closed in the earliest Cretaceous and that the SVZ is a (multiply?) reactivated suture between the African and European plates; they also argue that compositional variations shown by Upper Cretaceous magmatic rocks of the SVZ can be explained by intracontinental magmatism that involved the combination of extensional and compressional episodes. This contribution is a brief petrogenetic overview of the Upper Cretaceous magmatic rocks that are so far known to occur along the SVZ, from Zagreb to Skopje.
The Sava Vardar Zone (Pamić, 2002) or the Sava Zone (Schmid et al., 2008) is a discontinued belt of Late Cretaceous to Palaeogene variably metamorphosed flysch-like deposits associated with roughly contemporaneous magmatic rocks, varying in composition from basalt (gabbro) to rhyolite (granite). The belt can be followed along the Sava River, from Zagreb to Belgrade (WNW-ESE), and further south, towards the Gulf of Thessaloniki. Actual geotectonic reconstructions of the central Balkan Peninsula recognize the Sava Vardar Zone (SVZ) as the NW-dipping suture between the African (the Dinarides) and European (Tisza- Dacia) plates, however, its true tectonomagmatic history is still debatable. Some authors (see Schmid et al., 2020) consider this zone remnants of an back-arc ocean that still existed in the latest Cretaceous; in this context, they regard the SVZ magmatic rocks as either ophiolites or/and products of forearc magmatism related to Late Cretaceous subduction, the very same one that was responsible for the formation of the Banatite-Timok-Srednogorie Belt. Other authors (e.g., Prelević et al., 2017) think that the Neotethys was completely closed in the earliest Cretaceous and that the SVZ is a (multiply?) reactivated suture between the African and European plates; they also argue that compositional variations shown by Upper Cretaceous magmatic rocks of the SVZ can be explained by intracontinental magmatism that involved the combination of extensional and compressional episodes. This contribution is a brief petrogenetic overview of the Upper Cretaceous magmatic rocks that are so far known to occur along the SVZ, from Zagreb to Skopje.
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