Published: 2026-06-18
ZVORNIK FAULT - FROM OCEANIC SUTURE TO CONTINENTAL STRIKE-SLIP SYSTEM
Authors: Ana Mladenović, Vladica Cvetković, Violeta Gajić, Kristijan Sokol, Milena Dunčić, Dejan Prelević
Abstract:
Sedimentary basins represent valuable repositories of data on geological processes that occur within an orogen. One notable example of a sedimentary basin formed during convergence between the Adriatic and European plates developed in the Internal Dinarides, at the boundary between the two most distal tectonic units of the Adriatic plate: the Drina-Ivanjica unit (west) and the Jadar-Kopaonik unit (east). This sedimentary basin has distinctive features: it contains the so‑called "Upper Cretaceous diabase-chert formation" or the "Upper Cretaceous olistostrome melange". Milorad Dimitrijević already in 1973, described this volcano‑sedimentary formation as the result of subduction and/or underthrusting of the Drina-Ivanjica element beneath the Jadar block. The type locality of this formation is the area around the town of Zvornik, and the tectonic structure along which subduction was proposed was consequently named the Zvornik suture. In this abstract, we focus on three regions where the Upper Cretaceous volcano‑sedimentary formation has been mapped: Rujevac near Krupanj, Povlen Mountain, and Jelica Mountain. We applied structural‑geological mapping at multiple scales and carried out a detailed study of the magmatic and sedimentary rocks, aiming to determine the geodynamic significance of the Zvornik fault and the Upper Cretaceous “melange”. Based on our results, we propose that the studied Upper Cretaceous volcano‑sedimentary formation represents sedimentation within a wedge‑top basin closely linked to the activity of the Jadar–Kopaonik thrust. Horizontal slip along this thrust produced narrow extensional domain in which partial melting of the upper mantle and basalt genesis could occur; such basalts are found within this volcano‑sedimentary formation. Consequently, the Zvornik fault represents the front of the Jadar–Kopaonik thrust sheet with a pronounced dextral horizontal component of slip.
Presented at 19th Congress of Geologists of Serbia
Sedimentary basins represent valuable repositories of data on geological processes that occur within an orogen. One notable example of a sedimentary basin formed during convergence between the Adriatic and European plates developed in the Internal Dinarides, at the boundary between the two most distal tectonic units of the Adriatic plate: the Drina-Ivanjica unit (west) and the Jadar-Kopaonik unit (east). This sedimentary basin has distinctive features: it contains the so‑called "Upper Cretaceous diabase-chert formation" or the "Upper Cretaceous olistostrome melange". Milorad Dimitrijević already in 1973, described this volcano‑sedimentary formation as the result of subduction and/or underthrusting of the Drina-Ivanjica element beneath the Jadar block. The type locality of this formation is the area around the town of Zvornik, and the tectonic structure along which subduction was proposed was consequently named the Zvornik suture. In this abstract, we focus on three regions where the Upper Cretaceous volcano‑sedimentary formation has been mapped: Rujevac near Krupanj, Povlen Mountain, and Jelica Mountain. We applied structural‑geological mapping at multiple scales and carried out a detailed study of the magmatic and sedimentary rocks, aiming to determine the geodynamic significance of the Zvornik fault and the Upper Cretaceous “melange”. Based on our results, we propose that the studied Upper Cretaceous volcano‑sedimentary formation represents sedimentation within a wedge‑top basin closely linked to the activity of the Jadar–Kopaonik thrust. Horizontal slip along this thrust produced narrow extensional domain in which partial melting of the upper mantle and basalt genesis could occur; such basalts are found within this volcano‑sedimentary formation. Consequently, the Zvornik fault represents the front of the Jadar–Kopaonik thrust sheet with a pronounced dextral horizontal component of slip.
Presented at 19th Congress of Geologists of Serbia
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