Continental Subduction Tectonics in the High Karst Dinarides of Western Croatia

Abstract

The faults confining Palaeozoic inliers surrounded by Mesozoic rocks, show that their relation is not a consequence of folding but of neotectonic uplift causing a rather uneven relief of the Palaeozoic units underlying the carbonate Mesozoic. The predominance of tectonic contacts indicates that similar relations exist even between the Triassic and the confined Jurassic outcrops exhibiting inverse and, consequently, allochthonous relations. The allochthony is also confirmed by karst relief within some Triassic dolomites related to the unexpected ground water flow between the swallow holes (ponors) and karst springs. There are also indications of inverse relations between the Triassic volcanics and Palaeozoic clastics. However, in the surrounding area a normal superposition between the Triassic and Jurassic is also noticed. Consequently the Triassic and Jurassic of the Fuzine-Lokve area and of its environs may belong to two megatectonic units. Tectogenesis is explained by continental subduction of the Adriaticum under the Dinaricum.