Contribution to the macrotectonic subdivision of the border region between Southern Alps and External Dinarides

Abstract

In the paper the bases for macrotectonic dismembering of the border region between the Southern Alps and the External Dinarides are given. The gravity point lies on problems of establishing the course of the Southalpine thrust border, or the Southalpine front west and east of the Ljubljana basin, and the relationship of the nappe units of the External Dinarides to this border. North of the Periadriatic lineament lie the Eastern Alps. South of the Periadriatic lineament extend the Dinarides that are subdivided into Southern Alps and External and Internal Dinarides. The Southern Alps lie between the Periadriatic lineament and the Southalpine front. A special position in the Southern Alps has the Periadriatic tectonic zone between the Periadriatic lineament and the Sava fault. The Southern Alps are thrusted on the External Dinarides and the Adriatic or Apulian foreland. Both units are declined with respect to the Southern Alps for 30-45° External Dinaric front is forming the border between the Adriatic or Apulian foreland and External Dinarides, and between the External and Internal Dinarides exists a transitional area that is characterized as the domain of migration of the southwestern border of the pelagic development of the Internal Dinarides during the Mesozoic. The Pannonian basin consists of terrains that were formed from parts of the megastructural units of Alps and Dinarides. The Southalpine front passes east of the Ljubljana basin into the Mid-Transdanubian zone.