Geology

Abstract

The Albanian territory, although of a limited size, is distinguished for its complex and diverse geological building. This territory is a special node and key to the interpretation of several features of the geological building of the Balkan region and the Alpine-Mediterranean belt (Qendra e Studimeve Gjeografike 1990).The territory of the country consists mainly of sedimentary (terrigenous, carbonate) and magmatic formations, but there are also metamorphic formations. Their age ranges from the Paleozoic to the Quaternary. The Albanian ophiolites are distinguished for their wide development. The country’s geological structures are different and complicated by numerous tectonic faults (Aliaj 2012).During the Alpine evolution, the nappe structures developed in the interior of the country while thrusts in its outer part. During the Plio-Quaternary neotectonic stage, the inland ancient structure is dislocated by normal faulting which created a horst-graben morphostructure. In the outer zones, the geological structure was partly subjected to pre-Pliocene compressional movements and partly to post-Pliocene compressional one. During the Plio-Quaternary, it was subjected to strong uplifting movements. They conditioned the formation of the mainly hilly-mountainous relief and its connection with the current geological structure (Aliaj 2012).The geological evolution of the country continues even today. The proof for this is shown by the uplifting movements in most of the territory and the lowering ones in some grabens (Korça, Përrenjasi, Delvina, Ohrid, etc.) that are associated with a pronounced seismic activity.With this diversity of geological formations and structures of Albanian territory are linked the numerous and diverse mineral resources. There are 61 types of known minerals, most of them of industrial importance: like chromium, copper, iron-nickel, coal, bitumen, oil, natural gas, etc.KeywordsThe Albanides foldthe Alpine-Mediterranean orogenic beltThe Dinaro-Albano-Hellenic segmentThe internal zonesExternal AlbanidesThe Neotectonic Pliocene-Quaternary developmentSeismically active