General correlation of the Late Palaeozoic sequences in the Balkans and the Caucasus

This paper presents a brief correlation of the Late Palaeozoic (mainly Late Carboniferous-Permian) sequences and volcanism in the Balkans and Caucasus. It is possible to correlate lithological and facial carracteristics of the Upper Palaeozoic sections in both of the regions, mainly for the continental, subaereal and shallow marine molasses from the Balkan Peninsula and Northern parts of the Caucasus, being the Fore-Range, Bechasin or Laba-Malka (the Northern slope of the Great Caucasus), Main Range, Southern slope of the Great Caucasus, Southern and Northern Transcaucasus. The comparable Upper Carboniferous and Permian sequences of the Caucasus and Balkans may be related to the Variscan orogeny and its neighbouring lowlands. The formation of the orogen was a result of the continent-continent collision between some peri-Gondwanan terranes end the southern periphery of the East-European platform. In the Caucasus, the continental and arc-related and oceanic ridges are also identified. The distribution and relationships of the continental, transitional and shallow-marine facies in the eastern Balkans and Western Caucasian zones indicate the presence of a marine basin within the present-day Black sea during the Late Palaeozoic. The reconstruction of the Late Palaeozoic palaeogeography and palaeogeodynamics is important, as it represents the final period of the Palaeozoic compressional and/or transpressional events before the dominance of the new extensional regime that started in the latest Permian or Triassic time. The Caucasus and Balkans, belonging to the same Alpine-Himalayan belt, are situated at the junction of the Eurasian and Africa-Arabian plates between the European and Asiatic segments of the belt. In the present configuration, the continent-continent collisional zone of the Eastern Mediterranean represents an accretionary collage of fragments (terranes) of Euroasiatic, Tethyan and Gondwanian origin.Original Abstract: Son yillarda yapilan calismalar, Balkanlardaki ve Kafkaslalarin kuzeyindeki; oezellikle Kueck Kafkaslar, Bachasin veya Laba-Malka (Bueyuek Kafkaslarin Kyamaci), Bueyuek Kafkaslar, Bueyuek Kafkaslarin G yamasi, G ve K Transkafkasya alanlarindaki Uest Paleozoyik istiflerinin litolojik ve fasiyes acisindan korelasyonunun muemkuen oldugunu goestermektedir. Karsilastirilabilir nitelikteki bu Uest Karbonifer ve Permiyen birimleri Varisken Orojenik zonu ve buna komsu alanlarda gelismistir. Bu orojenez bazi peri-Gondwana koekenli mikrolevhalar