Tisza and its role in the framework of the tectonic evolution of Alps, Dinarides and Carpathians


Applicants: Stefan Schmid, Bernhard Fügenschuh, Daniel Bernoulli
Post-doctoral fellow (from April 2004) Kamil Ustaszewski
PhD student: Senecio Schefer


Cooperation with:

Liviu Matenco (Bukarest)
Mircea Sandulescu (Bukarest)
Ion Balintoni (Clus)
Laszlo Csontos (Budapest)
Emoe Marton (Budapest)
Frank Horvath (Budapest)
Bruno Tomljenovic (Zagreb)
Dusan Plasienka (Bratislava)
Hazim Hrvatovic (Sarajewo)
Stevan Karamata (Belgrade)
Natasa Gerzina (Belgrade)
Sierd Cloetingh (Amsterdam)
Eduard Kissling (ETH Zürich)


Summary of research proposal

This research project proposes an analysis of the pre-Miocene orogenic and paleogeographic evolution of the Alps-Dinarides-Carpathians system. Thereby it primarily focuses on the most enigmatic part of this system: the Tisza block, including its boundaries with neighbouring units. Much of the research performed so far in this area addressed the Neogene evolution and it is time to use these valuable constraints for studying the pre-Neogene evolution. The project also makes use of recent advances in paleogeographic reconstructions based on plate tectonic reconstructions. The principle approach of this investigation consists in combining structural field work carried out in the few outcropping parts of Tisza, including surrounding units, with the analysis of subsurface data.
The research team, consisting of the investigators, one post-doctoral fellow and two PhD students, will carry out extensive field work in close cooperation with its formal partners from Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. Such field studies are planned in the Apuseni mountains and in isolated outcrop areas (mostly inselbergs) in southern Hungary (Villany and Mecsek mountains), Croatia (Zagreb-area, Slavonian hills) N-Bosnian hills and Serbia (Fruska Gora). Reconnaissance work and/or joint working excursions will also be undertaken in neighbouring areas around Tisza: Dinarides-Alps transition (Slovenia), area around Zagreb, Central Dinarides (Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia), Transdanubian range and Bükk Mountains (Hungary), W -Carpathians (Slovakia), as well as the E and S Carpathians (Romania and adjacent Serbia).
A wealth of published and unpublished (as far as available) subsurface data, mainly reflection seismics and drillhole data from the Transylvanian and Pannonian basins will be compiled and subsequently integrated with the field studies.
A wealth of existing paleomagnetic data will have to be integrated with the structural study, primarily based on field work and subsurface data. New laboratory work is only planned where necessary, particularly in the border-area between Tisza and neighboring units.
Selective fission track studies are planned for addressing two topics in those areas were no literature data are available yet: firstly, the age of volcanic rocks used for paleomagnetic analysis, and secondly, constraints on the cooling history related to those tectonic events which are associated with significant amounts of cooling during "Alpine" orogeny.
The results of this study will be combined with studies on processes of mantle flow as deduced from tomography studies and with petrological data taken from the literature. There is growing evidence that tectonic processes in the "Mediterranean puzzle" are primarily driven by slab mantle flow induced by gravitational forces acting on subducting slabs rather than on far-field stress fields associated with the Africa-Europe convergence.
Numerical modeling work, together with the underlying set of geophysical constraints, will address the question, if large scale blocks, such as the Tisza-block, represent mini-plates (or "terranes"), moving and rotating together with their underpinnings, i.e. the underlying lithospheric mantle, or alternatively, large scale allochthons floating above a former suture.
From a scientific point of view we think that it is time to address the pre-Tertiary evolution of the Alps-Carpathians-Dinarides system. The present project is a contribution towards maintaining very fruitful international cooperations such as established by project PANCARDI (part of EUROPROBE of the European Science Foundation) and through two precursor projects and financed by the Schweizerische Nationalfonds (SCOPES projects). In particular, it will promote training of young researchers from these countries while the Swiss partners will profit from its foreign partners through their impressive knowledge of regional tectonics and from access to excellent subsurface data.


Keywords: Tectonics, Arcuate Mountain Belts, Structural Geology, Fission Track Analysis, Paleomagnetics, Modelling, Seismic Tomography, Pannonian Basin, Carpathians, Dinarides, Alps.



State of research, concerning the work by others on the topics of this project, including most relevant references


a. The Alps-Carpathians-Pannonian-Dinarides system:

Excellent syntheses regarding the entire system (see Figs. 1 and 2 of this proposal) do exist in respect to the evolution during the Tertiary. The work of Balla (1987) or Royden and Horvath (1988) are good examples of early and pioneering work on the Tertiary evolution in the Alpine-Carpathian-Pannonian ("ALCAPA") system. More recent syntheses on the Tertiary evolution are found, for example, in Linzer et al. (1998), Csontos et al. (1992), Csontos (1995) or Fodor et al. (1999). Until recently, the evolution of the southern Pannonian basin in former Yugoslavia was rather neglected. Very recently, information became available, for example in Tomljenovic (2002), Tomljenovic and Csontos (2001), Haas et al. (2000) or, Tari and Pamic (1998). Numerous paleomagnetic studies (e.g. Marton 2000, Patrascu et al. 1994) are instrumental for detecting significant rotations (more than 90°) of parts of Tisza.
Syntheses of the pre-Tertiary evolution are scarce (e.g. Burchfiel 1980, Channell and Kozur 1997, Kräutner 1996). Usually they are based on retro-deformation of Tertiary movements and rotations (e.g. Csontos et al. 1992, Fodor et al. 1999), on facies or faunal arguments (e.g. Vörös, 2001), and/or on large scale plate tectonic reconstructions (e.g. Stampfli et al. 2001). Syntheses directly based on a modern structural analysis of the Cretaceous and/or Tertiary orogens, outcropping around the Pannonian basin, and very scarcely outcropping as inselbergs within this Tertiary basin, are very rare. Modern structural studies are available for the Western Carpathians, however (e.g. Plasienka et al. 1997). Studies combining outcrop and subsurface data regarding the pre-Tertiary tectonic evolution, such as those proposed in the present research plan, are also rare (e.g. Szafian et al. 1999). Hence, the important question as to how the Alpine chains (Alps, Dinarides and Carpathians) were linked before Miocene escape, extension and rotations, remains wide open.

b. Drillhole data, geophysical data, modelling studies:

Hungary is covered by a dense network of drillholes, data are compiled in maps (i.e. Fülöp and Dank 1987). In Croatia, only some of the data have been compiled (e.g. Pamic 1998; Haas et al. 2000). A wealth of geophysical data (seismic sections, gravity data) is available (e.g. Horvath and Tari 1999; Szafian1999), including large-scale mantle tomography studies (e.g. Wortel and Spakman 2000). A series of modelling studies performed by the Amsterdam group around S. Cloetingh is based on these geophysical and subsurface data. Most of them address Tertiary (Huismans 1999) and/or recent movements (e.g. Bada et al. 1998).


c. Regional studies in the Apuseni Mountains and around the E edge of Tisza:

The Apuseni mountains (see Fig. 3) represent the largest outcropping part of Tisza and they offer a unique opportunity for establishing a structural-tectonic profile across the eastern Tisza block. Hence, field work planned for this project will very much focus on this part of the "Pannonian system". Fig. 3, serves as a basis for planning our research activities and is largely based on a recent synthesis of Balintoni (1994). Additional information was taken from Bleahu et al. (1981), Burchfiel (1976) and Sandulescu (1984, 1994). The northern part of this N- to NW- vergent nappe pile (Codru nappe system onto the Bihor "autochthon") formed during the Turonian ("Mediterranean" phase), i.e. the orogenic stage responsible for most of the deformation in the Western Carpathians and the Austroalpine nappe system of the Alps, but absent in East and South Carpathians.
Further south, and within the structurally higher nappe systems, in the Biharia and particularly in the Transylvanian (=South Apuseni) nappe system there is ample evidence for a polyphase evolution. During the first stage, i.e during the latest Jurassic, the ophiolites of the Transylvanides were transgressed by a shallow marine carbonate platform (Stramberg facies), possibly indicating obduction of these ophiolites. Deformation during the Mid-Cretaceous "Austrian phase", not recorded in the N. Apuseni, led to the closure of the Transylvanide ophiolite belt (=easternmost branch of the Vardar ocean). This phase led to top south to top-east directed obduction of the Transylvanides onto the "Rhodopian units", i.e. onto the internal South and East Carpathians, also affected by this "Austrian" phase. The "Mediterranean" phase in Turonian times appears to be restricted to the Bihor and Codru units of Tisza. "Laramian" overprint at around the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary shaped most of the major thrusts within the S. Apuseni: arcuate N- to NW- vergent thrusts can be considered as "back-thrusts" in relation to well documented S- and E-directed Laramide thrusting in the South and East Carpathians, respectively.
The above summary illustrates a complex pre-Tertiary evolution in 4 stages (see Dallmeyer et al., 1996 for additional age constraints by radiometric dating). The eastern edge of Tisza is hidden underneath the Transylvanian basin, where subsurface data by Shell Romania are available (DeBroucker et al. 1998) and where contacts have been made with currently active exploration companies. Since the Apuseni Mountains have parts of their paleogeographic and tectonic evolution in common with all the surrounding units (W-Carpathians, East and South Carpathians as well as Dinarides) the paleotectonic and paleogeographical position of Tisza remains a matter of debate. Its adherence to Apulia (Tisia is referred to as "pre-Apulian allochthon in Fig. 1) follows Sandulescu (1994). Others (e.g. Csontos 1995) propose a "European" (or "Rhodopian") affinity, particularly for northern Tisza.


d. Regional studies along the southern contact with the Dinarides (Vojvodina, Slavonia, N-Bosnia) and around the SW edge of Tisza (Zagreb area):

The contact between Tisza and southerly adjacent internal Dinarides is mostly hidden in the southernmost Pannonian basin, but can be traced from geological mapping in the Slavonian and N-Bosnian inselbergs (i.e. Pamic 1998) and subsurface seismic data (Tari and Pamic 1998). The most internal zone of the Dinarides is formed by the western part of the Vardar ocean ("Posavina terrane"). This terrane is characterized by (mostly Tertiary) metamorphism in Cretaceous-Paleocene flysch, ophiolitic mélange and synkinematic granitoids of Tertiary age (Pamic et al. 1998), i.e. it has a tectonometamorphic history, which is similar to that of the Penninic units in the Alps and Western Carpathians. Little information about this contact is available from Vojvodina, Serbia, where it is completely hidden underneath the Pannonian plain, except for the Fruska Gora hill (Karamata and Krstic 1996, Canovic and Kemenci 1987). Modern structural analyses are not available from this area, with the notable exception of the work of Tomljenovic (2002), analysing an important key area near Zagreb situated at the western edge of Tisza ("triple junction" between Southern Alps, Dinarides and Tisza analysed by Haas et al., 2000; see Figs. 1 and 2). There, these authors documented polyphase pre-Miocene movements during (a) the Late-Jurassic-Early Cretaceous, (b) the "Mediterranean" phase and (c) the Paleocene-Eocene.


e. Regional studies along the northern contact with the Austroalpine (Transdanubian ranges), the Bükk mountains and the Western Carpathians ("Mid-Hungarian zone"):

The "Mid-Hungarian Zone" is the most important and enigmatic lineament of the Alps-Carpathians-Pannonia-Dinarides system. It divides "ALCAPA" from the Tisza, whose northernmost parts are exposed in the Mecsek and Villany Mountains in Hungary (Csontos et al. 2002). To the north the Mid-Hungarian zone is delimited by the Balaton line, considered as the continuation of the Periadriatic line by many authors (e.g. Fodor et al. 1998). It forms the boundary between "Austroalpine" units (=Trandanubian ranges) and the eastern extension of the Southern Alps. To the south this "Mid-Hungarian Zone" is delimited by the Mid-Hungarian Line forming the northern boundary of Tisza. According to subsurface information (Csontos and Nagymarosy, 1998) the ALCAPA-block (including the "Mid-Hungarian zone") overrode Tisza during the Tertiary. The only outcrops to be correlated with the Mid-Hungarian line are found in Maramures (N. Romania). However, it is not clear yet if this line corresponds to the Dragos Voda and Bogdan Voda fault systems (Györfi et al. 1998) or to the "North Transylvanian Fault" (= Preluca fault) further south (Sandulescu 1984). The nature of the units in the "Mid-Hungarian Zone" (i.e. between these two lines), which hosts the so-called Szolnok flysch of Paleogene age (Baldi and Baldi-Beke 1985), is disputed. This zone may be attributed to the remnants of an oceanic domain (as speculated in Fig. 1, see also Hamilton. 1990) or to "ALCAPA" (Csontos and Nagymarosy, 1998). Undoubtedly, the movements along this "Mid-Hungarian Zone" must have been very complex. The Balaton line is expected to have taken up dextral movements while the Mid-Hungarian line is expected to have taken up sinistral strike slip movements during the eastward movement of the Tisza block into the Carpathian embayment (as observed along the Dragos-Bogdan Voda fault pair). Fission track studies are available from the Bükk mountains (Arkai et al. 1995) and from the internal Western Carpathians (Koroknai et al. 2001).



References

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Previous work by the investigators

The principal investigator, Prof. S. Schmid, has experience in structural geology and tectonics of the Alps, including the integration of geological and geophysical data (e.g. Schmid et al. 1996; Froitzheim et al. 1996; Schmid and Kissling 2000), including very recent results of seismic tomography (Schmid et al. 2003). During the last 6 years he worked in the framework of another NF-project (currently project 20-63391.00) in the Italian-French Alps (Fügenschuh et al. 1999; Ceriani et al. 2001) which will terminate by March 2003. He intends to significantly reduce his own Alpine research (except for studies on the tectonometamorphic evolution of the Alps, jointly performed with petrology colleges in the Basel department). He intends to concentrate his and his group's research on the entire Alps-Carpathians-Pannonian-Dinarides system. Informal cooperation with central-eastern European countries started in the late 80's (former Yugoslavia), but intensified since 1994 when formal cooperation with Romania (2 NF-SCOPES projects) started (Matenco and Schmid, 1999; Schmid et al., 1998; Schmid and Fügenschuh, 2001; Ciulavu et al., manuscript to be submitted; Fügenschuh et al., manuscript to be submitted.). In the framework of the presently ongoing SCOPES-project he invited Mr. Mihai Marin (to be financed through this NF-project) to Basel. M. Marin analyzed, amongst other things, industry subsurface data from the Transylvanian basin, relevant to the planned NF-project. S. Schmid also was a co-supervisor of the PhD-study by B.Tomljenovic (2002) in Croatia. Informal contacts were established with Slovenian, Hungarian and Slovakian collegues (excursions to the West-Carpathians and the Bükk mountains). In early 2003 he will start his sabbatical leave in Budapest in order to prepare this project.
Dr. B. Fügenschuh is a co-investigator in the framework of the present project (fission track dating and structural geology). He the principal investigator of an NF-project on the Dragos-Voda fault in northern Romania (NF 21-64979.01), which already yielded results through the work of 2 PhD students (one of them financed through Basel University, both jointly supervised with S. Schmid and A. Wetzel) which are of great relevance to the topic of the project. He has a longstanding experience in integrating fission track and structural data in the Alps (Fügenschuh et al., 1997, Fügenschuh et al., 1999; Fügenschuh et al., 2000, Ceriani et al., 2001, Fügenschuh and Schmid, in review) as well as in the Carpathians (Fügenschuh and Schmid., manuscript to be submitted; Fügenschuh and Schmid 2000; Schmid et al.,1998). First results concerning the above mentionend NF-project indicate a two-stage activity of the Dragos-Bogdan Voda fault system. A first well documented acivity is related to the intra-Burdigalian emplacement of the Pienidic units towards the SE. Identical kinematics can be observed along the nappe contacts on either side of the Dragos-Bogdan Voda fault. In a second stage the Dragos-Bogdan Voda fault system was active as sinistral transtensive and throughgoing fault, with no differential rotations of the two blocks on either side of the fault. Middle Miocene apatite fission track cooling ages in the Rodna mountains indicate a south side up component during this stage, in agreement with west-dipping lineations.

Prof. D. Bernoulli (Prof. emeritus of ETH-Zurich and guest at the Geological Institute of Basel University) has much experience in Alpine-Mediterranean Mesozoic and early Tertiary sedimentary facies (e.g. Bernoulli and Jenkyns 1974; Bernoulli 2001). He has a good regional knowledge of the Alps-Dinarides-Carpathians system (Laubscher and Bernoulli 1977) from his own work in the southern Alps (Bertotti et al. 1993), the Hellenides (Bernoulli and Laubscher 1972) and of the circum-Tisza area from extensive excursions in the Bakony, the Mecsek Villany and Bükk Mountains (1991 with A. Mindszenty, A. Galacz, L. Csontos, G. Tari), the eastern Romanian and Polish Carpathians. He has done extensive field work in the Dinarides (for Shell International Petroleum, unpublished) and supervised Ph D. theses in the internal Hellenides (P.O.Baumgartner, Basel 1981) and in western Bulgaria (Kraishte zone, J. Graf 2001, A. Kounov 2002, both ETHZ). In 2002 he resumed field work in eastern Greece.

Dr. L. Matenco is a partner in the current NSF-SCOPES project and also worked in a former similar project, leading to joint cooperative publications (e.g., Matenco and Schmid, 1999). In the framework of the same current NF-SCOPES project he has ensured the collaboration of the Basel University with the Netherlands Research Centre for Integrated Solid Earth Science (ISES), to be further implemented also in the present NF project. His experience in basin-sale studies has lead to the involvement of the joint Basel-Bucharest teams into the correlating the surface structural studies with adjacent sedimentary basins work. Some of these studies include correlation of the South Carpathians Tertiary deformations with the ajacent foredeep (Getic Depression), of the deformation of the Maramures Piennides (s.l.) with the East Carpathians thin-skinned nappe pile and structures prolongation into Transylvania basin. His sedimentary basin analysis and interpretation experience and techniques into the Romanian Carpathians (e.g., Matenco et al., 1997; Matenco and Bertotti, 2000; Matenco et al., 2003) are very useful for the scopes of the present NF project.


References

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• Ceriani, S., Fügenschuh, B. and Schmid, S.M. (2001): Late-stage thrusting at the „Penninic Front“ in the Western Alps between Mont Blanc and Pelvoux massifs. Int. J. Earth Sciences, 90, 685-702.
  
  
• Ciulavu, M., Ferreiro Mählmann, R., Seghedi A., Schmid, S.M. and Frey M. (manuscript to be submitted). Low grade metamorphism in the Danubian window and thermal evolution of the South Carpathians, Romania.
  
  
• Froitzheim N., Schmid, S. and Frey, M. (1996) : Mesozoic paleogeography and the timing of eclogite facies metamorphism in the Alps: A working hypothesis. Eclogae Geologicae Helveticae, 89, 81-110.
  
  
• Fügenschuh, B., Seward, D. and Mancktelow, N.S. (1997): Exhumation in a convergent orogen: the western Tauern window. Terra Nova, 9, 213-217.
  
  
• Fügenschuh B., Loprieno A., Ceriani S. and Schmid S.M. (1999). Structural analysis of the Subbriançonnais and Valais units in the area of Moûtiers (Savoy, Western Alps): paleogeographic and tectonic consequences. Int. Journ. Earth Sciences, 88: 201-218.
  
  
• Fügenschuh, B. and Schmid, S.M. (2000): Cooling history of the Getic and Danubian nappes in the south Carpathians. PANCARDI 2000, Dubrovnik, Croatia, 1.-3. Oktober, Abstract Volume Vijesti 37/7, page 41-42.
  
  
• Fügenschuh, B., Mancktelow, N.S. and Seward, D. (2000): Cretaceous to Neogene cooling and exhumation history of the Oetztal-Stubai basement complex, eastern Alps: a structural and fission track study. Tectonics, 19, 905-918.
  
  
• Fügenschuh, B. and Schmid, S.M. in review: Late stages of deformation and exhumation of an orogen constrained by fission-track data: a case study in the Western Alps. Submitted to Geological Society of America Bulletin.
  
  
• Fügenschuh, B. and Schmid, S.M. (manuscript to be submitted): Fission track data from the Danubian window (South Carpathians, Romania): Cretaceous versus Tertiary core complex formation?
  
  
• Laubscher, H. and Bernoulli, D., 1977: Mediterranean and Tethys. In: NAIRN, A.E.M., KANES, W.H. & STEHLI, F.G. (Eds.): The Ocean Basins and Margins, v.4A, 1-28. Plenum Publ. Comp., New York.
  
  
• Matenco, L., Bertotti, G., Dinu, C. and Cloetingh, S. (1997). Tertiary tectonic evolution of the external South Carpathians and the adjacent Moesian platform (Romania). Tectonics, 16(6), 896-911.
  
  
• Matenco L. and Schmid S.M. (1999) Exhumation of the Danubian nappe system (South Carpathians) during Early Tertiary: inferences from kinematic and paleostress analysis at the Getic/Danubian nappe contact. Tectonophysics, 314, 401-422.
  
  
• Matenco, L. and Bertotti, G. (2000). Tertiary tectonic evolution of the external East Carpathians (Romania). Tectonophysics, 316(3-4), 255-286.
  
  
• Matenco, L., Bertotti, G., Cloetingh, S. and Dinu, C. (2003). Subsidence analysis and tectonic evolution of the external Carpathian-Moesian platform region during Tertiary times. Sedimentary Geology, 156, 71-94.
  
  
• Schmid S.M. (2000). Arc formation in the Western Alps and Carpathians: A comparison. PANCARDI 2000, Dubrovnik, Croatia, 1.-3. Oktober, Abstract Volume Vijesti 37/7, 113.
  
  
• Schmid, S.M., Pfiffner, O.A., Froitzheim, N., Schönborn, G., and Kissling, E., (1996): Geophysical-geological transect and tectonic evolution of the Swiss-Italian Alps. Tectonics, 15, 1036-1064.
  
  
• Schmid S.M., Berza T., Diaconescu V., Froitzheim N., Fügenschuh B. (1998): Orogen-parallel extension in the Southern Carpathians. Tectonophysics, 297, 209-228.
  
  
• Schmid, S. M., Kissling, E. (2000): The arc of the western Alps in the light of geophysical data on deep crustal structure. Tectonics 19, 62-85.
  
  
• Schmid, S.M., Fügenschuh, B. and Lippitsch, R. (2003). The Western Alps - Eastern Alps transition: tectonics and deep structure. Mem.Sci.Geol., 257-260.
  
  
  
  

General research plan

The research project aims at an analysis of the pre-Miocene orogenic and paleogeographic evolution of the Alps-Dinarides-Carpathians system. This is to be done by primarily focusing on the most enigmatic part of this system: the Tisza block, including its boundaries with neighboring units. Much of the research performed so far in this area addressed the Neogene evolution. Therefore it is time to use these valuable constraints for addressing the pre-Neogene evolution. The project will also make use of recent advances in paleogeographic reconstructions based on plate tectonics reconstructions (Stampfli et al. 2001). At the same time, one of the co-investigators (L. Matenco) will address the Late Miocene to recent evolution in the framework of another project at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Both projects will share the subsurface information available from the Pannonian and Transylvanian basins. The principle approach of this tectonic investigation consists in combining structural field-work carried out in several outcropping parts of Tisza and surroundings with the analysis of subsurface data (mainly drillholes and seismic sections. This structural-tectonic approach is to be complemented by paleomagnetic and fission track analyses, as well as by modelling studies based on geophysical data, particularly the results of seismic tomography.
From a general point of view we think that it is timely to address the pre-Tertiary evolution of the Alps-Carpathians-Dinarides system, because much progress has been made in recent years regarding the Miocene evolution (see references quoted in section 2.1). On the other hand, paleogeographical reconstructions of the pre-orogenic evolution heavily relay on basin analysis and regional tectonic arguments. Hence we believe, that the modern structural and tectonic analysis proposed here fills an important gap. In particular, it is not clear yet, which parts of the Alps find their continuation in the Carpathians and which of them are linked to the Dinarides. Also the change in subduction polarity between Alps-Carpathians and Dinarides is far from being understood.
Since the political changes in Eastern Europe, the Alps-Carpathians-Dinarides system increasingly became the focus of international co-operations (i.e. project ALCAPA initiated by Prof. F. Neubauer, and, project PANCARDI that is part of project EUROPROBE of the European Science Foundation). These projects have been successfully terminated by now. The present project is a contribution towards maintaining this very fruitful international cooperation. It promotes the correlation of major tectonic units across political boundaries.
This project also allows to maintain and to intensify the cooperation with East-Central European countries, established through two precursor projects and financed by the Schweizerische Nationalfonds (SCOPES projects). While the experience made so far with two SCOPES projects is an excellent one, their financial resources are very limited. Particularly they do not allow for financing researchers from these countries temporarily based in Switzerland. This project will promote training of young researchers from these countries more efficiently, while the Swiss partners will continue to profit from their foreign partners through their impressive knowledge of regional tectonics and from access to excellent subsurface data.


Figures

Figure 1: Major tectonic units of the Alps, Carpathians and Dinarides (modified after Schmid and Fügenschuh, poster presented at PANCARDI-meeting 2000, Dubrovnik, Croatia, 1.-3. Oktober, 2000

Figure 2: Map depicting the outcropping parts of the major tectonic units of the Alps, Carpathians and Dinarides, from Tomljenovic (2002).

Figure 3: Tectonic sketch map of the Apuseni mountains, largely after Balinton