New insights into tectonic relations between the Eastern Vardar Ophiolitic and Serbo-Macedonian units: inferences from a microtectonic study in central Serbia

Abstract

A microtectonic study was conducted in the Levač region of central Serbia, where the tectonic contacts between the Europe-derived units, including the Serbo-Macedonian unit and Jurassic sedimentary cover of the European margin, and the Eastern Vardar Ophiolitic unit are exposed at the surface. The obtained results indicate that the contact zone underwent at least two ductile contractional deformation phases. The older contraction was associated with the formation of isoclinal folding and top-to-SE shearing in the immediate contact between the Eastern Vardar ophiolites and the Jurassic sedimentary cover of the European continental margin. This older contractional phase was likely associated with the latest Jurassic obduction of the Eastern Vardar ophiolites over the European margin. The thrusting of the Eastern Vardar ophiolites created a sub-ophiolitic mélange currently preserved in a narrow zone at their contact with the underlying Jurassic sediments, which in turn underwent metamorphism in the lower greenschist facies. The obduction-related deformation was highly overprinted by a younger, top-to-W contraction associated with the Cretaceous–Paleogene continental collision between Europe- and Adria-derived units.