Chapter from:
AAPG Memoir 68:Regional and Petroleum Geology of the Black Sea and Surrounding Region, Edited by A.G. Robinson
AAPG Memoir 68: Regional and Petroleum Geology of the Black Sea and Surrounding Region. Chapter 7: The Balkan Thrust Wedge and Foreland Basin of Eastern Bulgaria: Structural and Stratigraphic Development, by H.D. Sinclair, S.G. Juranov G. Georgiev, P. Byrne, and N.P. Mountney, Pages 91-114

Chapter 7
The Balkan Thrust Wedge and Foreland Basin of Eastern Bulgaria: Structural and Stratigraphic Development

H.D. Sinclair
The University of Birmingham
Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom

S.G. Juranov G. Georgiev
Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski"
Sofia, Bulgaria

P. Byrne
British Gas Exploration and Production Limited
Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom

N.P. Mountney
The University of Birmingham
Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom

ABSTRACT

The Balkan Mountains of Bulgaria run east-west and outcrop along the north-south-running Black Sea coastline. Immediately north of the Balkan thrust front is the Kamchia Depression, which has been interpreted to represent the North Balkan foreland basin. To the south is the Srednogorie Zone, comprising Cretaceous calc-alkaline volcanics representing a remnant volcanic arc. A north-south structural cross section can be generated by the integration of coastal exposures, with deeper level constraint from onshore and offshore seismic data. In this section, the Balkans comprise two large synclines bounded by major faults. This folding and thrusting detached at a horizon within the Jurassic succession at ~5 km depth. Section restoration across the Balkans from the remnants of the volcanic arc in the south to the Balkan thrust front in the north gives a minimum of 18 km of shortening.