New structural analysis in North Dobrogea - a key region to unravel the tectonics of the Black Sea back-arc basin during the Mesozoic

Abstract

High-resolution structural analysis of stratigraphically-controlled units within North Dobrogea (ND), based on fieldwork and the production of new cross-sections as well as a reconstruction of the Mesozoic paleo-stress regimes, has resulted in a revision of the tectonic events across the region as well as demonstrating the significance of tectonic inheritance. The observed structures are closely related to the major strike-slip faults of the Teisseyre-Tornquist Zone (TTZ) a lithospheric structure active during the early and middle Mesozoic. The significance of this zone has been underestimated in previous kinematic reconstructions examining the opening of the continental back-arc basin of the Black Sea. Integrating the present results with existing knowledge on the tectonic evolution of the Black Sea, suggests a new conceptual kinematic model for further testing, one that involves movement of the continental fragment of Moesia NW along the TTZ during the early and middle Mesozoic. Such a displacement would represent the westernmost occurrence of the Cimmerian orogeny in the region of the western Black Sea. The escape of Moesia to the NW could possibly explain the polyphase extension of the western Black Sea crust, which developed on the continental Eurasian Plate as a back-arc basin due to the N-directed subduction of Tethys.