THE MOESIAN AND BALKAN TERRANES IN BULGARIA: PALAEOZOIC BASIN DEVELOPMENT, PALAEOGEOGRAPHY AND TECTONIC EVOLUTION

This paper is a review of recent stratigraphical, biogeographical, palaeoclimatical, palaeofacial and palaeomagnetical data and represents a basis for paleogeographical and geodynamical interpretations. The geological development and palaeogeography of the Moesian and Balkan Terranes are here regarded in the scope of the geodynamical evolution of Baltica-Gondwana interface from Ordovician to Carboniferous. It is concluded that the Balkan Terrane was a part of the Armorican Terrane Assemblage during its whole Palaeozoic evolution. The origin and palaeogeographical affi nities of the Moesian Terrane during the Early Palaeozoic remain unclearly determined. It is probable that during the Early Devonian the Moesian Terrane was at closer position to Armorica and Avalonia and moved northward to reach and collide to Baltica at the end of Devonian. The accretion of the Balkan Terrane to Moesia-Baltica occurred during the Late Carboniferous and Permian. Since the late Carboniferous to the end of the Palaeozoic, both the Moesian and Balkan Terranes were situated within the equatorial zone and had the same depositional history in the Permian.