Pre-Alpine Terranes of the Balkan Peninsula, Bulgaria: A Field, Geochronologic and Geothermobarometric Assessment of their Tectonic Significance

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This international collaborative research project will bring together researchers from the United States and Bulgaria. The principal investigators are Dr. Samuel Mukasa from the University of Michigan and Dr. Ivan Haydoutov from the Geological Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. They propose to establish timing constraints on pre-Alpine history of the Balkans.This is a 12 month study to date the crystalization, metamorphic and cooling ages of ophiolitic and metamorphic rocks from the Rhodope and Srednegorie regions of the Balkan Peninsula, with the goal of reconstructing the pre-Alpine evolution of this region and the tectonic ties from pre-Alpine Europe through to Turkey and regions farther south and east. The Balkan region currently represents a major hole in our ability to reconstruct pre-late Cretaceous tectonic terranes along the northern and southern margins of the Tethys ocean, with major uncertainties about correlating events and terranes between Austria/former Yugoslavia and Turkey. This project is an excellent opportunity to begin to compile the data that will be needed to unravel the older tectonic history of the Balkan region and to connect the tectonic terranes and deformational events from western to eastern Tethys.This project in earth sciences research fulfills the program objectives of bringing together leading experts in the U.S. and Central/Eastern Europe to combine complementary efforts and capabilities in areas of strong mutual interest and competence on the basis of equality, reciprocity, and mutuality of benefit.