The Sedimentary Basins from the Miocene to the Present in Greece: Examples for the Most Studied Basins from North Greece

Abstract

From the many post-Oligocene basins in Greece that contain vertebrate fossils, we focus on three major basins with their accompanied minor ones, which present synthetic and complicated processes of geotectonic and stratigraphic evolution. These are the Mesohellenic (MHB) with Ptolemais (PTB), Axios-Thermaikos (ATB) with Mygdonia (MB), and Strymonikos (SB) with Drama (DB) basins, in which terrestrial, lacustrine-lagoonal, or marine deposits have been accumulated. All minor basins are developed east of the major ones. Because the major basins were older (were active from late Eocene to the present) and the minor are younger (post-Miocene basins), the sedimentary thickness is higher in the major basins. The studied major basins exhibit a complex tectonic regime characterized by periods of extensional, compressional, and strike-slip tectonics; whereas the accompanied minor basins have been mostly influenced by extensional tectonic. The MHB is positioned at the boundary between the Apulian Platform to the west and Pelagonian Microplate to the east and the PTB is located in the Pelagonian Zone. The ATB overlies the eastern margin of the Pelagonian Zone (the so-called Vardar-Axios Zone) and the MB is situated within the Serbomacedonian massif. The SB and DB are positioned over the boundary between the Rhodope massif and Serbo-Macedonian massif. All these basins contain important fossil localities with numerous occurrences of vertebrate remains. This review helps placing these vertebrate fossils in an updated stratigraphic framework.