Paleogene-Early Miocene deformations of Bukulja-Venčac crystalline (Vardar zone, Serbia)

Abstract

Low-grade metamorphic rocks of the crystalline of Mts. Bukulja and Venčac, which are integral parts of the Vardar Zone, are of Late Cretaceous age. From the Middle Paleogene to the beginning of the Miocene, they were subjected to three phases of intensive deformations. In the first phase, during the Middle Paleogene, these rocks were subjected to intense shortening (approximately in the E-W direction), regional metamorphism and deformations in the ductile and brittle domains, when first-generation folds with NNE-SSW striking fold hinges were formed. In the second phase, during the Late Oligocene and up to the Early Miocene, extensional unroofing and exhumation of the crystalline occurred, which was followed by intrusion of the granitoid of Bukulja and refolding of the previously formed folds in a simple brachial form of Bukulja and Venčac with an ESE-WNW striking B-axis. The third phase was expressed in the Early lowermost Miocene (before the Ottnanghian), under conditions of NE-SW compression and NW-SE tension. It was characterized by wrench-tectonic activity, particularly by dextral movements along NNW-SSE striking faults.