ABSTRACT
The Dinaric miogeosyncline is filled mostly with younger Paleozoic and Mesozoic sediments. The Paleozoic series is composed mainly of clastic rocks and the Mesozoic series is predominantly a shallow-water carbonate and anhydrite section.
The Adriatic foreland is underlain by Mesozoic and Cenozoic sediments. The Mesozoic series is represented by carbonates with anhydrite or carbonates mixed with terrigenous clastic sediments, and the Cenozoic series by predominantly clastic sediments. Mesozoic carbonate-evaporite sediments have been deposited in several shallow, littoral-neritic depressions surrounded by the deep-sea zones of Tethys.
Uplift and deformation of the Dinaric miogeosyncline took place at various times during the Cenozoic, converting it to a young fold belt with complex structure. At the same time the Adriatic foreland subsided, and the Mesozoic depressions persisted and deepened considerably.
Research on the geologic evolution and structure of the Outer Dinarides and Adriatic foreland shows that the studied area was compressed considerably during the Alpine orogenesis.
Oil exploration in the region has shown that the most prospective areas are the present troughs and intervening ridges of the Adriatic foreland, which now is covered by the Adriatic Sea.
