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The NE part of the Dinarides Mountain chain, located near their junction with the Carpatho-Balkanides, is an area where sedimentary basins associated with the Neotethys subduction and collision are still exposed. We performed a provenance study, based on detrital fission track thermochronology combined with zircon UPb magmatic geochronology, and existing studies of kinematics and exhumation. Our study shows rapid sedimentation in the trench and forearc basin overlying the upper European tectonic plate. A number of latest Cretaceous–Early Paleocene igneous provenance ages show a dominant magmatic source area, derived from a Late Cretaceous subduction-related arc. This arc shed short time lag sediments in the forearc and the trench system, possibly associated with focused exhumation in the Serbo-Macedonian margin. This was followed by burial of the trench sediments and a novel stage of Middle–Late Eocene exhumation driven by continued continental collision that had larger effects than previously thought. The collision was followed by Late Oligocene–Miocene exhumation of the former lower Adriatic plate along extensional detachments that reactivated the inherited collisional contact along the entire Dinarides margin. This event re-distributed sediments at short distances in the neighboring Miocene basins. Our study demonstrates that the Dinarides orogenic system is characterized by short lag times between exhumation and re-deposition, whereas the upper tectonic plate is significantly exhumed only during the final stages of collision. Such an exhumation pattern is not directly obvious from observing the overall geometry of the orogen.

Reactivation of inherited nappe contacts is a common process in orogenic areas affected by back-arc extension. The amount of back-arc extension is often variable along the orogenic strike, owing to the evolution of arcuated mountain chains during stages of rapid slab retreat. This evolution creates low rates of extension near rotation poles, where kinematics and interplay with the pre-existing orogenic structure are less understood. The amount of Miocene extension recorded by the Pannonian Basin of Central Europe decreases SE-wards along the inherited Cretaceous – Paleogene contact between the Dinarides and Carpathian Mountains. Our study combines kinematic data obtained from field and micro-structural observations assisted with fission track thermochronological analysis and U-Pb zircon dating to demonstrate a complex poly-phase evolution in the key area of the Jastrebac Mountains of Serbia. A first event of Late Cretaceous exhumation was followed by latest Cretaceous – Eocene thrusting and magmatism related to a continental collision that sutured the accretionary wedge containing contractional trench turbidites. The suture zone was subsequently reactivated and exhumed by a newly observed Miocene extensional detachment that lasted longer in the Jastrebac Mountains when compared with similar structures situated elsewhere in the same structural position. Such extensional zones situated near the pole of extensional-driven rotation favour late stage truncations and migration of extension in a hanging-wall direction, while directions of tectonic transport show significant differences in short distances across the strike of major structures.

The Spanish Central System is a Cenozoic pop-up with an E-W to NE-SW orientation that affects all the crust (thick-skinned tectonics). It shows antiform geometry in the upper crust with thickening in the lower crust. Together with the Iberian Chain it constitutes the most prominent mountainous structure of the Pyrenean foreland. The evolutionary patterns concerning the paleotopography of the interior of the Peninsula can be established by an analysis of the following data: gravimetric, topographical, macro and micro tectonic, sedimentological (infilling of the sedimentary basins of the relative foreland), P-T-t path from apatite fission tracks, paleoseismic and instrumental seismicity. Deformation is clearly asymmetric in the Central System as evidenced by the existence of an unique, large (crustal-scale) thrust at its southern border, while in the northern one there is a normal sequence of north verging thrusts, towards the Duero Basin, whose activity ended during the Lower Miocene. This deformation was accomplished under triaxial compression, Oligocene- Lower Miocene in age, marked by NW-SE to NNW-SSE shortening. Locally orientations of paleostresses deviate from that of the regional tensor, following a period of relative tectonic quiescence. During the Upper Miocene-Pliocene, a reactivation of constrictive stress occurred and some structures underwent rejuvenation as a consequence of the action of tectonic stresses similar to those of today (uniaxial extension to strike-slip with NW-SE shortening direction). However, the westernmost areas show continuous activity throughout the whole of the Tertiary, with no apparent pulses. At the present time there is a moderate seismic activity in the Central System related to faults that were active during the Cenozoic, with the same kinematic characteristics., Depto. de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Fac. de Ciencias Geológicas, TRUE, pub