Greek Rhodope Mountains
The Greek Rhodope ( Greek Ελληνική Ροδόπη ( f. Sg. )) Are part of the mountain range of Rhodope Mountains in the north and north-east of the Greek mainland . They are also known as the Southern Rhodopes . In geological parlance, it denotes the geological structure west of the Mariza (Evros) river and east of the Nestos river and the Greek-Bulgarian border. It also includes the island of Thasos .
geography
The Greek Rhodopes begin east of the Nestos ( Mesta ) River and extend east to the plain of the Evros River. To the south they are bounded by the coastline of the Greek administrative region of East Macedonia and Thrace , to the north they are delimited as the Greek Rhodopes by the border between Greece and Bulgaria . The Rhodope Mountains extend over the Greek-Bulgarian border, which mostly runs on the mountain ranges, further north into the Bulgarian territory. The elevations on the island of Thasos belong geologically to the Greek Rhodopes , despite the interruption of the mountains by the sea area of the Gulf of Kavala .
The Greek Rhodopes comprise several distinct mountain ranges. In the west on the eastern boundary of the Strymonas valley from north to south are the mountain ranges of Orvilos (2212 m altitude), Vrondous (1849 m altitude), Menikio (1963 m altitude), Pangeo (1956 m altitude) and Symvolon (694 m) Height). The southern foothills of the Menikio separate the Drama plain with the upper reaches of the Angitis River from the Strymonas plain in the west. To the south, the Pangeo massif delimits the Drama plain. Its southeastern demarcation from the coast of the Gulf of Kavala of the Aegean Sea takes place via a narrow and small mountain range immediately north of the city of Kavala. This small mountain range connects the Pangeo massif in the west with the massif of the Lekanis (1,300 m altitude) in the east. The Lekanis represents the southeastern boundary of the Drama plain and the southwestern boundary of the southern river valley of the Nestos (Mesta). Oriented to the northwest, the Lekanis are followed by the Falakro ridge (2231 m), north of the city of Drama .
East and north of the Nestos River with its narrow valley begin the mountain ranges of the Rhodope Mountains , known in Greek as the West Rhodope Mountains. In this part of the mountain there are two protected areas, which put natural forest untouched by human interference under special protection ( Parthenio Dasos , Dasos Fraktou ). To the north of the Parthenio Dasos, the Arda river rises on Bulgarian territory in the immediate vicinity of the Greek border. The drainage of the southern flank is realized via the Nestos and its tributary Arkoudorema . One of the highest peaks in this mountain section is the Koula (1827 m) height. The western Rhodopes are bordered on the Greek side by the Kompsatos river to the east.
The mountain ranges of the eastern Rhodopes are adjacent to the Kompsatos river to the east . These extend to the western boundary of the river valley of the Evros. To the south they border on the plain of Komotini and the plain of Lake Vistonida . Between Komotini and Alexandroupoli , the southern foothills of the mountains reach the coast of the Aegean Sea on the Thracian Gulf . Important heights of this mountain section are the Papikio (1510 m) and the Virsinis (1267 m).
Regarding the administrative structure , the Greek Rhodopes are almost exclusively in the administrative region of East Macedonia and Thrace with the regional districts of Kavala , Drama , Xanthi , Rodopi and Evros . Only small parts in the west are still in the area of the administrative region of Central Macedonia with the Serres regional district .
geology
1 Neogene and Quaternary; 2 paleogene molasses; 3 paleogene acidic volcanic rocks ; 4 granites; 5 deformed granites of the Lower Tectonic Unit; 6 deformed granites of the Upper Tectonic Unit; 7 chlorite mica schist; 8 marble ; 9 Gneisses , amphibolites, mica slate; 10 eye gneiss, amphibolite, migmatite; 11 marbles, turned on in No. 10; 12 gneisses of the Serbo-Macedonian massif; 13 Complex thrust zone; Units 5, 7, 8, 9 = Lower Tectonic Unit; Units 6, 10, 11 = Upper Tectonic Unit (south of the Nevrokopi-Xanthi thrust zone).
Geologically, the Greek Rhodopes are bounded to the west by the Serbo-Macedonian massif , which stretches from Serbia via Macedonia to the Aegean Sea , including the eastern parts of Chalkidiki, including the Athos peninsula and the island of Thasos . To the east they are bounded by the Thrace Plain (also called the Mariza Plain ).
The Greek Rhodope Mountains are also known geologically as the crystalline Rhodope series. This is made up of a horizontal series of slate gneiss, a middle marble and a hanging series of slate gneiss. It is a crystalline , up to 12,000 m thick, of sedimentary origin, built up from alternating layers of Precambrian (?) / Paleozoic sediments such as clays , sandy clays, limestone marl and mighty reef limestone . The regional metamorphosis of these sedimentary deposits took place in the early Alpid orogeny , in the course of intensive tectonics and lively plutonism . Radiometric determination of the age of the granodiorite and thus the orogeny of the massif showed an age between 45 and 23 million years. An older, pre- Paleozoic orogeny is believed to be in the northern core of the Rhodope Crystalline. With a radiometric age of about 300 million years it is assigned to the Variscan orogeny .
The causes of the Alpid mountain formation in northern Greece in the mid to late Eocene are the Helladic plate movements as a result of the collision of the Eurasian and African plates. One of the larger movements at the end of the Eocene / beginning of the Oligocene was the displacement of the Serbo-Macedonian massif from the west onto the Pangeon unit of the southern Rhodope massif, but also larger thrusts and displacements within the Rhodope. Above all, the thrust of the Sideronero unit from the east onto the Pangeon unit should be mentioned here. The most important fractional tectonic faults and the later extensive and deep neogene basins are created. Around the end of the Oligocene, the increased regional elevation of the Rhodope massif takes place.
In addition to the pronounced thrust tectonics and an overriding younger fracture tectonics, there is also a strong convolution tectonics. In the majority of the area there are long, long-lasting, flat and wide-span saddles and hollows that run from northwest to southeast, with numerous smaller ones running parallel to them. The more recent post-crystalline fracture tectonics that followed the folding during the Tertiary and Quaternary periods are mainly shown in the vertical movements of large clods, which are likely to have arisen during the ascent of the mountains and in the basin collapses, in some areas over several fracture levels, and which resulted in correspondingly large erosions the resulting basins filled.
Thasos island
The island of Thasos represents the southernmost part of the Rila-Rhodope massif rising from the Aegean Sea. It is surrounded by huge, steep faults and crystalline basins that are several thousand meters deep: the most important Nestos-Prinos basin to the northwest of the island to the west and southwest situated West Thasos Apollonia pool or Orfanos basin with sequel to the Strymon basin , and the easternmost island of East Thasos basin with transition to Komotini basin . The crystalline body of the island juts out of these basins at the edge of a clump from 4000 to 6000 m depth to the surface of the Aegean Sea and further over 1200 m to the peaks of the Ypsarion massif. The basins in the Neogene are filled with massive sediments down to a depth of 50 m and contain the oil and natural gas deposits that have been in production since 1981 and other as yet unexplored deposits .
swell
- Andreas Peterek: Geomorphological and fractional tectonic development of the island of Thassos (Northern Greece). Dissertation University Erlangen-Nuremberg 1992, barcode: FL000077339.
- P. Kronberg, W. Meyer, A. Pilger: Geology of the Rila-Rhodope mass between Strimon and Nestos (Northern Greece) , supplement geological yearbook 1988, pp. 133-180, Hanover, Sept. 1970
- Θράκη / Thrace. 1: 250,000. Road Editions, Athens. ISBN 960-8481-39-2
- Μακεδονία / Macedonia. 1: 250,000. Road Editions, Athens. ISBN 960-8481-18-X
Individual proof
- ↑ C. Papadopoulos, A. Kilias. Age relationships between metamorphosis and deformation in the central part of the Serbo-Macedonian massif (Vertiskos Mountains, North Greece). Geologische Rundschau (1985): 74/1, pp. 77-85.
