The Early Mesozoic evolution of the Western Greater Caucasus (Russia): Triassic–Jurassic sedimentary and magmatic history

A significant discovery in the Western Greater Caucasus reveals that during the Jurassic period, a broad asymmetric basin with emergent volcanic islands formed in the region. This basin development was linked to incipient back-arc rifting in Pliensbachian times, coeval with similar events in the Pontides and South Caspian Sea areas, possibly due to renewed Tethys subduction. Further rifting reactivation occurred in the Aalenian, leading to significant continental lithosphere thinning and the formation of pull-apart basins. Subduction-related volcanic activity expanded significantly from the Eastern Pontides–Lesser Caucasus to the Transcaucasus, southern Greater Caucasus, and Crimea region by Bajocian times, indicating a shallowing subducting slab. This event marked the onset of the post-rift stage in the back-arc region, followed by subsidence and extensive accommodation space creation filled by Late Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Cenozoic sedimentary successions. The study analyzed structural, sedimentological, and petrological data from 41 sites across the Fore-Caucasus, Central Greater Caucasus, and Southern Slope areas.

McCann, T., Chalot-Prat, F., & Saintot, A. (2010). The Early Mesozoic evolution of the Western Greater Caucasus (Russia): Triassic–Jurassic sedimentary and magmatic history. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 340(1), 181–238. https://doi.org/10.1144/sp340.10