The Geological Society of America

Memoir 200
2007

Gondwana-derived terranes in the northern Hellenides

F. Himmerkus*
B. Anders
Institut für Geowissenschaften, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Graduiertenkolleg: Stoffbestand und Entwicklung von Kruste
und Mantel, Becherweg 21, 55099 Mainz, Germany, and Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie, Abteilung Geochemie, 55099 Mainz,
Germany

T. Reischmann
Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie, Abteilung Geochemie, 55099 Mainz, Germany

D. Kostopoulos
Faculty of Geology and GeoEnvironment, Department of Mineralogy and Petrology, National and Kapodistrian University of
Athens, Panepistimioupoli Zographou, Athens 15784, Greece

ABSTRACT

The Hellenides constitute an integral part of the Alpine orogenic system in south-
east Europe. Despite the recognition of several subparallel zones, which are interpret-
ed as terranes separated by ophiolitic sutures (e.g., Pindos and Vardar sutures), the
classical view of an orogen with a foreland fold-and-thrust belt, a central crystalline
zone, and a rather undeformed hinterland is still under discussion. This paper con-
centrates on basement terranes of exotic provenance in two of the internal zones of the
Hellenides that support the interpretation of the Hellenides as an accretionary orogen
formed by amalgamation of crustal segments during the subduction of Tethyan oce-
anic basins. The oldest of these terranes, the Florina terrane in the Pelagonian zone,
is composed of Neoproterozoic arc-related orthogneisses. Two other exotic terranes
occur east of the Vardar zone within the Serbo-Macedonian Massif. The Pirgadikia
terrane is a microterrane in the southern Chalkidiki Peninsula that consists of Pan-
African mylonitic orthogneisses with volcanic arc–related trace-element geochem-
istry and Sr isotopic composition. The Vertiskos terrane occupies the northwestern
part of the Serbo-Macedonian Massif and is primarily composed of coarse-grained,
volcanic arc–related peraluminous orthogneisses of Silurian age. These terranes are
exotic in relation to the other parts of the Hellenides. The provenance of the late Pro-
terozoic Pan-African Florina and Pirgadikia terranes is assumed to be Gondwanan,
whereas the Silurian Vertiskos terrane may have been part of the so-called Hun ter-
rane, which formed at the northern active continental margin of Gondwana in the
early Paleozoic.

Keywords: Geochronology, Internal Hellenides, Greece, Gondwana-derived terranes.

*Felix.Himmerkus@hdb.fzk.de

Himmerkus, F., Anders, B., Reischmann, T., and Kostopoulos, D., 2007, Gondwana-derived terranes in the northern Hellenides, in Hatcher, R.D., Jr., Carlson,
M.P., McBride, J.H., and Martínez Catalán, J.R., eds., 4-D Framework of Continental Crust: Geological Society of America Memoir 200, p. 379–390, doi:
10.1130/2007.1200(19). For permission to copy, contact editing@geosociety.org. ©2007 The Geological Society of America. All rights reserved.

379
380 Himmerkus et al.

INTRODUCTION Over the past 25 yr, the Hellenides have become the focus
of scientific attention mainly because of the well-preserved high-
After the establishment of the paradigm of plate tectonics pressure and ultrahigh-pressure rocks in the metamorphic units
in the 1960s, the pace of orogenic processes came to be viewed of the Internal Hellenides (Altherr, 1979; Jacobshagen, 1986;
in terms of the Wilson cycle (e.g., Miyashiro et al., 1982). In Kostopoulos et al., 2000).
this scenario, an orogenic cycle was defined as the opening and Scientific interest has also focused on neotectonics, which
closure of an ocean, starting with rifting, followed by seafloor monitors the ongoing tectonic processes in the retreating Aegean
spreading, and ending with subduction and, eventually, conti- subduction zone, as well as the extending continental crust in
nental collision. However, this cycle does not take into account the Aegean Sea and along the North Anatolian fault zone (Le
the preexisting geology of the plates involved or of movements Pichon et al., 1995; Davies et al., 1997; Reilinger et al., 1997;
parallel to the plate boundaries. The recognition of smaller fault- Kahle et al., 2000; Jolivet, 2001; Royden and Papanikolaou,
bounded crustal blocks, or terranes, led to the refinement of 2004). The pre-Alpine history of the Hellenides, however, has
ideas on orogeny. The terrane concept was defined in the North remained largely untouched. It is nevertheless an important field
American Cordillera, where similar crustal segments that occur for research in order to establish a geological framework for the
along the strike of the orogen were recognized as terranes that evolution of the Hellenides and for paleogeographic reconstruc-
had been accreted to North America by eastward subduction tions of the Eastern Mediterranean. Our study contributes to this
during the Mesozoic and later displaced by major right-lateral field of research.
faults (e.g., Coney et al., 1980). A terrane is defined as a distinct The Hellenides trend approximately NNW-SSE and can be
fault-bounded crustal unit with a geological evolution that is subdivided into several subparallel units or terranes separated by
significantly different from that of neighboring regions. In the large fault zones. (Jacobshagen, 1986, and references therein;
case of a terrane made up of mainly sedimentary sequences, Papanikolaou, 1997). These units are grouped in two large zones:
differences in facies and faunal diversity can be used to distin- the External Hellenides, composed of mainly supracrustal rocks,
guish it from other terranes. In the case of crystalline basement and the Internal Hellenides, made up of basement units that
units, geochemical and isotopic characteristics, crystallization include the Pelagonian zone, the Attico-Cycladic Massif (Dürr
ages, the age and grade of metamorphism and deformation, and et al., 1978), the Vardar zone, the Serbo-Macedonian Massif, and
paleomagnetic approaches can be used for terrane discrimina- the Rhodope Massif.
tion. The westernmost zone of the Hellenides is the External
This paper describes the basement terranes in the northern Hellenide Platform (Fig. 1B), which includes the Paxon, Ionian,
Hellenides of Greece. Crystallization ages and the geochemi- and Gavrovo-Tripolis zones and consists mainly of thick neritic
cal and isotopic characteristics of the basement rocks are used Mesozoic carbonates and lesser clastic sediments that represent
in conjunction with structural information to identify different parts of the passive continental margin of southern Tethys (Apu-
terranes and their origin in the internal part of the Hellenides and, lian promontory of northern Gondwana).
thereby, constrain the pre-Alpine to early Alpine history of the This platform is separated from the Pelagonian zone to the
Hellenic orogen. east by remnants of the Pindos Ocean, which are composed of
Mesozoic ophiolites and their accompanying pelagic sedimen-
REGIONAL GEOLOGY tary cover (Brun, 1956; Kostopoulos, 1988).
The Pelagonian zone is composed of crystalline basement
The Hellenides are an Alpine mountain chain in Greece, and (schists, orthogneisses, and paragneisses, amphibolites, and gran-
they constitute the link between the Dinarides/Albanides to the itoids) in addition to Permian-Triassic volcano-sedimentary units,
northwest and the Taurides to the southeast in Asia Minor. This Mesozoic limestones, ophiolitic rocks (sensu latu), and abundant
orogenic belt formed as a result of the closure of the different Tertiary to Quaternary sediments (e.g., Mountrakis, 1982, 1984;
branches/oceans of the Tethys Ocean and the resultant accretion Kilias and Mountrakis, 1989; Jacobshagen, 1986, and references
of the variably sized continental fragments that had been separated therein; Pe-Piper and Piper, 2002, and references therein). Geo-
by these branches. The Hellenides form an elongate and strongly chronology of the basement rocks has revealed widespread Perm-
arcuate orogen, the present appearance of which is influenced by ian-Carboniferous magmatism with ages in the range of ca. 280–
large-scale extension due to the retreat of the Hellenic subduction 320 Ma (Yarwood and Aftalion, 1976; Schermer, 1990; Koroneos
zone since the Miocene (Le Pichon and Angelier, 1979, 1981; et al., 1993; Vavassis et al., 2000; Reischmann et al., 2001; Anders
Le Pichon et al., 1995; Gautier and Brun, 1994; Gautier et al., et al., 2003b, 2006). These ages are similar to crystallization ages
1999; Jolivet, 2001; Jolivet et al., 2003; van Hinsbergen et al., found in the Attico-Cycladic Massif (Engel and Reischmann,
2005). This extension resulted in submergence of large parts of 1998; Reischmann, 1998), which borders the Pelagonian zone to
the central and internal units of the Hellenides in the Aegean Sea, the south. Because of this similarity, the Pelagonian zone and the
and the exhumation of metamorphic core complexes and gneiss Attico-Cycladic Massif are interpreted as parts of a large Perm-
domes along flat-lying detachment faults (Lister et al., 1984; ian-Carboniferous magmatic arc (Reischmann et al., 2001). In
Brun and Sokoutis, 2004). the northwestern Pelagonian zone, pre–Permian-Carboniferous
 Gondwana-derived terranes in the northern Hellenides 381

basement was inferred by Mountrakis (1984) on the basis of field The Axios-Vardar zone has also been equated to the Izmir-Ankara
observations. Recently, crystalline basement of Late Proterozoic suture zone farther east in Asia Minor (e.g., Stampfli et al., 2004).
age was identified by Anders et al. (2006) and interpreted as rem- The so-called Hellenic hinterland is made up of two discrete
nants of an exotic terrane. massifs east of the Vardar zone, namely the Serbo-Macedonian
East of the Pelagonian zone, there is the ophiolitic Axios- Massif and the Rhodope Massif. The Serbo-Macedonian Massif
Vardar zone (Figs. 1B and 3), which is interpreted as a major is an elongated polymetamorphic basement terrane that largely
suture zone on the basis of outcrops farther north in former Yugo- consists of orthogneisses (Kockel et al., 1977; Jacobshagen, 1986;
slavia (Robertson and Karamata, 1994, and references therein; Kilias et al., 1999). Metasedimentary rocks and amphibolites like
Dimitrijevic, 1974, 1997; Knezevic-Dordevic and Krstic, 1996). those of the now-abandoned Circum-Rhodope belt (Kauffmann

Figure 1. (A) Geological map of the northwestern part of the Greek Pelagonian zone (simplified from Institute of Geology and Mineral Explora-
tion [1983] Geological Map of Greece). Occurrences of late Neoproterozoic rocks are indicated with stars. (B) Tectonostratigraphic overview of
the Hellenides in Greece and the adjacent areas (modified after the IGME [1983] Geological Map of Greece). The External Hellenides mainly
consist of metasediments, whereas the Internal Hellenides are made up of several subparallel zones of basement rocks.
382 Himmerkus et al.

Figure 2. Geological-tectonic map of the Greek Serbo-Macedonian Massif with interpretative cross sections (simplified after
Kockel et al., 1977). Scale of sections is five times that of map. The Circum-Rhodope belt (Kauffmann et al., 1976) is the east-
ern part of the mélange zone bordering the Serbo-Macedonian Massif and the adjacent Vardar zone.
 Gondwana-derived terranes in the northern Hellenides 383

Figure 3. Tectonostratigraphic columns for units of the Pelagonian zone and the Serbo-Macedonian Massif in the Internal
Hellenides. Basement units are separated by mélange zones containing ophiolitic material. The Kerdillion Unit is related to
the adjacent Rhodope Massif east of the Strimon fault zone, which shows the same spectrum of ages. The Vertiskos terrane is
composed of two lithological units (the Silurian Vertiskos Unit and the Triassic Arnea Unit), both of which are exotic to the
Internal Hellenides, as is the case for the late Neoproterozoic terranes of Florina and Pirgadikia.

et al., 1976; Ricou et al., 1998) occur only in mélange zones bor- leucocratic mylonitic gneisses that originated in the late Neopro-
dering the basement complexes. terozoic in a magmatic-arc setting.
The Serbo-Macedonian Massif consists of four main The Rhodope Massif is the easternmost unit of the Hellenides
basement units: the Pan-African Pirgadikia Unit, the Silurian and consists of an association of granitic gneisses, metapelites,
Vertiskos Unit, the Triassic Arnea Unit, and the Upper Juras- eclogites, amphibolites, and very thick units of marbles (Burg et
sic Kerdillion Unit. These basement units are separated by two al., 1993, 1996; Ricou et al., 1998; Barr et al., 1999). It is situ-
major mélange zones (Fig. 2) that contain mafic and ultramafic ated east of the Strimon River Basin (Fig. 2) and is made up of
rocks as well as marbles and clastic metasediments and slivers a pile of nappes. Two principal units have been distinguished
of the adjacent basement units. The northwestern part of the (Papanikolaou and Panagopoulos, 1981) as a lower tectonic unit
Serbo-Macedonian Massif is characterized by the association composed of Permian-Carboniferous basement overlain by mas-
of Silurian augen gneisses of the Vertiskos Unit with Triassic sive marbles of considerable thickness, and an upper tectonic unit
leucogranites of the Arnea Unit. The Kerdillion Unit (Kockel containing Upper Jurassic gneisses, like those of the Kerdillion
et al., 1971) in the eastern part of the massif is lithologically Unit, and Tertiary granites (Turpaud and Reischmann, 2003).
similar to the adjacent Rhodope Massif and consists of banded
biotite gneisses that are intruded by a large amount of leuco- DESCRIPTION OF TERRANES IN THE INTERNAL
cratic dikes and pegmatites. For this reason the gneisses have HELLENIDES
traditionally been regarded as migmatites. This unit is exposed
in three large gneiss domes. Within the Internal Hellenides, three exotic terranes (Florina,
The Pirgadikia Unit, in the south of the Serbo-Macedonian Pirgadikia, and Vertiskos) have recently been identified. Since
Massif, occurs within the ophiolitic mélange zone that separates these areas include crystalline basement rocks, terrane identifi-
the Vertiskos Unit from the Vardar zone. This unit is composed of cation has been accomplished using zircon geochronology and
384 Himmerkus et al.

whole-rock isotope geochemistry combined with field work and The Pirgadikia Terrane
petrographic studies.
This basement unit is a small terrane exposed in south-
The Florina Terrane eastern Chalkidiki north of the Sithonia Peninsula (Fig. 2). The
rocks are mylonitic gneisses with two major occurrences at the
The westernmost terrane so far identified within the Inter- shore near the village of Pirgadikia and around the village of
nal Hellenides is the Florina terrane, situated in the northwest- Taxiarchis (Himmerkus et al., 2004a, 2006). Both outcrop areas
ern part of the Greek Pelagonian zone. Recent geochronologi- are situated within a major mélange zone bordering the Vertis-
cal studies of the crystalline basement have shown that whereas kos terrane to the southwest (Fig. 2). This mélange zone was
Permian-Carboniferous magmatism predominates in the Pela- formerly known as the Circum-Rhodope belt (Kauffmann et
gonian zone, a well-defined group of orthogneisses and granites al., 1976; Kockel et al., 1977), and it is composed of low-grade
with Neoproterozoic (ca. 700 Ma) crystallization ages also exists metasedimentary rocks (Svoula Schist Formation), mafic and
in its northwestern part (Fig. 1) (Anders et al., 2003a, 2006). ultramafic rocks of the Hortiatis Unit (Thessaloniki and Sithonia
The Neoproterozoic basement rocks show a narrow age range ophiolites; e.g., Mussallam and Jung, 1986; Robertson, 2002), as
between 699 Ma and 713 Ma (single-zircon U-Pb thermal ion- well as gneisses from the adjacent basement terranes. The Meso-
ization and secondary ion mass spectrometry [TIMS and SIMS] zoic age of the metasediments incorporated in the succession
geochronology; Anders et al., 2006), and they are interpreted to and crystallization ages from the meta-igneous rocks (gneisses
have formed during the same magmatic event. The identification and amphibolites) indicate an Upper Jurassic age (Cimmerian)
of pre–Permian-Carboniferous basement supports the theory of for the accretion.
Mountrakis (1984), who proposed the existence of early Paleo- The Pirgadikia gneisses form tectonic slivers floating within
zoic or even older rocks in the Pelagonian zone on the basis of the metasedimentary rocks of the mélange zone. The individual
intrusive contacts and contact metamorphic relations between basement exposures are less than one square kilometer in size.
the Permian-Carboniferous Kastoria granite and the rocks that Similar gneissic rocks form other small exposures, but the num-
surround it. Mountrakis (1986) considered this pre–Permian- ber and size of these gneiss inliers remain unknown since good
Carboniferous basement to be part of the Cimmerian continent, outcrops are rare. Nevertheless, the Pirgadikia gneisses have
which rifted away from Gondwana in the Triassic. His proposal been identified over an area of ~10 × 30 km.
therefore implied the existence of far-traveled crustal units in the The gneisses near Taxiarchis are mylonitic quartzites,
Pelagonian zone. whereas those of Pirgadikia are leucocratic orthogneisses char-
The Neoproterozoic basement rocks vary in color, grain size, acterized by a strong lineation and grain-size reduction due to
degree of deformation, and development of feldspar “augen,” and mylonitic deformation. The rocks on the Pirgadikia shore are
they are indistinguishable from the neighboring Permian-Car- in tectonic contact with massive marbles to the north and south.
boniferous granites and gneisses. Based on crystallization ages, Two of the orthogneisses gave ages of 570 and 587 Ma (Him-
however, these rocks are clearly distinct from all other basement merkus et al., 2006) by the single-zircon Pb-Pb evaporation
rocks of the Internal Hellenides. Consequently, Anders et al. method (Kober, 1986, 1987). The 87Sr/86Sr initial ratios calcu-
(2006) proposed that these gneisses are remnants of a terrane. lated using the zircon ages are 0.70644 and 0.70734, respec-
Geochemically, the Florina terrane basement rocks have the com- tively. The εNdi values are −7.59 and −6.24, respectively, which
position of felsic peraluminous granites with volcanic-arc/syn- shows a strong contribution from preexisting crustal material in
collisional characteristics. Their εNdi values vary between +0.9 the source. The metaquartzite contains zircons with a uniform
and −4.8, and Nd model ages (TDM) range from 1.2 to 1.7 Ga, age of 555 Ma, indicating proximal sedimentation. The rocks
consistent with their formation in an active continental-margin of the Pirgadikia terrane differ from their country rocks in both
setting (Anders et al., 2007). rock type and metamorphic grade as well as in structural charac-
The spatial distribution of the Neoproterozoic basement teristics. The entire Serbo-Macedonian Massif and the western
rocks is not well known. Their northernmost exposure lies west Rhodope Massif show a very consistent top-to-the-SW sense of
of Florina close to the Permian-Carboniferous Varnous pluton shear (Burg et al., 1990, 1995; Kilias et al., 1999), which is also
(Koroneos et al., 1993; Anders et al., 2007), while their south- present in the metasedimentary and orthogneissic country rocks
ernmost outcrop is the Fotino granite south of Fotino village of the Pirgadikia terrane. By contrast, the mylonitic gneisses of
(Fig. 1A). The Neoproterozoic rocks are thus distributed across an Pirgadikia show top-to-the-E sense of shear. All contacts with
area of ~20 × 100 km. Based on the chemical and mineralogical the country rocks of the Vertiskos Unit and the mélange zone are
similarities, Anders et al. (2007) considered the Neoproterozoic tectonic and so do not permit correlations.
rocks to constitute a single basement unit dissected during later The basement unit of Pirgadikia is small but tectonically
tectonic events. Inherited components in zircon grains with ages important since it relates the Greek part of the Serbo-Mace-
of ca. 700 Ma were also identified in Pelagonian orthogneisses donian Massif to similar units of the Bulgarian Serbo-Mace-
farther east (south of Veria) and southeast (close to Verdikoussa donian Massif and the Bolu and Menderes Massifs in Turkey
village) (localities not shown in Fig. 1A). (see following).
 Gondwana-derived terranes in the northern Hellenides 385

The Vertiskos Terrane et al., 2000; Reischmann et al., 2001; Turpaud and Reischmann,
2003; Anders, 2005). Two of these terranes (Vertiskos and Pirga-
The Vertiskos terrane occurs in the northwestern part of dikia) form crustal blocks with distinct tectono-metamorphic his-
the Serbo-Macedonian Massif and is named after the Vertis- tories separated by major faults that, in places, contain ophiolites
kos Mountains northeast of Thessaloniki (Fig. 2). Kockel et al. (e.g., Mussallam and Jung, 1986; Dixon and Dimitriadis, 1984).
(1977) defined the Vertiskos Unit as one of the principal units of They are therefore interpreted as exotic terranes accreted to the
the Serbo-Macedonian Massif based on its lithologies, which are Hellenic orogen, a notion supported by their close proximity to
mostly augen gneisses. These basement gneisses are intruded by the Vardar zone.
a series of leucocratic granites termed the Arnea Granite Suite For the Florina terrane, there is no clear definition of its
(AGS) after the main body, the Arnea Granite, east of Thessa- boundaries and contacts with the surrounding rocks. The crystal-
loniki (Himmerkus et al., 2004b). The association of these two lization ages of ca. 700 Ma, however, preclude a derivation from
rock units defines the Vertiskos terrane, which is bordered by the neighboring rock units and, given their uniqueness in the Hel-
two large-scale shear zones interpreted to be mélange zones: the lenides, support the interpretation of the Florina terrane as a far-
Vardar zone (including the Circum-Rhodope belt of Kauffmann traveled exotic block (Anders et al., 2007).
et al., 1976) to the west, and the Athos-Volvi suture zone (TVG The fact that these three crustal units are exotic to their
zone of Dixon and Dimitriadis, 1984) to the east (Himmerkus et present location raises the question as to where they originated.
al., 2005). The orthogneisses of the Vertiskos terrane form several The late Neoproterozoic crystallization ages in the Florina ter-
lithological groups according to their mineralogy and texture, the rane of the Pelagonian zone suggest that it is derived from the
most prominent of which consists of very coarse-grained augen northern margin of Gondwana, as are the Central European
gneisses with K-feldspars up to 10 cm in size. These rocks are Variscides. An origin from Baltica cannot be entirely ruled out,
mainly biotite gneisses with minor white mica, and they record a but rocks with appropriate ages occur on the side of Baltica
strong noncoaxial deformation. A second group is composed of that was not close to Florina (e.g., Glasmacher et al., 1999).
fine-grained two-mica gneisses with small augen and a promi- However, the question remains as to which part of the north-
nent C/S fabric. The third major group is composed of leuco- ern Gondwana margin represents the most likely provenance.
cratic muscovite gneisses that represent the most fractionated Anders et al. (2007) pointed out that an affinity to East Ava-
rocks of the succession. The rocks are peraluminous and classify lonia is indicated by the Nd isotopic data and inherited zircon
as volcanic-arc granites in the discriminant diagrams of Pearce et components, which indicate the presence of Proterozoic contri-
al. (1984). The ages of the orthogneisses of the Vertiskos terrane butions (ca. 900–1330, 1500, and 1780 Ma). Geochronological
are between 425.9 ± 4.2 Ma and 443.4 ± 5.5 Ma, with a mean of and geochemical studies have identified several Avalonia-type
432.2 Ma based on single-zircon Pb-Pb evaporation and conven- crustal units in central Europe (e.g., Finger et al., 2000; Hegner
tional U-Pb dating of 22 samples (Himmerkus et al., 2002, 2003). and Kröner, 2000; Friedl et al., 2000). The Florina terrane can
Cathodoluminescence imaging of representative zircon grains be compared with these Avalonia-type terranes.
shows clear magmatic zoning, suggesting that these are primary The age and the chemical and isotopic characteristics of
crystallization ages of the granitic precursor of the gneisses. The the Pirgadikia terrane are not unique in the Eastern Mediterra-
whole-rock 87Sr/86Sr initial ratio is 0.70924, indicating a signifi- nean. Similar Pan-African ages and isotopic characteristics of
cant contribution from preexisting continental crust in the source old recycled crust have been reported from basement units in
region of the granites. The individual samples also form a Rb-Sr the Serbo-Macedonian Massif of Bulgaria and in the Menderes
error chron with an age of 430 ± 24 Ma (mean square of weighted Massif in western Turkey (Hetzel and Reischmann, 1996; Dan-
deviates [MSWD] = 28) that is consistent with the zircon age. nat and Reischmann, 1997; Loos and Reischmann, 1999). Simi-
The εNdi values for two coarse-grained augen gneisses (–4.61 and lar ages were recently published for the Bolu Massif (Istanbul
–6.46) also suggest a strong contribution from old crustal mate- zone) in the western Pontides of northern Turkey (Ustaömer et
rial. These data show that the orthogneisses of the Vertiskos ter- al., 2005; Chen et al., 2002). The late Precambrian gneisses in
rane originated in a Silurian magmatic-arc environment that was the Serbo-Macedonian Massif of western Bulgaria form a domal
built on preexisting continental crust, a situation comparable to structure known as the Osogovo-Lisets dome (Graf, 2001; Neu-
the modern Andean active continental margin. bauer, 2002). Crystallization ages range from 545.1 ± 6.4 Ma to
568 ± 7.5 Ma (Graf et al., 1998). In the Menderes Massif, the
PROVENANCE OF TERRANES IN THE INTERNAL predominant rock types are orthogneisses with a volcanic-arc
HELLENIDES signature. Their intrusion ages range from 520 to 570 Ma with
a mean of 550 Ma (Hetzel and Reischmann, 1996; Loos and
The Precambrian and Silurian crystallization ages from the Reischmann, 1999). The Cadomian arc-related metagranites of
three terranes identified in the Internal Hellenides differ signifi- the Bolu Massif and the Karadere basement have a similar age
cantly from those of the surrounding basement units, which are of 576.0 ± 6.0 Ma (Ustaömer et al., 2005) and are unconform-
Permian-Carboniferous or even Mesozoic (Yarwood and Aftalion, ably overlain by Lower Paleozoic clastic metasediments. In addi-
1976; Engel and Reischmann, 1998; Reischmann, 1998; Vavassis tion, large exposures of basement rocks with Pan-African ages
386 Himmerkus et al.

are known from the Arabian-Nubian Shield (e.g., Reischmann, donian Massif, are consistent with such a setting, where they
2000) and other parts of North Africa. would represent Pan-African basement and Ordovician-Silurian
The Vertiskos terrane, on the other hand, records a different volcanic-arc rocks formed by southward-directed subduction
history, and no basement rocks of similar lithology or age are beneath Gondwana, respectively. Detrital zircon ages in metased-
known from the Hellenides or western Turkey. The terrane con- iments of the mélange zones of the Serbo-Macedonian Massif
tinues north into Bulgaria, where it is known as the Ograzhden along with inherited components in the magmatic zircons and
block (Titorenkova et al., 2003), but disappears south of Blago- Nd model ages of the basement units of the Serbo-Macedonian
evgrad. Ordovician and Silurian ages, however, occur through- Massif indicate a strong contribution from Pan-African crust.
out the Alpine-Variscan chain (Stampfli et al., 1998; Neubauer, However, Grenvillian ages of around 1 Ga are completely absent
2002; Von Raumer et al., 2003). The age and geotectonic envi- in the Vertiskos terrane (Fig. 4), though a few grains show ages
ronment of the Vertiskos augen gneisses suggest that this terrane of 1.5–2 Ga, and there is a well-defined inheritance of 2.4 Ga to
may have been part of the so-called Hun superterrane defined 2.5 Ga. The absence of Grenvillian ages in the age spectrum of
by Stampfli and Borel (2002). This superterrane consisted of a inherited components excludes western Gondwana and Baltica as
series of basement and supracrustal rocks formed during Cam- sources of sediments and crustal material for the granites, since
brian to Silurian times at the northern active continental margin important Grenvillian age provinces exist in these cratons (e.g.,
of Gondwana. Here, an island arc was built on an archipelago Murphy et al., 2000; Linnemann et al., 2004).
of preexisting Cadomian crust that had rifted away from Gond-
wana in the earliest Cambrian during initial opening of the Rheic PALEOGEOGRAPHIC RECONSTRUCTIONS
Ocean (Von Raumer et al., 2003). Subduction beneath Gondwana
created peraluminous granitoids, which are typical of this set- The study of the Alps and related young orogenic belts has
ting. Parts of this superterrane occur in the Alpine and Variscan produced a large data set from various parts of the Tethys Ocean,
orogens from Western Europe to China. The basement units of which included different basins that separating microcontinents
the Pirgadikia and Vertiskos terranes, as well as the Pan-African or terranes. Paleogeographic reconstructions of the Mediterra-
rocks of the Osogovo-Lisets dome in the Bulgarian Serbo-Mace- nean realm (Robertson and Dixon, 1984; Şengör et al., 1984;

Florina Terrane ? ? Magmatic Zircons

Detrital Zircons
Pirgadikia Terrane No Ages between 900
Inherited Components
Ma and 1500 Ma in the
Vertiskos Terrane Terranes of the SMM
Vardar Zone Sediments of the Vertiskos Terrane and Inherited Components from Orthogneisses
Pelagonian Zone
Kerdillion Unit
Rhodope Massif
Sveco-Norwegian Rapakivi Svecofennian Lopian
Baltica
Menderes Arabian-Nubian Shield Eburian (NW-Africa) Liberian (NW-Africa)
Cadomian +
Pan-African Terranes
Variscan Armorican
Terranes Zircons in late Neoproterozoic to lower
Palaeozoic sandstones of Saxothuringia
Avalonian Terranes
Rodonian + Rio Negro + Trans- + Central Amazonian (S-America)

500 Ma 1000 Ma 1500 Ma 2000 Ma 2500 Ma

Figure 4. Compilation of age data for parts of the Alpine and Variscan chains in comparison with those for the shields of Baltica
and northern Gondwana to constrain the terrane provenance. The age data for the Cadomian and Pan-African terranes are from
Avigad et al. (2003) and Abdelsalam et al. (2002). The Variscan Avalonian terranes are from Linnemann et al. (2004), and the
Avalonian terranes are from Nance and Murphy (1994, 1996), Nance et al. (2001), and Murphy et al. (2001). References for
the Greek crystallization ages are in the text. The Pelagonian zone and the Florina terrane are separated for reasons of clarity.
The terranes of the Serbo-Macedonian Massif (SMM) differ in their age spectra from the Florina terrane in the Mesoprotero-
zoic. The Florina terrane resembles more the Avalonia-type terranes, whereas the Vertiskos and Pirgadikia terranes contain no
Mesoproterozoic inheritance, which is considered to be a fingerprint of West African provenance in the peri-Gondwanan ter-
ranes (e.g., Linnemann and Romer, 2002). This lack of Grenvillian ages is encountered in the Cadomian terranes and excludes
a provenance from Baltica and western Gondwana (see paleogeographic reconstruction, Fig. 5).
 Gondwana-derived terranes in the northern Hellenides 387

Stampfli and Borel, 2002) favor two large oceanic basins termed CONCLUSIONS
Paleotethys and Neotethys. Closure of the Paleotethys produced
the Cimmerian orogeny in the Triassic or Late Jurassic (depend- The presence of Gondwana-derived terranes in different
ing on the model), whereas closure of the Neotethys produced the zones of the Internal Hellenides highlights the allochthonous
Alpine orogeny in the Eocene. In Greece and the entire Balkan character of parts of the Hellenic orogen. Distinct crustal units
area, this simple subdivision is hard to apply, since there are sev- in the different zones were accreted to the European craton dur-
eral subparallel ophiolitic zones and evidence for several small ing closure of Tethyan oceanic basins. The Vardar zone is inter-
ocean basins. This mosaic of microcontinents was accreted to the preted to represent a major suture, and the discovery of the exotic
south European margin as a result of the closure of the ocean Vertiskos terrane in the neighboring basement units supports this
basins between them. view. The ubiquitous top-to-the-SW sense of shear in the Serbo-
For the Paleozoic, we favor the reconstructions of Stamp- Macedonian Massif and the western Rhodope Massif and the
fli and Borel (2002) and Von Raumer et al. (2003), since these transport direction of the western zones of the orogen (the Exter-
more readily account for the presence of exotic terranes (Fig. 5). nal Hellenide Platform and the Sub-Pelagonian zone) indicate
According to these models, a piece of Pan-African crust rifted NE-directed accretion of various units in the late Paleozoic and
away from northern Gondwana in the early Paleozoic and became Mesozoic. In the Tertiary, lateral movements parallel to the trend
part of a magmatic arc that formed in the Ordovician and Silu- of the orogen and extension in the central Aegean overprinted the
rian. We propose that the Vertiskos and the Pirgadikia terranes are structure of amalgamated terranes. The identification of Gond-
part of this rifted continental fragment. We suggest that the Flo- wana-derived terranes shows the pre-Alpine to early Alpine his-
rina terrane can be correlated with the Avalonian-type terranes of tory of the Hellenides to be far more complex than previously
southeastern Europe and tentatively place it next to the Bruno- thought, since the main part of the Greek orogen came into being
Vistulikum terrane (Finger et al., 2000) in the reconstruction of during this period. This new view of the Hellenic orogen can be
Von Raumer et al. (2003) (Fig. 5). compared with that of the central European Variscides, and it
expands the region of Paleozoic to Mesozoic accretion orogeny
and terrane amalgamation along the southern European margin
to the southeast.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

B. Anders and F. Himmerkus would like to thank the

Graduiertenkolleg “Stoffbestand und Entwicklung von Kruste
und Mantels” at the Universität Mainz, the Max-Planck-Institut
für Chemie, Abteilung Geochemie in Mainz, and the Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft for funding of the projects. Special
thanks from F. Himmerkus are due to P. Zachariadis and G.
Meinhold for useful discussions. The authors also thank Damian
Nance and Anne Rassios for their helpful reviews.

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