Geology of Serbia

The regional geology of Serbia describes the geologic structure and history inside the borders of Serbia.

Serbia is in recent geologic time a part of the Eurasian Plate, but the bedrock lithologies are witness to a diverse geologic history.^[1] In a tectonic sense, Serbia is part of an orogenic system that is composed of the Alpine, Carpathian, and Dinaride orogenic belts.^[2]^[3] Its territory can be divided into five geotectonic units of differing genesis:^[4]^[5]

Pannonian Plain, occupying the northern part of the country (Vojvodina province)
Dinaric Alps occupy western part of Central Serbia, stretching in general northwest-southeast direction
Vardar Zone is a belt east of the Dinaric alps, continuing into central North Macedonia. It consists of three parts: Srem, Jadar and Kopaonik blocks, separated by ophiolitics fractures.
Serbian-Macedonian Massif is a belt stretching in north-south direction along the Great and South Morava valleys, into western North Macedonia and northern Greece (north of Chalkidiki peninsula).
Carpatho-Balkan Arc covers Eastern Serbia, in the shape of an arc. Its northern part, Serbian Carpathians is an extension of Carpathian Range, and it joins the western parts of Balkan Mountains, whose main massif is in Bulgaria.

Tectonic units

Sava Zone

The Sava Zone (named after the river Sava) is an oceanic suture that strikes roughly NNW to SSE through Serbia and is mostly covered in the north by the sediments of the Pannonian Basin. Outcrops can be found in the Fruška Gora (Fruška mountains).^[2] Here the unit is composed of blueschists and ophiolites. In the south outcrops of the Sava Zone occur in the Balkan and Rhodope Mountains. This includes the Senonian Flysch and the rocks cropping out in the Jastrebac Window.^[2]

Jadar-Kopaonik thrust sheet

The Jadar-Kopaonik Thrust Sheet is a NW-SE striking unit in the southern footwall of the Sava Zone and the northern hangingwall of the Drina-Ivanjica Thrust Sheet.^[2] Most of the outcrops are ophiolites from the Western Vardar ocean, but there are some windows into the underlying basement. The Jadar unit in western Serbia (Jadar Region) is the largest window into the underlying Adriatic units of the Jadar-Kopaonik Thrust Sheet. Two smaller windows crop out farther to the south. The Studenica unit lies in the west and the Kopaonik unit in the east of the thrust sheet.^[6]

Supragetic

The Supragetic nappes form a N-S striking belt in eastern Serbia, where they crop out in the Balkan Mountains (Stara Planina). They are part of the paleogeographic realm of Dacia. The Supragetic is subdivided into the Ranovac and Vlasina unit.^[2]

Drina-Ivanjica thrust sheet

The Drina-Ivanjica thrust sheet forms a NNW to SSE striking thrust sheet through southwestern Serbia. It is composed of a Paleozoic basement and Mesozoic cover. On top of this lies the obducted Zlatibor ophiolite (Zlatibor Mountains), a remnant of the Western Vardar ocean.^[2]

Seismic activity

Serbia is prone to moderate to strong seismic activity, especially in the central belts of Vardar Zone and Serbian Massif.^[7] Major earthquakes in the 20th century ranged between 5.0 from 6.0 (Lazarevac 1922) Richter scale. The last major earthquake at 5.4 occurred near Kraljevo on 3 November 2010.^[8]

List of major earthquakes in the 20th and 21st centuries:^[9]^[10]

1893. Svilajnac – 5,7 Richter scale
1921. Vitina – 5,7
1922. Lazarevac – 5,9
1927. Rudnik – 5,7
1980. Kopaonik – 5,7
1983. Kopaonik – 5,3
1998. Mionica – 5,7
2010. Kraljevo – 5,4

Modern history

The Serbian Geologic Society was established by a group of professors and students in Belgrade on 10 February 1891 under the leadership of Jovan Žujović.^[11] The geologic survey was founded 29 December 1930.^[12]

Economic geology

The economic geology of Serbia was reviewed by Melcher and Reichl in 2017.^[13]

Serbia is the 18th largest producer of coal (7th in Europe) extracted from large deposits in Kolubara and Kostolac basins; it is also world's 23rd largest (3rd in Europe) producer of copper which is extracted near Majdanpek by Zijin Bor Copper, a large copper mining company with significant gold extraction.^[14]^[15]^[16]^[13] In 2018, it was acquired by the Chinese Zijin Mining, which in April 2021 was ordered by the government to cease activity because of "non-compliance with environmental standards".^[17]

The iron ore deposits of Serbia are insignificant.^[18]^[19] Iron and copper deposits were found at Suva Ruda and Suvo Rudište.^[20]

The largest laterite nickel deposit in Europe is at Mokra Gora, with an estimated 1,000 million tons of ore.^[21]

The Jadar deposit contains high-grade mineralisation of boron and lithium in a mineral named Jadarite and Rio Tinto Mines has invested $200M to test if it "has the potential to produce both battery-grade lithium carbonate and boric acid." Reports were made in March 2021 that the Jadar mine would begin production in 2026.^[22]

References

^ "Tectonic Plates: Divergent, Convergent, and Transform Boundaries" (PDF) (Map). Tectonics Observatory. California Institute of Technology. April 2009. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Schmid, Stefan M.; Daniel Bernoulli; Bernhard Fügenschuh; Liviu Matenco; Senecio Schefer; Ralf Schuster; Matthias Tischler; Kamil Ustaszewski (2008). "The Alpine-Carpathian-Dinaridic orogenic system: correlation and evolution of tectonic units" (PDF). Swiss Journal of Geosciences. 101 (1): 139–183. doi:10.1007/s00015-008-1247-3. S2CID 55108896.
^ Milena Zlokolica-Mandic. "Structural-Tectonic Elements as a Factor in Cave Development". Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
^ Mica Martinovic; Mihailo Milivojevic (25 April 2010). "Serbia Country Update" (PDF). Proceedings of World Geothermal Congress 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 July 2011.
^ Eldridge M. Moores; Rhodes Whitmore Fairbridge (1997). Encyclopedia of European and Asian regional geology. Springer. pp. 786–789. ISBN 978-0-412-74040-4.
^ Vasković, Nada; Vesna Matović (2010). Ophiolites of the Vardar Zone and the Dinarides:Central and West Serbia. ISBN 978-963-306-056-8.
^ "Seismic Activity on the Territory Of Serbia --Overview Of Relevant Data" (PDF). First Workshop for the NATO Science For Peace Project. 7 November 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 July 2011.
^ "Snažan zemljotres za ove prostore". B92. 3 November 2010.
^ "Dve žrtve zemljotresa u Kraljevu". RTS. 11 March 2010.
^ M. Marović; et al. (2002). "Neotectonics and seismicity of the southern margin of the Pannonian basin in Serbia". EGU Stephan Mueller Special Publication Series. 3: 277–295. doi:10.5194/smsps-3-277-2002.
^ "Short History". Serbian Geologic Society. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
^ "Istorijat Geološkog zavoda Srbije". Geoloski zavod Srbije. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
^ ^a ^b Melcher, Frank; Reichl, Christian (2017). "Economic Geology of the Eastern and South-eastern European (ESEE) Region". BHM Berg- und Hüttenmännische Monatshefte. 162 (7): 238–244. doi:10.1007/s00501-017-0625-4. S2CID 134480133.
^ "Mineral deposits and mining districts of Serbia Compilation map and GIS databases" (PDF). Republic of Serbia - Ministry of Mining and Energy. March 2002.
^ "Mineral resources of Serbia" August 2008 Geologica Carpathica 59(4):345-361
^ "2015 Minerals Yearbook: Serbia" (PDF). USGS. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
^ "Serbia orders Zijin Mining to cease work at copper mine". Verdict Media Limited. Mining Technology. 15 April 2021.
^ ROESLER, MAX (1921). "THE IRON-ORE RESOURCES OF EUROPE" (PDF). Bulletin of the USGS. 706. USGS.
^ Schumacher, Friedrich (1954). "The ore deposits of Jugoslavia and the development of its mining industry". Economic Geology. 49 (5): 451–492. doi:10.2113/gsecongeo.49.5.451.
^ Antonijevic I. (1983) Lezista gvozda Srbije [Translated Title: The iron ore deposits of Serbia]. Vesnik, Zavod za Geoloska i Geofizicka Istrazivanja, Serija A: Geologija, 41, p. 5-40.
^ Horn, S.; Gunn, A.G.; Petavratzi, E.; Shaw, R.A.; Eilu, P.; Törmänen, T.; Bjerkgård, T.; Sandstad, J.S.; Jonsson, E.; Kountourelis, S.; Wall, F. (2021). "Cobalt resources in Europe and the potential for new discoveries". Ore Geology Reviews. 130: 103915. doi:10.1016/j.oregeorev.2020.103915.
^ Ralev, Radomir (4 March 2021). "Rio Tinto to complete construction of Serbia's Jadar lithium mine in 2026 - report". SeeNews.

[Plate_Map-1] "Tectonic Plates: Divergent, Convergent, and Transform Boundaries" (PDF) (Map). Tectonics Observatory. California Institute of Technology. April 2009. Retrieved 19 September 2013.

[Schmid_et_al_2008-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Schmid, Stefan M.; Daniel Bernoulli; Bernhard Fügenschuh; Liviu Matenco; Senecio Schefer; Ralf Schuster; Matthias Tischler; Kamil Ustaszewski (2008). "The Alpine-Carpathian-Dinaridic orogenic system: correlation and evolution of tectonic units" (PDF). Swiss Journal of Geosciences. 101 (1): 139–183. doi:10.1007/s00015-008-1247-3. S2CID 55108896.

[3] Milena Zlokolica-Mandic. "Structural-Tectonic Elements as a Factor in Cave Development". Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 3 November 2010.

[update-4] Mica Martinovic; Mihailo Milivojevic (25 April 2010). "Serbia Country Update" (PDF). Proceedings of World Geothermal Congress 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 July 2011.

[enc-5] Eldridge M. Moores; Rhodes Whitmore Fairbridge (1997). Encyclopedia of European and Asian regional geology. Springer. pp. 786–789. ISBN 978-0-412-74040-4.

[Vasković_Matović-6] Vasković, Nada; Vesna Matović (2010). Ophiolites of the Vardar Zone and the Dinarides:Central and West Serbia. ISBN 978-963-306-056-8.

[quakes-7] "Seismic Activity on the Territory Of Serbia --Overview Of Relevant Data" (PDF). First Workshop for the NATO Science For Peace Project. 7 November 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 July 2011.

[8] "Snažan zemljotres za ove prostore". B92. 3 November 2010.

[9] "Dve žrtve zemljotresa u Kraljevu". RTS. 11 March 2010.

[10] M. Marović; et al. (2002). "Neotectonics and seismicity of the southern margin of the Pannonian basin in Serbia". EGU Stephan Mueller Special Publication Series. 3: 277–295. doi:10.5194/smsps-3-277-2002.

[SGS_-_Short_History-11] "Short History". Serbian Geologic Society. Retrieved 21 September 2013.

[History_-_Geoloski_zavod_Srbije-12] "Istorijat Geološkog zavoda Srbije". Geoloski zavod Srbije. Retrieved 21 September 2013.

[melcher17-13] Melcher, Frank; Reichl, Christian (2017). "Economic Geology of the Eastern and South-eastern European (ESEE) Region". BHM Berg- und Hüttenmännische Monatshefte. 162 (7): 238–244. doi:10.1007/s00501-017-0625-4. S2CID 134480133.

[mmemin-14] "Mineral deposits and mining districts of Serbia Compilation map and GIS databases" (PDF). Republic of Serbia - Ministry of Mining and Energy. March 2002.

[15] "Mineral resources of Serbia" August 2008 Geologica Carpathica 59(4):345-361

[usgs15-16] "2015 Minerals Yearbook: Serbia" (PDF). USGS. Retrieved 3 April 2021.

[mtsoz-17] "Serbia orders Zijin Mining to cease work at copper mine". Verdict Media Limited. Mining Technology. 15 April 2021.

[koesler21-18] ROESLER, MAX (1921). "THE IRON-ORE RESOURCES OF EUROPE" (PDF). Bulletin of the USGS. 706. USGS.

[schumacher54-19] Schumacher, Friedrich (1954). "The ore deposits of Jugoslavia and the development of its mining industry". Economic Geology. 49 (5): 451–492. doi:10.2113/gsecongeo.49.5.451.

[antinovec83-20] Antonijevic I. (1983) Lezista gvozda Srbije [Translated Title: The iron ore deposits of Serbia]. Vesnik, Zavod za Geoloska i Geofizicka Istrazivanja, Serija A: Geologija, 41, p. 5-40.

[horn21-21] Horn, S.; Gunn, A.G.; Petavratzi, E.; Shaw, R.A.; Eilu, P.; Törmänen, T.; Bjerkgård, T.; Sandstad, J.S.; Jonsson, E.; Kountourelis, S.; Wall, F. (2021). "Cobalt resources in Europe and the potential for new discoveries". Ore Geology Reviews. 130: 103915. doi:10.1016/j.oregeorev.2020.103915.

[snrt-22] Ralev, Radomir (4 March 2021). "Rio Tinto to complete construction of Serbia's Jadar lithium mine in 2026 - report". SeeNews.

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Geology of Serbia

Tectonic units

Sava Zone

Jadar-Kopaonik thrust sheet

Supragetic

Drina-Ivanjica thrust sheet

Seismic activity

Modern history

Economic geology

See also

References

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