Abstract
The thrust front of the central Lesser Caucasus and southern part of the Greater Caucasus orogens is one of the key regions of an apparent convergence zone between two orogens. The formation of the complex structure of the Lesser Caucasus-Greater Caucasus convergence zone is governed by the northward and southward-directed thrusting. Here we show the structural style of deformation of a convergence zone between Lesser Caucasus retro-wedge and Greater Caucasus pro-wedge based on seismic reflection profiles. Seismic profiles reveal the transition between convergence and the initial collision zone within the study area. The frontal part of the Lesser Caucasus retro-wedge is represented by a shallow triangle zone and north-vergent structural wedge. The thrust front of Greater Caucasus pro-wedge is represented by south-vergent fault-related folds. Between the Lesser Caucasus and Greater Caucasus frontal parts, the undeformed Kura foreland basin is located. The structure of the Lesser Caucasus-Greater Caucasus initial collision zone is fairly complex. The orogens collision zone is represented by south-vergent imbricate thrusts. Under the triangle zone, there are two structural wedges. The frontal part of the eastern Achara-Trialeti fold-and-thrust belt exhibit structural variations along strike within the study area. Near the Lesser Caucasus-Greater Caucasus convergence zone is located Tbilisi city, where the north-and-south-vergent thrusts of this collision zone represent a significant seismic hazard.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adamia S, Chkhotua T, Kekelia M et al (1981) Tectonics of Caucasus and adjoining regions: implications for the evolution of the Tethys Ocean. J Struct Geol 3:437–447
Adamia S, Alania V, Ananiashvili G et al (2002) Late Mesozoic-Cenozoic geodynamic evolution of the eastern Georgian oil-gas bearing basins. Geol Carpath 53:155–159
Adamia Sh, Alania V, Chabukiani A et al. (2004) Seismic source zone models of recent earthquakes of Georgia. In: Chatzipetros AA, Pavlides SB (eds) Proceedings of the 5th international symposium on eastern Mediterranean geology, Greece, Thessaloniki, pp 545–551
Adamia S, Alania V, Chabukiani A et al (2010) Evolution of the late Cenozoic basins of Georgia (SW Caucasus): a review. Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 340:239–259. https://doi.org/10.1144/SP340.11
Adamia S, Alania V, Chagelishvili R et al (2011a) Tectonic setting of Georgia (Caucasus). Geo-Eco-Marina 17:11–13
Adamia S, Zakariadze G, Chkhotua T et al (2011b) Geology of the Caucasus: a review. Turk J Earth Sci 20:489–544. https://doi.org/10.3906/yer-1005-11
Adamia S, Alania V, Tsereteli N et al (2017) Postcollisional tectonics and seismicity of Georgia. Geol Soc Am Spec Pap 525:535–573. https://doi.org/10.1130/2017.2525(17)
Alania V, Enukidze O, Koiava K et al (2008) Thrust systems and time of deformation of the Gare Kakheti foothills, eastern Georgia (Georgia). Boll Geofis Teor Appl 49:207–208
Alania V, Chabukiani A, Chagelishvili R et al (2017a) Growth structures, piggyback basins and growth strata of Georgian part of Kura foreland fold and thrust belt: implication for late alpine kinematic evolution. Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 428:171–185. https://doi.org/10.1144/SP428.5
Alania V, Sosson M, Enukidze O et al (2017b) Structural architecture of the eastern Achara-Trialeti fold and thrust belt, Georgia: implications for kinematic evolution. Geophys J 4:81–82
Alania V, Enukidze O, Glonti N et al (2018) Structural architecture of the Kura foreland fold-and-thrust belt using seismic reflection profile, Georgia. Universal J Geosci 6:184–190. https://doi.org/10.13189/ujg.2018.060602
Alania V, Enukidze O, Tevzadze N (2019) Some problems of Caucasus tectonics: new insight and data from the structural cross-sections. In: Abstracts of the AAPG GTW conference exploration and production in the Black Sea, Caucasus, and Caspian Region, Batumi, Georgia, 18–19 September 2019
Alania V, Beridze T, Enukidze O et al (2020a) Structure of frontal part of the eastern Achara-Trialeti fold-and-thrust belt using seismic profile, Georgia. Bull Georg Nat Acad Sci. (in press)
Alania V, Enukidze O, Sadradze N et al (2020b) 3D structural model of the Bitsmendi anticline using seismic profiles, Georgia. Bull Georg Nat Acad Sci 14(1):61–67
Avdeev B, Niemi NA (2011) Rapid Pliocene exhumation of the central greater Caucasus constrained by low-temperature thermochronometry. Tectonics 30:TC2009. https://doi.org/10.1029/2010TC002808
Banks C, Robinson A, Williams M (1997) Structure and regional tectonics of the Achara-Trialeti fold belt and the adjacent Rioni and Kartli foreland basins. Republic of Georgia. In: Robinson A (ed) Regional and petroleum geology of the Black Sea and surrounding region. AAPG, Tulsa, pp 331–346
Basheleishvili LV (1985) The northern periphery of the eastern segment of the Adzharian–Trialeti fold zone (between the towns of Gori and Kaspi): peculiarities of geological structure. Bull Georg Acad Sci 119:457–459
Beridze T (2019) Middle Eocene submarine mass-transport deposits of Tbilisi environs (eastern Achara-Trialeti fold and thrust belt, Georgia). In: Abstracts of the IAS 34-th meeting on sedimentology, Rome, Italy, 10–13 September 2019
Boichenko G, Cowgill E, Stahl T et al (2016) A paleoseismic investigation of a frontal foreland thrust in the Greater Caucasus, Georgia. In: Abstracts of the AGU fall meeting, Denver, USA, 12–16 December 2016
Buleishvili D (1964) Lower Miocene. In: Gamkrelidze P (ed) Geology of the Georgian SSR. Nedra, pp 238–264. (in Russian)
Cavazza W, Albino I, Zattin M et al (2017) Thermochronometric evidence for Miocene tectonic reactivation of the Sevan-Akera suture zone (lesser Caucasus): a far-field tectonic effect of the Arabia-Eurasia collision? Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 428:187–198. https://doi.org/10.1144/SP428.4
Cavazza W, Albino I, Galoyan G et al (2019) Continental accretion and incremental deformation in the thermochronologic evolution of the lesser Caucasus. Geosci Front 10:2189–2202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2019.02.007
Cowgill E, Forte A, Niemi N et al (2016) Relict basin closure and crustal shortening budgets during continental collision: an example from Caucasus sediment provenance. Tectonics 35:2918–2947. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016TC004295
Forte A, Cowgill E, Whipple KX (2014) Transition from a singly vergent to doubly vergent wedge in a young orogen: the greater Caucasus. Tectonics 33:2077–2101. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014tc003651
Fu B, Ninomiya Y, Guo J (2010) Slip partitioning in the northeast Pamir–Tian Shan convergence zone. Tectonophysics 483:344–364. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2009.11.003
Gamkrelidze P (1949) Geological structure of Adjara-Trialeti folded system. Metsniereba, Tbilisi. (in Russian)
Gamkrelidze I (1976) Mechanism of tectonic structure formation and some general problems of tectogenesis. Metsniereba, Tbilisi. (in Russian)
Khain VY (1974) Structure and main stages in the tectono-magmatic development of the Caucasus: an attempt at geodynamic interpretation. Am J Sci 274:16–23
McQuarrie N (2002) The kinematic history of the central Andean fold-thrust belt, Bolivia: implications for building a high plateau. GSA Bull 114(8):950–963
Medwedeff DA (1990) Geometry and kinematics of an active, laterally propagating wedge thrust, wheeler ridge, California. Structural geology of fold and thrust belts. In: Mitra S, Fisher G (eds) Geometry and kinematics of an active, laterally propagating wedge thrust, wheeler ridge. The Johns Hopkins University Press, California, pp 3–28
Milanovski E, Khain V (1963) Geological structure of the Caucasus. Moscow State University. (in Russian)
Mosar J, Kangarli T, Bochud M et al (2010) Cenozoic–recent tectonics and uplift in the greater Caucasus: a perspective from Azerbaijan. Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 340:261–279. https://doi.org/10.1144/SP340.12
Nemcok M, Glonti B, Yukler A, Marton B (2013) Development history of the foreland plate trapped between two converging orogens: Kura Valley, Georgia, case study. Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 377:159–188. https://doi.org/10.1144/SP377.9
Papava P (1967) Some question of eastern part of the Trialeti Ridge and perspective of oil-bearing of Cretaceous and Paleogene deposits. In: Gamkrelidze P (ed) Geology of the Georgian SSR. NEDRA, pp 188–204. (in Russian)
Pasquarè FA, Tormey D, Vezzoli L et al (2011) Mitigating the consequences of extreme events on strategic facilities: evaluation of volcanic and seismic risk affecting the Caspian oil and gas pipelines in the Republic of Georgia. J Environ Manag 92:1774–1782. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2011.02.003
Reilinger R et al (2006) GPS constraints on continental deformation in the Africa–Arabia–Eurasia continental collision zone and implications for the dynamics of plate interactions. J Geophys Res:BO5411. https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JB004051
Robinson AG, Griffith ET, Gardiner AR, Home AK (1997) Petroleum geology of the Georgian fold and thrust belts and foreland basins. In: Robinson A (ed) Regional and petroleum geology of the Black Sea and surrounding region. AAPG, Tulsa, pp 347–367
Shaw JH, Connors CD, Suppe J (2006) Seismic interpretation of contractional fault-related folds. AAPG, Tulsa
Sokhadze G, Floyd M, Godoladze T et al (2018) Active convergence between the lesser and greater Caucasus in Georgia: constraints on the tectonic evolution of the lesser–greater Caucasus continental collision. EPSL 481:154–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2017.10.007
Sosson M, Adamia S, Muller C et al (2013) From greater to lesser Caucasus: new insights from surface and subsurface data along a N-S trending transect (Georgia): thick-skin versus thin-skin tectonics. Darius News 3:5–7
Sosson M, Stephenson R, Sheremet Y et al (2016) The eastern Black Sea-Caucasus region during cretaceous: new evidence to constrain its tectonic evolution. Compte-Rendus Geosci 348:23–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crte.2015.11.002
Suppe J, Medwedeff DA (1990) Geometry and kinematics of fault-propagation folding. Eclogae Geol Helv 83:409–454
Tari G, Vakhania D, Tatishvili G et al (2018) Stratigraphy, structure and petroleum exploration play types of the Rioni Basin, Georgia. Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 464:403–438. https://doi.org/10.1144/SP464.14
Tibaldi A, Alania V, Bonali FL et al (2017) Active inversion tectonics, simple shear folding and back-thrusting at Rioni Basin. Georgia. J Struct Geol 96:35–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2017.01.005
Tibaldi A, Tsereteli N, Varazanashvili O et al (2020) Active stress field and fault kinematics of the greater Caucasus. J Asian Earth Sci 188:104108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2019.104108
Toscani G, Bonini L, Ahmad M et al (2014) Opposite verging chains sharing the same foreland: kinematics and interactions through analogue models (Central Po plain, Italy). Tectonophysics 633:268–282. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2014.07.019
Tsereteli N, Tibaldi A, Alania V et al (2016) Active tectonics of Central-Western Caucasus, Georgia. Tectonophysics 691:328–344. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2016.10.025S0040-1951(16)30478-4
Varazanashvili O, Tsereteli N, Tsereteli E (2011) Historical earthquakes in Georgia (up to 1900): source analysis and catalog compilation. LTD MVP, Tbilisi
Varazanashvili O, Tsereteli N, Bonali FL et al (2018) GeoInt: the first macroseismic intensity database for the Republic of Georgia. J Seismol 22(3):625–667. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10950-017-9726-5
Vincent SJ, Morton AC, Carter A et al (2007) Oligocene uplift of the Western greater Caucasus: an effect of initial Arabia-Eurasia collision. Terra Nova 19:160–166. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3121.2007.00731.x
Vincent SJ, Carter A, Lavrishchev VA et al (2011) The exhumation of the western Greater Caucasus: a thermochronometric study. Geol Mag 148:1–21. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016756810000257
Zakariadze G, Dilek Y, Adamia S et al (2007) Geochemistry and geochronology of the Neoproterozoic Pan-African Transcaucasian Massif (Republic of Georgia) and implications for island-arc evolution of the late Precambrian Arabian Nubian shield. Gondwana Res 11:97–108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2006.05.012
Acknowledgments
The work was supported by Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia (SRNSF #217942 - Structure, time and magnitude of deformation of the eastern Achara-Trialeti fold and thrust belt, Georgia). We are very grateful to Georgian State Agency of Oil and Gas and Georgian Oil & Gas Limited for providing the seismic profiles for our seismic interpretation. We acknowledge the useful review and suggestions of Federico Pasquaré Mariotto, Fabio Luca Bonali and Ara Avagyan on a previous version of the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature B.V.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Alania, V. et al. (2021). The Geometry of the Two Orogens Convergence and Collision Zones in Central Georgia: New Data from Seismic Reflection Profiles. In: Bonali, F.L., Pasquaré Mariotto, F., Tsereteli, N. (eds) Building Knowledge for Geohazard Assessment and Management in the Caucasus and other Orogenic Regions. NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-2046-3_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-2046-3_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-024-2045-6
Online ISBN: 978-94-024-2046-3
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)