UPPER TRIASSIC TO LOWER JURASSIC SHALLOW-WATER CARBONATES NORTH OF LAKE SHKODRA (NW ALBANIA, ALBANIAN ALPS ZONE): PART OF THE ADRIATIC CARBONATE PLATFORM BASEMENT

Abstract

The palaeogeographic reconstruction of the Adriatic Carbonate Platform and its continuation to the south represents a helpful tool to understand the Mesozoic palaeogeography of the Dinarides–Albanides–Hellenides oro-genic system. In the present paper poorly known Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic (Toarcian) shallow-water car-bonates from the Shkodra area in northwest Albania (external Albanides; Albanian Alps zone) were investigated, dat-ed mainly by larger benthic foraminifera. The microfossil associations as well as litho- and microfacies characteristics are equivalent to contemporaneous shallow-water carbonate successions of the Adriatic Carbonate Platform basement to the NW (in the High Karst zone). As a result of our study we clearly see a continuation of the Adriatic Carbonate Platform from the Dinarides to the Albanides. In the area north of Lake Shkodra no Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic hemipelagic sedimentary rocks, which could be a possible connection between the Budva Unit to the NW and the Cukali Unit to the SW, were detected.