Click here to download the .kmz (Google Earth) file, including routes, stops, photos, description and geological maps for all field trips.

F1. Exhumation of the West Pelagonian margin and Pindos basin emplacement

Leader: Anne Rassios (GR)

This three-day field trip visits key localities of the Pelagonian core complex, rifting sequences along the west Pelagonian margin, and emplacement zone of the Vourinos ophiolite onto Pelagonia.

Day 1. Leave Thessaloniki. Visit “drive-in” metamorphic core complex from schist through gneiss through migmatite zones; features ductile normal fault near Polyfyto. The area also allows viewing the giant cross-beds and Pleistocene glacial (?) deposits of Imera and allows a short walk across the Serbian Fault.

Day 2. A cross-section of the Vourinos ophiolite with visits focused on structural diversity including: ridgecrest structures, primary mantle structures, magmatic-tectonite structures, ductile to brittle emplacement structures. Some of these stops will be at chrome ore localities. The emplacement zone with ophiolitic serpentine in situ above amphibolite and garnet amphibolite sole can be visited.

Day 3. From the phyllitic margin of the Pelagonian ribbon continent, the trip will cross into schist with “Pangaea” rifting sequence sediments and volcanics strongly imprinted by ophiolitic emplacement, then visit the ophiolitic sole near Zavordas. If possible, the Aliakmon river section below Zavordas monastery can be visited for investigation of strong emplacement kinematics on emplacement mélange and rifting volcanics.

This field trip involves transportation with off-road vehicles.

Dates: 27-29 September 2010.

Click here to download a Google Earth map file (.kmz), containing the route and all field trip stops with photos and description.

CANCELLED - F2. Greek-Bulgarian Rhodope Massif (structural characteristics, magmatism, metamorphism, economic mineral deposits) - CANCELLED

Leaders: Antonios Koroneos (GR), Sarantis Dimitriades (GR), Adamantios Kilias (GR), Ioannis Koukouvelas (GR), Nikos Epitropou (GR), Yotzo Yanev (BG), Nikolay Bonev (BG) and Rossen Nedyalkov (BG)

Note: this field trip involves travel in two countries

This four-day (3 nights) field trip aims at visiting various geological sites (sections, outcrops, economic mineral deposits etc) of the Rhodope Massif, both in Bulgaria and Greece and discussing on the spot the existing ideas and advances of the geology of the Rhodope Massif.

Day 1. Starting from Thessaloniki (Vardar-Axios Zone) the first day we will cross the Serbomacedonian Massif before entering the Rhodope Massif (east of Strymon River). Just before Kavala town (~160 km) we will see outcrops of the deformed and mylonitised in places Symvolon (Kavala) plutonite (Miocene Hb-Bt granodiorite) and the metamorphic basement rocks into which it was emplaced and discuss about the structural characteristics of Rhodope. The next stop(s) will be near Xanthi town (~ 50 km) to visit outcrops of some Rhodope metamorphic units (marbles, gneisses, amphibolites, eclogites) and the Xanthi pluton (granodiorite, monzonite, monzodiorite, gabbro) which intrudes them, as well as the Rhodope tectonic units. Further to the east, we will visit outcrops of high-K to shoshonite rocks (basaltic andesite and andesite) that intrude the metamorphic basement and Palaeogene sedimentary rocks. Overnight in Xanthi.

Day 2. We will visit exposures of Oligocene/Miocene lavas and pyroclastics and of the associated mineralization in the area between Xanthi and Soufli. We will then cross the Greek-Bulgarian border (Ormenion/Svilengrad), drive to Kardzhali (~120 km), visit the bentonite and the perlite deposits and the zeolitized acid pyroclastic flows and fall-out tuffs. Accommodation in Kardhzali.

Day 3. In this day we will drive to Krumovgrad (~ 40 km) to see the lahar deposits and the gold deposit of Ada-tepe and some outcrops of the metamorphic basement. Early afternoon, back to Ormenio/Svilengrad (~ 85 km) with one stop in the Ardas valley (latite flow, the little canyon “The Devil Bridge”). Overnight in Alexandroupolis.

Day 4. Return to Thessaloniki with a few stops on our way back.

Dates: 27-30 September 2010.

Cost: € 440 (single) / € 370 (double).

Click here to download a Google Earth map file (.kmz), containing the route and all field trip stops with photos and description.

CANCELLED -  F3. Halkidiki: Halkidiki ophiolites, Gerakini magnesite deposits, Eocene Sithonia plutonic complex - CANCELLED

Leaders: Triantafylos Soldatos (GR), Spyros Dabitzias (GR), and Giampiero Poli (IT)

This two-day field trip starts with the visit of the Petralona karst cave, finding site of the Petralona skull, one of the earliest human finds in Europe. Next, we will visit the Gerakini magnesite mining and production facilities. It follows the tour of the Sithonia peninsula (middle leg of Halkidiki peninsula). On this tour we will visit outcrops of the Halkidiki ophiolitic zone (gabbros, cumulitic gabbros, sheeted-dyke complex and pillow lavas) and the Eocene Sithonia plutonic complex (two-mica granite, hornblende-biotite granodiorite, mafic microgranular enclaves, leucogranite, pegmatitic dykes, contact zone with Circum-Rhodope Belt metasediments).

Dates: 27-28 September 2010.

Cost: € 120 (single) / € 100 (double).

Click here to download a Google Earth map file (.kmz), containing the route and all field trip stops with photos and description.

Click here to download the location and description of stops.

CANCELLED -  F4. Basin evolution and neotectonics of the Strymon-Struma Graben System (stratigraphy, paleontology, neotectonics and geomorphology) - CANCELLED

Leaders: George Syrides (GR), Ivan Zagorchev (BG), Dimitris Kostopoulos (GR), Nikolai Spassov (BG) and Markos Tranos (GR)

Note: this field trip involves travel in two countries

Three-day (2 nights) field trip visiting several geological sites (sections, outcrops etc) of the Neogene basins formed in Greek and SW Bulgarian territory along the NNW-SSE trending Struma Lineament; an inherited Alpine structure that crosscuts many geotectonic zones in the internal part of both the Dinaric-Hellenic and Balkan mountain belts. The outcrops will focus on the Neogene stratigraphy, paleontology and faulting deformation of the basins, especially those of Strymon (Northern Greece) and Simitli and Sandanski basins (SW Bulgaria). In addition, the active deformation and the geomorphological setting of the basins will be presented and discussed in relation with the already published tectonic models.