Syn-metamorphic nappe complex in the Rhodope massif. Structure and kinematics

Mylonitic gneisses of the Bulgarian and Greek Rhodope were deformed under medium pressure-type metamorphism. The kinematic information contained in these gneisses shows that shear-deformation occurred during development of a nappe complex. Lithologies and metamorphic histories allow a lower (footwall) and an upper (hanging wall) terrane to be distinguished that define a crustal-scale duplex. As oceanic crust is involved, collision between two continental units with subsequent crustal thickening is inferred. The blocks would be Moesia to the north, and the Lower-Rhodope promontory to the south, which collided in the Mesozoic to early Cenozoic. The nappe complex is characterized by south to southwestward (foreland directed) piling-up and is associated with both coeval and subsequent extension. The late extension is associated with the establishment of a high temperature-low pressure metamorphic gradient and plutonism that predates, but makes a transition to, the Lithospheric extension of the Aegean Arc.