Objective
A broad, multidisciplinary study is proposed that encompasses structural and litho- and biostratigraphic studies; geochemical, isotope and fission track analyses; geophysical interpretation and integration; and modelling studies for tectonic synthesis and hypotheses testing. The Research Programme is structured into four focused, task interdependent but methodologically coherent Research Modules.
The main scientific objectives are to
(1) investigate the Permo-Carboniferous-Triassic geological history of the Donbas Foldbelt-Karpinsky Swell region, lying at the junction of the East-European Craton (EEC), the accreted Scythian plate, and the intracratonic Dniepr-Donets Rift Basin. As such it is the key to;
(2) placing constraints on better models of the anomalous subsidence history and formation mechanism of the linked the Dniepr-Donets-Donbas-Karpinsky-Peri-Caspian sedimentary basin system and;
(3) solving the puzzle of Late Palaeozoic palaeogeography on the southern margin of the EEC. This in turn is the key to;
(4) resolving long standing problems of the paleotectonic setting of the Peri-Caspian Basin and the sedimentary succession now lying in the vicinity of the intervening Karpinsky Swell. Putting the origin and tectonic evolution of the sedimentary basins on the southern margin of the EEC in the context of tectonic events occurring in the adjacent Tethyan belt is an important element in;
(5) reconstructing the accretionary history of this (mainly neglected) part of the Trans-European Suture Zone and helps to;
(6) resolve fundamental unanswered questions related to global plate reconstructions in the Late Palaeozoic.
Part of the motivation for the proposed work is that independent proposals to carry out major deep reflection- and refraction-seismic profiles (costing in the millions of ECU) in the Donbas Foldbelt-Karpinsky Swell study area (within both Ukraine and Russia) are under discussion and development at this time. Key teams from this proposal are involved in these discussions, which are being carried out in the framework of EUROPROBE, and it is anticipated that such surveys will take place in 1998-1999 - during the course of the proposed work plan. The impact of these studies on the proposed Research Programme (and vice versa) is described in the proposal. In effect, the proposed activities comprise the "ancillary" geological, geophysical, and geochemistry studies that are the necessary complements to deep seismic studies as defined, for example, by the Canadian Lithoprobe Programme.
The scientific results of the project will be vigorously and as quickly as possible presented at international conferences and, subsequently, as refereed articles in the international scientific literature. Co-operation between participating teams will take place by exchange of scientists and their students between laboratories, joint fieldwork, joint co-authorship of all major conference and published reports, and telecommunications including e-mail. Collaboration among team members is already well established. Co-ordination and scientific workshops will be held at regular intervals, including participation at workshops of the EUROPROBE GeoRift Project, in the framework of which the proposed Research Programme was developed.
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
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1081 HV Amsterdam
Netherlands