Apulian Plate

As Adriatic plate (also: Adriatic spur or Adriatic indenter ) is called in the plate tectonics of the northern part of the Apulian plate. It is a part of the complicated mosaic of microplates, which form the southern edge of the Eurasian plate in the Mediterranean. The continuous movements of the Adriatic and the European part of the Eurasian plate, which show up at the surface by tectonic lineaments, are still led to several earthquakes such as the earthquake in Friuli in 1976.

Expansion

The Adriatic plate comprises the northern part of the Italian peninsula, including the northern Adriatic Sea, the western part of the Dinaric Alps, a large part of the Eastern Alps and the Southern Alps. In the Alps, parts of the Adriatic plate are inserted in the form of tectonic blankets on the European crust and form as Austroalpine most of the earth's surface in the Eastern Alps.

Importance

As part of the exploration of the Alps numerous models have been developed to explain the complicated tectonic style of the Alps with the model of plate tectonics. One of the concepts that was developed as part of this research, which is one centered around the present-day Adriatic micro- continent that collided with the Eurasian plate. According to current knowledge this Adriatic plate was not a separate plate, but a spur -like protruding to the north part of the larger Apulian plate. The term is nevertheless still needed regional geological considerations in the frame, often used as a synonym for the Apulian plate.

The contact of the Adriatic with the European plate

The after alpidic orogeny present today contact the Adriatic plate with the European is interpreted as Subduktionskontakt or as a suture zone ( Erdnaht ) with subsequent strike-slip faults. Detailed seismic profiles of the Earth's crust have shown that both views have their place: in fact, became a part of the European plate subducted beneath the Adriatic, an important role in the formation of contact of the plates in the Periadriatic seam and the Save- line play beyond steep back - thrust faults, which pushed both European crustal material and on about false ceilings upwards and south of the Adriatic plate, and at the same time which took place far-reaching side shifts.