Regional Geology of the Greater Caucasus - New Insight from Seismic Data

Oil industry seismic data acquired in the late 1980-1990s has contributed considerably to the understanding of the chronostratigraphy, depositional settings, structural architecture and evolution of this fold belt. The new subsurface data has shown diversity of structural styles in the Caucasus and documented much wider development of thrust faulting. A north-vergent foreland thrust belt has been identified in the Northeastern Caucasus. Pre-Alpine fold structures have also been imaged in the northern foreland. These data provide some further amendments to the geological model of the Greater Caucasus.