The High Karst Unit (or High Karst Zone) is a tectonic unit in the Balkans region of Southeastern Europe. It is found in Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Serbia, Montenegro and Albania.
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Geology
The unit consists of a stratigraphic sequence that was deposited between the Upper Carboniferous age of the Carboniferous period in the Mesozoic Era, and the Eocene epoch of the Paleogene period in the Cenozoic Era.
The deposition started with marine sediments during the Upper Cretaceous and Permian. During the Early Triassic shallow-marine carbonates and siliciclastics are a sign of shallow-marine conditions. In the Middle Triassic deep water conditions were reached. During the Late Triassic the depositional environment became shallower again, and a carbonate platform developed. This continued till the Eocene, when flysch was deposited.
Associations
In the north the High Karst Unit is overthrust by Southern Alpine units. In the east the Pre-Karst Unit and the Bosnian Flysch overthrust it. The High Karst Unit overthrusts the Dalmatian Zone in the west and the Budva-Cukali Zone in the southwest. In the south the unit is cut off by the Skadar-Peć Fault and borders the Western Vardar Ophiolitic Unit.
The most prominent fault that runs through the High Karst Unit is the Split-Karlovac Fault.