The Cretaceous sedimentation along the NE Dinarides margin occurred in basins
above the Europe-dipping Neotethyan Sava subduction zone positioned between
Adria- and Europe-derived continental units. The Cretaceous sedimentation on
the upper plate of the Sava subduction system took place in a fore-arc
basin, developed in frontal parts of the active European continental margin.
The Cretaceous sedimentation in the lower Adria plate domain of the Sava
subduction system includes sediments deposited in the basin developed over
the passive continental margin of the Internal Dinarides and the sediments
deposited in the Sava subduction trench. While the Cretaceous sedimentation
on the entire Adriatic continental margin was associated with an overall
contraction, which led to the progressive subsidence towards the end of the
Cretaceous, the fore-arc basin on the European continental margin displays
three depositional cycles during the Early Cretaceous-Cenomanian,
Turonian-Santonian, and Campanian-early Paleogene, reflecting three stages
of deformation, contraction, extension, and ultimately contraction again
during the Adria-Europe collision.