Tectonic control of Late Cretaceous calc-alkaline magmatism in the Timok Magmatic Complex (Serbian Carpathians): Insights from U–Pb zircon geochronology and fault kinematics

This study presents a basin-scale tectono-magmatic model for the Late Cretaceous evolution of the Timok Magmatic Complex (TMC) basin in the Serbian Carpathians, a segment of the Apuseni–Banat–Timok–Srednogorie (ABTS) volcano-sedimentary belt in SE Europe. Integration of structural and kinematic analyses with zircon U–Pb geochronology of syn-tectonic intrusions indicates that the TMC basin formed as a strongly asymmetric basin under E–W to NE–SW extension driven by rollback of the Neotethys slab. Early basin development was controlled by border-fault-related subsidence and sedimentation. At ~88–87 Ma, deformation migrated into the basin interior and localized along a major intra-basin normal fault corridor in the eastern part of the basin, focusing syn-tectonic calc-alkaline magmatism and hydrothermal activity. Between ~88 and 81 Ma, deformation and magmatism propagated laterally along strike, tracking progressive growth of the fault system. After ~81 Ma, extensional deformation waned, while magmatism migrated westward and became increasingly decoupled from faulting. These results demonstrate that slab rollback exerted a first-order control on the spatiotemporal coupling between deformation, basin evolution, and magmatism in slab-top extensional systems.

Keywords: Timok Magmatic Complex, Serbian Carpathians, fault kinematics, zircon U–Pb geochronology, tectono-magmatic evolution, Neotethys subduction.