Geological history of Western Caucasus and adjacent foredeeps based on analysis of the regional balanced section

Using seismic evidence and other geological data, a balanced section has been built for the Tuapse foredeep-Western Caucasus-Western Kuban foredeep tectonic system. This section enabled us to restore the history of the region, from the Callovian time. It was suggested that, in the Callovian-Eocene, the western Caucasian basin existed in the form of a rift. The principal phase of rift inversion occurred in the Oligocene-Miocene, and in the Pliocene-Quaternary, it evolved into the orogeny phase. The extent of the Caucasus compression within the section area was more than 30 km.