NORTHERN PERI-TETHYAN CENOZOIC INTRAPLATE DEFORMATIONS - INFLUENCE OFTHE TETHYAN COLLISION BELT ON THE EURASIAN CONTINENT FROM PARIS TO TIEN-SHAN

During the Oligocene-Holocene Tethyan collisional tectonics, compressi onal deformations of two recognizable types developed inside the North ern Peri-Tethyan areas up to 1,500 km to the North of the collision fr ont: long-wave (400-600 km) deformations of topography (vertical ampli tude 200-500 m), and inversional thrusting/folding. The Black Sea and Southern Caspian basins experienced rapid subsidence at the same time. The compressional structures and the long wavelength intraplate defor mations of topography would result from gentle whole-lithospheric fold s. The dynamics of the intraplate compression is complex: stress relat ed to collision, ridge push, plate-driving forces, and Oligocene-Neoge ne global plate kinematic reorganizations.