Tectonics

The geotectonic evolution of Greece was influenced by a set of tectonorogenetic processes, in the wider area of the borders of the Eurasian and Gotovanian lithospheric plates. It is the result of the Alpine orogenetic process that took place during the Mesozoic and Tertiary, as a result of the gradual approach of the Eurasia and Gotovana continents, between which the Tethys ocean had developed. The collision caused the folding of the ocean sediments. Together with parts of the devastated ocean cortex of Tethys, the "Alpine orogenetic system" chains were created, which in the Mediterranean area correspond to those of Southern Europe and North Africa. After the end of the Alpine tectonorogenetic process (Medium Miocene for the Greece), the so-called neotectonic action began, namely the creation of superficial structures and generally new tectonic events, which took place during the Neogen and the Quaternary, and formed the final form of Greece. The Greek mountain ranges belong to the Dinaric branch of the Alpine mountain system and are subdivided into geotectonic zones, the "Greek Zones or Units", which are all fourteen.
Each zone differs in the stratigraphic sequence of its sediments and displays particular lithological characters and characteristic tectonic behavior.
They are distinguished in the "Internal" and the "External Hellenides" according to the tectonism that their formations have sustained and from the east to the west are:

• Rodopi zone
• Serbomacedonian zone
• Rodopi zone
• The Peonian zone
• The Paiko zone
• The Almopia zon
• The Pelagonian zone
• The Attica-Cyclades zone
• The Sub-Pelagonian zone
• The Parnassos-Giona zone
• The Olonos-Pindos zone
• The Gavrovo-Tripolis zone
• The Ioanian zone
• The Paxi zone