Trans-European Suture Zone

The south-eastern part of the zone, now largely concealed by deep sedimentary basins, developed through Variscan and Alpine orogenic events.

[1][2][3][4] In 1893 the Polish geologist Wawrzyniec Teisseyre suggested the existence of a buried tectonic line close to the Carpathian Mountains.

It includes the following linear features (sorted from the north-east): The Moho under the Tornquist Fan has a strong topography with depths varying between 26 and 48 km.

It started forming during the Caledonian orogeny as a microcontinent or a series of terranes of Avalonian origin amalgamated with Baltica.

The suture is believed to be buried under thick upper Paleozoic and Mesozoic sediments, and located further west than indicated by historical surface observations.

Geologic map of Europe showing the Baltic Shield and East European Platform ( ) and European orogenic belts (Caledonian ; Variscan ; Alpine ). Parts of the Trans-European Suture Zone (STZ, TEF and TTZ) are shown as bands of black colour between the North Sea and the Black Sea.