The Triassic Evaporites in the Evolution of the Adriatic Basin

In the Adriatic Basin, the Permian to Lower-Upper Triassic marine transgression was a diachronic event controlled by syn-rift subsidence. During the Mesozoic, tectonic subsidence was balanced by high sedimentation rates, resulting in long-lasting shallow-water environments with carbonate and evaporites ranging in thicknesses from 5 to 8 km. Onshore and offshore well data has been integrated regionally with the interpretation of modern marine seismic data. This paper is focused on the distribution of the Triassic facies and their evolution trough time from the NW-SE trending Triassic-Jurassic syn-rift basins, to the late Jurassic-Paleogene passive margin and the following basin inversion active during the Oligocene-Quaternary shortening phases. The Triassic also includes the most relevant elements of the petroleum system, regionally extended in both the onshore and offshore sectors of the Adriatic Basin in Italy and Croatia.