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ON THE PRESENCE OF THE STRIKE-SLIP FAULTS IN THE NORTHERN ALBANIA
In a NE-SW transect from the Inner Albanides to the Adriatic Foreland, can be shown the westward thrusting of the Korabi-Pelagonian zone with its upward section of Triassic-Jurassic carbonates, Triassic-Jurassic ophiolites- Cretaceous limestones, over the Upper Cretaceous limestone of the Kruja Zone for about 20 km, succeeded by displacement of the Kruja Zone on the Mesozoic carbonates of the Ionian Zone.
The Dinarides are thought to be separated by Albanides, to name a few, Shkoder‐Pec Transverse Zone (Aubouin and Dercourt, 1975), a transversal (Meco and Aliaj 2000; Mauritsch, 2006), a major suture zone (Robertson, 2012) and most recently Shkoder-Bajram Curri Normal Fault (Aliaj et al. 2018) and Shkoder‐Peja Normal Fault (Handy et al. 2019).
The most prominent feature in the External Albanides is NNW-SSE Kruja Zone, outcroping for about 210 km from the boarder with Greece in SE to Lezha in NE Albania. Its normal extension would have been NNW, at about 2.7 km wide outcrop of the Upper Cretaceous limestones, in Vau i Dejes Lake (ISPGJ-IGJN, 1983; Xhomo et al. 2002; Onuzi et al. 2015). Due to a NE-SW strike-slip fault, along the Drini River, it is displaced SW for about 10 km, continuing for approximately 71 km from Albania to Ulchinj, southern Montenegro. Further NW, up to Budva, it disappairs for about 50 km. The line connecting two ends of the Kruja Zone represents NE-SW, about 26 km long,Vau i Dejes Lake-Ulcinj Strike-Slip Fault.
To the south, along the Mati River, is the Mati Strike-Slip Fault, displaced NE from the Kruja Zone, for approximately 5 km.The conclusion is that, in the north of Albania, the Kruja Zone consists of the Lezha Block, bounded in the north by the Shkodra Block and in the south by the Mati block, displaced in the north-east. These conclusions can help trace the known hydrocarbon structures of the Ionian zone.