This paper reports a novel approach in the study of trace-element mobility during the argillization of volcanic glass that is based on in situ laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry glass analyses and that of spatially related illite-smectite collected in the form of fraction separates. The material studied originates from lacustrine sediments of the Dinaride Lake System that bear evidence of intensive weathering of distal tephra during the Miocene climatic optimum. Yttrium and HREE were probably mobilized from decomposing glass in the form of carbonate complexes and were consequently depleted significantly in the clays studied. On the other hand, the Mg-rich illite-smectite demonstrates an elevated adsorption potential of solvated LREE complexes. This may be explained through clay surface geochemistry controlled largely by Mg for Al octahedral substitution. This paper highlights the role of eogenetic 2:1 clay aluminosilicates that, under favourable geological conditions, may be conducive to secondary REE enrichment and the formation of potential ion adsorption-type deposits.

Along the Dinaric–Hellenic orogen, the Late Jurassic – Early Cretaceous ophiolite obduction over the Adria continental margin was sealed by sedimentation of clastic terrestrial deposits rapidly followed by a widespread carbonate platform system since the Early Cretaceous period. These Cretaceous sediments presently crop out over areas of varying extension, from several hundred kilometre wide undeformed continuous covers to small-scale tectonic slivers involved in the tectonic stack following the latest Cretaceous–Palaeogene collision. These deposits are unconformably sedimented above the units formed by the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous nappe stacking above the eastern Adria continental margin. We studied these deposits in a large area between western Serbia and eastern Bosnia. In the studied area, these deposits are divided into three lithostratigraphic groups according to their age, depositional environment and type of underlying basement. The Mokra Gora Group sediments (upper Aptian–Maastrichtian) were deposited on top of previously obducted and weathered ophiolites, the Kosjerić Group (Cenomanian–Campanian) overlies composite tectonic units comprising obducted ophiolites and their underlying continental basement portions, while the Guča Group (Campanian–Maastrichtian) exclusively rests on top of continental basement. The reconstructed sedimentary evolution of these groups, together with the comparison with the syn- and post-obduction deposits at the front of the ophiolitic nappe(s) in a wider area of the internal Dinarides (e.g. Pogari Group and Bosnian flysch), allowed us to clarify the obduction mechanisms, including their tectonic context, the changes in depositional environments and the timing of depositional and tectonic events, and, in a wider view, shed light on the geodynamic evolution of the Dinaric belt.

Organic material and a few tree trunks have been recovered from the shrinking ice deposits of Velebit Mountain, Croatia. Ten radiocarbon (14C) dates, seven new measurements and three recalibrated ones, from three cave ice deposits were evaluated. The new data argue for the preservation of a ~1000-yr-old deposit in the Kugina Ice Cave and a <500-yr-old accumulation in the Ledena Pit. A 14C age suggests that the ice in the lower section of Vukušić cave ice deposit is very likely older than 3500 yr. The work is in progress to verify this suggestion. Evaluation of the temporal distribution of the calibrated ages of the 14C-dated vegetal remains allowed constraining the accumulation and ablation history of cave ice in the northern and central Velebit. Periods lacking vegetal remains in these cave ice deposits (before the 11th century and in the 15th century) tend to match with similar patterns from other cave ice deposits from the Eastern Alps and the Swiss Jura Mountains, suggesting large-scale coherence regulating European cave ice mass balance changes over the past ~1200 yr.

Alteration minerals dickite and kaolinite were detected in two hydrothermal Pb-Zn-Ag sulphide deposits in the northern Kosovo region. Dickite is associated with skarn mineralization in the Trepča (Stari Trg) deposit and kaolinite occurs in vein sulphide parageneses in the Crnac deposit. The mineralogical characteristics of dickite and kaolinite were determined by X-ray powder diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy with EDS detector. Fluid-inclusion microthermometry and ion chromatography of leachates provided information on the P-T-X conditions of the genesis of dickite at Trepča. It was formed at temperatures between 290 and 330ºC and pressures between 12 and 60 MPa from a fluid with salinity in the range 6–8.5 wt.% NaCl eq. and pH <5.5. Kaolinite was deposited from a fluid with minimum temperatures between 210 and 250ºC, minimum pressure of 1.7 to 3.7 MPa, and salinity between 4.6 and 5.1 wt.% NaCl eq. Both dickite and kaolinite are related to the acidic pre-mineralization phase in the deposits.

Solitary limestone blocks and groups of blocks occur on Risnjak and Velebit Mountains and on the northern Adriatic islands of Krk and Rab. Previous researchers have interpreted some of these as a) erratic blocks, b) corrosional remnants, or c) rockfalls. We have studied their mode of occurrence and composition, and revised previous interpretations of their origin in the light of transport mechanism and depositional processes. After analyzing the context of the block positions and the physical processes responsible for their emplacement, and taking into account their sedimentological context (their association with glaciogenic sediments), we herein propose a glacial origin for most of these blocks. However, some blocks are indeed shaped by sub-soil corrosion, as evidenced by their structure. The interpreted erratic blocks on the inner northern Adriatic Sea islands document the presence of middle Pleistocene glaciation of Dinaric Mountains though not its maximal extent, which is still unclear as the ice terminus was in the area that is inundated by postglacial rise of Adriatic Sea. The reconstructed ice cap area, which extended along the coastal mountains from Risnjak Mt. to south Velebit Mt. and across the range from Lika Polje to Rab Island, is conservatively estimated to be 5400 km2.