The structure and evolution of the pre-Alpine basement of Europe have been recently subject of active research. The results of this research clarified many of the features of the peri-Gondwanan elements in this basement. Several advantages characterize the pre-Early Palaeozoic basement in the considered here region compared to that of alpine Europe. Most of these advantages are related to the lesser degree of reworking of the analysed basement during the Variscan and Alpine tectogenesis.
Both terranes treated are the basement of the Balkan terrane (Haydoutov, Yanev, 1997) and the eastern part of the Rhodope Massif.