August, 2026. fieldwork in the central Adriatic offshore
Geological sampling of the Pupak shallows in the central Adriatic offshore, the southernmost point in Croatia where you can stand, has confirmed that there are no outcrops of either volcanic or igneous rocks in the Palagruža archipelago. So, we can no longer talk about the volcanic triangle of the Vis Archipelago, but only about the salt diapirs triangle of this unique UNESCO Global Geopark.
June, 2026. SALTECTA supports the Geopark Vis Archipelago during the UNESCO revalidation
First public release of the active SALT DIAPIRS positions within the UNESCO Global Geopark Vis Archipelago (Rukavina et. al, in prep.).
https://www.geopark-vis.com/eng/novosti/unesco-revalidacijska-misija-u-geoparku-viski-arhipelag
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17PC752WaC/
May, 2026. fieldwork on structural geology of the island of Vis
Part of the SALTECTA team participated in a field survey of the structural geology of the island of Vis. The major faults that had been previously mapped were re-examined and detailed structural measurements were carried out. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was used to photograph the fault zones. Key samples were collected to date the specific tectonic activity detected during these field research.
UNESCO Global Geopark Vis archipelago reported on the research:
https://www.geopark-vis.com/novosti/saltecta-tim-ponovno-u-unesco-svjetskom-geoparku-viski-arhipelag
May, 2026. EGU26 General Assembly attendance and presentation
Dr. Chahreddine Neji (HGI postdoc) presented the first results of research on the HRZZ SALTECTA project on the first day of EGU 2026 General Assembly in Vienna.
Session TS3.1: Studying Active Faults from the Near-Surface to Seismogenic Depth: Advances and Open Questions in Seismotectonics and Active Tectonic Processes
Neji, C., Korbar, T., Rukavina, D., Markusic, S., Kamenski, A., and Alves, T.: Structural and kinematic controls on basement-influenced salt diapir geometries in the central Adriatic: Insights from 2D seismic profiles., EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-18590, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-18590, 2026.
The abstract is available at the link:
https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU26/EGU26-18590.html
April, 2026. online team meeting
On April 29, 2026 SALTECTA team meeting was held online. The introductory presentation was given by the project leader, who reminded that all results for 2025 are available in the objectives leaders' reports that are uploaded on the internal project cloud. He emphasized the need to publish the first scientific papers in 2026. Afterwards, each leader briefly presented the results and research plans for 2026. A poster for presentation at the EGU 2026 general assembly in Vienna (Neji et al) was presented. The project continues in accordance with the Work plan.
October, 2025. fieldwork in central Adriatic
In the period October 27-31, 2025. part of the SALTECTA team participated in fieldwork on the islands of Vis and Biševo. On the island of Vis, additional structural measurements were carried out on rock outcrops, mainly in new road cuts (Objective 5, leader Damir Palenik). On the island of Biševo, sampling of aeolian sands for petrological, mineralogical and OSL analyses was carried out (Objective 4, leader Lara Wacha).
October, 2025. Professor Tiago Alves hosted David Rukavina at Cardiff University
In the period September 12 to October 05, 2025. David Rukavina spent 3 weeks on a working visit to Professor Tiago Alves in Cardiff, during which he worked on the interpretation of shallower seismic horizons of the central Adriatic. Besides, David participated on a fieldwork in Wales organized for Cardiff students on Mesozoic sedimentary successions and structural geology.
September, 2025. Postdoc Chahreddine Neji from Tunisia joined the project team
September, 12, 2025. After an eight-month administrative process, postdoctoral student Chahreddine Neji from Tunisia signed a contract with the Croatian Geological Survey and joined the SALTECTA team until December 2026. He will be focused on Objective 3 (evaporites interpretation and dating), and contribute in 2D seismic data interpretation in MOVE software.
September, 2025. borehole samples collected from the core repository
On September, 11, 2025., the Triassic part of the cores of the deep exploration well Vlasta-1, stored in Mramor Brdo core repository was surveyed and specific rock samples were collected for comparison with similar rocks that were evacuated from depth to the surface by salt tectonisc.
May, 2025. fieldwork in central Adriatic
In the period May 12-16, 2025. most of the SALTECTA team participated in fieldwork on the islands of Vis, Palagruža, Brusnik, and Biševo. On all the islands, additional structural measurements were carried out on rock outcrops (Objective 5, leader Damir Palenik). On the island of Palagruža, colluvial sediments were sampled for petrological, mineralogical and OSL analyses (Objective 4, leader Lara Wacha). Evaporite samples were taken for the Komiža Bay (island of Vis) and Palagruža for dating (Objective 3, leader Chahreddine Neji). On the island of Brusnik, sampling of marine carbonates for petrological and paleontological analyses and dating was carried out (Objective 4, leader Dea Brunović).
Besides, Tiago Alves used his stay in Zagreb for the first consultations on the interpretation of 2D seismic data.
February, 2025. Kick-off Meeting in Zagreb and online
On February 25, 2025, most collaborators met at the Croatian Geological Survey in Zagreb, while foreign colleagues participated online, at the SALTECTA project kick-off meeting. All objectives were presented and discussed, along with the timelines for activities in the first year of the project.
January, 2025. 2D seismic and borehole data successfully stored
In the first months of the project, after administrative procedures with the Croatian Hydrocarbons Agency (AZU), Ana Kamenski successfully downloaded 2D seismic and well data from the central Adriatic.
Ana Kamenski and David Rukavina (Objectives 1 and 2) stored the data in the Petrel Schlumberger projects for analysis and interpretation.
