system; b) Late Triassic–Liassic syn-rift extension phases related to the Piedmont-Liguria and Ionian oceanic basin spreading. After this the maximum basin widening and deepening was reached with progressive formation of the Lombardian, Belluno, and Adriatic carbonate basins. Veneto-Friuli foreland basin, an alluvial plain in north-eastern Italy. Developed as the result of superposition of three overlapping foreland systems which differed in age and tectonic movement direction as this plain is the foreland of three surrounding chains. These are: a) the External Dinarides to the East, with Late Palaeocene to the Middle Eocene WSW vergent main deformation phases; b) the Eastern Southern Alps to the north, with mostly Middle-Late Miocene (17-7 Ma) deformation and south-directed tectonic movement; c) the Northern Apennines to the southwest, with Plio-Pleistocene (5 Ma-Recent) NE-directed deformation. It is separated from the Central Western Alps and its foreland (the Po foreland basin) by the Lessini and Berici Mountains and Euganei Hills structural high, a relatively undeformed foreland block. Flexure began in the Late Cretaceous with an E-ward faint bending due to the build-up of the External Dinaric thrust belt. There followed two main depositional/flexure cycles: a) the Chattian-Langhian cycle (Late Oligocene-Middle Eocene, 28-14 Ma) with a weak northward bending that accommodated sediments mainly from the uplifted and eroded axial sector of the Alps; b) the Serravallian-Early Messinian cycle (Middle to Late Miocene) with a NNW-ward prominent bending due to quick uplift of the Southern Alps. In the Pliocene-Pleistocene only the south-western-most part (southern part of the Veneto Basin) bent towards SW as result of the Northern Apennines build-up. Central and Southern Adriatic basins Located between Italy and the Balkan Peninsula. It includes the Adriatic Sea Istria, the Gargano Promontory and the Apulian Peninsula. Formed by two orogenies, the Dinarides orogeny (Latest Cretaceous, 75-66 Ma to Eocene, 56-34 Ma) and Appennine orogeny (Miocene to Pliocene (23-2.6 Ma). It is connected to the Po Basin. Foreland basins of the Carpathian Mountains Carpathian Foredeep Continuation of North Alpine Molasse Basin to the Western Carpathians, located in southern Poland and western Ukraine. East Carpathian Foreland Basin The foreland basin of the Eastern Carpathians which extends through southern Poland, western Ukraine, Moldova and Romania and is 800 km long. In the late Miocene to early Pliocene it was an important sediment supplier to the Dacian Basin and the Black Sea. Dacian Basin This is a foreland basin by the Romanian section of the Eastern