Fig. 1

a Topographic map of the northern central Mediterranean realm. The Dinarides fold-and-thrust belt is bounded by the Southern Alps in the north and by the Hellenides in the south. b The Velebit Mtn. are located within the northern External Dinarides and form a well pronounced up to 1758 m high topographic barrier along the northeastern Adriatic coast. The hinterland of the southern and central Velebit is characterized by the Lika Plateau at the average elevation of 560 m a.s.l. c Tectonic map of the Dinarides fold-and-thrust belt (Balling et al., 2021b; Schmid et al., 2020) showing the locations of the study area and the cross-sections presented in d and e and in Fig. 8. Contrasting deformational styles in two structural domains to the west and east of the Split-Karlovac Fault (SKF) are shown in d Southern Velebit cross-section and in e Split cross-section, both modified from (Balling et al., 2021b). The major detachments shown in two cross-sections are colour-coded according to their stratigraphic levels