Ulrich G. Wortmann^* 1, Helmut Weissert ¹, Hanspeter Funk ¹, Jürgen Hauck ²

Although most authors working on plate tectonic reconstructions are aware that the Jurassic and Cretaceous positions of Adria pose a problem, few have fully acknowledged the consequences. It is generally thought that the available database is not sufficient to successfully assess this problem. However, careful investigation of geometric relationships and plate tectonic dependencies lead to new and tight constrains, previously overlooked. Based on these constrains and on a geometric methodology, we present a tentative paleogeographic reconstruction for the Early Jurassic, which allows for a self consistent kinematic evolution of the western Tethyan microplate motions from Jurassic to modern times. The obtained Jurassic configuration places Apulia far more westerly than previously depicted, but remains in good agreement with the available geological data.