Foreword

The present combined special issue of Geologica Balcanica is dedicated to two important events, and namely, the 110^th Anniversary of Acad. Prof. Strashimir Dimitrov, and the 17^th Congress of the Carpathian-Balkan Geological Association.
   Academician S. Dimitrov was not only a leading Bulgarian and Balkan petrologist who distinguished himself with detailed studies in the metamorphic and magmatic terrains in the central and eastern parts of the Balkan Peninsula. He was a real scientist and science organizer in the best sense of the word: dedicated to science, and always ready to contribute to science and education. He laid the basis for the present Geological Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences more than fifty years ago and established its present structure and the main lines of fundamental and applied research to be performed.
   The Geological Institute organized in December 2002 a special scientific session on the occasion of this anniversary. The importance of this session comes not only from the fact that it has made a recapitulation of the research performed during the last few years, and of main lines of future research. The session was a milestone on the road towards a Geology of Bulgaria that has to be the final product of years of research of several generations of Bulgarian geologists. Quite naturally, the reports presented have exposed different new facts and different views thus being the ground for discussion useful for the preparation of the book. This was also the reason for the Editorial Board to decide the publication of a special issue of extended abstracts.
   The other memorable event for the Carpathian and Balkan geology has been the 17^th Congress of the Carpathian-Balkan Geological Association held in September 2002 in Bratislava. The Association has been created 80 years ago, and evolved through the years as a professional and scientific organization of the geologists of Central and Eastern Europe. The number of Balkan member countries gradually increased, for to include after the Carpathian countries (Czechoslovakia, Poland, Ukraina, Romania and Yugoslavia), Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia and Albania. Thus, the two "branches" of the Association seem to be symmetrically represented although at each congress the attention is naturally concentrated on the neighbour countries: Carpathian or Balkan. Thus, the Balkan countries have had a modest presentation at the Bratislava congress that makes necessary to dedicate this special issue also to the 17^th CBGA Congress. The Editorial Board has the firm opinion that CBGA is still vital, and that the forthcoming revision and changes of its Statuses should contribute to the further development of geology in our countries, in the new climate of united Europe.