Development of the central Carpathian Paleogene basin, west Carpathians, Slovakia
- Dionyz Stur Institute of Geology, Bratislava (Czechoslovakia)
- Maxus Energy Corp., Dallas, TX (United States)
The central Carpathian Paleogene basin, corresponding to one of the regions of Slovakia having a hydrocarbon potential, forms part of the Carpathian system. In the west Carpathians, synorogenic sediments, derived from the rising orogene, comprise an up to 3.5-km-thick sequence of Middle Eocene to Early Oligocene clastics. Flysch-type sediments dominate and are locally cut by canyon-focused submarine fans. The morphology of the floor of the central Carpathian Paleogene basin developed during the Albian and Maastrichtian in response to pre-Senonian nappe emplacement in the inner Carpathians and Late Cretaceous thrusting in the Pieniny Klippen belt. By the end of the Cretaceous, the inner Carpathians formed an emergent orogenic belt, providing a southern source for the sedimentary fill of the central Carpathian Paleogene basin. To the north, this basin was bounded by the Pieniny Klippen belt, forming at that time an irregular chain of islands, upheld by compressionally deformed pre-Tertiary rocks. Uplift of this northern barrier may explain the development of the central Carpathian Paleogene current system. Senonian shortening was subparallel to the present strike of the Pieniny Klippen belt. During the Paleogene and Miocene, shortening changed to a northern or northeastern direction. Differential shortening gave rise to the development of major strike-slip zones and numerous strike-slip faults that accommodated differential motion of thrust slices along the orogenic front. The northern, frontal portions of the basin were shortened by thrusting, whereas its basinal and proximal parts were affected by contemporaneous transtensional strike-slip faulting. Paleogene uplift of the frontal part of the evolving mountain belt is recorded by high-slump activity in areas of flysch deposition. A minimum of 2 km of sediments are missing from the basin due to Miocene erosion. At present, only structural remnants of the ancestral Paleogene basin are preserved.
- OSTI ID:
- 6915814
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9310237--
- Journal Information:
- AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States), Journal Name: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States) Vol. 77:9; ISSN 0149-1423; ISSN AABUD2
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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CENOZOIC ERA
DEPOSITION
EROSION
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOLOGY
GEOMORPHOLOGY
GROUND UPLIFT
HYDROCARBONS
MOUNTAINS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
RESOURCE POTENTIAL
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
SEDIMENTS
TECTONICS
TERTIARY PERIOD