Evolution and Hydrocarbon Provinces of Neogene Basins in the West Carpathians

KEITH, J. FRANK, JR., Earth Sciences & Resources Institute, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, MICHAL NEMCOK, Geologicky Ustav Dionyza Stura, Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, and KARL H. FLEISCHMANN, Earth Sciences & Resources Institute, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC

The Neogene basins of the West Carpathians are plate-margin, A-subduction zone basins that developed during convergent and escape phases of Alpine deformation. Field studies show that thrusting, strike-slip, and extension created composite basins that were dependent on structural position through time, including piggyback, transtensional, and extensional mechanisms.

The Vienna, Danube Lowland, and East Slovakian basins were the major catchment features of Neogene sediments. The Vienna basin

is the most mature hydrocarbon-producing province of the West Carpathians, with both oil and gas reserves under exploitation. This multiphase composite-complex basin produces hydrocarbons from Neogene clastics (6 km) and Mesozoic units (4-8 km) of the Alpine nappe system and European platform. The Danube Lowland basin, one of the largest sedimentary basins of the West Carpathians, is a multiphase complex of structural units and has in excess of 8 km of Paleogene and Neogene basin fill. Although minor gas reserves are known, it is essentially a frontier hydrocarbon province. The East Slovakian basin is the largest and most important of the three depocenters of the Transcarpathian Depression. The basin is filled with over 7 km of Tertiary flysch and molasse. Hydrocarbon reserves are bei g exploited from the Neogene Badenian and Sarmatian clastic reservoirs.

Syntheses of field and geophysical data indicate that the West Carpathian Neogene basins are multiphase in their development and, therefore, more complex than suggested by previous studies. This multiphase basin evolution has created a challenging array of hydrocarbon play concepts.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91004 © 1991 AAPG Annual Convention Dallas, Texas, April 7-10, 1991 (2009)