Print this pageAbstract: Comparison of the Ouachita and Carpathian Fold Belts
The Late Paleozoic Ouachita orogenic belt is a north-vergent thrust-foldbelt, related to an A-type subduction of the passive margin of North America. The thin-skinned Ouachitas and their deep foredeep basins were formed during this southward-directed subduction. Synchronously with compression in the thrust-foldbelt, thick Pennsylvanian to Permian marine sediments were deposited to the south of the Ouachita belt, in the Paleozoic Gulf of Mexico.
The loop of the Late Tertiary Carpathians surrounds the backarc Pannonian basin and it forms a continuous, thin-skinned thrust-foldbelt which is coeval with the Middle Miocene extension on its concave side. The evolution of the Outer Carpathians is dominated by the formation of thick flysch nappes verging toward the foreland and an associated deep foredeep basin.
To compare these systems, two maps were compiled based on several sources showing the main structural features in both systems at the same scale. Certain generalizations had to be made to arrive at a compatible legend for both maps. Besides the map-view similarity, the cross-sectional expression of the two systems is also comparable, illustrated by a pair of crustal-scale sections drawn in analogous position through these foldbelts. Several specific details are strikingly comparable both in map and in cross-sectional view. The foreland basement promontories are of comparable size and kinematic role, such as the Llano Uplift/Bohemian Massif and the Arbuckle Uplift/Holy Cross Mts. The Arkoma basin finds its counterpart in the Polish sector of the Carpathian foredeep basin. The strongly deformed zone of the Maumelle chaotic zone is directly comparable to that of the Pieniny Klippen Belt.
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90942©1997 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, Vienna, Austria