Holger Rieke¹, Tommy McCann¹, J.F.W. Negendank¹
(1) GeoForschungsZentrum, Potsdam, Germany

Abstract: Controls on deposition in an intracontinental basin - an example from the Rotliegend of Northeast Germany

The intracontinental NE German Basin is located between the stable Precambrian Baltic Shield to the North and the Caledonian/Variscan-influenced areas to the south. It forms part of the southern Rotliegend Basin, a series of interconnected basins extending more than 1500 km from England to Poland.

The predominantly continental Upper Rotliegend strata were deposited under arid to semiarid climate conditions. New stratigraphical models for the Rotliegend have been suggested for the British, Dutch and West German sectors of the Southern Rotliegend basin correlating facies distribution and cyclicity. The existing lithostratigraphical subdivision for Eastern Germany is based solely on tectonically-generated cyclothems with internal climate-driven cyclicity.

Detailed examination of more than 6 km of Rotliegend core material across the NE German Basin indicates that the preserved strata were not only the product of a shift in climate, or a tectonic event in the hinterland. The depositional environment resulted from the interplay of various mechanisms (water table level, source area lithology, morphology, position within the basin, fluviatile sediment load, frequency of climate events, deflation etc.). Thus, the paleogeographical and environmental specificity of the NE German Basin requires an independent conceptual model.

Evaluation of the relative importance of each controlling factor allows the complex interactions between them to be examined, leading to the development of a predictive model for arid continental depositional systems.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90914©2000 AAPG Annual Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana