Abstract: Geodynamic Evolution of the Western Carpathian Tethys in Jurassic and Cretaceous Times

Jozef Wieczorek, Jean-Pierre Bouillin, Thierry Dumont

The Mesozoic Carpathian paleogeography was controlled by the interplay between tensional and compressional events related to the evolution of two oceans: (1) the Meliata ocean (regarded as a branch of the Vardar ocean) which opened to the South of Tatricum and Fatricum domains during Triassic and closed at the end of Jurassic; (2) a younger ocean, possibly linked to the Ligurian Tethys, which is assumed to have separated the Tatricum and Fatricum domains (Inner Carpathians) from Pieniny Klippen Belt and more external domains (European margin). This latter opening is documented in the Tatricum domain by an earliest Jurassic rift onset unconformity and a Bajocian breakup unconformity, which are coeval to the evolution stages of the Ligurian Tethys. Both margins of this post lated ocean suffered post-rift extension, marked by Callovian block tectonics and Oxfordian neptunian dykes on the European side and by Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous intraplate volcanism on both sides. This post-rift extensional activity, also marked by the development of basins within the European margin, is not explained by the Tethyan geodynamics and could be related to younger rifting events.

Tectonic inversion is marked by early Late Cretaceous (Late Turonian) thrusting in the Inner Carpathians with coeval coarse flysch sedimentation in the Pieniny Klippen Belt and particularly in the Outer Carpathians. Extension more or less contemporaneous with these compressional events, which result from the very beginning of the Apulian-European plate collision, is recorded in the Carpathian foreland, probably in response to loading and bending of the European lithosphere.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90956©1995 AAPG International Convention and Exposition Meeting, Nice, France