Late Miocene and Pliocene history of the Danube Basin: inferred from development of depositional systems and timing of sedimentary facies changes

Abstract

Abstract:The development of the northern Danube Basin (nDB) was closely related to the Late Miocene geodynamic evolution of the Pannonian Basin System. It started with a wide rifting which led to subsidence of several basin depocenters which were gradually filled during the Late Miocene and Early Pliocene. In the Late Pliocene the subsidence continued only in the basin's central part, while the northern marginal zone suffered inversion and the uplifted sedimentary fill began to be eroded. Individual stages of the basin development are well recorded in its sedimentary succession, where at least three great tectono-sedimentary cycles were documented. Firstly, a lacustrine cycle containing Lower, Middle and lowermost Upper Pannonian sediments (A-F Zones; sensu Papp 1951) deposited in the time span 11.6-8.9 Ma and is represented in the nDB in Slovakia by the Ivanka and Beladice Formations. In the Danube Basin of the southern part in Hungary, where the formations are defined by the appearance of sedimentary facies in time and space, the equivalents are: (1) the deep-water setting marls, clays and sandy turbidites of the Endrőd and Szolnok Formations leading to the overlying strata deposits of the basin paleoslope or delta-slope represented by the Algyő Formation, and (2) the final shallow-water setting deposits of marshes, lagoons and a coastal and delta plain composed of clays, sands and coal seams, represented by the Újfalu Formation. The second tectono-sedimentary cycle was deposited in an alluvial environment and it comprises the Upper Pannonian (G and H Zones; sensu Papp 1951) and Lower Pliocene sediments dated 8.9-4.1? Ma. The cycle is represented in the nDB, by the Volkovce Formation and in the southern part by the Zagyva Formation in Hungary. The sedimentary environment is characterized by a wide range of facies from fluvial, deltaic and ephemeral lake to marshes. The third tectono-sedimentary cycle comprises the Upper Pliocene sediments. In Slovakia these are represented by the Kolárovo Formation dated 4.1-2.6 Ma. The formation contains material of weathering crust preserved in fissures of Mesozoic carbonates, diluvial deposits and sediments of the alluvial environment.

Late Miocene fluvial distributary system in the northern Danube Basin (Pannonian Basin System): depositional processes, stratigraphic architecture and controlling factors of the Piešťany Member (Volkovce Formation)

“…The fill ing of the north ern Dan ube Ba sin started in the north-west ~10.5 Ma and prograded across the ba sin to wards the south-east up tõ 8.7 Ma (Mag yar et al, 2013;Sztanó et al, 2016;Šujan et al, 2016). Pre dom i nantly ter res trial sed i men ta tion pre vailed in the whole north ern Dan ube Ba sin af ter 8.9-8.7 Ma (Kováè et al, 2011;Šujan et al, 2016). Con cern ing the up per Mio cene stra tig ra phy of the north ern Blatné de pres sion, the Ivanka Fm.…”

“…The ba sin sub si dence and ac cu mu la tion his tory con sists of three main stages: (1) an early Mio cene piggy-back (wedge top) phase in which mostly ma rine de pos its were pre served mainly in the north ern embayments, (2) a mid dle Mio cene phase with ac cu mu la tion of high vol umes of mostly ma rine and deltaic sequences de pos ited dur ing the ba sin syn-rift sub si dence, which was as so ci ated with vo lu mi nous vol ca nic ac tiv ity, and (3) a late Mio cene to Plio cene phase with pre vail ing brack ish to fresh water sed i men ta tion of Lake Pannon fol lowed by ter res trial sed imen ta tion in the phase of ther mal sub si dence (Kováè, 2000;Kováè et al, 2011).…”

“…These are from north-west to south-east: the Blatné, Rišòovce, Komjatice and Želiezovce de pres sions. The cen tral part of the ba sin is called the Gabèíkovo-Gyõr de pres sion (Vass et al, 1988;Kováè et al, 2011). The Csapod trough and Kenyeri de pres sion are sit u ated to the south-east of the cen tral depocenter ( Fig.…”

“…Af ter in tense rift ing dur ing the Langhian (lower Badenian), the rate of sub si dence grad u ally de creased. The late Serravallian (Sarmatian) se quence re flects brack ish re gres sive sed i men ta tion, which con tin ued to the be gin ning of the late Miocene (11.6 Ma; Kováè et al, 2011). Af ter iso la tion of the Pannonian Ba sin Sys tem from the Med i ter ra nean and East ern Paratethys, Lake Pannon grad u ally flooded the sur round ing areas un til it reached its high est ex tent at ~10.5-10.0 Ma (e.g., Mag yar et al, 1999;Harzhauser et al, 2008).…”

“…Im por tant ad vances were achieved re cently in ba sin scale stra tig ra phy of the PBS re gard ing ge netic def i ni tion of the late Mio cene for ma tions (e.g., Mag yar et al, 2007Mag yar et al, , 2013; Kováè et al, 2011). The tim ing of the heterochronous progradation of depositional sys tems across the in di vid ual bas ins due to fill ing of deep ba sin depocenters is now well-con strained (e.g., Magyar et al, 2013;Sztanó et al, 2016;Šujan et al, 2016).…”