The North European Platform suture zone in Poland

Abstract

The authors interpret the structure of the Central Carpathian-North European plates suture zone in Poland, where three main Carpathian tectonic units: the Central Carpathian, Pieniny Klippen Belt (PKB) and Outer Carpathian are present. In general, the PKB follows this zone. Several deep boreholes were drilled in this region and the seismic lines were tied to borehole data and geological maps. The Polish PKB belongs to the complex geological structure stretching from Vienna in Austria to Romania. The rocks included in the PKB tectonic components were deposited within the paleogeographic realm known as the Alpine Tethys, mainly during the Jurassic-Early Cretaceous times. Both strike-slip and thrust components occur within the Polish section of the PKB. The strongly tectonized, few kilometer wide PKB zone is limited by a flower structure marked by two major faults, linked to the strike-slip zone. These faults reach the North European Platform (part of the North European Plate). The flysch sequences, arranged into a series of north-vergent thrust-sheets, constitute the main component of the PKB in the survey zone. They contain olistoliths, which are mainly Jurassic-Early Cretaceous in age. The PKB tectonic components of different age, strike-slip, thrust as well as toe-thrusts and olistostromes are mixed together, giving the present-day mélange character of this belt, where individual units are hard to distinguish. Two olistostrome belts (mélange units) exist within the PKB structure. The seismic lines show the Central Carpathian Paleogene rocks covering the Paleozoic Central Carpathian Basement south of the PKB. The Subtatric covers the High-Tatric autochthonic and allochthone rocks. The Central Carpathian Plate is thrust over the North European Platform in the Podhale region. The allochthonous Outer Carpathians consist of several nappes (thrust-sheets) verging northward. They are thrust over each other and over the North European Platform which dips gently southward.

Geology of the Magura Nappe, south-western Gorce Mountains (Outer Carpathians, Poland)

“…The Western Carpathians are subdivided into externides (the Outer Carpathians) and internides (including the Central and Inner Carpathians; Golonka et al, 2018;Golonka, Pietsch, et al, 2019;Golonka, Waśkowska, et al, 2019;Golonka et al, 2020;Książkiewicz, 1977;Plašienka, 2018), both distinctly bounded by the Pieniny Klippen Belt (Figure 2(A,B)). The recent geological structure of the Western Carpathians is a result of plate tectonics which led to a collision of the Central Carpathian, which is part of the Adriatic (Apulian) plate, with the northern European Plate (Golonka, Pietsch, et al, 2019;Golonka, Waśkowska, et al, 2019;Golonka et al, 2020).…”

“…The Pieniny Klippen Belt (PKB) is a narrow tectonic unit extending from Austria to Romania, along the boundary between the Central and Outer Carpathians (Birkenmajer, 1986;Golonka et al, 2015Golonka et al, , 2018Golonka, Pietsch, et al, 2019;Golonka, Waśkowska, et al, 2019;Golonka et al, 2020;Książkiewicz, 1977;Plašienka, 2018). The Mesozoic-lower Cenozoic sedimentary rocks of the PKB were deposited in the Figure 1.…”

Variscan post-collisional cooling and uplift of the Tatra Mountains crystalline block constrained by integrated zircon, apatite and titanite LA-(MC)-ICP-MS U-Pb dating and rare earth element analyses

“…Regional seismic surveys show that the Tatra Block continues below the surface as far as the Pieniny Klippen Belt (Fig. 1b) under the Paleogene rocks of the Central Carpathian (Golonka et al, 2016).…”

The Pieniny Klippen Belt in Poland

“…They are often characterized as (sub)vertical faults and shear zones, along which a strong reduction in the space of the original sedimentary basins has taken place. Golonka et al 2015Golonka et al , 2018 Kováč et al 1998, Golonka et al 2011 The Klippen Belt is obliquely cut by NE-SW trending strike-slip faults. Their strike-slip kinematics is indicated by the presence of flower structures on the contact zone of the Magura Unit and the Klippen Belt, and by the asymmetry of the Central Carpathian Paleogene Basin (Golonka et al 2005, Wierz bowski et al 2006.…”