Progradation of the paleo-Danube shelf margin across the Pannonian Basin during the Late Miocene and Early Pliocene

• Published in: Global and planetary change Vol. 103; pp. 168 - 173
• Main Authors: Magyar, Imre, Radivojević, Dejan, Sztanó, Orsolya, Synak, Rastislav, Ujszászi, Katalin, Pócsik, Márta
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.04.2013
• Subjects: Alps region; basins; Central European region; Clinoform; Lake Pannon; lakes; Paleo-Danube; Pannonian Basin; Progradation; sediment transport; sediments; Shelf-margin; Central European region; Alps region; Paleo-Danube; Clinoform; Progradation; Lake Pannon; Shelf-margin; Pannonian Basin
• ISSN: 0921-8181; 1872-6364
• DOI: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2012.06.007

The basin of giant Lake Pannon in Central Europe was filled by forward accretion of sediment packages during the Late Miocene and Early Pliocene. Successive positions of the shelf-margin are represented by a series of clinoforms in seismic profiles. The height of the clinoforms (and thus the inferred paleo water depth) is 200–600m in the successions; the width of the slope, measured from the shelf-break down to the toe of slope, varies between 5 and 15km. Geographical position of successive shelf-margin slopes indicates that about 2/3 of the basin area was filled by sediment transport systems supplying sediments from the NW, from the Alps and Western Carpathians. The first shelf-margin slope was built by the paleo-Danube in the Kisalföld/Danube sub-basin about 10Ma ago, and during the subsequent 6Ma it prograded ca. 400km to the SE across the Pannonian Basin, with an average of 67km/Ma slope advance. The most significant agent of this shelf growth was the sediment dispersal system of the paleo-Danube, hence we designate this northwestern shelf the paleo-Danube shelf. The northeastern part of Lake Pannon was filled by the paleo-Tisza system, supplying sediments from the Northeastern and Eastern Carpathians. Additional local systems carried sediments from E to W along the eastern margin and S to N along the southern margin of the Pannonian Basin, respectively. The deep-water environment disappeared from the Pannonian Basin and the endemic, brackish biota of Lake Pannon went extinct probably 4Ma ago, when the paleo-Danube shelf margin and a (yet unidentified) shelf margin prograding in the opposite direction met in the southeastern corner of the Pannonian Basin. ► The Late Miocene–Early Pliocene Lake Pannon was filled by lateral sediment accretion. ► Positions of the shelf-margin at different times were mapped in the Pannonian basin. ► Most sediments were supplied by the paleo-Danube. ► The oldest shelf-margin is 10, the youngest one 400km away is 4 million years old.