Abstract
The Vienna Basin at the transition between the Alpine and Carpathian
belt hosts a number of large Pleistocene sub-basins forming along an
active continental scale strike-slip fault (Vienna Basin strike-slip
fault). We utilize first-order derivatives from industrial Bouguer
gravity data to unravel the impacts of Pleistocene kinematics on the
Vienna Basin and to compensate for the lack of near-surface fault data.
Anomalies have been evaluated by independent geophysical and geological
data and were integrated to build up a tectonic model. Factors
influencing the wavelength and the amplitude of anomalies were
additionally investigated by 2-D models to better interpret field data.
Subsidence and related accumulation of Quaternary sediments in the
Vienna Basin produce significant gravity signals related to the activity
of the strike-slip fault. The constrained fault patterns and structures
highlight tight and elongated transtensional pull-apart basins with
typically associated features like separated depocenters and Riedel
fractured sidewalls in an en-echelon alignment. Further Pleistocene
basins are highlighted as tectonic grabens developing along branches of
the master fault. The Vienna Basin is additionally affected by minor
deformation represented by both subsidence along major Miocene sidewalls
and NW-SE faulting resulting in distinct topographic features, which
manifests kinematics on a regional scale. The clear density contrasts
between Miocene marine and Quaternary terrestrial sediments, as well as
the exceptional database, provide a unique framework to demonstrate
advantages of incorporating gravity derivatives for near-surface fault
analysis.
Original language | English |
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Article number | TC3004 |
Journal | Tectonics |
Volume | 31 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jun 2012 |
Keywords
- Quaternary
- active tectonics
- gravity derivatives
- pull-apart basins
- strike-slip fault
- Geodesy and Gravity: Gravity anomalies and Earth structure (0920
- 7205
- 7240)
- Tectonophysics: Continental neotectonics (8002)
- Tectonophysics: Continental tectonics: strike-slip and transform
- Tectonophysics: Sedimentary basin processes
- Tectonophysics: Tectonics and landscape evolution