Evolution of the Central European Basin System (CEBS) During the Mesozoic: Results from Stress Modeling

Mauro Cacace¹, Ulf Bayer¹, and Anna Maria Marotta^2
1 GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam, Germany
² University of Milan, Department of Earth Sciences, Sec. Geophyics

The Central European Basin System (CEBS) consists of two main basins, the Southern Permian Basin and the Northern Permian Basin. These Permian Basins are superimposed on several continental crustal domains with Precambrian to Variscan consolidation ages. During the Mesozoic the different sub-basins of the CEBS showed contemporary differential uplift and subsidence patterns. This phase of “differentiation” led to a complex deformation style within the CEBS which can be related to the interplay between regional and more local variations in lithosphere rheology together with small changes at the effective stress boundaries. These interactions have been studied in the context of a thin sheet approach.
For this purpose, numerical models have been performed coupling the thermal field with lithospheric structure and lateral rheological contrasts. The obtained results suggested that inherited crustal and deeper structures inducing strain localization and major deviation of stresses provide first order elements in controlling the evolution of complex basinal areas.
The models have also revealed that the overall evolution of major subsidence centres and adjacent uplift areas of the CEBS can be related to small changes in the direction of the principal regional stress field. This fact is in agreement with the majority of plate tectonic reconstructions which showed an almost homogeneous stress field throughout North and Central Europe affected by only minor variations in direction during most of the Mesozoic and the Cenozoic.

AAPG Search and Discover Article #90066©2007 AAPG Hedberg Conference, The Hague, The Netherlands

AAPG Search and Discover Article #90066©2007 AAPG Hedberg Conference, The Hague, The Netherlands