Central Europe II GO 568 Structural Geology James S. Aber

Tectonic overview of the Carpathian Mountains

The Carpathians are a classic thrust mountain belt with associated flysch and molasse phases of development. Paleozoic crust north of the Carpathians was strongly affected during mountain thrusting. Complicated horst-and-graben structures were formed and large crustal blocks were uplifted and subjected to strong secondary mineralization. Andesitic volcanism is typical along much of the Carpathian system, in contrast to the Alps. However, little or no metamorphism or volcanism took place in the western Carpathians of southern Poland and Slovakia.

Topographic map of southernmost Poland and northeastern Slovakia. The dark orange zone in center is the Tatra Mountains on the Polish/Slovakian border. The Tatras are supported by granite nappes thrust northward over sedimentary strata. This is the northernmost extent of the Carpathian Mountain system.

Structural and sedimentary development of the Carpathian Mountains parallels that of the Alps; however, the Carpathians are generally younger than the Alps. Structural phases display a systematic age trend along the Carpathian system--oldest in the west, younger in the east, and youngest in the south. The western section is largely stable today, while the southern section remains somewhat active (earthquakes). The peculiar loop-shaped pattern of the Carpathians is difficult to explain in a simple subduction zone model for plate collision. Evidently both the location and direction of convergence changed along the system, migrating from the western section to the east and south during the middle and late Cenozoic. In similar manner with the Alps, the Carpathians were likely the results of microplate collisions involving terranes of Carnic (Slovakia, Hungry), Moesia (Romania, Bulgaria), and possibly Turkey.

Western Carpathians

	Historical entrance to the salt mine at Wieliczka, near Kraków, Poland. Miocene salt is exploited from a series of deformed and disconnected masses that have complex geometry on the northern margin of the Carpathians. Photo date 8/93, © J.S. Aber.
	Underground cathedral carved in salt chamber, Wieliczka, near Kraków, Poland. This huge cathedral was carved within a single salt mass by miners working in their off time. Photo date 9/97, © J.S. Aber.
	Closeup view of altar carved in salt, Wieliczka, near Kraków, Poland. The Wieliczka mine is designated as a World Heritage Site. For more information--see salt-works museum. Photo date 9/97, © J.S. Aber.
	Reconstruction of historical salt mine supports, Wieliczka, near Kraków, Poland. During the middle ages, salt was a valuable commodity, and income from this mine supported the Polish kingdom. Photo date 9/97, © J.S. Aber.
	Massive, little-deformed Jurassic limestone, karst terrain north of the Carpathian Mountains, Ojców valley, southern Poland. The limestone column is known as Brama Krakowska (the Cracow gate). Photo date 8/93, © J.S. Aber.
	Entrance to Wierzchowska Cave, a national monument, near Bialy Kosciól, southern Poland. Cave is developed in Jurassic limestone. Photo date 8/93, © J.S. Aber.
	Eocene flysch section, near Stary Sacz, southern Poland. Thick sandstone beds and thin shale and siltstone interbeds characterize this section. Photo date 8/93, © J.S. Aber.
	Closeup view of flysch section, near Stary Sacz, southern Poland. These strata were deposited in a marginal marine basin and subsequently deformed during initial uplift of the western Carpathian Mountains. Photo date 8/93, © J.S. Aber.
	Carpathian foothills, south of Kraków, Poland. The rolling topography belies the complex folding and faulting that underlie this region. Photo date 9/00, © J.S. Aber.
	Andesite dike is the dark rock in quarry center with contact metamorphic rocks on either side. Polish geologist, Ewa Stupnicka, stands at center of dike. Photo date 8/93, © J.S. Aber.
	Closeup view of porphyritic andesite in dike. This is one of only a few examples of igneous activity associated with the western Carpathian Mountains, near Czorsztyn, southern Poland. Photo date 8/93, © J.S. Aber.
	Limestone klippe near Nowy Targ, southern Poland. The klippe is an erosional remnant of a thrust sheet that rests on younger flysch deposits. Photo date 9/00, © J.S. Aber.
	Cliff section in Triassic dolostone, in the valley below Morskie Oko, Tatra Mountains, southern Poland. Photo date 9/00, © J.S. Aber.
	Vertical section of Triassic dolostone, Chocholowska valley, Tatra Mountains, southern Poland. The Triassic dolostones are 800 meters thick (Bac-Moszaszwili and Szostak 1992). Photo date 9/00, © J.S. Aber.
	View over Zakopane from the northwest with the Tatra Mountains in the background, southern Poland. The mountain peaks are supported by crystalline nappes thrust over sedimentary strata. Photo date 8/93, © J.S. Aber.
	Nappe of granite at Kasprowy (foreground) thrust over sedimentary strata below (background). View northward from mountain ridge toward Zakopane, southernmost Poland. Photo date 8/93, © J.S. Aber.
	Cliffs in Mesozoic carbonate rocks along the Dunajec River, on the Polish/Slovakian border, in the Pieniny range. Note people in raft on river for scale. Photo date 9/00, © J.S. Aber.
	Bela Tatra (White Tatra) range seen from Zdiar, Slovakia. Uplifted Mesozoic carbonate strata form the eastern flank of the Tatra Mountains. Photo date 9/00, © J.S. Aber.
	High Tatras of Slovakia seen over the lake at Strbské Pleso, a well-known alpine resort. Photo date 9/00, © J.S. Aber.

Reference

• Bac-Moszaszwili, M. and Szostak, M.G. 1992. Tatry Polskie. Wydawnictwa Geologiczne, Warszawa, 159 p.

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