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New basin modelling results from the Polish part of the Central European Basin system: implications for the Late Cretaceous–Early Paleogene structural inversion

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Abstract

Combined subsidence and thermal 1D modelling was performed on six well-sections located in the north-western Mid-Polish Trough/Swell in the eastern part of the Central European Basin system. The modelling allowed constraining quantitatively both the Mesozoic subsidence and the magnitude of the Late Cretaceous–Paleocene inversion and erosion. The latter most probably reached 2,400 m in the Mid-Polish Swell area. The modelled Upper Cretaceous thickness did not exceed 500 m, and probably corresponded to 200–300 m in the swell area as compared with more than 2,000 m in the adjacent non-inverted part of the basin. Such Upper Cretaceous thickness pattern implies early onset of inversion processes, probably in the Late Turonian or Coniacian. Our modelling, coupled with previous results of stratigraphic and seismic studies, demonstrates that the relatively low sedimentation rates in the inverted part of the basin during the Late Cretaceous were the net result of several discrete pulses of non-deposition and/or erosion that were progressively more pronounced towards the trough axis. The last phase of inversion started in the Late Maastrichtian and was responsible for the total amount of erosion, which removed also the reduced Upper Cretaceous deposits. According to our modelling results, a Late Cretaceous heat-flow regime which is similar to the present-day conditions (about 50 mW/m2) was responsible for the observed organic maturity of the Permian-Mesozoic rocks. This conclusion does not affect the possibility of Late Carboniferous–Permian and Late Permian–Early Triassic thermal events.

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Acknowledgments

The project runs within the DFG (German Science Foundation) priority programme 1135 “Dynamics of sedimentary systems under varying stress regimes: the example of the Central European Basin System” (grant no. Li 618/15). We are grateful to Prof. Ryszard Dadlez who shared with us his regional knowledge on the Polish Lowlands geology. Izabella Grotek is thanked very much for providing necessary vitrinite reflectance data. We would also like to express our thanks to Marta Wróblewska for providing updated data on present-day thermal field. Magdalena Scheck-Wenderoth and Stanisław Mazur are appreciated for their comments and suggestions, which helped to improve the manuscript.

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  1. Institute of Geology and Geochemistry of Petroleum and Coal, RWTH Aachen University, Lochnerstrasse 4-20, 52056, Aachen, Germany

    M. Resak & R. Littke

  2. Polish Geological Institute, Rakowiecka 4, 00-975, Warsaw, Poland

    M. Narkiewicz

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  1. M. Resak
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Resak, M., Narkiewicz, M. & Littke, R. New basin modelling results from the Polish part of the Central European Basin system: implications for the Late Cretaceous–Early Paleogene structural inversion. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 97, 955–972 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-007-0246-3

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