Correlation of upper Miocene–Pliocene Lake Pannon deposits across the Drava Basin, Croatia and Hungary

Abstract

Upper Miocene to Pliocene (Pannonian) sediments of the Pannonian Basin System accumulated in the brackish Lake Pannon and the fluvial feeder systems, between 11.6-2.6 Ma. Their stratigraphic subdivision has been problematic for a long time due to the laterally prograding architecture of the basin fill and the historically independently evolving stratigraphic schemes of the neighbouring countries. We correlated the lithostratigraphic units of the Lake Pannon deposits between Hungary and Croatia in the Drava Basin, using lithological, sedimentological and palaeontological data from boreholes and outcrops, and seismic correlation. The Croatica and Medvedski breg formations in Croatia correspond to the Endrőd Fm. in Hungary, comprising shallow to deep water, open lacustrine, calcareous to argillaceous marls. The Andraševec fm. in Croatia corresponds to the Szolnok and Algyő Fms. in Hungary, consisting of sandstones and siltstones of turbidite systems and of clay marls deposited on the shelf-break slope. The Nova Gradiška fm. in Croatia is an equivalent of the Újfalu Fm. in Hungary, built up of a variety of lithologies, including sand, silt, clay and huminitic clay, deposited in deltaic environments. The Pluska fm. in Croatia corresponds to the Zagyva Fm. in Hungary, consisting of variegated clays, silts, sands and lignites, deposited in alluvial and fluvial environments. Coarse-grained (sand, gravel) basal layers are assigned to the Kálla and Békés Fms. and the Sveti Matej member of the Croatica fm. Coarse-grained intercalations within the deep-water marls belong to the Dorozsma Member of the Endrőd Fm. in Hungary, and to the Bačun member of the Medvedski breg fm. in Croatia. Sediment transport and lateral accretion of the shelf edge in the Drava Basin took place from the N, NW, and W, to the S, SE, and E, respectively. According to the biostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic analyses, the oldest shelf-break slopes in the Mura Basin are more than 8 Ma old, whereas the youngest ones in the southeasternmost part of the Drava Basin may be Pliocene in age (younger than 5.3 Ma). Thus, the 180 km long and at least 700 m deep Drava Basin was transformed into a fluvial plain during the last 3.5 million years of the Miocene.