Geological history and hydrocarbon resources of Polish Carpathians and their foreland

Abstract

Summary Poland’s territory is divided into three main structural units: the Precambrian East European Platform, the Paleozoic West European Platform and the Alpine Folded Belt. The boundary between the East and the West European Platforms runs along the Teisseyre-Tornquist Zone (NW–SE). In the south of the country, the Alpine movements formed the Carpathians and the Carpathian Foredeep (as a peripheral foreland basin related to the moving Carpathian front). The Polish Carpathians are part of the great arc of mountains that extends over 1300 km. The Western Carpathians have always been divided into two separate areas. The Inner Carpathians are considered to be the older range and the Outer Carpathians — the younger ones; separated by the Pieniny Klippen Belt (PKB), a Tertiary strike-slip boundary. The Outer (Flysch) Carpathians are built of highly folded Late Cretaceous to Paleogene deep-marine siliciclastic sediments formed as stacked nappes and thrust sheets. The Carpathian Foredeep is filled up with a thick sequence of Miocene clastics and evaporites accumulated on the Mesozoic, Paleozoic and Precambrian basements. Nearly 200 crude oil and natural gas fields have been discovered in the sediments of the Carpathians and Carpathian Foreland which makes them one of Poland’s main hydrocarbon exploration areas.