Late orogenic rebound and oblique Alpine convergence: New constraints from subsidence analysis of the Austrian Molasse basin

Abstract

Subsidence analysis of 16 wells in the Austrian Molasse basin documents major spatial and temporal changes in tectonic subsidence as well as a late-stage surface uplift. The timing of the main phase of tectonic subsidence shifted from early Oligocene in the western part of the peripheral foreland to the early Miocene in the eastern part. These temporal and spatial changes in tectonic subsidence reflect a change from oblique dextral to sinistral convergence between the Alpine nappe stack and its foreland. The main phase of sediment accumulation was delayed to the early Miocene and led to the infill of the basin and a major second, sediment-load driven phase of basement subsidence. Sediment accumulation rates in the basin reflect the build-up of topography in the Alpine mountain chain. Since approximately 6 Ma a pronounced regional uplift of the entire Molasse basin has taken place, marking the transition from lateral extrusion to orthogonal contraction within the Alpine system and deep-seated changes in geodynamic boundary conditions, possibly due to delamination of previously thickened lithosphere. Surface uplift is contemporaneous with similar processes in extra-Alpine Central Europe, where it is interpreted to reflect intra-plate stress changes.