Late Quaternary tectonic switching of siliciclastic provenance in the strike-slip-dominated foreland of the Western Carpathians; Upper Morava Basin, Bohemian Massif

Abstract

This study is focused on the lithology and provenance of late Quaternary fluvial deposits of the Upper Morava Basin a pull-apart basin situated at the contact of the Bohemian Massif and Western Carpathians. Late Cenozoic tectonic convergence between these two units caused differential subsidence along strike-slip faults of the Elbe-Odra zone, leading to a distinct horst-and-graben morphology of the Upper Morava Basin. The Pleistocene fluvial deposits are preserved in several terrace levels and partly buried under the present-day floodplain of the Morava River. This study is based on four cores (11–25m deep) drilled in the floodplain of two major depocentres of the basin, the Lutín Graben, and the Upper Morava Basin sensu stricto. The drill cores were analysed for grain size, pebble- and heavy-mineral composition, chemical composition of detrital garnets, bulk magnetic susceptibility, sediment colour (visible-light spectral reflectance) and bulk element geochemistry. Age interpretations are based on eight optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) analyses. The Upper Pleistocene sediments were deposited in a gravelly braided to transitional braided-meandering river in both the Upper Morava Basin s.s. and the Lutín Graben (the oldest OSL age is 161.5ka, corresponding to the late Saalian). Between the end of the Saalian and late Weichselian glaciations, the Morava River abandoned the Lutín Graben for the Upper Morava Basin s.s. where it flows up to the present day. The Pleistocene fluvial style contrasts with the present-day meandering to anastomosing fluvial style of the Morava River. The Pleistocene deposits were sourced from areas corresponding to the present-day Morava River catchment including crystalline units of the eastern Bohemian Massif and the Moravo-Silesian Carboniferous Basin. They also contain a considerable input from the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin. The composition of late Weichselian deposits from the Dub nad Moravou core (34.53±3.42ka and younger) differs from the older fluvial deposits representing the other cores. It indicates that a major provenance change occurred between the latest Saalian and the late Weichselian. In the late Weichselian, the Morava River started to recycle loess deposits, which cover large areas of its catchment. Based on OSL dating, it may be assumed that the Morava River turned from degrading (between 92.6±8.03 and 34.53±3.42ka) to aggrading in style (from 34.53±3.42ka to the present day) due to coeval tectonic movements in the UMB, which are indirectly indicated by present-day seismicity, geomorphic faults and palaeoseismic evidence. Both the tectonic context and fluvial deposition styles of the Upper Morava Basin show similar features to the Upper Rhine Graben of the Alpine foreland.