Sedimentary record comparison of the Piwniczna and Poprad sandstones (Magura Unit, Outer Carpathians) – a study from the border area of eastern Slovakia and Poland

Abstract

Thick deep-water sandstone successions are known from many localities in the Outer Western Carpathians. The present study is focused on comparison of deposits of the Piwniczna (PwSM) and Poprad (PpSM) Sandstone members belonging to the Magura Formation of the Magura Unit, outcropping in the eastern Slovakia and Poland border area. At the general level, a close similarity of the sandstone successions was confirmed by this study. However, in more detail, facies analysis shows differences in the thickness of the sandstone successions, in grain size and in the character of intervals between the thick sandstones. Thin section study, though, showed almost the same modal composition in the sandstones analysed. The sandstone successions studied are interpreted as sandy debrites, the PwSM showing transitional facies to turbidites. These deposits represent channelized depositional lobes in the proximal part of a submarine fan with the PpSM closer to the source. The sediment source area was common to both lithostratigraphic units, and was most likely the South-Magura Ridge.