Seismic Characteristics and Development of the Upper Jurassic Carbonate Buildups from the Miechów Trough (Southern Poland)

Łukasz Słonka,Piotr Krzywiec

doi:10.3390/geosciences10060239

Łukasz Słonka, Piotr Krzywiec

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https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences10060239

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Abstract

The presented study is devoted to the subsurface Upper Jurassic carbonate buildups and surrounding stratified inter-buildup deposits in the hitherto less recognized area, in comparison with other parts of the northern Tethyan shelf in Poland and Europe. The study area is located within the present-day Miechów Trough, almost entirely covered by thick Cretaceous and younger deposits. This paper shows results of the interpretation of 2D seismic data, calibrated by data from deep wells. Investigation of various elements of the Upper Jurassic carbonate depositional system in the Miechów Trough is supported by seismic facies and attribute analysis. The four distinctive seismic facies—(A) bedded, (B) mound-shaped, (C) contorted-chaotic, and (D) chaotic—were assigned to the main Upper Jurassic sedimentary facies, represented by (1) bedded facies, (2) massive facies (carbonate buildups) and (3) deposits of gravity mass-flows. The results of this study were used to construct a depositional model for the Upper Jurassic succession, that focuses on the initiation, growth and demise of the large carbonate buildups in this part of the basin. This paper also presents the more extensive distribution of the Upper Jurassic carbonate buildups than was previously proposed for the Miechów Trough.

Highlights

In the Late Jurassic, widespread development of carbonate buildups occurred in Europe, on the northern Tethyan shelf (e.g., [1,2,3,4,5]), which presently extends from Portugal to Spain, France, Switzerland, southern Germany, Poland to Romania, and further east towards the Crimea and Caucasus (e.g., [6,7,8,9,10])
Carbonate buildups, (3) C—contorted-chaotic observed at the cores of carbonate buildups, (4) D—chaotic chaotic seismic facies associated with talus or with deposits of the gravity mass-flows
The results shown in this paper allow for the update of the Late Jurassic paleogeographic map of southern Poland, as this study provided a more detailed view of the previously less-recognized part of the Upper Jurassic basin in the Miechów Trough, where the system of the Upper Jurassic carbonate buildups surrounded by inter-buildup sub-basins was seismically investigated (Figure 13d)

Summary

Introduction

In the Late Jurassic, widespread development of carbonate buildups occurred in Europe, on the northern Tethyan shelf (e.g., [1,2,3,4,5]), which presently extends from Portugal to Spain, France, Switzerland, southern Germany, Poland to Romania, and further east towards the Crimea and Caucasus (e.g., [6,7,8,9,10]). The large and complex structures often developed as diverse microbial-sponge buildups, with a well-pronounced so-called rigid framework [4,28] Such carbonate buildups, characterized by their present-day observed significant cumulative heights, reaching dozens of meters, are suited for identification and interpretation using seismic data (see e.g., [29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38]). Geological Atlas of Western and Central Europe, 2nd ed.; Shell International Petroleum Maatschappij

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