Structural Correlation between the Northern Calcareous Alps (Austria) and the Transdanubian Central Range (Hungary)

Abstract

The classical Alpine folded belt of the Northern Calcareous Alps (NCA) of Austria is correlated with the Transdanubian Central Range (TCR) of Hungary using structural and stratigraphic relationships to restore the system. The semiquantitative map-view restoration of several consecutive Alpine deformational periods reveals unexpected similarities between the NCA and TCR. In fact, some west–northwest-trending right lateral strike-slip faults in the TCR (e.g., Telegdi-Roth, Padrag, and Vargesztes faults) are interpreted here for the first time to be analogous to those described from the NCA (e.g., Lammertal, Wolfgangsee-Windischgarsten, and Hochwart faults). These middle to late Miocene transpressional faults are reactivated in the Late Cretaceous tear faults, as can be documented by reflection seismic data in the subsurface of the southeastern Danube Basin. The structural correlation between the NCA and TCR provides further evidence for the much debated interpretation of the TCR in terms of a large Eo-Alpine (Cretaceous) nappe-system in an Uppermost Austroalpine structural position. Furthermore, recognition of a once continuous, regional-scale, right lateral strike-slip fault system in the NCA-TCR areas has a significant impact on the pre-Tertiary kinematic reconstructions of the broader Eastern Alps and Pannonian Basin region.