The tectonosedimentary evolution of the northern margin of the Carboniferous foreland basin of NE Germany

Abstract

The geometry and evolution of the northern margin of the Carboniferous foreland basin in NE Germany was examined in terms of depositional environments, petrographic and geochemical data. Lower Carboniferous units are carbonate-rich and predominantly marine. By Namurian times continental environments are established along the northern basin margin with turbiditic sedimentation persisting in the south. The Upper Carboniferous succession is continental and clastic. The sandstones were derived from a quartz-rich source, located to the north, with subordinate sedimentary input. Basin evolution and the development of a characteristic marine-to-continental sedimentary succession, while being predominantly controlled by flexure induced by the Variscan Orogen to the south, was also influenced by eustatic sea-level variations and more localised tectonic movements.