Uplift of the Transdanubian Range, Pannonian Basin: How fast and why?

Abstract

Abstract The cumulative incision rates of ~50–70 m/Ma integrating over the last ~3 Ma have been derived from published terrace-chronological data of the Danube river in the Western Pannonian Basin. An apparent acceleration of uplift rates was observed for shorter timescales culminating at ~200 m/Ma over the last ~140 ka. An examination of the change of the incision rates through time revealed that the incision rate was fairly constant at ~50 m/Ma from ~3 Ma to ~140 ka, and the faster rates are valid only for the last ~140 ka. These findings suggest that the long-term uplift rate of the northwestern limb of the Transdanubian Range is ~50 m/Ma, and the apparent acceleration of river incision during the Late Pleistocene is considered as the result of faster, most probably climate-driven incision during the last glacial cycle, outpacing the long-term uplift rate. The observed upper crustal neotectonic faults are not sufficient to accommodate the deformation necessary for the reported Pliocene to Quaternary vertical motion. The geodynamic model for the explanation of the magnitude and pattern of surface uplift in the western Pannonian Basin involves a complex interplay between (1) deep lithosphere-asthenosphere dynamics, (2) structural inversion governed by the northward drift of Adria, (3) inherited geological structures and (4) climate driven surface processes (denudation and sediment loading).