Marine and Petroleum Geology 18 (2001) 311

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Lithospheric memory and stress eld controls on polyphase deformation

of the Pannonian basinCarpathian system
S. Cloetingh*, A. Lankreijer
Netherlands Research School of Sedimentary Geology (NSG), Faculty of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, de Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Received 4 July 2000; accepted 16 July 2000

Abstract
The Pannonian basinCarpathian system displays pronounced lateral variation in lithopsheric structure and sedimentary basin conguration. The tectonic history of the system is characterised by a polyphase history with Late Miocene extension in the Pannonian basin and
simultaneously occurring compression in the Carpathian arc.
Pre-existing structures play a key role in subsequent basin reactivation, explaining anomalous features in subsidence characteristics and
inferred thinning factors. The area exhibits a relatively high level of neotectonic activity, imaged by high resolution seismic data, intraplate
seismicity and stress indicator data. Major parts of the system have experienced a rapid late Neogene uplift and erosion, amounting up to
several kilometres in the Romanian Carpathians.
A major part of the present basin conguration, previously primarily attributed to basin formation mechanisms such as stretching in the
Pannonian basin and lithospheric exure in the Carpathians, appears to be strongly affected by recent deformation, postdating basin
formation of the Pannonian basin and the Carpathian foredeep.
These ndings affect modelling predictions of basin subsidence, sediment sourcing, thermal evolution and hydrodynamic regime with
implications for hydrocarbon play-concepts in the area. q 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: PannonianCarpathian system; Lithospheric memory; Stress eld controls

1. Introduction
The PannonianCarpathian, Dinarides region has been the
focus of a considerable body of recent research focussing on
the integration of geophysical and geological data, making it
a key area for integrated basin studies. At the same time the
area has attracted considerable attention in the context of its
potential for hydrocarbons and in the light of renewed interest in the evaluation of petroleum plays in the Pannonian
basin and surrounding thrust belts (Popescu, 1994; Teleki,
Mattick, & Kokai, 1994; Wessely & Liebl, 1996).
A vast database, containing geophysical and geological
data, has been established in the last decades as a result of a
major international research effort for this area, largely
carried out in the framework of European programmes
such as the EU-Integrated Basin Studies Programme (Cloetingh, Durand, & Puigdefabregas, 1995; Cloetingh, Sassi, &
Horvath, 1993; Durand, Jolivet, Horvath, & Horvath, 1999),
the ALCAPA and PANCARDI programmes (Neubauer,
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 131-022-337-341; fax: 131-206-462-457.
E-mail address: cloeting@geo.vu.nl (S. Cloetingh).

Cloetingh, Dinu, & Mocanu, 1997) and the PeriTethys

programme (Ziegler & Horvath, 1996), partly funded in
the context of petroleum exploration. These studies
provided a major step forward, building on previous compilations (e.g. Royden & Horvath, 1988), marking the rst
applications of basin analyses concepts to the Pannonian
basin. An important aspect of the area is the existence of
high quality constraints on basin evolution obtained through
extensive seismic proling (e.g. Posgay et al., 1996) and the
systematic acquisition of gravity, heatow, conductivity and
magnetotelluric data by Eastern European research groups
(e.g. Royden & Horvath, 1988; Szaan, Tari, Horvath, &
Cloetingh, 1999). Extensive well coverage in the context of
petroleum exploration has enabled the construction of a high
resolution stratigraphic framework for the area (e.g. Sacchi,
Horvath, & Magyari, 1999; Teleki et al., 1994; Vakarcs
et al., 1994). At the same time, the study of the
Carpathian fold and thrust belt has been the focus of a
concentrated effort, highlighting the connection between
lateral variations in structural style and foreland exure
development in different segments of the Carpathian system
(Ellouz & Roca, 1994; Krzywiec, 2001; Matenco, Bertotti,

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S. Cloetingh, A. Lankreijer / Marine and Petroleum Geology 18 (2001) 311

Dinu, & Cloetingh, 1997; Nemcok et al., 2001; Zoetemeijer,

Tomek, & Cloetingh, 1999).
2. Extensional basin formation (models and constraints)
Following the formulation of the stretching model for
extensional basin formation (McKenzie, 1978), the
Pannonian basin has been one of the rst areas where
the model has been applied to (Sclater et al., 1980). There
have been several reasons that motivated this choice. Apart
from the availability of the geological and geophysical
constraints discussed above, the basin is characterised by
features such as an anomalous high heatow (making it
the hottest basin in Europe), and the presence of an anomalous thinned crust (Fig. 2), all predicted by the stretching
model. The basin formed on the internal side of the
Carpathian fold belt (see Fig. 1), forms a key example
for extensional basin formation in a regime of overall
convergence (see for a review Horvath, 1993).
Considerable debate has been going on regarding the
driving mechanisms for Pannonian basin formation,
focussing on the relative importance of extensional collapse
(Stegena, Geczy, & Horvath, 1975), lateral extrusion

(Peresson & Decker, 1997; Ratschbacher, Merle, Davy, &

Cobbold, 1991) and slab-roll back (Royden, 1988)
processes. An important ingredient for these controversies
has been the absence of direct controls from deep seismic
reection proling on the Eastern Alps of Austria as well as
limited access to a fully three-dimensional database covering the whole PannonianCarpathian area, limiting the
construction of a reliable palinspastic reconstruction.
The early studies faced considerable difculty in explaining the basin subsidence and crustal thinning in terms of
uniform extension pointing to the presence of anomalous
subcrustal thinning. This issue has been a central theme
for subsequent investigations tackling this problem by quantitative subsidence analyses of a more extended set of
sections and wells in the Pannonian basin (Lankreijer
et al., 1995; Lankreijer, 1998; Sachsenhofer, Lankreijer,
Cloetingh, & Ebner, 1997), kinematic modelling incorporating the concept of necking depth and nite strength of the
lithosphere during and after rifting (van Balen, Lenkey,
Horvath & Cloetingh, 1999) as well as dynamic modelling
studies (Huismans, 1999) pointing to the importance
of the transition of passive to active rifting as a mechanism
for subcrustal ow (Burov & Cloetingh, 1997) and
lithosphereasthenosphere small scale convection.

Fig. 1. Typical characteristics of major lithospheric elements of the Pannonian basinCarpathian system conguration (after Horvath & Cloetingh, 1996).
Note the inferred excessive amount of subcrustal thinning and fault reactivation. 1. European foreland, 2. Alpine crust, 3. Neogene sediments, 4. Moho, 5.
Thermal base lithosphere, 6. Thrust faults, 7. Normal faults.

S. Cloetingh, A. Lankreijer / Marine and Petroleum Geology 18 (2001) 311

Fig. 2. Map of Moho depth (km) of the Carpathian Pannonian area constrained by seismics, reection data, heatow and quantitative subsidence modelling
adopting the depth dependent stretching model (Lenkey, 1999).

These studies were building on new high quality data sets

as a result of a concerted effort made in the training of young
researchers carrying out a series of PhD theses on the
PannonianCarpathian system (Bada, 1999; Ciulavu,
1999; Lankreijer, 1998; Lenkey, 1999; Matenco, 1997;
Sanders, 1998; Szaan, 1999).
During the last few years, a considerable effort has been
made to better constrain the mechanical aspects of basin
evolution in the area, both in terms of the quantication of
the role of inherited weakness zones, crustal rheology and
basin reactivation as well as the assessment of the role of
temporal and spatial variations in stress regime on vertical
motions, basin stratigraphy and hydrodynamic regime in
the basin.
3. Polyphase deformation and lithospheric memory
The models of the Pannonian basin have highlighted the
importance of pre-rift lithospheric structure for the mode of
extension in the basin (see for discussion, Cloetingh,
Fernandez, Munoz, Sassi, & Horvath, 1997; Cloetingh,
van Wees, van der Beek, & Spadini, 1995). Lithospheric
memory is important on different spatial scales. On the
bulk lithospheric scale, the presence of a thickened

continental Alpine crust has manifested itself in terms of

shallow necking levels during subsequent extension. Reactivation of Alpine thrust faults in basin extension, on an
upper crustal scale, has been widely documented on seismics and in outcrop in tectonic windows at the margins of
the Pannonian basin (e.g. Neubauer, 1994; Tari, 1996).
During the last few years, independent constraints on
the bulk rheology of the pre-rift Alpine lithosphere have
been obtained through an integration of P-T-t modelling
and rheological modelling (Genser, van Wees, Cloetingh, & Neubauer, 1996; Willingshofer, van Wees,
Cloetingh, & Neubauer, 1999). These studies have also
demonstrated a close causal link between the overall
rheological state of the Eastern Alpine lithosphere and
the mode of formation of Cretaceous Gosau basins
(Willingshofer, 2000).
As a whole it appears that the Pannonian basin has been
an area marked by pronounced lithospheric weakness since
Late Cretaceous on, shedding light on the high degree of
strain localisation in this area. This is particularly the case
for the present-day rheological conguration of the system,
characterised by a very low lithospheric rigidity in the
Pannonian basin system, surrounded by a relatively
strong lithosphere in the Bohemian Massif and the
Eastern European and Moesian Platform (Lankreijer,

S. Cloetingh, A. Lankreijer / Marine and Petroleum Geology 18 (2001) 311

Fig. 3. Compilation of stress indicator data for present-day (upper panel) and palaeo stress at 17.515 Ma (lower panel) corresponding to timing of basin
formation in the Pannonian basin system (Bada, 1999). 1. Direction of s 3 (tensional stress eld). 2. Direction of s 1 (strikeslip stress eld). 3. Direction of s 1
(compressional stress eld). 4. Generalised direction of compression. 5. Generalised direction of tension.

Bielik, Cloetingh & Majcin, 1999; Lankreijer, Mocanu, &

Cloetingh, 1997; Zoetemeijer et al., 1999).
4. Stress reactivation and late stage tectonic inversion of
the Pannonian basin
The intrinsic weakness of the Pannonian basin as well as
its tectonic setting locked in the interior of the Carpathian
Arc (Fig. 1), has made it a particularly sensitive recorder of

changes in lithospheric stress induced by near eld and far

eld plate boundary processes. High quality constraints
exist on the present-day and palaeo stress eld in the lithosphere (Fig. 3) as a result of earthquake focal mechanism
studies, analyses of borehole breakouts and kinematic
studies of stress eld indicator data (see Bada, Cloetingh,
Gerner, & Horvath, 1998; Decker & Peresson, 1996; Gerner
et al., 1999; Huismans et al., 1997; Matenco et al., 1997).
These studies have demonstrated a close relationship
between the timing and nature of the stress changes in the

S. Cloetingh, A. Lankreijer / Marine and Petroleum Geology 18 (2001) 311

Fig. 4. High resolution seismic section (lower panel) and sequence stratigraphic interpretation (upper panel) through Lake Balaton (Central Pannonian Basin), showing a late stage folding and erosion of
Pannonian strata (Sacchi et al., 1999).
7

S. Cloetingh, A. Lankreijer / Marine and Petroleum Geology 18 (2001) 311

Fig. 5. Effect of late stage compressional and extensional reactivation of extensional basin on basin geometry and hydrodynamic regime. An increase in the
level of late stage compression enhances the development of shoulder uplift leading to simultaneous subsidence in the basin centre and enhanced compaction
driven uid ow, whereas an increase in the level of intraplate stress yields the opposite effect (van Balen & Cloetingh, 1995).

extensional basins (Horvath & Cloetingh, 1996) and the

timing inferred from kinematic studies of the surrounding
thrust belts, pointing to an intrinsic mechanical coupling
between orogen and basin.
Quantitative modelling of the present and palaeo stress
elds constrained by these stress indicator data has
demonstrated that the stress elds in the area are primarily
controlled by plate boundary forces (Bada, Horvath,
Gerner, & Fejes, 1999) as well as the effects of asthenospheric uprising (Huismans, 1999) and surface topography (Bada, 1999). A particular feature of the Pannonian
basin is its current compressional stress regime inducing a
high level of intraplate tectonic inversion in the basin
manifested by a relatively high level of seismicity, abundant fault reactivation documented and late stage folding
and erosion in high resolution reection seismic data

(Fig. 4.) collected in Hungarian rivers and lakes (Sacchi

et al., 1999) as well as large scale anomalous subsidence
in the central part of the Pannonian basin (Horvath &
Cloetingh, 1996). As such, the Pannonian basin appears
to be a well documented case of irregular lithosphere
folding (Cloetingh, Burov, & Poliakov, 1999).
This late stage tectonic reactivation has a number of
important consequences for hydrocarbon habitat, both in
terms of sealing of fault systems (Horvath, Szalay, Dovenyi,
& Rumpler, 1989), maturation and hydrodynamic regime
(Hasenhuttel, Kraljic, Sachsenhofer, Jelen, & Rieger,
2001; Lucic et al., 2001; van Balen & Cloetingh, 1995).
As illustrated in Fig. 5, differential tilting induced by an
increase in compressional level can lead to episodic
dewatering events, overpressures (Skar, van Balen, Arnesen,
& Cloetingh, 1999) as well as enhanced compaction driven

S. Cloetingh, A. Lankreijer / Marine and Petroleum Geology 18 (2001) 311

Fig. 6. Contours of amount of erosion (km) inferred from ssion track

analyses of the Romanian Carpathians (Sanders et al., 1999). Numbers in
circles indicate timing of onset of erosion (Ma). Solid dots are earthquake
hypocentres in the bend zone of the Carpathians marking clustering of
seismicity in the Vrancea area. Note the concentration of seismicity in
the area where uplift and erosion has been initiated from 4 Ma onwards.

ow in deeper parts of the basins such as inferred for the

Bekes basin of Hungary (van Balen et al., 1999).

1999) and part of it might be the result of inherited

weaknesses as a result of pre-orogenic Mesozoic
extensional faults (Andeweg & Cloetingh, 1998),
whereas reactivation of inherited deep-seated Cadomian
weakness zones might have also played a key role
(Lankreijer et al., 1999; Matenco et al., 1997).
Flexural studies constrained by gravity have also drawn
further attention to the importance of exural unroong of
the mountain chain and its foredeep (see Andeweg & Cloetingh, 1998). Quantitative subsidence analyses of a number
of basins at the rim of the Pannonian basin including the
Styrian basin (Sachsenhofer et al., 1997), the Austrian
German Molasse (Andeweg & Cloetingh, 1998), the Vienna
Basin (Lankreijer et al., 1995) and the East Slovakian basin
(Lankreijer, 1998) have demonstrated a major uplift of a
few kilometres starting from Mio-Pliocene times onward.
These ndings have been recently corroborated by results
from ssion track analyses in the Romanian Carpathians
(Fig. 6), demonstrating up to 5 km of erosion with a
systematic migration from the north-western and southwestern part of the Romanian Carpathians uplifted since
12 Ma towards the bend area were uplift and erosion was
initiated from 4 Ma onward (Sanders, Andriessen, &
Cloetingh, 1999). These rapid differential motions of the
rim of the Pannonian basin have obviously important implications for sediment supply to the depocentres as well as for
hydrocarbon habitat.
6. Conclusions

5. Interplay between Pannonian extension and

Carpathian compression
Over the last few years, much attention has been focussing on spatial and temporal variations in thrusting along the
Carpathian arc and its relationship to migrating depocentres
foreland basin geometry and lateral variations in exural
rigidity (Matenco, Zoetemeijer, Cloetingh, & Dinu, 1998;
Zoetemeijer et al., 1999).
At the same time, it is becoming increasingly evident that
the second rift phase of the Pannonian basin occurs simultaneously with the climax of compression in the Carpathian
arc (Huismans, 1999), suggesting a mechanical link in terms
of lower crustal ow induced by the rifting process itself,
directed towards the Carpathian orogen.
A general feature of all the exural modelling studies
carried out for the Carpathian system is the inferred low
rigidity of the platform lithosphere down-bending under
the Carpathian belt, with effective elastic thickness
(EET) estimates consistently below predictions inferred
from rheological models of corresponding thermotectonic ages (Cloetingh & Burov, 1996). Part of these
low EET values might be the result of stress induced
weakening associated with steep bending of the platform lithosphere under the arc (Zoetemeijer et al.,

Previous studies of the Pannonian basinCarpathian

system have highlighted the importance of crustal stretching
and lithospheric exure as controls on the main features of
basin formation. These studies have been facing considerable difculties in terms of revealing discrepancies between
subcrustal and crustal stretching factors inferred from subsidence analyses and seismic reection data being at variance
with predictions from uniform stretching models. The same
is true for the late stage anomalous acceleration in subsidence and uplift in the Pannonian basin and Carpathian arc
deviating from scenarios of decaying thermal subsidence
and down-exure of the lithosphere inferred from stretching
models and foreland exural models, respectively. Lower
crustal ow and small scale lithosphereasthenosphere
convection appears to be an effective mechanism to explain
the occurrence of a second, Late Miocene rift phase in the
Pannonian basin coeval with the climax of compression in
the surrounding Carpathian arc.
A high level of intra plate seismicity and neotectonic
reactivation of pre-existing faults also indicates that the
Pannonian basin is strongly affected by tectonic coupling
with the surrounding parts of the AfricanEuropean collisional system.
It appears that the polyphase evolution of the Pannonian
Carpathian system has resulted in strong lateral variation in

10

S. Cloetingh, A. Lankreijer / Marine and Petroleum Geology 18 (2001) 311

thermo-mechanical properties in the area, with weak lithosphere in the Pannonian basin itself making it prone to late
stage basin reactivation.
Dynamic basin models of the interplay of lithospheric
stresses and lithospheric memory in the Pannonian basin
Carpathian arc can explain a number of anomalous patterns
in basin subsidence, sediment sourcing, heatow, and crustal and basin structure deviating from prediction generated
by rst generation basin models based on kinematic
concepts.
Acknowledgements
Frank Horvath, Franz Neubauer, Francois Roure, Reini
Zoetemeijer, Gabor Bada and Giovanni Bertotti are thanked
for inspiring discussions and comments on this paper. This
is NSG contribution number 20000602.
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