Dissertation Titel der Dissertation Quantification of tectonic movement in the Vienna Basin Verfasserin Mag. Monika Hölzel Angestrebter akademischer Grad Doktorin der Naturwissenschaften (Dr. rer. nat.) Wien, Juni 2009 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt A 091 431 Dissertationsgebiet lt. Studienblatt Geologie Betreuer Ao. Prof. Michael Wagreich Content Abstract _____________________________________________________________ iii Zusammenfassung _____________________________________________________ v Acknowledgement _____________________________________________________ vii 1 Introduction _______________________________________________________ 1 1.1 Aims and Approaches___________________________________________________ 2 1.2 Outline of scientific and economic oriented investigations through history _______ 2 1.3 Short geological overview of the Vienna Basin_______________________________ 4 1.4 Definition of (normal) faults and their evolution _____________________________ 4 1.5 Methods and Data ______________________________________________________ 6 1.6 Outlook and unsolved questions __________________________________________ 7 2 Subsidence Analysis ________________________________________________ 9 2.1 Abstract _____________________________________________________________ 10 2.2 Kurzfassung__________________________________________________________ 10 2.3 Introduction__________________________________________________________ 11 2.4 Geological Outline of the Vienna Basin ___________________________________ 12 2.5 Principles of Subsidence Calculations_____________________________________ 13 2.6 Data Base ____________________________________________________________ 15 2.7 Generation of Subsidence Maps _________________________________________ 16 2.8 Results and Interpretation ______________________________________________ 17 2.9 Regional Trends of Subsidence __________________________________________ 17 2.10 Subsidence Maps _____________________________________________________ 22 2.11 General Subsidence Trends ____________________________________________ 23 2.12 Conclusions _________________________________________________________ 27 3 Error Quantification for Subsidence Analysis___________________________ 29 3.1 Abstract _____________________________________________________________ 31 3.2 Introduction__________________________________________________________ 32 3.3 Subsidence calculations ________________________________________________ 32 3.4 Programme description and work flow____________________________________ 33 3.5 Method of error calculation _____________________________________________ 34 3.6 Error sources _________________________________________________________ 37 3.7 Application___________________________________________________________ 37 3.8 Discussion and Conclusion ______________________________________________ 40 4 Sedimentary Fault Backstripping_____________________________________ 41 4.1 Abstract _____________________________________________________________ 43 4.2 Introduction __________________________________________________________ 44 4.3 Sedimentary fault backstripping _________________________________________ 44 4.4 Application in the southern Vienna Basin__________________________________ 46 4.5 Results ______________________________________________________________ 54 4.6 Discussion____________________________________________________________ 56 4.7 Errors, limitations, and requirements for sedimentary fault backstripping ______ 57 4.8 Conclusion ___________________________________________________________ 58 5 Synthesis I - Wedge Top Phase_______________________________________ 61 5.1 Abstract _____________________________________________________________ 63 5.2 Introduction __________________________________________________________ 64 5.3 Techniques and working area ___________________________________________ 65 5.4 Stratigraphy, marker horizons and time constraints_________________________ 68 5.5 Tectonic structures in the subcrop________________________________________ 72 5.6 Early Miocene fault kinematics derived from outcrop data ___________________ 79 5.7 Evolution of the Lower Miocene wedge-top zone____________________________ 81 6 Synthesis II - Pull-Apart Phase ______________________________________ 85 7 References _______________________________________________________ 89 8 Appendix 1______________________________________________________ 101 8.1 Seismic sections ___________________________________________________ 103 8.2 Displacement Plots ________________________________________________ 107 8.3 Input Data for Subsidence Analysis___________________________________ 113 9 Appendix 2______________________________________________________ 131 Curriculum Vitae _______________________________________________________ 132 List of Publications ______________________________________________________ 135 ii Monika Hölzel, 2009 Abstract This cumulative Ph.D. consists of four publications published in or submitted to international peer-reviewed scientific journals. The publications are all related to the structural development of the Vienna Basin. The main focus was on the quantification of fault movement, based on subsidence analysis. Chapter 2 (based on Hölzel, M., Wagreich, M., Faber R., Strauss, P. (2008). Regional subsidence analysis in the Vienna Basin (Austria). Austrian Journal of Earth Sciences, 101, 88 – 98) summarises the results of subsidence analysis with data from 50 wells in the southern and the central area of the Austrian part of the Vienna Basin. The subsidence analysis is based on the decompaction of the sedimentary record at the time of interest, with the results displayed as total basement and tectonic subsidence curves and tectonic subsidence rates for the pull-apart phase of the Vienna Basin. Three types of subsidence curves have been distinguished, representing combinations of three main subsidence phases; in the early Badenian (~16.1 – 14.2 Ma), the Sarmatian (~12.7 – 11.5 Ma), and the middle Pannonian (~10.2 – 9.8 Ma). To be sure errors are minimised during generation of the base data, software for the calculation of subsidence data with error quantification has been established. Chapter 3 (based on Hölzel, M., Faber, R., Wagreich, M. (2008). DeCompactionTool: Software for subsidence analysis including statistical error quantification. Computers and Geosciences, 34, 1454-1460) presents the applied programme in detail. Input data consists of factors like strata thickness, lithology, age constraints, lithological properties, porosity, palaeobathymetry, sea-level changes and heat flux, amongst others. Uncertainties of these input parameters are not independent, so within the subsidence calculation a Monte Carlo Simulation routine was implemented. In this, the range of possible input values (minimum, maximum, most likely number) is assigned to each of the parameters used. A random number generator chooses values within the defined intervals and calculates results for every combination. The probability that a number is selected by the generator may follow a uniform distribution, a power distribution, a symmetric normal distribution or an asymmetric normal distribution. The results are mean values with two extreme values quantifying the error range. Sedimentary fault backstripping is a rather new method for the quantification of vertical fault displacement to assess the fault movement behaviour of fault surfaces. Chapter 4 (based on Hölzel, M., Wagreich, M. (submitted 2009). Sedimentary fault backstripping of a complex fault system – Results and limitations of a case study in the southern Vienna Basin. Marine and Petroleum Geology) describes the workflow in detail. The method has been applied to the southern Vienna Basin. Major normal faults as the Leopoldsdorf Fault with an overall offset of 4000 m are compared to more complex fault arrays forming a negative flower structure and relay ramps. All faults have in common that they were synsedimentary active. The thickness of the sediments overtops the thickness of the footwall strata. So displacement has been conserved during ongoing sedimentation. After discriminating the structural build-up by seismic data and 3D modelling, basement subsidence data from the different fault blocks are compared. Results are very inhomogeneous. The more isolated huge fault surface of the Leopoldsdorf Fault Monika Hölzel, 2009 iii shows normal slip through time. The more complex faults of the negative flower structure are kinematically linked and display normal as well as reverse slip periods. Data indicate alternating activity on converging fault surfaces. The first part of the Synthesis (Chapter 5) is based on the publication Hölzel, M., Decker, K., Zamolyi, A., Strauss, P., Wagreich, M. (submitted 2008): Lower Miocene structural evolution of the central Vienna Basin (Austria). Marine and Petroleum Geology, which deals with the structural evolution of the basin during the Lower Miocene wedge top phase. These investigations are based on stratigraphic and structural seismic mapping and 3D visualisation. It gives an overview about the evolution of the basin prior to the pull-apart phase. The second part of the Synthesis (Chapter 6) summarises the results of subsidence analysis in the southern and central and the results of Sedimentary Fault Backstripping in the southern part during the pull-apart phase. iv Monika Hölzel, 2009 Zusammenfassung Diese kumulative Dissertation besteht aus 4 Publikationen, die in peer-reviewten wissenschaftlichen Journalen publiziert oder