A comparative analysis of the structure and the history of the formation of the SE Dnieper-Donets Basin and the Donets folded fabric
© Stovba S.N., Stephenson R.A.
The south-eastern part of the Dniepr-Donets Basin (DDB) contains a thick, up to 22 km, Late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary succession. A widespread pre-Triassic unconformity is patently pronounced on southern margin of the DDB and appears to be related to profound uplift of the southern flank of the basin and the neighbouring Ukrainian Shield rather than to crustal shortening. Faults associated with the Early Permian tectonic event are extensional in style. Compression structures did not develop during the event. Gentle folds and other local structures in the south-eastern part of the DDB are mainly associated with Early Permian movements of the Devonian salt. The structures, including those that locate on the continuation of the linear folds of the Donets Foldbelt (DF), were affected by compression in latest Cretaceous - earliest Tertiary. Geological data testifies that although the present - day area of the DF was actually involved in the Early Permian uplift, but there is no incontrovertible evidence of folding caused by regional compression forces during the uplift. Simultaneously, there are unquestionable evidences of the latest Triassic compression deformations within DF and ones that occurred at the end of Mesozoic - beginning of Cainozoic in the DDB and DF. Thus, the main phases of compression tectonics forming the DF were Cimmerian (latest Triassic - earliest Jurassic) and Alpine (latest Cretaceous - earliest Tertiary). <<back |
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