The Tornquist Fan, reflecting the northern part of the Trans-European Suture Zone, comprises a series of fault zones and major single faults, striking mainly subparallel to the SW margin of the Fennoscandian Shield. The deep-seated faults of Wiek, Nord Jasmund and Schaabe, which cross the northern part of Rügen Island and areas of the adjacent Baltic Sea from NW to SE, originated in the late Paleozoic. They are accompanied by younger faults, especially in the Pomeranian Bay, that were formed by Mesozoic tectonic processes. Based on reprocessed offshore seismic lines east of Rügen, a polyphase evolution for the Wiek Fault System is proposed. It implies changes in the stress field since the Caledonian Orogeny. Crustal extension in the Middle Devonian led to the formation of basins along the SW margin of Laurussia. Subsequent compressional movements, induced by the distant Variscan Orogeny, resulted in segmentation and block faulting of the Rügen Basin prior to the late Carboniferous. These Paleozoic faults were reactivated by Mesozoic extensional stress regimes. In addition, new en echelon faults were generated, contemporaneously with the formation of the Western Pomeranian Fault System. Since the Late Cretaceous (Africa–Iberia–Europe convergence), selected major normal faults have been reactivated as reverse faults.
The Late Cretaceous to Cenozoic is known for its multiple inversion events, which affected Central Europe's intracontinental sedimentary basins. Based on a 2D seismic profile network imaging the basin fill without gaps from the base Zechstein to the seafloor, we investigate the nature and impact of these inversion events on Zechstein salt structures in the Baltic sector of the North German Basin. These insights improve the understanding of salt structure evolution in the region and are of interest for any type of subsurface usage. We link stratigraphic interpretation to previous studies and nearby wells and present key seismic depth sections and thickness maps with a new stratigraphic subdivision for the Upper Cretaceous and Cenozoic covering the eastern Glückstadt Graben and the Bays of Kiel and Mecklenburg. Time-depth conversion is based on velocity information derived from refraction travel-time tomography. Our results show that minor salt movement in the eastern Glückstadt Graben and in the Bay of Mecklenburg started contemporaneous with Late Cretaceous inversion in the Coniacian-Santonian. Minor salt movement continued until the end of the Late Cretaceous. Overlying upper Paleocene and lower Eocene deposits show constant thickness without indications for salt movement suggesting a phase of tectonic quiescence from the late Paleocene to middle Eocene. In the late Eocene to Oligocene, major salt movement recommenced in the eastern Glückstadt Graben. In the Bays of Kiel and Mecklenburg, late Neogene uplift removed much of the Eocene-Miocene succession. Preserved deposits indicate major post-middle Eocene salt movement, which likely occurred coeval with the revived activity in the Glückstadt Graben. Cenozoic salt structure growth critically exceeded salt flow during Late Cretaceous inversion. Cenozoic salt movement could have been triggered by Alpine/Pyrenean-controlled thin-skinned compression, but is more likely controlled by thin-skinned extension, possibly related to the beginning development of the European Cenozoic Rift System.
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