From the intra‐desert ridges to the marine carbonate island chain: middle to late Permian (Upper Rotliegend–Lower Zechstein) of the Wolsztyn–Pogorzela high, west Poland

Abstract

The tectonic Wolsztyn-Pogorzela palaeo-High (WPH) is the south-eastern termination of the Brandenburg-Wolsztyn High (western Poland), which during Late Permian times was an intra-basin ridge surrounded by Upper Rotliegend sedimentary basins within the Southern Permian Basin. The geological history and structural framework of the WPH are complex. The High belongs to the Variscan Externides, consisting at present of strongly folded, faulted and eroded Viséan to Namurian flysch deposits capped by a thick cover of Upper Carboniferous-Lower Permian volcanic rocks. This sedimentary-volcanic complex was strongly fragmented and vertically differentiated by tectonic movements and subsequently eroded, resulting in the deposition of coarse clastics surrounding uplifted tectonic blocks. During late Rotliegend time, arid climatic conditions significantly influenced occurrences of specific facies assemblages: alluvial, fluvial, aeolian and playa. Sedimentological study helped to recognize the interplay of tectonic and palaeoclimatic factors and to understand the phenomenon of aeolian sandstones interbedded with coarse deposits of alluvial cones close to fault scarps.Subsequent tectonic and possible thermal subsidence of the studied area was synchronous with inundation by the Zechstein Sea. The rapid inundation process allowed for the preservation of an almost perfectly protected Uppermost Rotliegend landscape. Based on 3D seismic data from the base Zechstein reflector, a reconstruction of Rotliegend palaeogeomorphology was carried out, which shows examples of tectonic rejuvenation of particular tectonic blocks within the WPH area before inundation by the Zechstein Sea.The inundation led to the deposition of the marine Kupferschiefer Shale followed by the Zechstein Limestone. In the deeper parts of the basin the latter is developed in thin basinal facies: in shallow parts (e.g. uplifted tectonic blocks forming in some cases islands), carbonate buildups were formed. The remarkable thickness of those buildups (bryozoan reefs) is interpreted as due to stable tectonic subsidence together with a rise of sea level. A detailed study of carbonate buildups has showed that their internal structure reflects changes in shallow marine environments and even emersion events, caused by sea-level oscillations and tectonic movements of the reef substrate.

Controls on the distribution of rare earth elements in the Kupferschiefer series of SW Poland

“…Dur ing the Perm ian, the area of SW Po land be longed to the South ern Perm ian Ba sin which was formed at the tran si tion from the Carbon if er ous to Early Perm ian as a re sult of sub sidence by rift ing (van Wees et al, 2000). A num ber of sub-de pres sions sep a rated by ridges de veloped, in clud ing the Wolsztyn-Pogorzela High which sep a rated the Zielona Góra Ba sin from the Variscan Fore land (Kiersnowski et al, 2010). Rotlie gend red-beds ac cu mu lated in bas ins, whereas at ridges the Rotliegend sed i ments are gen er ally lack ing, or the ridges are partly cov ered by vol ca nic rocks.…”

“…The Zechstein Lime stone shows a fairly con sis tent de vel op ment through out the ba sin, with up to 120 m of car bon ates in nearshore plat forms, in con trast to several metres thick car bon ates in the basinal set tings (Peryt et al, 2010, 2012a, b). Most of the intrabasinal palaeo highs are gener ally lack ing both the Rotliegend and Weisslie gend sed i ments and the Kupferschiefer, and are rep re sented by con densed sec tions (1-5 m thick) com pris ing shal low-wa ter car bon ates, whereas other ridges are over lain by build-ups up to 90 m thick (Kiersnowski et al, 2010;Peryt et al, 2012b). The de po si tion of the Zechstein Lime stone was ter mi nated by the Lower Anhydrite which is the low er most unit of Zechstein evaporites.…”

What can be learned from the K-Ar ages of illite from Rotliegend sandstones of the Fore-Sudetic Monocline, SW Poland?

“…1; Kiersnowski, 1997Kiersnowski, , 2013Kiersnowski et al, 2010a). The aeolian sand stones of the East ern Erg are up to 1000 m thick, whereas the ae olian sand stones of the South ern Erg reach 250 m in thick ness (Fig.…”

Reservoir properties of the Upper Rotliegend and the Weissliegend sandstones (Permian) in the Zielona Góra Basin (western Poland)

“…Sed i men ta tion of the Up per Rotliegend rocks took place un der arid and semi-arid con ti nen tal con di tions, and there fore the ba sin con tains ae olian, flu vial, and playa de pos its. Dis tri bu tion of fa cies and their thick ness in the Up per Rotliegend Ba sin was con trolled by the Wolsztyn Ridge, a tec -tonic horst, which dur ing the sed i men ta tion of the Up per Rotliegend was the source area for flu vial sed i ments (Karnkowski, 1987(Karnkowski, , 1994Weihe, 1997;Kiersnowski et al, 2010b). The Wolsztyn Ridge sep a rated the south ern part of the Rotliegend Ba sin into two parts: the north ern Poznañ Ba sin and the south ern Zielona Góra Ba sin (Fig.…”

“…1). Cur rently, ex plo ra tion is con centrated in the Poznañ Ba sin, and the larg est num bers of pub li cations are from the Poznañ Ba sin on the Rotliegend sed i men tation (Karnkowski, 1987(Karnkowski, , 1994Buniak, 1999;Buniak et al, 1999;Pokorski and Kiersnowski, 1999;Szwarc and Kiersnowski, 1999;Kiersnowski and Buniak, 2006;Kiersnowski et al, 2010b), on pe trog ra phy (Rochewicz, 1980;Muszyñski and Rydzewska, 1986;Gregosiewicz and Protas, 1997;Maliszewska and Kuberska, 2009), res er voir prop er ties and their re la tion ship to lithofacies Such et al, 2000;Buniak et al, 2009), and ex plo ra tion of tight gas Kiersnowski, 2008, 2010;Such et al, 2010). Sev eral pub li cations re fer to the en tire Pol ish Rotliegend Ba sin and the Zielona Góra Ba sin (Kiersnowski, 1997;Jarzyna et al, 2009;Papiernik et al, 2010); how ever, there are no de tailed pub li ca tions on the Zielona Góra Ba sin.…”