The Danube River inception: Evidence for a 4 Ma continental‐scale river born from segmented ParaTethys basins

Olariu, Cornel; Krézsek, Csaba; Jipa, Dan C.

doi:10.1111/ter.12308

Cited by 17 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Moreover, the growth of the Carpatho-Balkan chain created a barrier to the Danube River basin, which separated the Pannonian Basin from the Paratethys at the Iron Gate in the Carpathians (location in Fig. 1), although the timing of the connection for both water and sediment remains contentious (Olariu et al 2017).…”

Section: River Network and Geographymentioning

confidence: 99%

Greater Alpine river network evolution, interpretations based on novel drainage analysis

Winterberg

Willett

2018

Swiss J Geosci

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The Central European drainage system is dominated by four major rivers (the Danube, Rhine, Rhône and Po). The geometry of these drainage basins has evolved through the history of Alpine and Carpathian orogeny. Analysis of the modern river geometry reveals the geometric stability or instability of the drainage network and enables interpretation of the erosion and exhumation pattern. We characterize the river basin geometry and inter-basin relief through metrics including the quantity v that relates to the catchment area, and a catchment restricted minimum elevation (CRM) metric. The interpretations from the maps are in agreement with known river captures and morphological features. The v-map reveals additional systematic, large-scale transients, consistent with ongoing basin changes, mainly manifesting in the Danube losing catchment area. We postulate that the changes are related to the longitudinal initiation of the Danube River in the Alpine foreland, augmented by the formation of the Carpathians and the filling of the Pannonian Basin, which resulted in an elongation of the Danube river basin. We conclude that the Danube has lacked erosional power throughout its history and therefore been victim to capture and area loss.

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Section: River Network and Geographymentioning

confidence: 99%

Greater Alpine river network evolution, interpretations based on novel drainage analysis

Winterberg

Willett

2018

Swiss J Geosci

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“…; Matenco et al, 2013). The "concurrent basin fill" model (Olariu et al, 2018) calls for Carpathian rivers infilling most of the Dacian Basin, which would have limited the import of zircons from beyond the Iron Gates. Alternatively, in the so-called "spill and fill" model (Bartol et al, 2012, Leever et al, 2010, 2011, a paleo-Danube that formed upstream in the Pannonian basin infilled parts of the Dacian basin and Variscan zircons are now eroded and carried by the Olt.…”

Section: Variscan Agesmentioning

confidence: 99%

U‐PB Detrital Zircon Geochronology of the Lower Danube and Its Tributaries: Implications for the Geology of the Carpathians

Ducea

Giosan

Carter

et al. 2018

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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We performed a detrital zircon (DZ) U‐Pb geochronologic survey of the lower parts of the Danube River approaching its Danube delta, Black Sea sink, and a few large tributaries (Tisza, Jiu, Olt, and Siret) originating in the nearby Carpathian Mountains. Samples are modern sediments. DZ age spectra reflect the geology and specifically the crustal age formation of the source area, which in this case is primarily the Romanian Carpathians and their foreland with contributions from the Balkan Mountains to the south of Danube and the East European Craton. The zircon cargo of these rivers suggests a source area that formed during the latest Proterozoic and mostly into the Cambrian and Ordovician as island arcs and back‐arc basins in a Peri‐Gondwanan subduction setting (~600–440 Ma). The Inner Carpathian units are dominated by a U‐Pb DZ peak in the Ordovician (460–470 Ma) and little inheritance from the nearby continental masses, whereas the Outer Carpathian units and the foreland have two main peaks, one Ediacaran (570–610 Ma) and one in the earliest Permian (290–300 Ma), corresponding to granitic rocks known regionally. A prominent igneous Variscan peak (320–350 Ma) in the Danube's and tributaries DZ zircon record is difficult to explain and points out to either an extra Carpathian source or major unknown gaps in our understanding of Carpathian geology. Younger peaks corresponding to arc magmatism during the Alpine period make up as much as about 10% of the DZ archive, consistent with the magnitude and surface exposure of Mesozoic and Cenozoic arcs.

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“…The Pontian (6–5 Ma) shelf‐margin advance thus cannot be attributed to the arrival of the Danube sedimentary system into the Euxinian basin (Figure d) but belongs to the N to S directed Balta sedimentary system (Matoshko et al, ). Recently, Olariu et al () suggested that an abrupt switch in depositional style, i.e. from sandy basin‐floor fans to much larger muddy channel‐levees and basin‐floor fans, in early Dacian time (ca.…”

Section: Discussion: What Role Did the Proto‐danube Sedimentary Systementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The length of the clinoform sets, accreted from the NW towards the SE, is more than 100 km ( Figure 10). The height of the clinoforms is 500-800 m. The age of the prograding unit is variously given as Pontian (6-4.7 Ma;Dinu et al, 2005), middle Pontian to early Dacian (5.8-4.5 Ma;Munteanu et al, 2011;Munteanu, Matenco, Dinu, & Cloetingh, 2012), or Pontian to Quaternary (mainly late Pontian: 5.5-0 Ma; Krézsek, Schleder, Bega, Ionescu, & Tari, 2016;Olariu, Krezsek, & Jipa, 2017; Figure 3).…”

Section: Euxinian Basin (Black Sea)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…9-5 Ma). The Dacian basin was filled with sediments from the Eastern and Southern Carpathians, with shelf-margins advancing mostly from N-NE to S-SW (Jipa & Olariu, 2013), at the time when the paleo-Danube still fed into the water body of the Central Pannonian basin (see the "concurrent basin fill model" of Olariu et al, 2017; Figure 11d).…”

Section: Role Did the Proto-danube Sedimentary System Play In Fillingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Clinoforms as paleogeographic tools: Development of the Danube catchment above the deep Paratethyan basins in Central and Southeast Europe

2019

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The Miocene marine basins of Central and Southeast Europe, once comprising the Paratethys Sea, were gradually filled with sediments during the Neogene and turned to be the catchment area of the proto‐Danube and finally that of the modern Danube. Seismic data from various parts of the large Danube catchment area show that these several hundred meter deep basins were filled by lateral accretion of river‐transported sediments, appearing as shelf edge scale clinoform sets in seismic profiles. The direction of shelf edge progradation is NW to SE (N to S, W to E) in each basin, except for the Dacian basin where NE to SW direction prevails. The age of the clinoform sets is generally younging downstream: 19–18 Ma in the North Alpine Foreland basin, 14–13 Ma in the Vienna basin, 10–9 Ma in the Danube (Kisalföld) basin, 8.6–4 Ma in the Central Pannonian basin (Alföld), ?9–5 Ma in the Dacian basin, and 6–0 Ma in the Euxinian (Black Sea) basin. In spite of this geographical and temporal pattern, only the Danube (Kisalföld) and the western and central part of the Central Pannonian basin were filled by the proto‐Danube shelf accretion. Formation of the Danube, as a longitudinal river of the Alpine foreland that gradually elongated to the east and followed the retreating shoreline of the Paratethys, most probably took place at the beginning of the Late Miocene, ca. 11 Ma ago, thus the Early and Middle Miocene shelf advance in the North Alpine Foreland and Vienna basins, respectively, cannot be attributed to a „paleo‐Danube”. The clinoform systems of the Dacian basin are coeval with those of the upstream Central Pannonian basin, indicating that by the time the Danube sedimentary system reached the Dacian basin, it was already a shallow basin. The vast clinoforms of the northwestern Euxinian shelf also significantly overlap in age with the Pannonian basin ones; only the <4 Ma part of the shelf accretion can be attributed to the Danube sensu stricto.

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The Danube River inception: Evidence for a 4 Ma continental‐scale river born from segmented ParaTethys basins

Abstract: Before reaching the Black Sea, the Danube River passes through a string of Para-

Cited by 17 publications

References 43 publications

Greater Alpine river network evolution, interpretations based on novel drainage analysis

Greater Alpine river network evolution, interpretations based on novel drainage analysis

U‐PB Detrital Zircon Geochronology of the Lower Danube and Its Tributaries: Implications for the Geology of the Carpathians

Clinoforms as paleogeographic tools: Development of the Danube catchment above the deep Paratethyan basins in Central and Southeast Europe

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