The evolution of the southern margin of Eastern Europe (Eastern European and Scythian platforms) from the Latest Precambrian- Early Palaeozoic to the Early Cretaceous

Abstract

The southern part of the Eastern European continental landmass consists mainly of a thick platform of Vendian and younger sediments overlying Precambrian basement, referred to as the East European and Scythian platforms (EEP and SP). Some specific geological features, such as the Late Devonian Pripyat-Dniepr-Donets rift basin, the Karpinsky Swell, the Permo(?)-Triassic troughs of the SP, and the deformed belt running from Dobrogea to Crimea and the Greater Caucasus, in which rocks as old as Palaeozoic crop out, form a record of the geodynamic processes affecting this part of the European lithosphere. Hard constraints on the Palaeozoic history of the SP are very sparse. The conventional view has been that the SP is a Late Palaeozoic orogenic belt. However, it is shown that the few available data are also consistent with an alternative interpretation in which it is the thinned margin of the Precambrian continent, reworked by Late Palaeozoic-Early Mesozoic rifting events. The geodynamic setting of the margin is classically reported as one of active convergence throughout the Late Palaeozoic and Early Mesozoic, with subduction of the Palaeotethys Ocean beneath Europe. Actually, there are no direct observations constraining the polarity of Palaeotethys subduction in this area although indirect evidence is not inconsistent with the conventional model. In such a case, the sedimentary-tectonic record of the SP suggests that convergence during the Permo-Triassic(?) and certainly during the Early and Mid-Jurassic was oblique. An Eo-Cimmerian (Late Triassic-Early Jurassic) event is widespread and implies a tectonic compressional regime with systematic inversion of most sedimentary basins. There is also a widespread unconformity at the end of the Mid-Jurassic and in the Late Jurassic. These can be interpreted as indicators of compressional tectonics; however, nowhere is there evidence of intense shortening or other orogenic processes. A revised tectonic model is proposed for the area but, given the degree of uncertainty characterizing the geology of this area, it is best considered as a basis for further discussion.

The Alpine-Carpathian-Dinaridic orogenic system: correlation and evolution of tectonic units

“…The East European and Scythian platforms were essentially consolidated during Precambrian times. More recently, the Scythian Platform was re-interpreted as the passive margin of the East European craton that was strongly involved in latest Precambrian to Early Paleozoic (pre-Variscan) tectonic events and that was reactivated during younger and less important events (Stephenson et al 2004;Saintot et al 2006). The SW boundary of the East European Platform ("Precambrian platform" in Plate 1) coincides with the NW-SE striking Teisseyre-Tornquist Zone that was repeatedly reactivated during Late Paleozoic, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic times (Ziegler 1990).…”

TOPO-EUROPE: The geoscience of coupled deep Earth-surface processes

“…Paleozoic subsidence of the contiguous Peri-Caspian Basin, which contains one of the thickest known sedimentary sequences (25+km) and has a huge hydrocarbon potential, could be related to similar lithospheric processes, but large-scale mechanisms to explain the subsidence of the entire southern part of the EEP have not yet been thoroughly examined (cf. Saintot et al, 2006;Stephenson et al, 2006). …”

Heterogeneous structure of the lithosphere in the Black Sea from a multidisciplinary analysis of geophysical fields

“…30 km thick [Shillington et al, 2009, Line 3;Scott, 2009] that is equal to the value on the map of [Starostenko et al, 2004a]. This crustal basement is thought to be similar with Precambrian units from the Transcaucasus domain [Saintot et al, 2006].…”