Palaeodrainage systems at the basal unconformity of the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin: roles of inherited fault systems and basement lithology during the onset of basin filling

Abstract

This study presents a synthesis of currently available data on the distribution of Cenomanian-age palaeodrainage systems in the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin, filled by fluvial and estuarine strata, and an interpretation of their relationships to the basement units and fault systems. Much of the progress, compared to previous studies, was made possible by a recent basin-scale evaluation of Cenomanian genetic sequence stratigraphy. Several local palaeodrainage systems developed in the basin, separated by drainage divides of local importance and one major divide – the Holice-Nové Město Palaeohigh – which separated the drainage basins of the Tethyan and Boreal palaeogeographic realms. The locations and directions of palaeovalleys were strongly controlled by the positions of inherited Variscan basement fault zones, whereas the bedrock lithology had the subordinate effect of narrowing or broadening valleys on more vs. less resistant substratum, respectively. The intrabasinal part of the palaeodrainage network followed the slopes toward the Labe (Elbe) System faults and was strongly dominated by the conjugate, NNE-trending, Jizera System faults and fractures. Outlet streams – ultimate trunk streams that drained the basin area – are interpreted to have followed the Lužice Fault Zone toward the Boreal province to the Northwest, and the Železné hory Fault Zone toward the Tethyan province to the Southeast. At both the northwestern and southeastern ends of the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin, shallow-marine or estuarine conditions are proven to have existed during the early Cenomanian. Direct evidence for syn-depositional subsidence during the early to mid-Cenomanian, fluvial to estuarine phase is very rare, and the onset of deposition by fluvial backfilling of the palaeodrainage systems was driven mainly by the long-term rise in global sea level. Subtle surface warping, mostly without detectable discrete faulting, is inferred to have been a response to the onset of the palaeostress regime that later, with further stress accumulation, led to subsidence in fault-bounded depocentres of the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin and uplift of new source areas.