Development of the Late Paleozoic sedimentary basin of the Kaczawa Mountains

Abstract

Rozwój późnopaleozoicznego basenu sedymentacyjnego Gór Kaczawskich The sedimentation of the uppermost Carboniferous and the Lower Permian deposits of the Kaczawa Mts (south-western Poland) was investigated using paleocurrents and basin analysis. The sediments investigated fall into two distinct lithostratigraphic units. The lower unit (Stephanian) is characterized by a considerable maturity of clastics and represents the deposits of extensive alluvial plains. The upper unit (Lower Rotliegendes) consists of immature sediments and represents the filling of relatively narrow tectonic depressions between uplifted ranges flanked by active faults. Both units are believed to have been deposited in continental basins corresponding the model distinguished by Potter and Pettijohn (1963) as the Newark Basin model.