Paleomagnetic results from the cover (High-Tatric) unit and nummulitic Eocene in the Tatra Mts (Central West Carpathians, Poland) and their tectonic implications

Abstract

Rezultaty badań paleomagnetycznych z serii wierchowych i eocenu numulitowego Tatr (Centralne Karpaty zachodnie, Polska) i ich tektoniczne implikacje Paleomagnetic studies of the Mesozoic and Eocene sedimentary rocks from the High-Tatric (paraautochthonous and Czerwone Wierchy units) and Paleogene cover formations of the Polish Tatra Mts were carried out. In the Middle Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous limestones a normal polarity pre-thrusting (pre-Senonian) component was identified (5 sites, 32 samples, 92 specimens). Its occurrence also in several localities of the Lower Jurassic-Upper Jurassic rocks of the Kriźna unit in Poland and Slovakia indicates the possibility of the regional remagnetization which took place between 119 and 88 my (Middle Cretaceous). Another component of reversed polarity (2 sites, 17 samples, 28 specimens) is compared with the magnetization of the Middle Miocene andesites from the Pieniny Klippen Belt. The inclination of the Middle Cretaceous component accounts for proximity of the Central West Carpathian (CWC) region to the European plate in that time. Declinations in the para-autochthonous unit are rotated about 23° (±6°) clockwise from the coeval reference European paleomagnetic direction.