Morphostructural analysis of the Lesser Carpathians

Abstract

According to the results of morphostructural anslysis, the Lesser Carpathians are a morphostructure of h o s t type placed between two negative morphostructur (those of Danude and Zagorsk lowlands). Lesser Carpathian horst is subdivided into morphostructural units of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd rank which are individual horsts, grabens or asymmetric step-like uplifts. The horst of the Lesser Carpathians began to rise above the adjacent lowlands alter Pannonian stage due to Rhodanian tectonic movements. The movements were highly differentiated, their amplitude between 100 and 300 m, as indicated by deformations of plateau surf ace (which is relict of the Pannonian planation surf ace). Movements of the younger Valachian phase which continued well into the Quaternary were less differentiated and resulted in the whole horst uplift by 100 to 160 m. The uplifts proceeded under conditions of dense network of faults dominated by those of longitudinal (SW to NE) and transversal (NW to SE) direction. Some of the fault-lines are distinctly seismic-active.