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Eustatic and local tectonic impact on the Late Ordovician – early Silurian facies evolution on the SW margin of peri-Baltica (the southern Holy Cross Mountains, Poland)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 March 2021

Wiesław Trela Open the ORCID record for Wiesław Trela [Opens in a new window]
Wiesław Trela*
Affiliation:
Polish Geological Institute – National Research Institute, Zgoda 21, 25-953 Kielce, Poland
*
Author for correspondence: Wiesław Trela, Email: wieslaw.trela@pgi.gov.pl
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Abstract

This paper provides insight into the Late Ordovician to earliest Silurian evolution of sedimentary environments in the southern Holy Cross Mountains (SE Poland), which at that time were a part of the SW periphery of Baltica. The facies layout in this area was influenced by the basement block faulting, which differentiated the basin bathymetry into submarine horst and grabens, controlling facies distribution. However, the local tectonism was insufficient to fully mask the global eustatic events. Therefore, it is possible to correlate some facies changes in the Upper Ordovician and lower Llandovery sedimentary record of the southern Holy Cross Mountains with eustatic and palaeoceanographic changes reported worldwide. The most noticeable influence of eustasy on the sedimentary record in the studied area occurs at the Ordovician/Silurian boundary. It is manifested by Hirnantian regressive coarse-grained clastic sediments overlain by a post-glacial anoxic/dysoxic interval represented by the Rhuddanian transgressive black cherts and shales. It is noteworthy that the pre- and post-Hirnantian sedimentary environments in the southern Holy Cross Mountains were affected by upwelling induced by the SE trade winds.

Keywords

Late Ordovicianearliest Silurianfacieseustasylocal tectonicspalaeoceanography

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Type
Original Article
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 158 , Issue 8 , August 2021 , pp. 1472 - 1486
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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