Germanic basin
The Germanic Basin ( Central European Basin since 1999 ) was a large sedimentation area in Western and Central Europe that extended in the Permian and Triassic from England in the west to the eastern border of Poland.
In the south it was bounded by the Vindelician country and in the west and northwest by the Brabant , Armorican and London massifs . In the north, the basin was bounded by the highlands in Ireland and Scotland, which at that time were still connected with the North American continent. In the east, the basin was closed off by the Eastern European Table , in the northeast by the Fennoscandic Shield (Scandinavia and Finland). The sedimentation began in the Rotliegend with continental deposits. Later in the Zechstein and Muschelkalk , the area was largely flooded by the sea. Red sandstone and Keuper are again predominantly continental. But also in the Buntsandstein and Keuper the marginal areas are influenced by the marine environment, brief sea advances also reached the basin center in northern Germany.
In the Zechstein, the sea penetrated the basin from the north from the Arctic Ocean . This gate closed in the upper Permian. In the Triassic period, these sea advances took place through a number of "gates" in the south of the basin, e.g. B. the Eastern Carpathian Gate (Eastern Poland), the Silesian Gate (western Poland) and the Burgundian Gate (France). In the Rhaetium , new inlets were formed in the north-west of the basin through the former highlands in Ireland and Scotland, which started from the now opening Atlantic .
Causes of pelvic formation
The basin formation was due to the expansion of the earth's crust in the Permian when the Tethys penetrated from the east into the supercontinent Pangea . In the Rotliegend, it was initially deposited in individual troughs within the basin. Later in the Zechstein, the entire area was flooded and powerful saline successes were deposited . In the Triassic, the basin widened to the south and west. The Permian-Triassic sediments in the Germanic Basin are sometimes up to 2000 m thick and cover a period of around 100 million years.
literature
- Gerhard Beutler and Joachim Szulc: The paleogeographical development of the Germanic basin in the Triassic and the connection to Tethys. In: Norbert Hauschke and Volker Wilde (Hrsg.): Trias A whole different world of Central Europe in the early Middle Ages. P. 71–80, Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, Munich 1999 ISBN 3-931516-55-5
Individual evidence
- ^ Resolutions of the German Stratigraphic Commission of May 1, 1999, Bad Salzungen Renaming of the Germanic Basin to the Central European Basin (May 1, 1999, Bad Salzungen)