Interaction between bimodal volcanism, fluvial sedimentation and basin development in the Permo-Carboniferous Saar-Nahe Basin (south-west Germany)

Widespread bimodal-calcalkaline magmatism and contemporaneously active faulting reflect the combined effects of late-orogenic collapse and strike-slip faulting during syn-rift development of the late-Variscan Saar-Nahe Basin. The intrabasinal drainage systems experienced major but differing influences from three prominent styles of volcanic extrusives: extensive basic lava flows; localized acidic domes; and widespread pyroclastic units. Sedimentary sections including basic to intermediate lavas show the transformation of pre-eruptive meandering fluvial systems into lacustrine systems following lava eruptions. These relationships are interpreted in terms of damming of the drainage systems by the topographic barriers represented by the basic lavas themselves. Siliciclastic sediments re-entered and ultimately filled the lakes through prograding, small-scale crevasse channel/mouth bar complexes. Uplift associated with the intrusive/extrusive emplacement of acidic domes affected both the accommodation space and the internal topography of the basin. Following an extrusive pulse, each dome collapse caused the progradation of voluminous volcaniclastic aprons onto the surrounding alluvial plain. Locally, the overload by large volumes of unconsolidated detritus converted the regional meandering drainage system into a braided one. The overall duration of acidic dome activity could have been longer than 10⁶ years, but was interrupted by repose periods varying probably between a few hundred years to several thousand years. Pyroclastic activity accompanied dome emplacement and registers their episodic activity in the stratigraphic record. Fine-grained ashes of phreatoplinian eruptions were spread widely within the basin and overloaded streams in the area of fallout. Rapid reworking of huge amounts of unconsolidated material supplied an abundance of volcanic detritus, which tended to fill topographic lows that were usually fault-controlled. The relationships between basin evolution, intrabasinal volcanism and contemporaneously active faulting, identified in the Saar-Nahe Basin, are important. They emphasize and further the understanding of how similar volcanic products in sedimentary basins worldwide impacted on the depositional system.     

Impact of volcanism on the sedimentary record of the Neuquén rift basin,Argentina: towards a cause and effect model

The analysis of volcano‐sedimentary infill in sedimentary basins constitutes a challenge for basin analysis and hydrocarbon exploration worldwide. In order to understand the contribution of volcanism to the sedimentary record in rift basins, we study the Jurassic effusive‐explosive volcanic infill of an inverted extensional depocentre at the Neuquén Basin, Argentina. A cause and effect model that evaluates the relationship between volcanism and sedimentation was devised to develop a conceptual model for the tectono‐stratigraphic evolution of this volcanic rift basin. We show how the variations in the volcanism, coupled with the activity of extensional faults, determined the types of volcanic edifices (i.e., composite volcanoes, graben‐calderas, and lava fields). Volcanic edifices controlled the stacking patterns of the volcanic units as well as sedimentary systems. The landform of the volcanic edifices, as well as the styles and scales of the eruptions governed the sedimentary input to the basin, setting the main variables of the sedimentary systems, such as provenance, grain size, transport and deposition and geometry. As a result, the contrasting volcaniclastic input, from higher volcaniclastic input to lower volcaniclastic input, associated with different subsidence patterns, determined the high‐resolution syn‐rift infill patterns of the extensional depocentre. The cause and effect model presented in this study isolates the variables of the volcanic environments that control the sedimentary scenarios. We suggest that, by adjusting the first order input parameters of the model, these cause and effect scenarios could be adapted to similar rift basins, in order to establish predictive facies models with stratigraphic controls, and the impact of volcanism on their stratigraphic records.     

西南极利文斯顿岛汉那角火山岩地质及火山活动

本文以野外地质资料为基础，并结合岩相学特征，论述了西南极南设得兰群岛利文斯顿岛汉那角（ＨａｎｎａｈＰｏｉｎｔ）火山岩地层及岩石的基本特征，初步讨论了该地火山活动过程。该地互层状产出的火山角砾岩和熔岩，为南极半岛火山岩组的一部分。剖面上出露的三个火山岩地层旋回分别是三期火山作用的产物。第一、二旋回岩层产状的变化记录了火山作用过程中的一次活动间歇。第一旋回的英安岩和含有流纹岩质熔岩夹层的凝灰角砾岩仅为第一期火山活动末的产物；第二旋回为三次较强喷发活动的产物，从安山岩质火山碎屑岩为主，经玄武岩－安山岩质熔岩为主，过渡为含有安山岩或流纹岩质熔浆团的火山角砾岩。第三期火山活动可能更强烈，大面积分布的厚层玄武质熔岩无论从产状上还是在岩石学特征方面都有别于其他旋回。火山岩地层总体产状稳定，平缓地倾向北西，表明该区未受到过明显的构造影响，火山活动中心可能有逐步向北西迁移的趋势，与南设得兰群岛岩浆弧演变趋势一致。次火山岩主要为玄武岩质小岩墙，集中在第二旋回底部。第一、二旋回接触界线两侧凝灰角砾岩表现较强的沸石化。这些现象说明该接触面附近为一薄弱带，侵入活动和蚀变均较易发生。     

西南极利文斯顿岛火山岩地质

本文综合近年研究中新获得的资料和证据，对利文斯顿岛火山岩的地质特征和火山作用特点作了综合性的介绍。百耳斯建造是该岛最老的火山岩地层，由晚侏罗世至早白垩世生成的玄武岩、玄武安山岩质熔岩和火山碎屑岩、集块岩以及泥岩、页岩等组成，分布在岛西部的百耳斯半岛。中白垩世的鲍勒斯山组主要出露在岛的中部，是由安山岩质熔岩和火山碎屑岩夹层组成的一套蚀变火山岩系。汉那角剖面的火山碎屑岩和熔岩及史莱夫角的橄榄玄武岩均具有中白垩世的年龄。晚白垩世火山活动的产物以粗玄岩为代表，集中出露在西多斯角一带。伴随着火山活动，始新世英云闪长岩侵入白垩系火山岩地层。更新世至现代则有依诺特角组橄榄玄武岩在岛的东北部产出。上述火山活动随时间演进而自北西向南东不断迁移的特点，与整个南设得兰群岛火山作用的发展趋势相符。岩石化学和地球化学资料表明，百耳斯半岛熔岩、史莱夫角的橄榄玄武岩和西多斯角的粗玄岩等白垩纪火山岩基本属于钙碱性岩系并且具有低钾低镁的特点。早第三纪的英云闪长岩继承了橄榄玄武岩和粗玄岩的成分特点，同是南设得兰群岛岩浆弧中生代－新生代火山作用的产物，在钙碱性岩系岩浆演化的晚期生成。而鲍勒斯山组的熔岩和汉那角的熔岩表现出岩相学和岩石化学性质上的     

Geomagnetic secular variation in historical lavas from the Canary Islands

Summary. The age of historical lava flows on the Canary Islands can be traced back at least to 1585 ad . During the last 400 years eruptions occurred at fairly regular intervals. The palaeomagnetic directions of these lavas record the ambient field direction with high precision so that an historical secular variation curve (SVC) can be constructed for the Canaries which closely resembles the curve registered at Paris. The SVC can be used as a dating tool for historical eruptions of unknown age and can probably be extended into the last 4000–5000 yr of recent volcanic activity on the Canaries.     

Application of seismic and sequence stratigraphic concepts to a lava‐fed delta system in the Faroe‐Shetland Basin,UK and Faroes

Detailed seismic stratigraphic analysis of 2D seismic data over the Faroe‐Shetland Escarpment has identified 13 seismic reflection units that record lava‐fed delta deposition during discrete periods of volcanism. Deposition was dominated by progradation, during which the time shoreline migrated a maximum distance of ～44 km in an ESE direction. Localised collapse of the delta front followed the end of progradation, as a decrease in volcanic activity left the delta unstable. Comparison with modern lava‐fed delta systems on Hawaii suggests that syn‐volcanic subsidence is a potential mechanism for apparent relative sea level rise and creation of new accommodation space during lava‐fed delta deposition. After the main phase of progradation, retrogradation of the delta occurred during a basinwide syn‐volcanic relative sea level rise where the shoreline migrated a maximum distance of ～75 km in a NNW direction. This rise in relative sea level was of the order of 175–200 m, and was followed by the progradation of smaller, perched lava‐fed deltas into the newly created accommodation space. Active delta deposition and the emplacement of lava flows feeding the delta front lasted ～2600 years, although the total duration of the lava‐fed delta system, including pauses between eruptions, may have been much longer.     

Volcanic style in the Strand Fiord Formation (Upper Cretaceous), Axel Heiberg Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago

The Strand Fiord Formation is a volcanic unit of early Late Cretaceous age which outcrops on west-central and northwestern Axel Heiberg Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The formation is part of the thick Sverdrup Basin succession and immediately precedes the final basin foundering event. The Strand Fiord volcanics are encased in marine strata and thin southward from a maximum thickness of 789+ m on northwestern Axel Heiberg to a zero edge near the southern shore of the island. Tholeiitic icelandite flows are the main constituent of the formation with volcaniclastic conglomerates, sandstones, mudrocks and rare coal seams also being present. The lava flows range in thickness from 6 to 60 m and subaerial flows predominate. Both pahoehoe and aa lava types are common and the volcanic pile accumulated mostly by the quiet effusion of lavas. The volcaniclastic lithologies become more common near the southern and eastern edges of the formation and represent lahars and beach to shallow marine reworked deposits. The Strand Fiord volcanics are interpreted to represent the cratonward extension of the Alpha Ridge, a volcanic ridge that was active during the formation of the Amerasian Basin.     

Tectonostratigraphic framework and depositional history of the deepwater Ulleung Basin,East Sea/Sea of Japan

The Ulleung Basin, East Sea/Japan Sea, is a Neogene back-arc basin and occupies a tectonically crucial zone under the influence of relative motions between Eurasian, Pacific and Philippine Sea plates. However, the link between tectonics and sedimentation remains poorly understood in the back-arc Ulleung Basin, as it does in many other back-arc basins as well, because of a paucity of seismic data and controversy over the tectonic history of the basin. This paper presents an integrated tectonostratigraphic and sedimentary evolution in the deepwater Ulleung Basin using 2D multichannel seismic reflection data. The sedimentary succession within the deepwater Ulleung Basin is divided into four second-order seismic megasequences (MS1 to MS4). Detailed seismic stratigraphy interpretation of the four megasequences suggests the depositional history of the deepwater Ulleung Basin occurred in four stages, controlled by tectonic movement, volcanism, and sea-level fluctuations. In Stage 1 (late Oligocene through early Miocene), syn-rift sediment supplied to the basin was restricted to the southern base-of-slope, whereas the northern distal part of the basin was dominated by volcanic sills and lava flows derived from initial rifting-related volcanism. In Stage 2 (late early Miocene through middle Miocene), volcanic extrusion occurred through post-rift, chain volcanism in the earliest time, followed by hemipelagic and turbidite sedimentation in a quiescent open marine setting. In Stage 3 (late middle Miocene through late Miocene), compressional activity was predominant throughout the Ulleung Basin, resulting in regional uplift and sub-aerial erosion/denudation of the southern shelf of the basin, which provided enormous volumes of sediment into the basin through mass transport processes. In Stage 4 (early Pliocene through present), although the degree of tectonic stress decreased significantly, mass movement was still generated by sea-level fluctuations as well as compressional tectonic movement, resulting in stacked mass transport deposits along the southern basin margin. We propose a new depositional history model for the deepwater Ulleung Basin and provide a window into understanding how tectonic, volcanic and eustatic interactions control sedimentation in back-arc basins.     

The synrift phase of the early Domeyko Basin (Triassic,northern Chile): Sedimentary,volcanic, and tectonic interplay in the evolution of an ancient subduction‐related rift basin

The geodynamic setting along the SW Gondwana margin during its early breakup (Triassic) remains poorly understood. Recent models calling for an uninterrupted subduction since Late Palaeozoic only slightly consider the geotectonic significance of coeval basins. The Domeyko Basin initiated as a rift basin during the Triassic being filled by sedimentary and volcanic deposits. Stratigraphic, sedimentological, and geochronological analyses are presented in order to determine the tectonostratigraphic evolution of this basin and to propose a tectonic model suitable for other SW Gondwana‐margin rift basins. The Domeyko Basin recorded two synrift stages. The Synrift I (~240–225 Ma) initiated the Sierra Exploradora sub‐basin, whereas the Synrift II (~217–200 Ma) reactivated this sub‐basin and originated small depocentres grouped in the Sierra de Varas sub‐basin. During the rift evolution, the sedimentary systems developed were largely controlled by the interplay between tectonics and volcanism through the accommodation/sediment supply ratio (A/S). High‐volcaniclastic depocentres record a net dominance of the syn‐eruptive period lacking rift‐climax sequences, whereas low‐volcaniclastic depocentres of the Sierra de Varas sub‐basin developed a complete rift cycle during the Synrift II stage. The architecture of the Domeyko Basin suggests a transtensional kinematic where N‐S master faults interacted with ~NW‐SE basement structures producing highly asymmetric releasing bends. We suggest that the early Domeyko Basin was a continental subduction‐related rift basin likely developed under an oblique convergence in a back‐arc setting. Subduction would have acted as a primary driving mechanism for the extension along the Gondwanan margin, unlike inland rift basins. Slab‐induced dynamic can strongly influence the tectonostratigraphic evolution of subduction‐related rift basins through controls in the localization and style of magmatism and faulting, settling the interplay between tectonics, volcanism, and sedimentation during the rifting.     

海南岛西北部火山海岸的研究

海南岛西北岸有晚更新世以来二期火山活动,共5次喷发,沿海岸密集的火山喷发孔、岩流堆积,构成了独特的海蚀型火山港湾岸。火山活动改变了沿岸地形、河流流向与沉积环境,使海岸沉积相数次变化。据岩石学研究,该区系洋岛型橄榄玄武岩及大洋中脊型拉斑玄武岩,反映了海南岛—北部湾海底有扩张的迹象。     

Lyttelton Volcano, Banks Peninsula, New Zealand: Primary volcanic landforms and eruptive centre identification

Lyttelton Volcano, Banks Peninsula, New Zealand, has historically been viewed as a simple volcanic cone. This paper uses digital terrain models (DTM) and primary volcanic landforms to reinterpret Lyttelton Volcano as having multiple eruptive centres. Primary volcanic landforms are features produced during active volcanism, classified as constructional, hypabyssal, and erosional volcanic features. Constructional volcanic features are lava flows, scoria cones and domes; hypabyssal volcanic features are dykes and sills; and erosional volcanic features are valley and ridge patterns and orientations. Lava flow trends are recognised from aerial photograph analysis and supported by field observations, highlighting radiating lava trends around specific locations within Lyttelton Harbour. Scoria cones and domes occur on the outer flanks of volcanic cones, and are used as such in the identification of remnant cone surfaces. Dyke orientations are plotted and then projected to the interior of the volcano, defining 13 zones of convergence. The projected arrays of these orientations highlight defined regions along the erosional crater rim, each indicating a radial dyke swarm, from which the projected trends of the associated dykes indicate an eruptive centre. Valley and ridge orientations are projected from the longest valley or ridge segment, towards the inner harbour. Radiating erosive patterns are incepted during the growth and degradation of a volcanic cone, with the resulting trends orienting to the summit. Zones of convergence/eruptive centres are identified from lava flow orientations, onlapping lava sequences, scoria cones, and intrusive locations. The summit of a volcanic edifice can be identified from the orientations of valleys and ridges, while radial dyke systems determine whether this summit was a volcanic centre or simply a local topographic high. Volcanic landforms are used to identify cone sectors, the preserved sector associated with a particular eruptive centre. Cone sector limits are defined by a basal footprint and an erosional crater rim, with similar arcuate features (remnant cone features) being exposed in the interior of the volcano. Lyttelton Volcano comprises fifteen volcanic cones, with vent locations controlled by underlying fault lineaments. The growth and erosion of each volcanic cone is reflected in primary volcanic landforms, with the preserved features of cones confined to cone sectors and cone artefacts.     

Geology and regional significance of the Sarnoo Hills,eastern rift margin of the Barmer Basin,NW India

The Barmer Basin is a poorly understood rift basin in Rajasthan, northwest India. Exposures in the Sarnoo Hills, situated along the central eastern rift margin of the Barmer Basin, reveal a sedimentary succession that accumulated prior to the main Barmer Basin rift event, and a rift‐oblique fault network that displays unusual geometries and characteristics. Here, we present a comprehensive study of Lower Cretaceous sedimentology on the basin margin, along with a detailed investigation of rift‐oblique faults that are exposed nowhere else in the region and provide critical insights into Barmer Basin evolution. Lower Cretaceous sediments were deposited within a rapidly subsiding alluvial plain fluvial system. Subsequent to deposition, the evolving Sarnoo Hills fault network was affected by structural inheritance during an early, previously unrecognised, rift‐oblique extensional event attributed to transtension between India and Madagascar, and formed a juvenile fault network within the immediate rift‐margin footwall. Ghaggar‐Hakra Formation deposition may have been triggered by early rifting which tectonically destabilised the Marwar Craton prior to the main northeast–southwest Barmer Basin rift event. The identification of early rifting in the Barmer Basin demonstrates that regional extension and the associated rift systems were established throughout northwest India prior to the main phase of Deccan eruptions. Inheritance of early oblique fault systems within the evolving Barmer Basin provides a robust explanation for poorly understood structural complications interpreted in the subsurface throughout the rift. Critically, the presence of syn‐rift sedimentary successions within older oblique rift systems obscured beneath the present‐day Barmer Basin has significant implications for hydrocarbon exploration.     

Geological and geomorphological evolution of the Etna volcano NE flank and relationships between lava flow invasions and erosional processes in the Alcantara Valley (Italy)

In this paper, the interrelationships between volcanic activity and fluvial events in the Alcantara Valley are investigated. Based on the correlation between the stratigraphy of the NE flank of Mt Etna and subsurface data, the geological and geomorphological evolutions of the valley are reconstructed. New 1:10 000 scale geological mapping shows that the bulk of this sector of the volcano is made up of the Ellittico volcano lava flows, though they are widely covered by the products of the eruptive activity of the last 15 ka. The present-day morphological setting of the Alcantara Valley is the result of two main evolutionary phases initiated during the activity of the Ellittico volcano. Only one lava flow invasion of the valley floor occurred in the first phase. This phenomenon was followed by a long period of erosional processes leading to the entrenchment of the drainage pattern and the erosion of the Ellittico lava flow. About 20–25 ka ago, an important change in the frequency of the lava flow invasions into the valley occurred associated with the final stage of the Ellittico volcano activity marking the beginning of the second phase. During this phase, volcanic processes became predominant with respect to other morphogenetic processes in the Alcantara Valley. Lava flows coming from the NE flank of the Ellittico volcano caused a radical modification of the morphological setting of this area, even though only one lava flow emitted by an eruptive fissure located within the valley partially filled the riverbed. During the eruptive activity of the last 15 ka, the complete filling of the Alcantara Valley floor occurred. In particular, between 15 and 7 ka, a lava flow originated from the Mt Moio scoria cone filled the valley floor for a distance of about 9 km. Following a short period of erosion, an eruptive fissure located within the valley generated a 20–21-km-long lava flow that was channelled along the full extent of the Alcantara Valley and stretches for about 3 km offshore in the Ionian sea. In the last 7 ka, lava flows originating from the NE-Rift zone produced only temporary damming of the riverbed without any important contribution to the filling of the Alcantara Valley.     

Geomorphology of subglacial volcanoes in the Azas Plateau, the Tuva Republic, Russia

The Azas Plateau volcanic field is located in the Tuva Republic of the Russian Federation. The compositions of the Azas Plateau volcanics include low-viscosity trachybasalt and basanite. Volcanic edifices of Middle-Late Pleistocene age are widely distributed in the southeastern part of the volcanic field. There are subglacial volcanoes among the volcanic edifices, and their formation coincided with extensive ancient glaciations in the region. The dominant subglacial volcanoes in the area are tuyas. The general shapes of the tuyas (flat-tops with steep sides) are due to eruptions into meltwater lakes and confinement of ice walls, and effusive subaerial eruptions of basaltic lavas. There are also non-flat-topped subglacial volcanoes and at least one subaerial volcanic edifice in the area. Degradation appears to have modified the primary shapes of the tuya edifices, and such processes seem to include failures of over-steepened slopes, gully formation due to stream runoff and debris flows, cirque/valley glaciation, and modification by rock glaciers. The estimated thicknesses of the ice sheets covering the subglacial volcanoes during their eruptions range 300–600 m on average.     

西南极纳尔逊岛Stansbury半岛火山岩地质特征初论

纳尔逊岛Stansbury半岛被玄武质、玄武安山质熔岩和火山碎屑岩以及沉积火山碎屑岩所覆盖。区域火山岩地层对比证明其是在形成长城站地区火山岩的同一火山作用下发育起来的。据地质接触关系和岩石组合特点,初步认为该半岛火山岩地层可以进一步划分为三个岩性段,分别形成于两期火山作用。该半岛的主要构造线方向平行于菲尔德斯海峡,这在地貌特征及次火山岩的分布上得到了证实。     

西南极乔治王岛菲尔德斯半岛火山岩地质初步研究

西南极乔治王岛菲尔德斯半岛主要由基性熔岩、火山碎屑岩及薄层沉积岩组成,并有次火山岩体及脉岩发育.野外观察及K—Ar,Rb—Sr全岩年龄说明岩石形成于始新一渐新世.主要元素和微量元素地球化学特征说明岩石属低钾高铝钙碱性玄武岩,但具有拉斑玄武岩的某些特征,是岛弧火山活动的产物.岩层呈平缓单斜,发育有近同期及后期走滑正断层,以及由断层活动形成的局部以称褶皱.     

Magnetostratigraphy of Palaeocene basalts from the Vaigat Formation of West Greenland

A palaeomagnetic study comprising the directional results from 289 individual lava flows, sampled along eight sections in the Palaeocene basalts of West Greenland, is reported. The eight individual sections are correlated using lithostratigraphical marker horizons to form a single composite profile. Generally, the lithological correlation is in good agreement with the record of geomagnetic secular variation.
  The total composite palaeomagnetic profile represents a stratigraphic thickness of 1.6  km through the Vaigat Formation, which is the lowermost of the two volcanic formations formed during the main stage of plateau volcanism. Only two polarity zones are found in the composite profile, suggesting a very short duration for the West Greenland main plateau-building volcanism. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dates support a high extrusion rate and also indicate that the lower normal polarity zone is Chron C27n and that the upper reverse polarity zone is Chron C26r.
  The C27n–C26r transition is fully recorded along one of the sections (Nuusap Qaqqarsua), with intermediate directions covering a 200  m thick succession of lavas. A combined palaeomagnetic, field and geochemical study along this profile showed good agreement; that is, geochemically and geologically derived single magmatic events show groupings of the palaeomagnetic directions. Supposing a duration for the geomagnetic transition of 5000 years, the eruption frequency during this period was as high as one flow every 80 years.     

Volcanic geology of Admiralty Bay,King George Island,Antarctica

At Admiralty Bay of central King George Island, Keller Peninsula, Ull-man Spur and Point Hennequin are main Tertiary volcanic terranes. Field investigation and isotopic datings indicate that, there occurred three periods of eruptions ( three volcanic cycles) and accompanying N-toward migration of the volcanic center on Keller Peninsula. After the second period of eruptions, the crater collapsed and a cal-dera was formed, then later eruptions were limited at the northern end of the peninsula and finally migrated to Ullman Spur. Thus Keller Peninsula is a revived caldera, and its volcanism migrated toward E with time. Point Hennequin volcanism happened more or less simultaneously with the above two areas, but has no clear relation in chemical evolution with them, frequently it belongs to another independent volcanic center.     

Origin of glacial–fluvial landforms in the Azas Plateau volcanic field, the Tuva Republic, Russia: Role of ice–magma interaction

The basaltic Azas Plateau volcanic field is located in the Tuva Republic of the Russian Federation. The area was glaciated multiple times, and the field is characterized by the formation of subglacial volcanoes called tuyas, but subaerial volcanoes and lava fields also exist. A combined study of remote sensing and field observations in the vicinity of the tuyas in the southeastern Azas Plateau volcanic field identified landforms that are best explained by the jökulhlaup hypothesis. The landforms include elongated hills, paleochannels, and butte and basin topography. These landforms are hypothesized to have formed by both erosion and deposition caused by high-energy water streams. The triggering for the hypothesized jökulhlaups was either melting of ice by subglacial volcanism and/or destabilization of ice-dammed/subglacial reservoirs. The age estimation of the flood events is difficult, but they probably occurred during the ice ages of the Quaternary, as late as in the Middle-Late Pleistocene.     

Evolution of basin architecture in an incipient continental rift: the Cenozoic Most Basin, Eger Graben (Central Europe)

The Oligo-Miocene Most Basin is the largest preserved sedimentary basin within the Eger Graben, the easternmost part of the European Cenozoic Rift System (ECRIS). The basin is interpreted as a part of an incipient rift system that underwent two distinct phases of extension. The first phase, characterised by NNE–SSW- to N–S-oriented horizontal extension between the end of Eocene and early Miocene, was oblique to the rift axis and caused evolution of a fault system characterised by en-échelon-arranged E–W (ENE–WSW) faults. These faults defined a number of small, shallow initial depocentres of very small subsidence rates that gradually merged during the growth and linkage of the normal fault segments. The youngest part of the basin fill indicates accelerated subsidence caused probably by the concentration of displacement at several major bounding faults. Major post-depositional faulting and forced folding were related to a change in the extension vector to an orthogonal position with respect to the rift axis and overprinting of the E–W faults by an NE–SW normal fault system. The origin of the palaeostress field of the earlier, oblique, extensional phase remains controversial and can be attributed either to the effects of the Alpine lithospheric root or (perhaps more likely because of the dominant volcanism at the onset of Eger Graben formation) to doming due to thermal perturbation of the lithosphere. The later, orthogonal, extensional phase is explained by stretching along the crest of a growing regional-scale anticlinal feature, which supports the recent hypothesis of lithospheric folding in the Alpine–Carpathian foreland.