Synsedimentary tectonics of the Palaeozoic of the Drahany Upland (Sudeticum, Moravia, Czechoslovakia)

Southern parts of the Moravian Palaeozoic afford a good example of the complicated interrelationship between geosynclinal sedimentation and tectonics. The function of transverse deep-seated synsedimentary faults, separating the basin into big transverse blocks, is described in detail. The mobility of the basement of the individual transverse blocks influence sediment development, thickness, and the intensity of their deformation. The flysch and molasse facies complexes display a close relationship with the lifting of intermountain blocks and subsidence of basins. The clastic material was transported transverse to the basin axis. Where transverse axial depressions occur coarse clastic material accumulated as alluvial fans. This material was reworked by lateral currents and distributed parallel to the basin axis, within the limits of the zone of maximum subsidence. This zone of maximum subsidence shifted from the intermountain block toward the foreland (geosynclinal polariry in the sense of Aubouin, 1965). The transverse blocks with maximum sediment thickness (mainly those belonging to pre-flysch and flysch facies complexes) display the most distinct polarity and most intense sediment deformation. By contrast, transverse blocks with sedimentary sequences of small thickness (where carbonate, and eventually molasse facies complexes prevail) lack the pronounced polarity and are less deformed. Our observations lead to the conclusion that dilation stage of geosyncline development did not exist in the course of the deposition of pre-flysch facies complex.