Chronostratigraphy of Pannonian clinothems

Abstract

Chronostratigraphic investigations in Hungary first faced the phenomenon of clinothems in the 1980’s and 1990’s when the deposits of Lake Pannon were explored by seismic surveys. In such settings, Steno’s laws of stratigraphy are largely or fully violated. Chronostratigraphic boundary surfaces in the Pannonian Stage are not originally horizontal but inclined and span several hundred m vertical topographic distance. These clinoforms are imaged by seismic surveys, correlated chronostratigraphically by the application of biochronological markers, and dated by radiometric age measurements and magnetostratigraphy. The chronostratigraphy elaborated for the Pannonian Stage can serve as a model for other non-marine basins in the Paratethys area and beyond.