The geology of Slovakia is structurally complex, with a highly varied array of mountain ranges and belts largely formed during the Alpine orogeny in Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras and with relicts of older Variscan structures of Paleozoic age. [1] [2] The internal zones of the West Carpathian orogen collapsed during Paleogene forming the Central Carpathian Paleogne Basin and later in Miocene the Pannonian Basin and Carpathian volcanic chain were formed. [3] [4]
Most of Slovakia is situated within the West Carpathian orogenic belt, except for the east of the country which is in the East Carpathians. However, the geological boundary does not coincide with the geographical one. A large area in the southern part of Slovakia is covered with Miocene sediments of the Pannonian Basin system. The West Carpathians are Mesozoic to Cenozoic in age. The internal zones were formed on the collapsed Variscan crust during Late Paleozoic and Mesozoic extension.
The Outer Carpathians represent a externides of the Inner Carpathian crustal scale thick-skinned nappes.
Important nappe stacking of the Internal Western Carpathians occurred gradually since the early Cretaceous. With peak metamorphism in the core of the internal zones of the orogen at approx. 120 - 80 million years ago. [12]
In the zone surrounding the Pieniny Klippen Belt, sedimentation was not interrupted and continued from the Late Cretaceous to Paleocene in Gosau type basins, forming the Myjava-Hričov Group including the Súľov Paleogene. Conglomerates, marlstones as well as the Kambühel Limestone were deposited in this period. [19]
Another marine transgression flooded the region from the vicinity of the Flysch Belt into the area of the Internal West Carpathians during the middle Eocene represented by the Sub-Tatra (or Podtatranská) Group or the Central Carpathian Paleogene Basin. Paleogene sediments are found in the Orava, Liptov, Spiš, Žilina and Podhale depressions. Conglomerates are common as the bottom of the succession, overlain by flysch (alternating sandstones and claystones). [20] At the edge of the subducting Flysch Belt, sedimentary rocks are up to four kilometers thick. The Central Carpathian Paleogene Basin rocks are usually not folded, however, local backthrusting was documented. [21]
Molasse deposits laid down in the Oligocene span into southern Slovakia from the Pannonian Basin in Hungary. The back-arc molasse formed several large basins, including the Vienna Basin, Danube Basin, South Slovak Basin and East Slovak Basin in the Neogene (the Danube, South Slovak and East Slovak are all subdivisions of the larger Pannonian Basin). [22] The basins are filled with the sediments associated with the Paratethys Ocean, up to five kilometers thick. Shales and marls are particularly common, intercalated with sandstone, tuff, conglomerate and algal limestones. Sediments became brackish over time as the Paratethys was isolated from the rest of the world's oceans since Sarmatian to Panonian. Overall, the basins are split up by numerous faults and small grabens, such as the Trenčín, Ilava, Horná Nitra Basin, Turiec Basin, Žiar Basin and Orava Basin, often filled with lake sediments. [4]
The volcanic activity was important in the Miocene especially in the Central and Eastern Slovakia. [23] Geophysical research and boreholes have shed light also on the buried volcanic rocks in the Danube Basin. The buried centers were at Šurany or Kráľová. [24] The volcanic rocks are found throughout the Central Western Carpathians and eastern Slovakia. The volcanism was related to the subduction of the Flysch Belt and back-arc extension of the Pannonian Basin. [10] The main phase of volcanism occurred in Badenian and Sarmatian. [25] It is represented by andesite, dacite and rhyolite. [26] Intrusion of granodiorite is known in the area of Hodruša and Banská Štiavnica. [27] Youngest late Miocene/Pliocene to Quaternary volcanic activity was represented by alkaline basalts to basanites.
A swarm of andesite dikes is also documented in the Pieniny Klippen Belt, however, the Cenozoic volcanic activity was negligible compared to the aforementioned.
In the Upper Pliocene, prior to the Quaternary glaciations Slovakia had a subtropical climate akin to Mediterranean climate. [28]
The Quaternary glaciations identified in Slovakia are, from oldest to youngest: Donau, Günz, Mindel, Riss and Würm. [28] During these glaciations glaciers extender downhill from the High Tatras and nonglaciated uplands were subject to frost weathering and solifluction. [28] Deflation of soils is also evident in mountaineous locations. [28]
Peat, eolian wind-blown sands, fluvial sand and gravel and loess are all typical Quaternary sediments, formed in the past 2.5 million years old and dominating the surface of Slovak lowlands. [29] The loess sheets of Slovakia are named, from the lowest to the highest W1, W2 and W3. In between W1 and W2 lies a layer of black-earth soil and between W2 and W3 lies an incipient soil which in parts is gleyed or cryoturbated. [28]
The Váh River has up to seven terraces of sand and gravel. Travertine and tufa is also common, including travertine which preserved a cranial mold of a Neanderthal from Gánovce. Moraine formations remain in the high mountains from the Pleistocene glaciations. [29]
The moderately metamorphosed Spišsko-gemerské rudohorie Mts. formed by Paleozoic rocks of Gemericum hosts veins of siderite, chalcopyrite and tetrahedrite along with the Veitsch-type magnesite (Hnúšťa, Jelšava and Lubeník). [30] Permian rocks often hold uranium ore. [31]
The Kremnica and Štiavnica Mountains formed by the Miocene volcanic rocks have polymetallic lead, zinc, copper, gold and silver veins. Similar, however, less extensive ore veins are found in the Vihorlat and Slanské vrchy Mountains in Eastern Slovakia. Iron skarn related to Miocene volcanism is known in the Muránka planina Plateau. [30]
Salt is found in the Neogene East Slovak Basin and brown coal is extracted from both the Handlová-Nováky Basin and the Modrý Kameň-Potor Basin. There are small deposits of natural gas and oil in the Neogene strata of the Vienna Basin together with older Triassic rocks. [32]
The Western Carpathians are a mountain range and geomorphological province that forms the western part of the Carpathian Mountains.
The Strážov Mountains are a mountain range in northwestern Slovakia, being part of Inner Western Carpathians, and of the Fatra-Tatra Area. They are situated between the towns of Trenčín, Považská Bystrica, Rajec, Prievidza and Bánovce nad Bebravou, bordering White Carpathians and the Váh river in the northwest and west, Javorníky in the north, Malá Fatra in the east, Vtáčnik and Nitra river in the south and Považský Inovec in the southwest. The highest mountain is Strážov
Považský Inovec is a mountain range in western Slovakia, named after the Váh river. It is 48 km (30 mi) long and 15–25 km (9-16 mi) wide mountain range. It is situated from the city of Hlohovec, raising from the Danubian Hills, and slowly raising further north until nearly to the city of Trenčín where it borders the Strážov Mountains, where is also the highest hill of the entire mountain range, Inovec. The mountain range separates basins of the Váh and Nitra rivers.
The Fatra-Tatra Area or the Tatra-Fatra Belt of core mountains is a part of the Inner Western Carpathians, a subprovince of the Western Carpathians. Most of the area lies in Slovakia with small parts reaching into Austria and Poland. The highest summit of the whole Carpathians, the Gerlachovský štít at 2,655 m (8,711 ft), lies in the High Tatras range which belongs to this area.
The Pieniny Klippen Belt is in geology a tectonically and orographically remarkable zone in the Western Carpathians, with a very complex geological structure. It is a narrow and extremely long north banded zone of extreme shortening and sub-vertical strike-slip fault zone, with complex geological history, where only fragments of individual strata and facies are preserved. The Pieniny Klippen Belt is considered one of the main tectonic sutures of the Carpathians and forms the boundary between the Outer and Central Western Carpathians.
The Western Carpathians are an arc-shaped mountain range, the northern branch of the Alpine-Himalayan fold and thrust system called the Alpide belt, which evolved during the Alpine orogeny. In particular, their pre-Cenozoic evolution is very similar to that of the Eastern Alps, and they constitute a transition between the Eastern Alps and the Eastern Carpathians.
The Pyrenees are a 430-kilometre-long, roughly east–west striking, intracontinental mountain chain that divide France, Spain, and Andorra. The belt has an extended, polycyclic geological evolution dating back to the Precambrian. The chain's present configuration is due to the collision between the microcontinent Iberia and the southwestern promontory of the European Plate. The two continents were approaching each other since the onset of the Upper Cretaceous (Albian/Cenomanian) about 100 million years ago and were consequently colliding during the Paleogene (Eocene/Oligocene) 55 to 25 million years ago. After its uplift, the chain experienced intense erosion and isostatic readjustments. A cross-section through the chain shows an asymmetric flower-like structure with steeper dips on the French side. The Pyrenees are not solely the result of compressional forces, but also show an important sinistral shearing.
Milan Mišík was Slovak geologist and university professor. He excelled particularly as an expert in microfacies analysis, stratigraphy, sedimentology, petrography of sedimentary rocks, but also in paleogeography, general and structural geology and tectonics. His best known scientific works were dealing with carbonate rocks and exotic conglomerates.
The Carpathian Flysch Belt is an arcuate tectonic zone included in the megastructural elevation of the Carpathians on the external periphery of the mountain chain. Geomorphologically it is a portion of the Outer Carpathians. Geologically it is a thin-skinned thrust belt or accretionary wedge, formed by rootless nappes consisting of so-called flysch – alternating marine deposits of claystones, shales and sandstones which were detached from their substratum and moved tens of kilometers to the north (generally). The Flysch Belt is together with Neogene volcanic complexes the only extant tectonic zone along the whole Carpathian arc.
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