Krisztina Sebe

Volcanic architecture, eruption mechanism and landform evolution of a Plio/Pleistocene intracontinental basaltic polycyclic monogenetic volcano from the Bakony-Balaton Highland Volcanic Field, Hungary

Bondoró Volcanic Complex (shortly Bondoró) is one of the most complex eruption centre of Bakony-Balaton Highland Volcanic Field, which made up from basaltic pyroclastics sequences, a capping confined lava field (~4 km2) and an additional scoria cone. Here we document and describe the main evolutional phases of the Bondoró on the basis of facies analysis, drill core descriptions and geomorphic studies and provide a general model for this complex monogenetic volcano. Based on the distinguished 13 individual volcanic facies, we infer that the eruption history of Bondoró contained several stages including initial phreatomagmatic eruptions, Strombolian-type scoria cones forming as well as effusive phases. The existing and newly obtained K-Ar radiometric data have confirmed that the entire formation of the Bondoró volcano finished at about 2.3 Ma ago, and the time of its onset cannot be older than 3.8 Ma. Still K-Ar ages on neighbouring formations (e.g. Kab-hegy, Agár-teto) do not exclude a long-lasting eruptive period with multiple eruptions and potential rejuvenation of volcanic activity in the same place indicating stable melt production beneath this location. The prolonged volcanic activity and the complex volcanic facies architecture of Bondoró suggest that this volcano is a polycyclic volcano, composed of at least two monogenetic volcanoes formed more or less in the same place, each erupted through distinct, but short lived eruption episodes. The total estimated eruption volume, the volcanic facies characteristics and geomorphology also suggests that Bondoró is rather a small-volume polycyclic basaltic volcano than a polygenetic one and can be interpreted as a nested monogenetic volcanic complex with multiple eruption episodes. It seems that Bondoró is rather a “rule” than an “exception” in regard of its polycyclic nature not only among the volcanoes of the Bakony-Balaton Highland Volcanic Field but also in the Neogene basaltic volcanoes of the Pannonian Basin.

Sedimentology of a Permian playa lake: the Boda Claystone Formation, Hungary

Sedimentology of a Permian playa lake: the Boda Claystone Formation, Hungary The Upper Permian Boda Claystone Formation (BCF) in SW Hungary has been previously been identified as a saline lake deposit. A country-wide screening found this 800-1000 m thick succession the most suitable for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste in Hungary, and research into this formation has consequently been intensified since. The investigations included a detailed study of the sedimentological characteristics. Data obtained by mapping of the 25 km2 outcrop area of the formation and from more than 40 boreholes were processed. The sedimentary structures were investigated on outcrop to microscopic scales, and cycles in the succession were interpreted. The main lithofacies, sedimentary structures and ichnofossils are presented. They indicate that the major part of the succession was deposited in a playa mudflat and is not of lacustrine origin in a strict sense. The lake sediments are represented by laminated and ripple-marked/flaser-type cross-laminated claystones and siltstones and by massive dolomites; trace fossils include crawling traces and burrows. Partial or complete drying out of the lake commonly occurred after the formation of carbonate mud by evaporation. Periodic fluvial influx is recorded by cross-bedded sandstones and unsorted gravelly sandstones of up to pebble-sized angular grains. Fenestral and stromatolitic structures reflect the repeated appearance of playa mudflat conditions. The silty claystones, which compose the major part of the succession, lost their primary structures due to pedogenic processes and indicate prolonged subaerial intervals with soil formation and only ephemeral inundations. The presence of pedogenic carbonate concretions supports the interpretation of an arid climate and a relatively shallow groundwater table. Drying-out events shown by desiccation cracks and authigenic breccias can be traced all over the succession. The various facies form small-scale sedimentary cycles showing a shallowing-upward trend and the growing influence of aridity and subaerial exposure.

Turbidites as indicators of paleotopography, Upper Miocene Lake Pannon, Western Mecsek Mountains (Hungary)

Abstract The floor of Lake Pannon covering the Pannonian Basin in the Late Miocene had considerable relief, including both deep sub-basins, like the Drava Basin, and basement highs, like the Mecsek Mts, in close proximity. The several km thick lacustrine succession in the Drava Basin includes profundal marls, basin-center turbidites, overlain by shales of basin-margin slopes, coarsening-upward deltaic successions and alluvial deposits. Along the margin of the Mecsek Mts locally derived shoreface sands and deltaic deposits from further away have been mapped so far on the surface. Recent field studies at the transition between the two areas revealed a succession that does not fit into either of these environments. A series of sandstone a few meters thick occurs above laminated to bioturbated clayey siltstone. The sandstone show normal grading, plane lamination, flat erosional surfaces, soft-sediment deformations (load and water-escape structures) and sharp-based beds with small reverse faults and folds. These indicate rapid deposition from turbidity currents and their deformation as slumps on an inclined surface. These beds are far too thick and may reveal much larger volumes of mass wasting than is expected on the 20–30 m high delta slopes; however, regional seismic lines also exclude outcropping of deep-basin turbidites. We suggest that slopes with transitional size (less than 100 m high) may have developed on the flank of the Mecsek as a consequence of lake-level rise. Although these slopes were smaller than the usually several hundred meter high clinoforms in the deep basins, they could still provide large enough inertia for gravity flows. This interpretation is supported by the occurrence of sublittoral mollusc assemblages in the vicinity, indicating several tens of meters of water depth. Fossils suggest that sedimentation in this area started about 8 Ma ago.

Long-Term Geomorphological Evolution

Hungary occupies the inner parts of the largest basin in the Alpine orogenic belt, the Pannonian (Carpathian) Basin. Elements of its present-day topography have taken shape from the Late Paleozoic to modern times. A uniform basement of the basin was amalgamated from terranes of different origin as late as in the Middle Miocene. Accordingly, older landforms had been created on either the European or the African plate, while since the Miocene geomorphic evolution has happened within a common framework. The oldest relict landforms are fragments of multiple generations of tropical planation surfaces (e.g. tower karsts, shallow tropical karsts, tors), which had formed until the Middle Miocene. From the late Neogene other types of landforms have been preserved as well. The Middle to Late Miocene andesitic-rhyolitic volcanism built mountain ranges consisting mainly of stratovolcanoes. From the Pliocene mostly glacis but also pediments formed in the piedmont zones. The Late Miocene–Early Pleistocene basalt volcanoes include a few shield volcanoes and numerous maars. The spatial distribution of recent geomorphic processes is controlled by a compressional stress regime due to basin inversion acting from the end of the Neogene. Mountains and hills are uplifting and being eroded, dissected by incising watercourses. Uplift and climatic oscillations initiated the formation of flights of terraces along rivers. Mass movements are common on slopes. Aeolian processes had increased importance under the periglacial climate of the Pleistocene glacials: an extensive, thick loess cover was deposited, while wind erosion carved mega-yardangs, wind corridors and deflation hollows. Deflated material accumulated in large dune fields active up to the Holocene. Permafrost features are common in the northern and western parts of the basin. The majority of Hungary’s surface is Pleistocene–Holocene alluvial plains.