Unique Cenozoic lithofacies in the northern part of the Darnó Fault Belt and its surroundings: an overview

Abstract

In the area where the Darno Fault belt breaks up as a horsetail fault system in southern Slovakia and northwestern Hungary, beside the dominant lithologies such as calcareous siltstone and claystone several peculiar lithofacies generated in different paleoenvironments of the Buda (Hungarian) Paleogene and Fiľakovo/Petervasara Eggenburgian Basins occur. Laminated limestone and shale classified as oil shale from the village of Drienovec, the Szendro and the Batka vicinities (Eocene-Oligocene and Early Miocene in age) came to existence in coastal lagoons and/or subtidal lagoons under anaerobic conditions at the bottom and affected by seasonal weather changes. The Batka, Novaj, Budikovany, Bretka bioclastic and organogenic limestone units (Kiscellian and Egerian in age respectively) were deposited under shallow marine littoral conditions. The Drienovec and Szuhogy Conglomerate units originated under fluviatile conditions. Almost all mentioned lithologies were generated in genetic (conglomerate) or spatial (oi...