Lower and Middle Miocene sediments southwest of Brno in the light of new findings

Abstract

New knowledge on the occurrence of Lower and Middle Miocene sediments in the southwestern surroundings of Brno has been acquired through geological mapping and documentation work during the recent years. Specific work was focused on: • preparation of the publication on the local national history of the cadastral territory of the village of Bohutice; • salvage study of the former reserved bentonite deposit Ivančice – Réna, which is being gradually remediated and turned into a recreational area; • the area in the foreground of the New Ivančice viaduct, which is susceptible to long-term slope instability; • the western edge of the village of Němčičky near Židlochovice, where extensive construction of family houses is underway; • the area between the municipalities of Moravany, Nebovidy and Ostopovice, where the excavations for new extra-high voltage pylons were documented. The detailed mapping, petrographic and biostratigraphic studies allowed to refine the distribution, lithological characteristics and age of Miocene sediments; specifically, a more extensive occurrence of Lower Miocene sediments compared to previous findings was confirmed (localities Ostopovice, Moravské Bránice – locality 5). These findings support earlier results from the area N of the City of Brno, where the known extent of Ottnangian sediments was expanded at the expense of Badenian sediments. The documentation and sampling of the new excavations (for family houses and extra-high voltage pylons) and old mining pits enabled the description and further study of the sediments. The acquired litho- and biostratigraphic data were correlated with engineering geological findings. In a construction pit in Bohutice, a completely new occurrence of tuffitic sediments of the Ottnangian age was discovered and geochemically verified. Furthermore, the Ottnangian gravels in Němčičky were newly discovered. These contain a large proportion of granitoid pebbles probably derived from the Brno Massif. It was found that the weakly consolidated lithologically variable Lower Miocene sediments are prone to landslides. In the case of the New Ivančice viaduct, extensive suffusion doline were identified, resulting from the ingress of rainwater from the wider area of the railway embankment foreground. Biostratigraphy of the sediments was based on micropaleontological analysis of foraminiferas. Ottnangian sediments were usually fossil- free and/or they contained reworked Cretaceous foraminiferas. Lower Badenian sediments are characterized by occurrence of abundant and diversified fauna represented by foraminifera species such as Martinotiella karreri (Cush.), Globigerinoides bisphericus Todd, Vaginulina legumen (L.), etc.