Changing seas in the Early-Middle Miocene of Central Europe: a Mediterranean approach to Paratethyan stratigraphy

Abstract

The Miocene palaeogeographic evolution of the Paratethys Sea is still poorly constrained. Here, we use modern Mediterranean biochronology to provide an up-to-date overview of changing seas in Central Europe. Instead of a Paratethys that waxed and waned with fluctuating global sea levels, we show that the development of different seas was mainly controlled by tectonic phases. The Early Miocene “Ottnangian Sea” (~18 Ma) was connected to the Mediterranean via the Rhône valley, while the “Karpatian Sea” (~16.5 Ma) was initiated by a tectonically induced marine transgression through the Trans-Tethyan gateway. In most Central European basins, the establishment of the “Badenian Sea” (<15.2 Ma), triggered by subduction-related processes in the Pannonian and Carpathian domain, is significantly younger (by ~1 Myr) than usually estimated. The updated palaeogeographic reconstructions provide a better understanding of the concepts of basin dynamics, land–sea distribution and palaeoenvironmental change in the Miocene of Central Europe.