Continuous tectonic evolution of the Orava Basin (Northern Carpathians) from Late Badenian to the present-day?

The fault-bounded Orava Basin is situated on the boundary between the Inner and Outer Carpathians, close to the northern boundary of the Klippen Belt. The Orava Basin was formed during the Neogene times and was enlarged in it s NE part during the Quaternary. According to the author's hypothesis, the crucial role has been played by a master transversal strike-slip fault name d Prosiek-Domanski Wierch-Lepietnica fault. The Orava Basin was opened by e xtension between the so-called Orava block rotated to the NW and the Tatra block shifted to the NE. According to palynological data it started 14-15 M a and was probably synchronous with thrusting of the Magura Nappe and also with the uplift of the Tatra massif. Quaternary subsidence of the NE part o f the present-day bottom of the Orava depression indicates, that probably t he same tectonic mechanism is active now. Such an assumption is based on mu ltidisciplinary studies: present-day activity of earthquakes (11 September 1995), geomorphological analysis of the Quaternary terraces aiming at the r econstruction of vertical tectonic movements, and on geophysical soundings. Some attempts aiming at understanding the role of paleostress field were m ade. The idea of a shift of tectonic process of subsidence and also of vert ical uplift from the west to the east is supported by inferences derived fr om the thermal evolution of the western part of the Orava Basin.