Morfostrukturní doklady ponásunového porušení Pavlovských vrchů, Vnější Západní Karpaty

The article presents geomorphological and structural evidences of post-thrust limestone brittle deformation in the area of Pavlov Hills on the westernmost margin of the Outer Western Carpathians, Czech Republic. Airborne LiDAR-derived digital terrain model with 1 m resolution was used for this analysis, as well as aerial photographs and fieldwork. Combining these methods, we document a distinct N-S directed fault zone that intersects or delineates the majority of the Pavlov Hills Jurassic limestone nappe outliers. Data revealed an almost continuous fault zone of the north-south direction, which ranges from Horní Věstonice in the North, to Mikulov in the South, and extends further south to Austria. The thrusted Jurassic limestone bodies are cut by the fault zone, which tectonically crushed the limestone in its core and cores of the secondary fault branches. The map pattern of the fault zone suggests directional anastomotic branching and reattaching with the production of lenticular tectonic slices. We interpret the fault as a prominent sinistral shear zone. This is indicated by block displacement on the Svatý kopeček Hill and also by the orientation of the accompanying subvertical Riedel shears with identified horizontal lineation. The activity of the fault zone onset tightly after the nappe thrusting at the final stages of the accretion wedge formation, which is suggested from the observed sinistral kinematics. The main movement along the fault is thus most probably of a late Miocene age.