Department of problems of the Carpathians geology

Department of problems of the Carpathians geology

Carpathian geological problems department belongs to the oldest departments in the Institute. Under the name "Department of Paleogeography and Tectonics of Combustible Mineral Provinces" it was created in 1949 at the Lviv branch of the Institute of Geological Sciences of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR O. S. Vyalov headed the department. Since 1988, the department was headed by Dr. geol.-min. Sciences, Prof. O. S. Stupka. From 2023 - doctor of geol. Sciences O. M. Hnylko. The department employs 9 employees, including a doctor of science and two candidates of geological sciences. Solving the problems of such basic geological disciplines as stratigraphy, tectonics and geodynamics of the Ukrainian Carpathians in line with the developments of modern theoretical and regional geology, as well as presenting them at the international level, is one of the main areas of work of the Carpathian Geology Department. An applied aspect of this direction is the identification of potentially oil and gas-bearing strata and structures, as well as formations promising for other minerals. The actual material for the work of the department in recent years is the geological data collected during joint expeditionary works with the workers of the Lviv and Transcarpathian expeditions during the geological survey and preparation for the publication of the State Geological Map, scale 200, as well as during field and laboratory research of the Institute. Employees of the department made a fundamental description of almost all Cretaceous and Paleogene strata of the Ukrainian Carpathians. At the beginning of our century, the main results of geological, including geological mapping, stratigraphic and tectonic studies of the department were summarized, coordinated with geological data from neighboring countries and published on international geological maps of the Outer Carpathians (Poland-Ukraine-Slovakia-Romania) scale 1:200 000, which are actively used by the world scientific community. The main scientific achievements were obtained by the department.
  • The main tectonic elements of the Ukrainian Carpathians were typified with the application of the plate tectonics and in accordance with the structures of all Carpathians. The main tectonic elements the Ukrainian Carpathians are fragments of the Alcapa and Tizsa-Dacia terranes, the Pieniny Klippen Belt and Fore-Marmarosh sutures, as well as the flysch-molasse accretionary paleoprism. For the first time, the content and boundaries of these elements on the Ukrainian territory are outlined. The inner Cretaceous-Paleogene and outer Neogene prisms are distinguished. The inner prism is divided into two structures, one of which are developed in front of the Tizsia-Dacia Terrane, and the second one - in front of the Alcapa Terrane.
  • A model of the geological evolution of the Ukrainian Carpathians in the context of the structure and development of the Alpine-Carpathian realm has been constructed. The geological evolution of the region includes two main stages: a) the separation of the microcontinental terranes from Pangea during the breakup of the supercontinent and the expansion of the Tethys (Triassic-Jurassic stage) and b) the convergence of the terranes and their collision with each other and with Eurasia (Cretaceous-Neogene stage).
  • The stratigraphy of the Jurassic, Cretaceous, Paleogene and Neogene deposits of the Ukrainian Carpathians and adjacent territories has been detailed and clarified. The biozonal subdivision of the Paleocene-Eocene of the Ukrainian Carpathians according to planktonic foraminifera was supplemented and correlation levels were distinguished, which made it possible to compare the regional stratigraphic schemes with the modern Geological Time Scale.
  • A new direction of research for the Ukrainian Carpathians - reconstruction of the depths of accumulation of flysch deposits by microfaunistic analysis of small foraminifera is being developed in the department, in accordance with world science methods. For the first time, the assemblages of deep-water agglutinated foraminifera (DWAF) were identified in the sediments of the region. According the microfaunistic analysis and sedimentological studies, deep-water turbidite sedimentation was dominated in the Cretaceous-Eocene time in the Carpathian flysch basin in the Tethys margin area, where deep-water fans with of channels, lobes and interchannel lithofacies were formed.
  • The geological position and tectonic-sedimentary environments of the potentially oil- and gas-generating black shales located in the Ukrainian Carpathians were detailed and clarified based on microfaunistic, sedimentological and geological mapping data. In particular, the stratigraphy, geological structure, and bathymetry of accumulation of the Eocene black shale formation of the Silesian Nappe are detailed. In the Carpathian Foredeep substratum, the stratigraphy and facies distribution of the oil-bearing Upper Jurassic calcareous deposits were clarified on the basis of published materials and own data.
  • Previously undescribed structural forms in the Eastern and Western Carpathian junction were fixes by own structural studies and geomapping works. Here, shear zones and lateral extrusion structures were identified. They include elongated blocks – the westernmost parts of the Burkut and Svydovets nappes of the Eastern Carpathians, which are wedged into the Dukla Nappe of the Western Carpathians.
Over the past 5 years, the results of scientific research by the Carpathian geological problems department have been represented in 94 publications including 1 international monograph, 35 articles including 11 articles indexed by WoS/Scopus.