PORE SPACE CHARACTERISATION OF UPPER CRETACEOUS AND UPPER EOCENE SANDSTONES IN THE UPPER AUSTRIAN MOLASSE BASIN

摘要

The North Alpine Foreland Basin (Molasse Basin) extends along the northern margin of the Alps from Geneva to Vienna. The metamorphic basement with local NW- and NE-trending Permo-Carboniferous graben structures is covered by Mesozoic mixed carbonate-siliciclastic shelf sediments. The Molasse stage of basin evolution developed since Late Eocene times in response to loading of the southern margin of the European plate after the Alpine orogeny. Within the frame of the present study, pore space characteristics of 29 sandstone samples from the Upper Austrian Molasse Basin were determined using conventional microscopy and electron microprobe analysis on polished thin sections. In addition to the general lithology, type and degree of cementation, textural features like grain size distribution and orientation, as well as the extent of structural and compositional maturity were evaluated.