The Vienna Basin (, , , Hungarian: ''Bécsi-medence'') is a geologically young tectonic burial basin and

sedimentary basin Sedimentary basins are region-scale depressions of the Earth's crust where subsidence has occurred and a thick sequence of sediments have accumulated to form a large three-dimensional body of sedimentary rock They form when long-term subsidence ...

in the seam area between the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

, the

Carpathians The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains ...

and the

Pannonian Plain The Pannonian Basin, with the term Carpathian Basin being sometimes preferred in Hungarian literature, is a large sedimentary basin situated in southeastern Central Europe. After the Treaty of Trianon following World War I, the geomorphologic ...

. Although it topographically separates the Alps from the Western Carpathians, it connects them geologically via corresponding rocks underground.

Geography

The fairly level area has the shape of a spindle, over an area of by . In the north it stretches up to the Marchfeld plateau beyond the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

River. In the southeast, the Leitha Mountains separate it from the Little Hungarian Plain. In the west, it borders on the

Gutenstein Alps The Gutenstein Alps () are a mountain range in the Eastern Alps in Central Europe, and the northeasternmost part of the Northern Limestone Alps, reaching heights over 1,000 m. Topography Die Gutenstein Alps are separated in the north fr ...

and

Vienna Woods The Vienna Woods (, ) are forested highlands that form the northeastern foothills of the Northern Limestone Alps in the states of Lower Austria and Vienna. The and range of hills is heavily wooded and a popular recreation area with the Viennese ...

mountain ranges of the

Northern Limestone Alps The Northern Limestone Alps (), also called the Northern Calcareous Alps, are the ranges of the Eastern Alps north of the Central Eastern Alps located in Austria and the adjacent Bavarian lands of southeastern Germany. The distinction from the ...

. The Danube enters the basin at the Vienna Gate water gap near Mt. Leopoldsberg, it leaves at

Devín Gate Devín Gate, Hainburger Gate or Hungarian Gates (, ; ) is a natural gate in the Danube valley at the border of Slovakia and Austria. It is one out of four geomorphological areas of the Devín Carpathians, part of the Little Carpathians mountain r ...

in the

Little Carpathians The Little Carpathians (also: ''Lesser Carpathians'', ; ; ) are a low mountain range, about 100 km long, and part of the Carpathian Mountains. The mountains are situated in Western Slovakia, covering the area from Bratislava to Nové Mesto n ...

east of Hainburg. From the late 12th century onwards, the fortresses of Wiener Neustadt and Hainburg were erected at the southeastern and eastern rim as a defensive wall against attacks from the Hungarian lands downstream the Danube River. Nevertheless, the forces of King

Matthias Corvinus Matthias Corvinus (; ; ; ; ; ) was King of Hungary and King of Croatia, Croatia from 1458 to 1490, as Matthias I. He is often given the epithet "the Just". After conducting several military campaigns, he was elected King of Bohemia in 1469 and ...

entered the Vienna Basin during the Austrian-Hungarian War in 1485 to begin the Siege of Vienna. It was again invaded by Ottoman troops, who besieged the city in 1529 and 1683.

Structuring

More than 80% of the basin area belongs to the Austrian states of

Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...

and

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. The northern parts on the Morava (''March'') and

Thaya The Thaya (, ) is a river in the Czech Republic and Austria, a right tributary of the Morava (river), Morava River. It flows through the South Moravian Region in the Czech Republic and through Lower Austria in Austria. It is formed by the conflue ...

rivers are part of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

and

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

. Along the southern and western rim, geothermal and

mineral water Mineral water is water from a mineral spring that contains various minerals, such as salts and sulfur compounds. It is usually still, but may be sparkling ( carbonated/ effervescent). Traditionally, mineral waters were used or consumed at t ...

springs occur in several

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath, Somerset, Ba ...

s such as

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...

Bad Vöslau Bad Vöslau (; Central Bavarian: ''Bod Vöslau'') is a spa town and Municipality (Austria), municipality in the state of Lower Austria. It is also known as the cradle of the Austrian red wine cultivation. The population, as of 2022, is 12,424. G ...

and Bad Fischau-Brunn. Parts: *Vienna Basin proper. The part within the Czech Republic is called ''Dolnomoravský úval'' (

Lower Morava Valley The Lower Morava Valley (; ; ) is a geomorphological formation (special type of valley) in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It is formed by the depression in the Western Carpathians (Ždánice Forest, Kyjov Hills and Pálava Protected Landscap ...

), whilst that within Slovakia is called ''Borská nížina'' (Bor Lowland, part of the

Záhorie , the Romanian village of Dumbrava, called Erdőhát in Hungarian, Pestişu Mic Záhorie () is a region in western Slovakia between the Little Carpathians to the east and the Morava River to the west. Although not an administrative region, it is ...

region) * Marchfeld (''Moravské pole'') in Lower Austria * Chvojnice Hills (''Chvojnická pahorkatina'') in Slovakia. The Bor Lowland and Chvojnice Hills are known collectively as Záhorská nížina (Záhorie Lowland).

Geology

The Vienna Basin formations are a series of sedimentary layers that were deposited in the

Neogene The Neogene ( ,) is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period million years ago. It is the second period of th ...

. It is situated on top of the Alpine fold and thrust belt, located at the junction between the Eastern Alps, the Carpathians, and the Pannonian Basin system. The Vienna Basin has been influenced by the evolution of each of these geologic systems. The basin is characterized by four distinct tectonic phases; (1) Early

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

piggyback basin, (2) Middle–Late Miocene

pull-apart basin In geology, a basin is a region where subsidence generates accommodation space for the deposition of sediments. A pull-apart basin is a structural basin where two overlapping (en echelon) strike-slip faults or a fault bend create an area of crust ...

, (3) Late Miocene–

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...

basin formation. Lee, E.Y. and Wagreich, M. (2016) "3D visualization of the sedimentary fill and subsidence evolution in the northern and central Vienna Basin (Miocene)" Austrian Journal of Earth Sciences 109/2, 241-251, https://www.zobodat.at/pdf/MittGeolGes_109_2_0241-0251.pdf The basin has been studied intensively starting with classical paleontological–stratigraphical papers and then continuing since the beginning of

hydrocarbon exploration Hydrocarbon exploration (or oil and gas exploration) is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for hydrocarbon deposits, particularly petroleum and natural gas, in the Earth's crust using petroleum geology. Exploration methods ...

more than 100 years ago. The Vienna Basin fault system on which the basin lies remains seismically active. Significant earthquakes that propagated across the Vienna Basin include the Neulengbach earthquake of 1590, and the strong

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

that hit

Carnuntum Carnuntum ( according to Ptolemy) was a Roman legionary fortress () and headquarters of the Roman navy, Pannonian fleet from 50 AD. After the 1st century, it was capital of the Pannonia Superior province. It also became a large city of app ...

in the mid-4th century.

References

External links

"Simplified Geological Map of the Weinviertel region"
{{Authority control Geology of Austria Geology of Slovakia Geology of the Czech Republic Sedimentary basins of Europe