Brittle tectonics and major dextral strike-slip zone in the Buda karst (Budapest, Hungary)

Three large (kilometric-scale) caves were studied in the Buda hills and the main directions of cave corridors, fault planes and mineralized veins were measured. Different stages of mineralizations are recognised: calcite scaleno-hedrons, baryte, silica, gypsum. New investigations of fluid inclusions in the baryte suggest a crystallization temperature of 50 degrees C and a freshwater fluid source. Microtectonic analysis allows the reconstruction of the successive tectonic events: (1) a NE-SW extensional phase at the Late Eocene-Early Oligocene limit (phase I), (2) a strike-slip phase with NW-SE compression and NE-SW extension during the Late Oligocene-Early Miocene (phase II), (3) a NW-SE transtensional phase (phase III) and finally (4) a NE-SW extensional phase of Quaternary age (phase IV). The major phase is the strike-slip one, characterized by an important dextral strike-slip zone: the Ferenc-hegy zone. (C) Elsevier, Paris.