Reinterpretation of the lithostratigraphy and tectonic position of the Mariková Klippen (Middle Váh Valley, western Slovakia)

Tectonic position and lithostratigraphic content of the Mariková Klippen group, occurring around the Michalová Hill near Dolná Mariková village in western Slovakia, were revised. New mapping and sampling showed that the Mariková Klippen consists of the Kysuca Unit and the newly defined Mariková Unit. Both are interpreted as being originally Oravic units of the Pieniny Klippen Belt (PKB). They form a tectonic outlier inserted into an imbricated zone within the Magura Belt of the Outer Western Carpathians, about 2 km north of the PKB s.s. The Mariková Unit consists of Triassic dolomites and quartzites, Middle Jurassic crinoidal limestone (Smolegowa Limestone Fm.), grey, massive microoncoidal limestone (Mariková Limestone Fm. – new name) and dark spotted mid-Cretaceous marlstones (Kapu nica Fm.). The Mariková Succession shows close relations to the widespread Czorsztyn Unit of the PKB. Its position within the Magura Belt is explained by nappe thrusting of Oravic units over the Magura Unit and then their incorporation into an imbricated transpression zone.