Stress change inferred from the morphostructures and faulting of the Pliocene sediments in the Hronská pahorkatina highlands (Western Carpathians)

The Hronská pahorkatina highland belongs to the particular morphostructures of the north-eastern part of DanubeBasin with the typical pattern of fluvial valleys. Orientation and character of the fluvial valleys together with brittle disruptionsof the Pliocene sediments has been object of the morphotectonic and structural analysis. Transversal asymmetry ofthe valleys and their arrangement refer to fault predisposition. The Pliocene sediments are affected by normal faulting withdifferent orientation of the fault planes in NE-SW and NW-SE directions. Orientation of the faults corresponds to orientationof the fluvial valleys. The faults origin was connected with reorientation of the stress field during the Latest Pleistocene tothe Holocene.