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Subsidence and uplift patterns and thermal history of sedimentary basins are controlled by tectonics, mantle dynamics and surface processes, such as erosion, sediment transport and deposition and their links to climatic variations. We use combined thermo-mechanical and stratigraphic numerical modelling techniques to quantify the links between tectonic and surface processes. We aim to assess the thermal evolution and subsidence rates of asymmetric extensional basins during the syn- and post-rift times by simulating different erosion and sedimentation rates. We analyse the 3D sedimentary architecture and facies distribution of the depocenters. Model results are validated by observations in the Pannonian Basin of Central Europe. Extensional reactivation of inherited suture zones creates asymmetric basin systems controlled by large-scale detachments or low-angle normal faults, where crustal and lithospheric mantle thinning are often rheologically decoupled. Subsidence rates and basement heat flow in the depocenters show large variabilities during asymmetric extension and post-rift evolution controlled by their initial position from the suture zone and migration of deformation. Transient heat flow anomalies mirror crustal exhumation of footwalls, sediment blanketing and erosion effects in the basins. Enhanced erosion and sedimentation facilitate lower crustal deformation and elastic flexure of the weak, extended lithosphere leading to accentuated differential uplift and subsidence during the syn- and post-rift basin evolution. Tectonics, climate and autogenic processes control transgressive-regressive cycles at different timescales together with the overall sedimentary facies distribution. In our models assuming wet climate the high subsidence rate often outpaces moments of eustatic water-level fall preventing relative base-level fall and enhances the effects of autogenic processes, such as lobe switching processes. © 2020 The Author(s), Global and Planetary Change, 196, ISSN:0921-8181

The sedimentogenetic study of the Dacian Basin has been a scientific adventure for several decades. The first presentation of the general features of the Basin was made a couple of years ago, with a book in the Romanian language (Jipa, ed., 2007). The present publication on Dacian Basin expands and develops the main aspects presented in the Romanian book. Some chapters have been dropped, some chapters have been rewritten and new chapters added. At the present time, the Dacian Basin investigation is far from being complete. The sedimentogenetic information we have in this book refers especially to the outcropping deposits (the littoral zone of the Basin). The deposits in the central and southern part of the Dacian Basin are not treated comprehensively enough, as our subsurface information is fragmented, scarce or non-existent. The authors’ team is made of two scientists from different generations, giving hope that the Dacian Basin sedimentological study will be continued and enhanced by future researchers. The authors are grateful to Radu Olteanu (Geological Institute of Romania), Sorin C. Radan (Geological Institute of Romania), Liviu Maţenco (Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam) and Cristina Poenaru (GeoEcoMar, Bucharest) for their expert contributions in the chapter regarding the Dacian Basin presentation. Several colleagues read parts of the manuscript and suggested significant improvements. They are W. Anthony (Tony) Nicholas (School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Australia), Ion Andreescu (Geological Institute of Romania), Claudia Sliwinski (Peachtree, Georgia, US), Gabriela Maximov (GeoEcoMar, Bucharest) and Camelia Cazacu (GeoEcoMar, Bucharest). Our Dacian Basin understanding was influenced by stimulating and challenging discussions we had in front of the outcrops with Ron Steel (University of Texas at Austin), Henk Weerts (National Service for Archeology, Utrecht), Liviu Maţenco (Vrje Universiteit, Amsterdam), Radu Olteanu (Geological Institute of Romania), Marius Stoica (University of Bucharest), Victoria Lubenescu. (Prospectiuni S.A., Bucharest) and Ion Andreescu (Geological Institute of Romania). We wish to acknowledge the help of Viorela Anastasiu (atlas author) and Dan Dumitru (editor), who permitted the use of the Editura Didactica Printing House maps as basis for some of our figures. Dorina Tambrea (Danubian Energy Consulting, Bucharest) and Corneliu Dinu (University of Bucharest) kindly allowed use of some of their Black Sea figures. The senior author is deeply indebted to Joe Gencarelli (Lynchburg, Virginia, US). Joe’s support and constant encouragement were important for the achievement of the present book. He read the entire manuscript and improved the English language of the book. Special thanks go to the „task force” represented by Sorin Rădan, Cristina Poenaru, Joe Gencarelli and Carmen Biriş for their patience and commitment in the final, long phase of manuscript correction. The senior author acknowledges the basic support for publishing this book from the National Authority for Scientific Research – Romania. Part of the data presented in the book comes from the scientific projects developed within the Romanian National Research and Development Plan CERES 4-246/2004 (“Global factors influence on the evolution of the Dacian Basin”) and IDEI 144/2007 (“The effect of the Messinian desiccation on the evolution of the Dacian Basin”).