Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T10:29:18.995Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Stratigraphy and structures of the Nahavand region in western Iran, and their implications for the Zagros tectonics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

Mehdi Alavi
Affiliation:
Research Institute for Earth Sciences, Geological Survey of Iran, P.O. Box 13185-1494, Tehran, Iran
M. A. Mahdavi
Affiliation:
Research Institute for Earth Sciences, Geological Survey of Iran, P.O. Box 13185-1494, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Several rock stratigraphic successions, metamorphosed and non-metamorphosed, are found to be similar and/or identical with each other across the so-called ‘Main Zagros Thrust’. Stratigraphic successions form thin allochthonous sheets carried from northeast to southwest by numerous low-angle thrust faults of either ductile to brittle-ductile type or brittle type. Similarities in lithic and faunal characteristics of the stratigraphic units and in the style of structural deformation across the ‘Main Zagros Thrust’ imply that either the suture between the Afro-Arabian and Iranian lithospheric plates is not located in the Nahavand region or, if it is, it must be buried under several thrust sheets.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alavi, M. 1980. Tectonostratigraphic evolution of the Zagrosides of Iran. Geology 8, 144–9.Google Scholar
Berberian, M. 1983. The Southern Caspian: a compressional depression floored by a trapped, modified oceanic crust. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 20, 163–83.Google Scholar
Berberian, M. & King, G. C. P. 1981. Towards a paleogeography and tectonic evolution of Iran. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 18, 210–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crawford, A. R. 1972. Iran, continental drift and plate tectonics. 24th International Geological Congress, Section 3, Montreal, 106–12.Google Scholar
Dehghan, M. 1947. Sur l'âge mesozoique de las zone de Hamadan (Iran septentrional). Comptes Rendus, Académie des Sciences, Paris 224 (21), 1516–18.Google Scholar
Dercourt, J., Zonenshain, L., Ricou, L. E., Kazmin, V. G., LePichon, X., Knipper, A. L., Grandjacquet, C., Sbortshikov, I. M., Geyssant, J., Lepvrier, C., Pechersky, D. H., Boulin, J., Sibuet, J. C., Savostin, L. A., Sorokhtin, O., Westphal, M., Bazhenov, M. L., Lauer, J. P. & Biju-Duval, B. 1986. Geological evolution of the Tethys Belt from the Atlantic to Pamirs since the Lias. Tectonophysics 123, 241315.Google Scholar
Dewey, J. F., Pitman, W., Ryan, W. & Bonin, J. 1973. Plate tectonics and the evolution of the Alpine system. Geological Society of America Bulletin 84, 3137–80.Google Scholar
Falcon, N. 1969. Problems of the relationship between surface structure and deep displacements illustrated by the Zagros Range. In Time and place in orogeny (eds Kent, P., Satterthwaite, G. and Spencer, A.), pp. 922. Geological Society of London.Google Scholar
Haynes, S. J. & McQuillan, H. 1974. Evolution of the Zagros suture zone, southern Iran. Geological Society of America Bulletin 85, 739–44.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, J. A. & Wynd, J. G. 1965. Stratigraphic nomenclature of Iranian oil consortium agreement area. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 49, 2182–245.Google Scholar
Koop, W. & Stoneley, R. 1982. Subsidence history of the Middle East Zagros basin, Permian to Recent. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series A 305, 149–68.Google Scholar
Ramsay, J. G. 1980. Shear zone geometry: a review. Journal of Structural Geology 2, 8399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ricou, L. E., Braud, J. & Brunn, J. H. 1977. Le Zagros. Société Géologique de France, Mémoires 8, 3352.Google Scholar
Sengor, A. M. C. 1984. The Cimmeride orogenic system and the tectonics of Eurasia. Geological Society of America Special Paper no. 195.Google Scholar
Sengor, A. M. C. 1990. A new model for the late Paleozoic-Mesozoic tectonic evolution of Iran and implications for Oman. In The Geology and Tectonics of the Oman Region (eds. Robertson, A. H. F., Searle, M. P. and Ries, A. C.), pp. 797831. Geological Society of London Special Publication no. 49.Google Scholar
Seyed-Emami, K., Brants, A. & Bozorgnia, F. 1971. Stratigraphy of the Cretaceous rocks southeast of Esfahan. In Contributions to the Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Iran, Part 2, pp. 511. Geological Survey of Iran, Report no. 20.Google Scholar
Stocklin, J. 1968. Structural history and tectonics of Iran: review. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 52, 1229–58.Google Scholar
Stocklin, J. 1971. Stratigraphic lexicon of Iran, part I: central, north and east Iran. Geological Survey of Iran, Report no. 18. Tehran, Iran.Google Scholar
Stocklin, J. 1977. Structural correlation of the Alpine ranges between Iran and central Asia. Mémoire Horssérie de la Société Géologique de France 8, 333–53.Google Scholar
Stoneley, R. 1975. On the origin and ophiolite complexes in the southern Tethys region. Tectonophysics 25, 303–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Takin, M. 1972. Iranian geology and continental drift in the Middle East. Nature 235, 147–50.Google Scholar
Thiele, O., Alavi-Naini, M., Assefi, R., Houshmandzadeh, A., Seyed-Emami, K. & Zahedi, M. 1968. Explanatory text of the Golpaygan quadrangle map, scale 1:250,000. Geological Survey of Iran, Report no. E7. Tehran, Iran.Google Scholar
Valizadeh, M. V. & Cantagrel, J. M. 1975. Premiére donnes radiométriques (K–Ar et Rb–Sr) sur les micas du complexe magmatique du Mont Alvand, près Hamadan (Iran occidental). Comptes Rendus de Séance de I' Académie des Sciences Paris 281, 1083–6.Google Scholar
Wells, A. J. 1969. The crush zone of the Iranian Zagros mountains and its implications. Geological Magazine 106, 385–94.Google Scholar
Zahedi, M. 1976. Explanatory text of the Esfahan quadrangle map, scale 1:250,000. Geological Survey of Iran, Report no. F8. Tehran, Iran.Google Scholar