Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T19:28:09.825Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Structural variation along the Zagros and the nature of the Dezful Embayment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 May 2011

MARK B. ALLEN  and
MORTEZA TALEBIAN
MARK B. ALLEN*
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Durham, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK
MORTEZA TALEBIAN
Affiliation:
Research Institute for Earth Sciences, Geological Survey of Iran, PO Box 13185-1494, Tehran, Iran
*
†Author for correspondence: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Structure varies along strike in the Zagros fold-and-thrust belt of Iran, which is a principal element in the Arabia–Eurasia continental collision. Pre-collision, Late Cretaceous ophiolite nappes (Kermanshah, Neyriz) and related nappes of deep marine sediments (Radiolarite Series) were emplaced next to two regions (Pusht-e Kuh arc, Fars) which later developed a consistent structural style across the range from the High Zagros Fault to the foreland limit of deformation. The intervening area has a zone of highly imbricated Arabian plate strata (the Bakhtyari Culmination) thrust southwest towards and over a low relief, low elevation region (the Dezful Embayment). There are no ophiolite nappes northeast of the Bakhtyari Culmination. Isopachs reflect these different structural patterns from Late Cretaceous time but not earlier. In Late Cretaceous time the Dezful Embayment recorded less deposition than adjacent areas to the northwest and southeast. In the Palaeogene there was little net difference between the Dezful Embayment and its margins. The Dezful Embayment has been a depocentre since roughly 35 Ma, which is the likely time of initial collision between Arabia and Eurasia. We propose that the syn-collision structure and stratigraphy of the Zagros is therefore strongly influenced by the variation in Late Cretaceous ophiolite emplacement, but the original cause of this variation is not clear.

Keywords

Zagrosfold-and-thrust beltArabia–Eurasia collisionIran
Type
THE ZAGROS FOLD-THRUST BELT: FOLDS AND FRACTURES
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 148 , Issue 5-6: THEMATIC ISSUE: Geodynamic evolution of the Zagros , November 2011 , pp. 911 - 924
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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

Adams, A., Brazier, R., Nyblade, A., Rodgers, A. & Al-Amri, A. 2009. Source parameters for moderate earthquakes in the Zagros mountains with implications for the depth extent of seismicity. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 99, 2044–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Agard, P., Omrani, J., Jolivet, L. & Mouthereau, F. 2005. Convergence history across Zagros (Iran): constraints from collisional and earlier deformation. International Journal of Earth Sciences 94, 401–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ahmadhadi, F., Lacombe, O. & Daniel, J. M. 2007. Early reactivation of basement faults in Central Zagros (SW Iran): evidence from pre-folding fracture populations in the Asmari Formation and Lower Tertiary paleogeography. In Thrust Belts and Foreland Basins; From fold kinematics to hydrocarbon systems (eds Lacombe, O., Lavé, J., Vergès, J. & Roure, F.), pp. 205–28. Springer Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alavi, M. 1994. Tectonics of the Zagros orogenic belt of Iran: new data and interpretations. Tectonophysics 239, 211–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, M. B. & Armstrong, H. A. 2008. Arabia-Eurasia collision and the forcing of mid Cenozoic global cooling. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 265, 52–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ameen, M. S. 1992. Effect of basement tectonics on hydrocarbon generation, migration and accumulation in northern Iraq. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 76, 356–70.Google Scholar
Authemayou, C., Chardon, D., Bellier, O., Malekzadeh, Z., Shabanian, E. & Abbassi, M. R. 2006. Late Cenozoic partitioning of oblique plate convergence in the Zagros fold-and-thrust belt (Iran). Tectonics 25, TC3002, doi: 10.1029/2005TC001860, 21 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Babaie, H. A., Babaei, A., Ghazi, A. M. & Arvin, M. 2006. Geochemical, Ar-40/Ar-39 age, and isotopic data for crustal rocks of the Neyriz ophiolite, Iran. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 43, 57–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bahroudi, A. & Koyi, H. A. 2003. Effect of spatial distribution of Hormuz salt on deformation style in the Zagros fold and thrust belt: an analogue modelling approach. Journal of the Geological Society, London 160, 719–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bahroudi, A. & Koyi, H. A. 2004. Tectono-sedimentary framework of the Gachsaran Formation in the Zagros foreland basin. Marine and Petroleum Geology 21, 1295–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bahroudi, A. & Talbot, C. J. 2003. The configuration of the basement beneath the Zagros Basin. Journal of Petroleum Geology 26, 257–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ballato, P., Uba, C. E., Landgraf, A., Strecker, M. R., Masafumi, S., Stockli, D. F., Friedrich, A. & Tabatabaei, S. H. 2011. Arabia-Eurasia continental collision: insights from late Tertiary foreland-basin evolution in the Alborz mountains, northern Iran. Geological Society of America Bulletin 123, 106–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berberian, M. 1995. Master “blind” thrust faults hidden under the Zagros folds: active basement tectonics and surface morphotectonics. Tectonophysics 241, 193–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beydoun, Z. R., Hughes Clarke, M. W. & Stoneley, R. 1992. Petroleum in the Zagros Basin: a late Tertiary foreland basin overprinted onto the outer edge of a vast hydrocarbon-rich Paleozoic-Mesozoic passive-margin shelf. In Foreland Basins and Foldbelts (eds MacQueen, R. & Leckie, D.), pp. 309–39. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir no. 55.Google Scholar
Blanc, E. J.-P., Allen, M. B., Inger, S. & Hassani, H. 2003. Structural styles in the Zagros Simple Folded Zone, Iran. Journal of the Geological Society, London 160, 400–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burberry, C. M., Cosgrove, J. W. & Liu, J. G. 2008. Spatial arrangement of fold types in the Zagros Simply Folded Belt, Iran, indicated by landform morphology and drainage pattern characteristics. Journal of Maps v2008, 417–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carruba, S., Perotti, C. R., Buonaguro, R., Calabro, R., Carpi, R. & Naini, M. 2006. Structural pattern of the Zagros fold-and-thrust belt in the Dezful Embayment (SW Iran). In Styles of Continental Contraction (eds Mazzoli, S. & Butler, R. W. H.), pp. 11–32. Geological Society of America Special Paper 414.Google Scholar
Edgell, H. S. 1991. Proterozoic salt basins of the Persian Gulf area and their role in hydrocarbon generation. Precambrian Research 54, 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Casciello, E., Verges, J., Saura, E., Casini, G., Fernandez, N., Blanc, E., Homke, S. & Hunt, D. W. 2009. Fold patterns and multilayer rheology of the Lurestan Province, Zagros Simply Folded Belt (Iran). Journal of the Geological Society, London 166, 947–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cawood, P. A. & Suhr, G. 1992. Generation and obduction of ophiolites: constraints from the Bay of Islands Complex, Western Newfoundland. Tectonics 11, 884–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fakhari, M. D., Axen, G. J., Horton, B. K., Hassanzadeh, J. & Amini, A. 2008. Revised age of proximal deposits in the Zagros foreland basin and implications for Cenozoic evolution of the High Zagros. Tectonophysics 451, 170–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Falcon, N. 1974. Southern Iran: Zagros mountains. In Mesozoic–Cenozoic Orogenic Belts: Data for orogenic studies (ed. Spencer, A.), pp. 199–211. Geological Society of London, Special Publication no. 4.Google Scholar
Farzipour-Saein, A., Yassaghi, A., Sherkati, S. & Koyi, H. 2009. Mechanical stratigraphy and folding style of the Lurestan region in the Zagros Fold-Thrust Belt, Iran. Journal of the Geological Society, London 166, 1101–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ghazi, A. M. & Hassanipak, A. A. 1999. Geochemistry of subalkaline and alkaline extrusives from the Kermanshah ophiolite, Zagros Suture Zone, Western Iran: implications for Tethyan plate tectonics. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 17, 319–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gok, R., Mahdi, H., Al-Shukri, H. & Rodgers, A. J. 2008. Crustal structure of Iraq from receiver functions and surface wave dispersion: implications for understanding the deformation history of the Arabian-Eurasian collision. Geophysical Journal International 172, 1179–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guest, B., Stockli, D. F., Grove, M., Axen, G. J., Lam, P. S. & Hassanzadeh, J. 2006. Thermal histories from the central Alborz Mountains, northern Iran: implications for the spatial and temporal distribution of deformation in northern Iran. Geological Society of America Bulletin 118, 1507–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hessami, K., Koyi, H. A. & Talbot, C. J. 2001. The significance of strike-slip faulting in the basement of the Zagros fold and thrust belt. Journal of Petroleum Geology 24, 5–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hessami, K., Nilforoushan, F. & Talbot, C. J. 2006. Active deformation within the Zagros Mountains deduced from GPS measurements. Journal of the Geological Society, London 163, 143–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holbrook, J. & Schumm, S. A. 1999. Geomorphic and sedimentary response of rivers to tectonic deformation: a brief review and critique of a tool for recognizing subtle epeirogenic deformation in modern and ancient settings. Tectonophysics 305, 287–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Homke, S., Vergés, J., Garcés, M., Emami, H. & Karpuz, R. 2004. Magnetostratigraphy of Miocene–Pliocene Zagros foreland deposits in the front of the Push-e Kush Arc (Lurestan Province, Iran). Earth and Planetary Science Letters 225, 397–410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Homke, S., Verges, J., Serra-Kiel, J., Bernaola, G., Sharp, I., Garces, M., Montero-Verdu, I., Karpuz, R. & Goodarzi, M. H. 2009. Late Cretaceous-Paleocene formation of the proto-Zagros foreland basin, Lurestan Province, SW Iran. Geological Society of America Bulletin 121, 963–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iran Oil Operating Companies. 1969. Geological Map of South-West Iran. Tehran: Iran Oil Operating Companies.Google Scholar
Jackson, J. A. 1980. Reactivation of basement faults and crustal shortening in orogenic belts. Nature 283, 343–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, G. A. & Wynd, J. G. 1965. Stratigraphic nomenclature of the Iranian oil consortium agreement area. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 49, 2182–245.Google Scholar
Kent, P. E. 1979. The emergent Hormuz salt plugs of southern Iran. Journal of Petroleum Geology 2, 117–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koop, W. J. & Stoneley, R. 1982. Subsidence history of the Middle East Zagros Basin, Permian to Recent. Philosophical Transactions of Royal Society of London A305, 149–68.Google Scholar
Koyi, H. A., Hessami, K. & Teixell, A. 2000. Epicenter distribution and magnitude of earthquakes in fold-thrust belts: insights from sandbox models. Geophysical Research Letters 27, 273–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Llewellyn, P. 1972. Ahwaz. Tehran: Iranian Oil Operating Companies.Google Scholar
Llewellyn, P. 1973. Dezful. Tehran: Iranian Oil Operating Companies.Google Scholar
Maggi, A., Jackson, J. A., Priestley, K. & Baker, C. 2000. A re-assessment of focal depth distributions in southern Iran, the Tien Shan and northern India: do earthquakes really occur in the continental mantle? Geophysical Journal International 143, 629–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McQuarrie, N. 2004. Crustal scale geometry of the Zagros fold-thrust belt, Iran. Journal of Structural Geology 26, 519–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mohajjel, M., Fergusson, C. L. & Sahandi, M. R. 2003. Cretaceous-Tertiary convergence and continental collision, Sanandaj-Sirjan Zone, western Iran. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 21, 397–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Molinaro, M., Zeyen, H. & Laurencin, X. 2005. Lithospheric structure beneath the south-eastern Zagros Mountains, Iran: recent slab break-off? Terra Nova 17, 1–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morris, P. 1977. Basement structure as suggested by aeromagnetic survey in SW Iran. Internal Report, Oil Service Company of Iran.Google Scholar
Motiei, H. 1993. Stratigraphy of Zagros. Tehran: Geological Survey of Iran.Google Scholar
Mouthereau, F., Lacombe, O. & Meyer, B. 2006. The Zagros folded belt (Fars, Iran): constraints from topography and critical wedge modelling. Geophysical Journal International 165, 336–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mouthereau, F., Tensi, J., Bellahsen, N., Lacombe, O., De Boisgrollier, T. & Kargar, S. 2007. Tertiary sequence of deformation in a thin-skinned/thick-skinned collision belt: the Zagros folded belt (Fars, Iran). Tectonics 26, TC5006, doi: 10.1029/2007TC002098, 28 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murris, R. J. 1980. Middle East: stratigraphic evolution and oil habitat. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 64, 597–618.Google Scholar
National Iranian Oil Company. 1975. Geological Map of Iran Sheet 4 South-West Iran. Tehran: National Iranian Oil Company.Google Scholar
National Iranian Oil Company. 1977 a. Geological Map of Iran Sheet 5 South-Central Iran. Tehran: National Iranian Oil Company.Google Scholar
National Iranian Oil Company. 1977 b. Geological Map of Iran Sheet 6 South-East Iran. Tehran: National Iranian Oil Company.Google Scholar
National Iranian Oil Company. 1978. Geological Map of Iran Sheet 1 North-West Iran. Tehran: National Iranian Oil Company.Google Scholar
O'Brien, C. A. E. 1957. Salt diapirism in South Persia. Geologie en Mjinbouw 19, 357–76.Google Scholar
Okay, A. I., Zattin, M. & Cavazza, W. 2010. Apatite fission-track data for the Miocene Arabia-Eurasia collision. Geology 38, 35–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paul, A., Hatzfeld, D., Kaviani, A., Tatar, M. & Péquegnat, C. 2010. Seismic imaging of the lithospheric structure of the Zagros mountain belt (Iran). In Tectonic and Stratigraphic Evolution of Zagros and Makran During the Mesozoic–Cenozoic (eds Leturmy, P. & Robin, C.), pp. 5–18. Geological Society of London, Special Publication no. 330.Google Scholar
Ramsey, L. A., Walker, R. T. & Jackson, J. 2008. Fold evolution and drainage development in the Zagros mountains of Fars province, SE Iran. Basin Research 20, 23–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sella, G. F., Dixon, T. H. & Mao, A. 2002. REVEL: A model for recent plate velocities from space geodesy. Journal of Geophysical Research 107, 2081, doi 10.1029/2000JB000033, 30 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Şengör, A. M. C., Altiner, D., Cin, A., Ustaomer, T. & Hsu, K. J. 1988. Origin and assembly of the Tethyside orogenic collage at the expense of Gondwana Land. In Gondwana and Tethys (eds Audley-Charles, M. G. & Hallam, A.), pp. 119–81. Geological Society of London, Special Publication no. 37.Google Scholar
Sepehr, M. & Cosgrove, J. W. 2004. Structural framework of the Zagros Fold-Thrust Belt, Iran. Marine and Petroleum Geology 21, 829–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sepehr, M. & Cosgrove, J. W. 2005. Role of the Kazerun Fault Zone in the formation and deformation of the Zagros Fold-Thrust Belt, Iran. Tectonics, 24, TC5005, doi:10.1029/2004TC001725, 13 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Setudehnia, A. 1978. The Mesozoic sequence in south-west Iran and adjacent areas. Journal of Petroleum Geology 1, 3–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharland, P. R., Archer, R., Casey, D. M., Davies, R. B., Hall, S. H., Heward, A. P., Horbury, A. D. & Simmons, M. D. 2001. Arabian Plate Sequence Stratigraphy. Manama, Bahrain: GeoArabia.Google Scholar
Sherkati, S. & Letouzey, J. 2004. Variation of structural style and basin evolution in the central Zagros (Izeh zone and Dezful Embayment), Iran. Marine and Petroleum Geology 21, 535–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sherkati, S., Molinaro, M., de Lamotte, D. F. & Letouzey, J. 2005. Detachment folding in the Central and Eastern Zagros fold-belt (Iran): salt mobility, multiple detachments and late basement control. Journal of Structural Geology 27, 1680–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Szabo, F. & Kheradpir, A. 1978. Permian and Triassic stratigraphy, Zagros Basin, south-west Iran. Journal of Petroleum Geology 1, 57–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Talbot, C. J. & Alavi, M. 1996. The past of a future syntaxis across the Zagros. In Salt Tectonics (eds Blundell, D. J., Davison, I. & Alsop, G. I.), pp. 89–110. Geological Society of London, Special Publication no. 100.Google Scholar
Talebian, M. & Jackson, J. 2002. Offset on the Main Recent Fault of NW Iran and implications for the late Cenozoic tectonics of the Arabia-Eurasia collision zone. Geophysical Journal International 150, 422–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Talebian, M. & Jackson, J. 2004. A reappraisal of earthquake focal mechanisms and active shortening in the Zagros mountains of Iran. Geophysical Journal International 156, 506–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tatar, M., Hatzfeld, D. & Ghafory-Ashtiany, M. 2004. Tectonics of the Central Zagros (Iran) deduced from microearthquake seismicity. Geophysical Journal International 156, 255–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vernant, P., Nilforoushan, F., Hatzfeld, D., Abbassi, M., Vigny, C., Masson, F., Nankali, H., Martinod, J., Ashtiani, A., Bayer, R., Tavakoli, F. & Chery, J. 2004. Contemporary crustal deformation and plate kinematics in Middle East constrained by GPS measurements in Iran and northern Iran. Geophysical Journal International 157, 381–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vincent, S. J., Allen, M. B., Ismail-Zadeh, A. D., Flecker, R., Foland, K. A. & Simmons, M. D. 2005. Insights from the Talysh of Azerbaijan into the Paleogene evolution of the South Caspian region. Geological Society of America Bulletin 117, 1513–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walpersdorf, A., Hatzfeld, D., Nankali, H., Tavakoli, F., Nilforoushan, F., Tatar, M., Vernant, P., Chery, J. & Masson, F. 2006. Difference in the GPS deformation pattern of north and central Zagros (Iran). Geophysical Journal International 167, 1077–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yousefi, E. & Friedberg, J. L. 1978. Aeromagnetic map of Iran. Tehran: Geological Survey of Iran.Google Scholar