REWORKED MESOZOIC RADIOLARIANS IN MIOCENE-PLIOCENE FORELAND SEDIMENTS IN THE ZAGROS BELT, IRAN

Authors

  • CHRISTIAN A.F. DIETZEL Eberhard-Karls-University of Tübingen, Germany https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0140-1952
  • HAYTHAM EL ATFY Department of Geosciences, Eberhard-Karls-University of Tübingen, Germany; Institute for Geology and Palaeontology University of Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany; Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Mansoura University, 35516 Mansoura, Egypt
  • CHRISTOPH BERTHOLD Eberhard-Karls-University of Tübingen
  • MAHMOUD REZA MAJIDIFARD Research Institute for Earth Sciences, Geologic Survey of Iran, Teheran, Iran
  • MADELAINE BÖHME Department of Geosciences, Eberhard-Karls-University of Tübingen, Germany; Section Palaeontology, Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, Tübingen, Germany https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2100-6164

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54103/2039-4942/20461

Keywords:

Radiolaria; Zagros; sedimentary transport; Cretaceous; Miocene; Pliocene; Iran.

Abstract

Micropaleontology can give important insights into the provenance and paleoenvironmental conditions in terrestrial sedimentary archives. For the current study, 84 samples representing a 2.6 km thick sedimentary profile from the SimplyFolded Zagros Mountain Belt were investigated. They span ca. 10.2 my from the late Middle Miocene (Serravallian) to the earliest Pleistocene (Gelasian), and comprised floodplain sediments and saline mudstones with an aeolian contribution. The mudstones revealed a unique Cretaceous radiolarian assemblage comprising largely of cryptothoracic Nassellarians and spherical spumellarians. This record highlights the reworking of sediments derived from Cretaceous Qulqula- Kermanshah radiolarian claystones and radiolarites in the Imbricated Zagros belt into the distal Neogene Zagros foreland sediments in Lurestan (Lurestan Arc). The high abundance of Holocryptocanium barbui (Dumitrica) and other cryptothoracic taxa compared to the Qulqula- Kermanshah radiolarian claystones and radiolarites potentially indicates a preferred erosion of softer units such as the Red Radiolarian Claystone Unit (RRCU) compared to harder radiolarian cherts. The observation of a reworked largely cryptothoracic assemblage might also point to additional sorting effects during fluvial and aeolian transport as well as during redeposition, depending on the morphology and hydrodynamic properties of individual radiolarian taxa.

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Published

2024-02-19

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Articles
Received 2023-06-26
Accepted 2024-02-06
Published 2024-02-19