Vorticity analysis in the Zagros orogen,Shiraz area,Iran

International Journal of Earth Sciences - Quantitative vorticity analyses in orogenic belts are essential for studying the kinematics of deformation and can be performed using a range of methods....     

Quantitative finite strain and kinematic flow analyses along the Zagros transpression zone, Iran

The Ghouri area in southwest Iran exposes a cross section through the Zagros orogenic belt. The area provides an opportunity to investigate quantitative finite strain (Rs), kinematic vorticity number (W_k), proportions of pure shear and simple shear components, sense of shear indicators, steeply plunging lineations, and other moderate to steeply plunging stretching lineations in a transpressional zone. Based on a classical strain analysis of deformed microfossils with oblate strain ellipsoid shape, the Zagros orogenic belt is classified as a pure-shear dominated zone of transpression, but asymmetry of shear-sense indicators suggests that a significant component of simple shear was involved along the deformation zone boundaries. The long axes of the microfossils and stretched pebbles of a deformed conglomerate were used to indicate the stretching direction in this zone. The stretching lineations have a steep to moderate plunge but a constant strain magnitude. Characteristics of dextral inclined transpressional kinematics in the Zagros continental collision zone were quantified and indicate an estimated k-value < 1, an angle between the maximum horizontal axis of the instantaneous strain ellipsoid and the zone boundary (θ = 32°), asymmetrical dextral shear-sense indicators, and an angle of relative plate motion (α = 25°).     

Geochemistry of subalkaline and alkaline extrusives from the Kermanshah ophiolite,Zagros Suture Zone,Western Iran: implications for Tethyan plate tectonics

The Kermanshah ophiolite is a highly dismembered ophiolite complex that is located in western Iran and belongs to the Zagros orogenic system. The igneous rocks of this complex consist of both mantle and crustal suites and include peridotites (dunite and harzburgite), cumulate gabbros, diorites, and a volcanic sequence that exhibits a wide range in composition from subalkaline basalts to alkaline basalts to trachytes. The associated sedimentary rocks include a variety of Upper Triassic to Lower Cretaceous deep- and shallow-water sedimentary rocks (e.g., dolomite, limestone, and pelagic sediments, including umber). Also present are extensive units of radiolarian chert. The geochemical data clearly identifies some of the volcanic rocks to have formed from two distinct types of basaltic melts: (i) those of the subalkaline suite, which formed from an initial melt with a light rare earth elements (LREE) enriched signature and incompatible trace element patterns that suggest an island arc affinity; and (ii) those of the alkaline suite with LREE-enriched signature and incompatible trace element patterns that are virtually identical to typical oceanic island basalt (OIB) pattern. The data also suggests that the trachytes were derived from the alkaline source, with fractionation controlled by extensive removal of plagioclase and to a lesser extent clinopyroxene. The presence of compositionally diverse volcanics together with the occurrence of a variety of Triassic–Cretaceous sedimentary rocks and radiolarian chert indicate that the studied volcanic rocks from the Kermanshah ophiolite represent off-axis volcanic units that were formed in intraplate oceanic island and island arc environments in an oceanic basin. They were located on the eastern and northern flanks of one of the spreading centers of a ridge-transform fault system that connected Troodos to Oman prior to its subduction under the Eurasian plate.     

Lower Miocene oyster shells from the Southeast Zagros Basin (Zade Mahmud area, Iran) and their paleoecology

The Guri limestone Member of the Mishan Formation in the Zagros Basin consists of thick bedded limestone bearing benthic foraminifera and oyster shells. Seven species of Ostreidae and Gryphaeidae were identified as belonging to four genera (Crassostrea, Cubitostrea, Ostrea, and Hyotissa), i.e., Cubitostrea frondosa, Ostrea (Cubitostrea) dubertreti, Cubitostrea digitalina, Crassostrea gryphoides, Hyotissa virleti, Ostrea vesitata, and Ostrea plicatula. These fossils are reported for the first time from Iran. Miocene deposits in the studied area contain a rich benthic foraminiferal fauna dominated by Pseudotaberina, Meandropsina, Miogypsina, Flosculinella, Borelis, and other larger benthic foraminifera. We assign these sediments to a Burdigalian age based on Borelis melo curdica–Borelis melo melo Assemblage Zone. Paleoecological considerations also revealed that the beds were deposited in a near-shore non-agitated and shallow-water environment with moderate to low sedimentation rate. The studied oysters are located in one of more important paleogeographic settings in the world and very similar to many other Tethyan regions. The presence of these oysters suggests that the Zade Mahmud area located at margins of a sea way that connected the north and south of Zagros Basin during Burdigalian.     

Triassic carbonate submarine fans along the Arabian platform margin, Sumeini Group, Oman

ABSTRACT The Sumeini Group formed along the passive continental margin slope that bounded the northeastern edge of the Arabian carbonate platform. With the initial development of this passive continental margin in Oman during Early to Middle Triassic time (possibly Permian), small carbonate submarine fans of the C Member of the Maqam Formation developed along a distally steepened slope. The fan deposits occur as several discrete lenticular sequences of genetically related beds of coarsegrained redeposited carbonate (calciclastic) sediment within a thick interval of basinal lime mudstone and shale. Repeated pulses of calciclastic sediment were derived from ooid shoals on an adjacent carbonate platform and contain coarser intraclasts eroded from the surrounding slope deposits. Sediment gravity flows, primarily turbidites with lesser debris flows and grain flows, transported the coarse sediments to the relatively deep submarine fans. Channel erosion was a major source of intraformational calcirudite. Two small submarine fan systems were each recurrently supplied with calciclastic sediment derived from point sources, submarine canyons. The northern fan system retrogrades and dies out upsection. The southern fan system was apparently longer-lived; calciclastic sediments in it are more prevalent and occur throughout the section. The proximal portions of this fan system are dominated by channelized beds of calcirudite which represent inner- to mid-fan channel complexes. The distal portions include mostly lenticular, unchannelized beds of calcarenite, apparently mid- to outer-fan lobes. Carbonate submarine fans appear to be rare in the geological record in comparison with more laterally continuous slope aprons of coarse redeposited sediment. The carbonate submarine fans of the C Member apparently formed by the funnelling of coarse calciclastic sediment into small submarine canyons which may have developed due to rift and/or transform tectonics. The alternation of discrete sequences of calciclastic sediment with thick intervals of ‘background’ sediment resulted from either sea-level fluctuations or pulses of tectonic activity.     

Pre-Permian uplift and diffuse extensional deformation in the High Zagros Belt (Iran): integration in the geodynamic evolution of the Arabian plate

The High Zagros Belt includes exposures of Lower Palaeozoic rocks in the core of several thrusted anticlines developed during the Cenozoic Zagros orogeny. The structural style and tectonic evolution of this area during the Palaeozoic remain poorly understood due to the complexity of the subsequent deformation. We present the preliminary results of a field study focusing on the structural geology of Palaeozoic rocks in this area. We confirm the existence of an angular unconformity below the Lower Permian Faraghan formation. In the geological literature, this unconformity is reported as the “Hercynian Unconformity” suggesting a relationship with the Hercynian (Variscan) orogeny, which affected Western Europe and westernmost Africa during the Carboniferous. Surprisingly the only observable structures sealed by this unconformity are N to NE trending normal faults and tilted blocks without any evidence of compressional deformation. This pre-Permian extensional deformation, which is general at the scale of the HZB, raises questions about the geodynamic significance of the “Hercynian unconformity” in the study area and, more generally, in the Arabian plate.     

Differential exhumation in response to episodic thrusting along the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau

Thermochronological data from the Songpan-Ganze˛Fold Belt and Longmen Mountains Thrust-Nappe Belt, on the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau in central China, reveal several phases of differential cooling across major listric thrust faults since Early Cretaceous times. Differential cooling, indicated by distinct breaks in age data across discrete compressional structures, was superimposed upon a regional cooling pattern following the Late Triassic Indosinian Orogeny. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar data from muscovite from the central and southern Longmen Mountains Thrust-Nappe Belt suggest a phase of differential cooling across the Wenchuan-Maouwen Shear Zone during the Early Cretaceous. The zircon fission track data also indicate differential cooling across a zone of brittle re-activation on the eastern margin of the Wenchuan-Maouwen Shear Zone during the mid-Tertiary, between 38 and 10 Ma. Apatite fission track data from the central and southern Longmen Mountains Thrust-Nappe Belt reveal differential cooling across the Yingxiu-Beichuan and Erwangmiao faults during the Miocene. Forward modelling of apatite fission track data from the northern Longmen Mountains Thrust-Nappe Belt suggests relatively slow regional cooling through the Mesozoic and early Tertiary, followed by accelerated cooling during the Miocene, beginning at ca. 20 Ma, to present day.

Regional cooling is attributed to erosion during exhumation of the evolving Longmen Mountains Thrust-Nappe Belt (LMTNB) following the Indosinian Orogeny. Differential cooling across the Wenchuan-Maouwen Shear Zone and the Yingxiu-Beichuan and Erwangmiao faults is attributed to exhumation of the hanging walls of active listric thrust faults. Thermochronological data from the Longmen Mountains Thrust-Nappe Belt reveal a greater amount of differential exhumation across thrust faults from north to south. This observation is in accord with the prevalence of Proterozoic and Sinian basement in the hanging walls of thrust faults in the central and southern Longmen Mountains. The two most recent phases of reactivation occurred following the initial collision of India with Eurasia, suggesting that lateral extrusion of crustal material in response to this collision was focused along discrete structures in the LMTNB.     

Karst bauxite deposits in the Zagros Mountain Belt,Iran

More than 190 occurrences of bauxitic–lateritic deposits were investigated in seven areas within the Zagros Simply Folded Mountain Belt in southwestern of Iran. The bauxitic horizons are situated in eroded major NW–SE trending anticlines and occur in karst cavities near or at the boundary between the Sarvak and Ilam Formations. Uplift in the Cenomanian–Turanian period had exposed the Sarvak limestone to karst weathering and, during a period of unconformity, layers of ferruginous–argillaceous limestone debris developed and accumulated on its surface. The ferruginous–argillaceous debris was partly converted to bauxite. Folding and faulting in Oligocene–Miocene time, with ensuing erosion, exposed the bauxitic horizons on the limbs and cores of anticlines. The karst bauxite deposits are probably of authigenic origin, as evidenced by their lithologic associations, textural and mineralogy.     

Evidence for fluid circulation, overpressure and tectonic style along the Southern Chilean margin

The southern Chilean convergent margin, between 50° and 57° S, is shaped by the interaction of the three main plates: Antarctic, South America and Scotia. North of 53° S, the convergence between Antarctic and South America plates is close to orthogonal to the continental margin strike. Here, the deformational style of the accretionary prism is mainly characterized by seaward-verging thrusts and locally by normal faults and fractures, a very limited lateral extension of prism, a very shallow dip ( 6°) décollement, and subduction of a thick and relatively undeformed trench sedimentary sequence. South of 53° S, convergence is oblique to the margin, locally, the trench sediments are proto-deformed by double vergence thrusting and the front of the prism grows through landward-verging thrusting. The décollement is sub-horizontal and deep, involving most of the sediment over the oceanic crust in the accretionary process, building a comparatively wide and thicker prism. A Bottom Simulating Reflector is present across the whole prism to the abyssal plan, suggesting the presence of gas in the sediments.The analysis of P- and S-wave velocity reflectivity sections, derived by amplitude versus offset technique (AVO), detailed velocity information and the velocity-derived sediment porosity have been integrated with the structural analysis of the accretionary prism of two selected pre-stack depth migrated seismic lines, aiming to explain the relation between fluid circulation and tectonics.Accretion along double vergence thrust faults may be associated with the presence of overpressured fluid, which decreases the effective shear stress coefficient along the main décollement and within the sediments, and modify the rheolgical properties of rocks. The presence of an adequate drainage network, represented by interconnected faults and fractures affecting the entire sedimentary sequence, can favour the escape of pore fluid toward the sea bottom, while, less permeable and not faulted sediments can favour fluid accumulations. Gravitational and tectonic dewatering, and stratigraphy could control the consolidation and the pore overpressure of sediments involved in subduction along the trench. The results of our analysis suggest the existence of a feedback between tectonic style and fluid circulation.     

扎格罗斯前陆盆地晚中新世快速剥露证据——来自磷灰石(U-Th)/He的约束

伊朗扎格罗斯造山带是世界上最年轻的造山带之一,前人对其构造演化历史的研究尚存争议。前陆盆地蕴藏着丰富的造山带热史信息,为研究造山带的隆升和剥露历史提供了重要途径。本研究选取位于扎格罗斯前陆盆地前缘中部的Kuh-E Bedush向斜和Kuh-E Murdeh向斜翼部出露的第三纪陆相红层(Agha Jari组)为研究对象,共采集11个粗砂岩样品进行磷灰石(U-Th)/He测试分析。11个样品共得到38个单颗粒年龄,年龄区间为0.8～79.9Ma。大部分样品的单颗粒年龄比较分散,表明这些样品没有发生完全热重置。相反,位于Murdeh向斜剖面最底部的样品,(U-Th)/He年龄小于其对应的地层年龄,并且集中分布在8.3～6.8Ma,表明该样品发生了完全重置并记录了最后一次剥露事件的时间。因此,我们认为扎格罗斯前陆盆地于晚中新世～7.5 Ma经历了一期快速剥露事件。此外,我们发现未重置的(U-Th)/He年龄大致分布在四个时间段:晚白垩纪—早古新世、早—中始新世、渐新世、早—中中新世。根据所得热年龄并结合前人研究设定了三种不同的热史,正演模拟结果与实际样品拟合较好,由此推断出前陆中部Agha J...     

Variations in the kinematics of deformation along the Zagros inclined transpression zone,Iran: Implications for defining a curved inclined transpression zone

The combination of inclined collision and plate boundary shape can control the nature of deformation and the sense of shear along a transpression zone. The present study investigated the effects of a boundary zone with curvilinear shape along a transpression zone on the kinematics of deformation. The kinematics of the Zagros transpression zone varies with the orientation of the zone boundary. Detailed structural and microstructural studies showed sinistral sense of shear on the southeastern part of the Zagros inclined transpression zone (Fars Arc), but dextral sense of shear on the northwestern part of the zone. It is inferred that the both senses of shear were developed coevally under a bulk general shear, regional-scale deformation along a curved inclined transpression miming the shape of the Fras Arc of the Zagros and the reentrant of the Bandar Abbas Syntaxis. The Zagros transpression zone formed by inclined continental collision between the Afro-Arabian continent and Iranian microcontinent.     

A new empirical estimator of coseismic landslide displacement for Zagros Mountain region (Iran)

Earthquake-induced landslides are responsible worldwide for significant socioeconomic losses and historically have a prominent position in the list of natural hazards affecting the Iran plateau. As a step toward the development of tools for the assessment and the management of this kind of hazard at regional scale, an empirical estimator of coseismic displacements along potential sliding surfaces was obtained through a regression analysis for the Zagros region, a mountainous Iranian region subjected to earthquake-induced landslides. This estimator, based on the Newmark’s model, allows to evaluate the expected permanent displacement (named “Newmark displacement”) induced by seismic shaking of defined energy on potential sliding surface characterized by a given critical acceleration. To produce regression models for Newmark displacement estimators, a data set was constructed for different critical acceleration values on the basis of 108 accelerometric recordings from 80 Iranian earthquakes with moment magnitudes between 3.6 and 7. The empirical estimator has a general form, proposed by Jibson (Eng Geol 91:209–218, 2007), relating Newmark displacement to Arias intensity (as parameter representing the energy of the seismic forces) and to critical acceleration (as parameter representing the dynamic shear resistance of the sliding mass). As an example of application, this relation was employed to provide a basic document for earthquake-induced landslide hazard assessment at regional scale, according to a method proposed by Del Gaudio et al. (Bull Seismol Soc Am 93:557–569, 2003), applied to the whole Iranian territory, including Zagros region. This method consists in evaluating the shear resistance required to slopes to limit the occurrence of seismically induced failures, on the basis of the Newmark’s model. The obtained results show that the exposure to landslide seismic induction is maximum in the Alborz Mountains region, where critical accelerations up to ~0.1 g are required to limit the probability of seismic triggering of coherent type landslides within 10% in 50 years.     

Active faults in the Zagros and central Iran

Active tectonic movements in the northwestern Zagros include right lateral slip at the rate of about 10 mm/a along the Main Recent Fault, which inherits the position of the Main Thrust, now inactive, and active thrusting and accompanying folding distributed between several zones southwest of the Main Recent Fault. In the southeastern Zagros (the Fars Province), there are several right lateral faults that extend N–S obliquely to the overall trend of the Zagros fault-and-fold belt. These may be either branches of the Main Recent Fault, or faults accommodating relative broadening of the outer Zagros in its southeastern segment. The Main Thrust in the southeastern Zagros also remains inactive.

The Ipak, North Tehran, and Mosha fault zones and several minor structures in the eastern Alborz form the E–W-trending active fault system with combined reverse and left lateral slip. On the Ipak and Mosha zones, lateral movements with the late Quaternary mean rate exceeding 1 mm/a dominate over vertical fault movements. Together with right lateral faults stretching northeast of Zagros, the faults of the Alborz may accommodate east-directed motion of the Iranian microplate.     

The performance evaluation of information value,density area,LNRF, and frequency ratio methods for landslide zonation at Miandarband area,Kermanshah Province,Iran

Landslide is one of the natural disasters which causes a lot of annual damage directly or indirectly in the world. Many planned areas, especially in hilly regions, are prone to different types of landslides; therefore, landslide susceptibility maps become an urgent issue, so that landslide damages and impact can be minimized. The best method for studying landslides, which has long been of interest to researchers, is hazard zonation. In this method, due to the affecting factors in landslide occurrence, study areas are classified into areas with low to very high risk. Different methods have been developed for this purpose. In this paper, the four bivariate statistical methods namely information value, density area, LNRF, and frequency ratio are used to investigate the hazard zonation of landslide in Miandarband located north of the Kermanshah Province. The density ratio (D _r) and Qs values for information value, density area, frequency ratio, and LNRF methods used in this study were calculated to be 2.245312, 0.98146; 2.857816, 1.071185; 2.858085, 0.783945; and 2.418375, 1.070928, respectively. The results indicate that although there are minor differences, the frequency ratio method compared to the density area method that was used for the study of landslide zonation presents better results.     

Seaward dipping reflectors along the SW continental margin of India: Evidence for volcanic passive margin

Multi-channel seismic reflection profiles across the southwest continental margin of India (SWCMI) show presence of westerly dipping seismic reflectors beneath sedimentary strata along the western flank of the Laccadive Ridge — northernmost part of the Chagos-Laccadive Ridge system. Velocity structure, seismic character, 2D gravity model and geographic locations of the dipping reflectors suggest that these reflectors are volcanic in origin, which are interpreted as Seaward Dipping Reflectors (SDRs).     

Structural evidence for superposition of transtension on transpression in the Zagros collision zone: Main Recent Fault,Piranshahr area,NW Iran

The Main Recent Fault of the Zagros Orogen is an active major dextral strike-slip fault along the Zagros collision zone, generated by oblique continent–continent collision of the Arabian plate with Iranian micro-continent. Two different fault styles are observed along the Piranshahr fault segment of the Main Recent Fault in NW Iran. The first style is a SW-dipping oblique reverse fault with dextral strike-slip displacement and the second style consists of cross-cutting NE-dipping, oblique normal fault dipping to the NE with the same dextral strike-slip displacement. A fault propagation anticline is generated SW of the oblique reverse fault. An active pull-apart basin has been produced to the NE of the Piranshahr oblique normal fault and is associated with other sub-parallel NE-dipping normal faults cutting the reverse oblique fault. Another cross-cutting set of NE–SW trending normal faults are also exist in the pull-apart area. We conclude that the NE verging major dextral oblique reverse fault initiated as a SW verging thrust system due to dextral transpression tectonic of the Zagros collision zone and later it has been overprinted by the NE-dipping oblique normal fault producing dextral strike-slip displacement reflecting progressive change of transpression into transtension in the collision zone. The active Piranshahr pull-apart basin has been generated due to a releasing damage zone along the NW segment of the Main Recent Fault in this area at an overlap of Piranshahr oblique normal fault segment of the Main Recent Fault and the Serow fault, the continuation of the Main Recent Fault to the N.     

Cenozoic post-collisional brittle tectonic history and stress reorientation in the High Zagros Belt (Iran, Fars Province)

The Zagros fold-and-thrust belt of SW-Iran is among the youngest continental collision zones on Earth. Collision is thought to have occurred in the late Oligocene–early Miocene, followed by continental shortening. The High Zagros Belt (HZB) presents a Neogene imbricate structure that has affected the thick sedimentary cover of the former Arabian continental passive margin. The HZB of interior Fars marks the innermost part of SE-Zagros, trending NW–SE, that is characterised by higher elevation, lack of seismicity, and no evident active crustal shortening with respect to the outer (SW) parts. This study examines the brittle structures that developed during the mountain building process to decipher the history of polyphase deformation and variations in compressive tectonic fields since the onset of collision. Analytic inversion techniques enabled us to determine and separate different brittle tectonic regimes in terms of stress tensors. Various strike–slip, compressional, and tensional stress regimes are thus identified with different stress fields. Brittle tectonic analyses were carried out to reconstruct possible geometrical relationships between different structures and to establish relative chronologies of corresponding stress fields, considering the folding process. Results indicate that in the studied area, the main fold and thrust structure developed in a general compressional stress regime with an average N032° direction of σ₁ stress axis during the Miocene. Strike–slip structures were generated under three successive strike–slip stress regimes with different σ₁ directions in the early Miocene (N053°), late Miocene–early Pliocene (N026°), and post-Pliocene (N002°), evolving from pre-fold to post-fold faulting. Tensional structures also developed as a function of the evolving stress regimes. Our reconstruction of stress fields suggests an anticlockwise reorientation of the horizontal σ₁ axis since the onset of collision and a significant change in vertical stress from σ₃ to σ₂ since the late stage of folding and thrusting. A late right-lateral reactivation was also observed on some pre-existing belt-parallel brittle structures, especially along the reverse fault systems, consistent with the recent N–S plate convergence. However, this feature was not reflected by large structures in the HZB of interior Fars. The results should not be extrapolated to the entire Zagros belt, where the deformation front has propagated from inner to outer zones during the younger events.     

罗迪尼亚大陆西北缘俯冲作用:来自藏北安多拉伸纪花岗片麻岩的证据

罗迪尼亚超大陆的古地理重建和各陆块拼接方案一直是中外地球科学家关注和竞相研究的热点和前沿。目前,青藏高原各陆块的起源及其在罗迪尼亚超大陆中的古地理位置尚不清楚,岩浆事件的对比研究是解决这一问题的有效方法之一。本文报道了青藏高原中部安多微陆块的拉伸纪花岗片麻岩的LA- ICP- MS锆石U- Pb定年、岩石地球化学和锆石Hf和全岩Sr- Nd同位素分析结果。这些花岗片麻岩的原岩形成于802~801 Ma,具有不均一的锆石Hf和相对均一的全岩Nd同位素成分(εHf(t)=〖CD*2/3〗9. 4~+1. 9;εNd(t)=〖CD*2/3〗4. 8~〖CD*2/3〗3. 4)以及古老的地壳模式年龄(2289~1575 Ma),可能形成于幔源岩浆对元古宙地壳的改造,随后经历了广泛的结晶分异过程。花岗片麻岩样品具有较低的P2O5含量,P2O5与SiO2含量呈负相关性,且含少量角闪石矿物,符合I型花岗岩的特征,其中部分样品具有较高的高场强元素含量(Zr+Ce+Nb+Y＞350×10-6)和锆石饱和温度(＞ 800℃),因而兼具A型花岗岩的特征。综合前人研究成果与区域〖JP2〗地质背景,中国安多地区拉伸纪花岗片麻岩可能形成于弧后盆地环境,与马达加斯加、塞舌尔和印度西部的同时代岩浆记录可以对比,从而为重建罗迪尼亚超大陆提供了新的依据。     

Role of the Kazerun fault system in active deformation of the Zagros fold-and-thrust belt (Iran)

Field structural and SPOT image analyses document the kinematic framework enhancing transfer of strike-slip partitioned motion from along the backstop to the interior of the Zagros fold-and-thrust belt in a context of plate convergence slight obliquity. Transfer occurs by slip on the north-trending right-lateral Kazerun Fault System (KFS) that connects to the Main Recent Fault, a major northwest-trending dextral fault partitioning oblique convergence at the rear of the belt. The KFS formed by three fault zones ended by bent orogen-parallel thrusts allows slip from along the Main Recent Fault to become distributed by transfer to longitudinal thrusts and folds. To cite this article: C. Authemayou et al., C. R. Geoscience 337 (2005).