The Iranian Plateau, a broad zone of continental deformation, has formed as a result of the Arabia-Eurasia collision which initiated about 25 million years ago (e.g., Agard et al., 2011;Hatzfeld & Molnar, 2010). It is the site of one of the youngest collision zones in the world and the study of its structure can provide clues to understanding the younger stages of continental collision and plateau growth. The evolution of the Plateau is intimately associated with the opening and closing of the Paleo-Tethys and Neo-Tethys Oceans. Following the closure of the Paleo-Tethys in the Triassic (e.g., Berberian, 1981;Stöcklin, 1974;Şengör et al., 1984), the landmass of the Iranian Plateau began to form with the coalescing of island arcs and dispersed continental fragments which had rifted from the northern margin of Gondwana during the Permian. These fragments accreted to the Turan Platform, the southern margin of Eurasia at that time (e.g., Besse et al., 1998;McElhinny et al., 1981). The initiation of subduction of the Neo-Tethys Ocean is a subject of debate as to whether it occurred in the Late Triassic or Late Jurassic (e.g.,
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.