Early Jurassic (latest Toarcian) brachiopods from the northeastern margin of the Western Tethys (Central Iran) and their paleobiogeographical significance

Abstract

Brachiopod fauna from central Iran, recorded in the upper part of the Shemshak Group and attributed to the upper Toarcian (Pseudoradiosa-Aalensis zones), are reported for the first time in Iran. The assemblage recognized includes six different taxa: Homoeorhynchia sepahanensis nov. sp., formally described in this paper, Globirhynchia subobsoleta, Pseudogibbirhynchia sp., Tetrarhynchiidae sp. indet., Monsardithyris? aff. haresfieldensis, and Zeilleria cf. leckenbyi. Analysis of faunal affinities with other paleobiogeographical regions shows a free connection the central Iranian brachiopod fauna with wide areas of the northern shelf margin of the Tethys Ocean. This is due to an apparent disruption of bioprovinciality inferred for the late Toarcian-earliest Aalenian, congruent with a connection through the northern seaway across the peri-Laurasian epicontinental platforms.

Oxfordian neptunian dykes with brachiopods from the southern part of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland (southern Poland) and their links to hydrothermal vents

“…The mechanism of formation and infilling of fractures Brachiopod-bearing levels appear sometimes in transgressive phases greatly influenced by synsedimentary tectonics (Fürsich et al 2005;Seyed-Emami et al 2008;Baeza-Carratalá and Sepehriannasab 2014). Despite some differences in development, it seems that all of the studied neptunian dykes were formed under similar conditions, in the seepage Table 1.…”

Lower Jurassic brachiopods from the Ibero-Levantine Sector (Iberian Range): Faunal turnovers and critical bioevents

“…Finally, this work also improves the knowledge of the Middle-Late Toarcian assemblages of the Iberian Range, which have notable palaeobiogeographic implications due to their potential for dispersion throughout the peri-Laurasian epicontinental platforms (Andrade, 2006;Baeza-Carratalá and Sepehriannasab, 2014;Andrade et al, 2016).…”

Brachiopod faunal exchange through an epioceanic-epicontinental transitional area from the Early Jurassic South Iberian platform system

“…This paleobiogeographical distribution has been interpreted by several authors in terms of epioceanic and epicontinental habitats, respectively (Hallam, 1971;Vörös, 1986Vörös, , 2005Ager, 1993;Colás and García Joral, 2012;Baeza-Carratalá et al, 2011aBaeza-Carratalá and Sepehriannasab, 2014), where environmental factors such as depth, terrigenous input or nutrient availability (among others) played a decisive role in brachiopod settlement. Comparison of species diversity and relative abundances from the La Mola assemblages with several epicontinental vs. epioceanic environments, especially from the peri-Iberian platform system and nearby basins, enables their biogeographical affinity to be established (Table 1).…”