Possible Ancient Continental Margins in Iran

Geochemistry and geotectonic implication of basic volcanic rocks in the Lower Gondwana sequence (Upper Palaeozoic) of the Sikkim Himalayas

“…These Upper Palaeozoic volcanics and associated sedimentary sequences are related to early stage of rifting of neo-Tethys, and to the separation of Tibet from India (Sinha-Roy, 1978). Similar separation of Central Iran-Afghanistan block by Palaeozoic fragmentation of India-Arabian platform was suggested by Stocklin (1974). It is this phase of rifting that created the Himalayan microcontinent and the Himalayan rift-basin with volcanics.…”

Post-collisional polycyclic plutonism from the Zagros hinterland: the Shaivar Dagh plutonic complex, Alborz belt, Iran

“…According to regional tectonics, palaeogeography, magmatic sequences and ophiolite remnants, two main Tethyan oceans have been identified: Palaeo-Tethys and NeoTethys. The first one separated the Iranian plate from Eurasia during Late Palaeozoic-Early Mesozoic time; the second one was located between the Iranian and Arabian plates during Late Mesozoic time (Stocklin, 1974). Ophiolitic remnants of these oceans have been identified in northern and SSE Iran as Palaeo-and NeoTethys sutures (Fig.…”

“…One of the most studied collisional orogens is the Tethyan belt (Şengör & Kidd, 1979;Turner et al 1996;Gao et al 2010) extending from the Alps to the Himalayas. Large portions of this belt are characterized by complex collisional processes involving continental blocks that were separated from the northern Gondwana margin (Stocklin, 1974;Berberian & King, 1981;Stampfli, 2000). The Zagros orogenic belt, which extends for more than 2000 km in Central Iran (Alavi, 2004), is among the most interesting portions of this huge tectonic belt.…”

“…Closure of the Neo-Tethys Ocean by subduction beneath the Iranian plate (e.g. Stocklin, 1974) caused the formation of the Sanandaj-Sirjan Magmatic Zone (SSMZ), the Urumieh-Dokhtar Magmatic Arc (UDMA), the Alborz mountain belt (AMB) and the Zagros fold-and-thrust belt (ZFTB) (Fig. 1a).…”

“…However, a key point is that the precise time of collision between Arabia and Eurasia is still controversial. Age estimates for the onset of collision are varied: Late Cretaceous (Stocklin, 1974;Berberian & King, 1981;Alavi, 1994;Mohajjel & Fergusson, 2000) to Eocene (Ghasemi & Talbot, 2006;M. Aghazadeh, unpub. Ph.D. thesis, Tarbiat Modares Univ., 2009), EoceneOligocene (Hooper et al 1994;Horton et al 2008), Oligocene (Yilmaz, 1993), Miocene (Stoneley, 1981;Sengör & Natal'in, 1996;Robertson, 2000;Mohajjel, Fergusson & Sahandi, 2003;McQuarrie et al 2003) and Pliocene (Philip et al 1989).…”