Seismic imaging of the lithospheric structure of the Zagros mountain belt (Iran)

Ambert, Paul; Hatzfeld, Denis; Kaviani, Ayoub; Tatar, M.; Péquegnat, Catherine

doi:10.1144/sp330.2

Cited by 158 publications

(215 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Fakhari et al 2008;Homke et al 2010;Gavillot et al 2010). These new results are consistent with the protracted nature of the formation of the Zagros mountain belt and provide Paul et al (2010) and new regional seismic tomographic profiles. Relative plate velocities refer to the northwards motion of the Arabian plate with respect to a fixed Eurasian plate (Sella, Dixon & Mao, 2002;Vernant et al 2004).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 82%

“…Their model shows a maximum Moho depth of 52 km beneath the Zagros Mountains, in agreement with Paul et al (2006), but a significant reduction of the upper mantle thickness along large parts of the Zagros Fold Belt and the Iranian plateau with respect to the Arabian lithosphere. The upper mantle thinning is interpreted as the effect of the Neo-Tethys oceanic slab break-off occurring in the last few million years (Molinaro, Zeyen & Laurencin, 2005) that could be confirmed by the lack of a highvelocity anomaly in the mantle beneath Central Iran (Paul et al 2010). thick level of Hormuz salt (e.g.…”

Section: D Lithospheric Structurementioning

confidence: 89%

“…A more precise modelling of the Bouguer anomaly data conducted by Snyder & Barazangi (1986) shows a profile near our cross-section with crustal thickening from 40 km beneath the Mesopotamian foreland to ∼ 60 km beneath the Main Zagros Fault. More recently, Paul et al (2006Paul et al ( , 2010 published crustal transects across the Zagros Mountains based on receiver function analysis of teleseismic earthquakes to image the Moho (see location in Fig. 1).…”

Section: C Estimates Of Crustal Thicknessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The construction of the balanced crustal crosssection is based on three types of data providing independent information: (1) surface geology for the deformation in the cover rocks across the different tectonic units of the Zagros Fold Belt and geometric models for the basement structure; (2) published receiver function model from Paul et al (2010) to constrain the geometry of the Moho along the geological cross-section; and (3) a mantle P-wave tomographic model to constrain the boundary between the Arabian and Eurasian lithospheres.…”

Section: D Lithospheric Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Crustal thickness along the balanced crustal crosssection has been constrained using the results of Paul et al (2010). In our cross-section, the Moho geometry proposed by these authors is smoothed in order to construct a regularly NE-dipping base of the crust.…”

Section: B Crustal Geometry Of the Arabian Platementioning

confidence: 99%

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Crustal-scale cross-sections across the NW Zagros belt: implications for the Arabian margin reconstruction

et al. 2011

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-Quantified balanced and restored crustal cross-sections across the NW Zagros Mountains are presented in this work integrating geological and geophysical local and global datasets. The balanced crustal cross-section reproduces the surficial folding and thrusting of the thick cover succession, including the near top of the Sarvak Formation (∼ 90 Ma) that forms the top of the restored crustal cross-section. The base of the Arabian crust in the balanced cross-section is constrained by recently published seismic receiver function results showing a deepening of the Moho from 42 ± 2 km in the undeformed foreland basin to 56 ± 2 km beneath the High Zagros. The internal parts of the deformed crustal cross-section are constrained by new seismic tomographic sections imaging a ∼ 50 • NE-dipping sharp contact between the Arabian and Iranian crusts. These surfaces bound an area of 10 800 km 2 that should be kept constant during the Zagros orogeny. The Arabian crustal cross-section is restored using six different tectonosedimentary domains according to their sedimentary facies and palaeobathymetries, and assuming Airy isostasy and area conservation. While the two southwestern domains were directly determined from well-constrained surface data, the reconstruction of the distal domains to the NE was made using the recent margin model of Wrobel-Daveau et al. (2010) and fitting the total area calculated in the balanced cross-section. The Arabian continental-oceanic boundary, at the time corresponding to the near top of the Sarvak Formation, is located 169 km to the NE of the trace of the Main Recent Fault. Shortening is estimated at ∼ 180 km for the cover rocks and ∼ 149 km for the Arabian basement, including all compressional events from Late Cretaceous to Recent time, with an average shortening rate of ∼ 2 mm yr −1 for the last 90 Ma.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Section: D Lithospheric Structurementioning

confidence: 89%

Section: C Estimates Of Crustal Thicknessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: D Lithospheric Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: B Crustal Geometry Of the Arabian Platementioning

confidence: 99%

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Crustal-scale cross-sections across the NW Zagros belt: implications for the Arabian margin reconstruction

et al. 2011

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Buildup of a dynamically supported orogenic plateau: Numerical modeling of the Zagros/Central Iran case study

François

Burov

Agard

et al. 2014

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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The Iranian plateau is a vast inland region with a smooth average elevation of c. 1.5 km formed at the rear of the Zagros orogen as a result of the Arabia-Eurasia collision (i.e., over the last [30][31][32][33][34][35]. This collision zone is of particular interest due to its disputed resemblance to the faster Himalayan collision, which gave birth to the Tibetan plateau around 50 Myr ago. Recent studies have suggested that a recent (10-5 Ma) slab break-off event below Central Iran caused the formation of the Iranian plateau. Here, we test several hypotheses through large-scale (3082 3 590 km) numerical models of continental subduction models that incorporate a free upper surface erosion, rheological stratification, brittle-elastic-ductile rheologies, and metamorphic phase changes (density and physical properties) and account for the specific crustal and thermal structure of the Arabian and Iranian continental lithospheres. We test the impact of the transition from oceanic to continental subduction and the topographic consequences of the progressive slowdown of the convergence rate during continental subduction. Our results demonstrate the role of mantle flow beneath the overriding plate, initiated as an indirect consequence of slab break-off. This flow creates a dynamic topography support during continental subduction and results in delamination of the overriding plate lithospheric mantle followed by isostatic readjustment, hence of further uplift and maintenance of a plateau-like topography without significant crustal thickening. The slowdown of the convergence rate during the development of the continental subduction/collision phase largely contributes to this process by controlling the timing and depth of slab break-off.

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Forward propagation of the Zagros Simply Folded Belt constrained from magnetostratigraphy of growth strata

et al. 2014

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The temporal evolution of the Zagros Simply Folded Belt is constrained by a magnetostratigraphic sequence containing a progressive unconformity on the southern limb of the Kuh-e Ghol Ghol anticline, in the Central Fars. The investigated~1400 m thick sequence exposes a regressive megacycle containing, from bottom to top, open and shallow marine marls and sandy limestones, fine-to coarse-grained fluvial deposits and alluvial conglomerates. Correlating the magnetostratigraphic section with the geomagnetic polarity time scale constrains the transition from marine to fluvial sediment deposition at~6 Ma. This transition was accompanied by a change in the accumulation rate from~15 cm/ka to~40 cm/ka, as measured on lithified sediments. Alluvial river deposits first occurred at~3.2 Ma. The Kuh-e Ghol Ghol anticline began to grow at~3.8 Ma, witnessing fastest limb rotation rates of 40°/Ma at~3.3 Ma. Reporting magnetostratigraphic sections and ages of growth strata on a map of NE Fars reveal an~1 cm/a, southwestward migration rate of the deformation front during the middle and late Miocene.

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Seismic imaging of the lithospheric structure of the Zagros mountain belt (Iran)

Abstract: Seismic imaging of the lithospheric structure of the Zagros mountain belt (Iran).

Cited by 158 publications

References 39 publications

Crustal-scale cross-sections across the NW Zagros belt: implications for the Arabian margin reconstruction

Crustal-scale cross-sections across the NW Zagros belt: implications for the Arabian margin reconstruction

Buildup of a dynamically supported orogenic plateau: Numerical modeling of the Zagros/Central Iran case study

Forward propagation of the Zagros Simply Folded Belt constrained from magnetostratigraphy of growth strata

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