Viséan-Serpukhovian (Mississippian) archaediscoid foraminifers of the northern Alborz, Iran

Mississippian lithofacies and foraminiferal biozonation of the Alborz Mountains, Iran: Implications for regional geology

“…The Mobarak Formation of the north‐central Alborz has a relatively different lithology compared with that of type area, in south‐central Alborz. Consequently, it starts with thick‐ to very thick‐bedded limestone, followed by thin‐ to medium‐bedded occasionally sandy limestone and upper thick‐bedded fetid ooidal limestone alternating with the blackish shale (Figures and ; Mosaddegh, ; Zandkarimi et al, ; Zandkarimi, Vachard, Cózar, et al, ; Zandkarimi, Vachard, Najafian, et al, ).…”

“…Main lithology and formations of the Mississippian rocks and their underlying and overlying beds in the Alborz subzones, their relative names, and ages (compiled from Assereto, ; Bozorgnia, ; Brenckle et al, ; Falahatgar & Mosaddegh, ; Falahatgar et al, ; Jenny et al, ; Lys et al, ; Mosaddegh, ; Saeidi et al, ; Vachard, ; Zandkarimi, ; Zandkarimi et al, ; Zandkarimi, Vachard, Cózar, et al, ; Zandkarimi, Vachard, Najafian, et al, )…”

“…Correlation chart of the “Dozdehban” Formation in the Dozdehban and Naserabad sections associated with more stratigraphically important foraminifers and established foraminiferal zonation (modified after Zandkarimi, Vachard, Cózar, et al, and Zandkarimi, Vachard, Najafian, et al, ) [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]…”

“…The Mobarak Formation was introduced by Assereto () in the Mobarakabad area, central Alborz, and comprises black fossiliferous limestone with subordinate black marl in the lower part. It has been widely studied and dated in central Alborz using brachiopods (Bahrammanesh, Angiolini, Antonelli, Aghababalou, & Gaetani, ; Gaetani, , , ; Qiao, Falahatgar, & Shen, ), conodonts (Ahmadzadeh Heravi, ; Habibi et al, ), and foraminifers (Bozorgnia, ; Devuyst & Kalvoda, ; Falahatgar, Vachard, & Sakha, ; Vachard, ; Zandkarimi, ; Zandkarimi, Najafian, Vachard, Bahrammanesh, & Vaziri, ; Zandkarimi, Vachard, Cózar, et al, ; Zandkarimi, Vachard, Najafian, Hamdi, & Mosaddegh, ). The Mississippian of the north‐eastern Alborz in addition to the Mobarak Formation contains relatively similar strata to the Dozdehban Formation, which was referred to as the “Bagherabad Formation” (Leven & Gorgij, ; Lys, Stampfli, & Jenny, ).…”

“…For a synthesis of the Mississippian foraminiferal zonation and Late Palaeozoic stratigraphy of Alborz, we have followed the works of Assereto (), Bozorgnia (), Stöcklin and Setudehnia (), Vachard (), Brenckle, Gaetani, Angiolini, and Bahrammanesh (), Falahatgar et al (), Zandkarimi et al (), Zandkarimi et al (), Zandkarimi, Vachard, Cózar, et al () and Zandkarimi, Vachard, Najafian, et al (), and several unpublished MSc and PhD theses (Bastami, ; Mosaddegh, ; Najafi, ; Payami‐e Rad, ; Zandkarimi, ) carried out on the Late Palaeozoic of Alborz, and for foraminiferal classification and correlation of zonation with well‐known Mississippian references, we have followed the works of Pirlet and Conil (), Vachard and Tahiri (), Vachard and Berkhli (), Hance, Hou, and Vachard (), Gibshman (, ), Gibshman, Kabanov, Alekseev, Goreva, and Moshkina (), Nikolaeva, Kulagina, Pazukhin, Kochetova, and Konvalova (2009), Kabanov, Alekseev, Gibshman, Gabdullin, and Bershov (), Vachard (), and various papers of Cózar and Somerville (, , , , ), Somerville (), Cózar, Somerville, and Burgess (, ), Cózar, Somerville, Aretz, and Herbig (); Cózar et al (), Cózar et al (), Cózar, Sanz‐López, and Blanco‐Ferrera (), and Cózar et al (). The microfacies and depositional interpretation follow the works of Dunham (), Read (), Burchette and Wright (), Mosaddegh (), and Flügel ().…”