Stratigraphy, depositional environments and geodynamic significance of the Upper Bajocian–Bathonian Kashafrud Formation, NE Iran
- Share
-
Tools
Jafar Taheri, Franz Theodor Fürsich, Markus Wilmsen, 2009. "Stratigraphy, depositional environments and geodynamic significance of the Upper Bajocian–Bathonian Kashafrud Formation, NE Iran", South Caspian to Central Iran Basins, M.-F. Brunet, M. Wilmsen, J. W. Granath
Download citation file:
×
Abstract
A strongly subsiding rift basin in NE Iran, the Kashafrud Basin, opened in the Late Bajocian with the accumulation of more than 2000 m of Upper Bajocian–Upper Bathonian siliciclastic sediments. These sediments comprise the Kashafrud Formation, which crops out along a NW–SE stretch of more than 200 km and occupies a width of 50 km, situated between the Koppeh Dagh and the Binalud Mountains. Ten sections of the formation were logged. Sedimentary environments range from non-marine alluvial fans and braided rivers in the lowermost part of the succession to deltas, succeeded by storm-dominated shelf, slope and deep-marine basin. Monotonous mudstones and turbidites prevail in the deep-marine part of the basin. The thickness and facies of the Kashafrud Formation vary strongly between localities, and reflect distance from the rift margins as well as submarine topography, which was shaped by block tectonics. The Kashafrud Basin is interpreted as the eastern extension of the South Caspian Basin, which entered the rifting stage in the late Early Jurassic and the spreading stage in the Late Bajocian.
Figures & Tables
Contents
South Caspian to Central Iran Basins

This book combines interdisciplinary research results using structural geology, geophysics, sedimentology, stratigraphy, palaeontology, palaeomagnetism and subsidence modelling obtained through the MEBE (Middle East Basins Evolution) Programme and other groups in the South Caspian and Northern and Central Iran.
A great part of the volume is devoted to Northern Iran (Alborz, Binalud and Koppeh Dagh belts), dealing mainly with the Late Palaeozoic and the Mesozoic Eras. Two papers present subsidence models of the South Caspian Basin since the Jurassic and three papers focus on Central Iran.
The data and models in this compilation of papers present a detailed picture and a very comprehensive understanding of the Late Palaeozoic to Cenozoic evolution of the South Caspian and North Iran to Central Iran basins. Geodynamic evolution and sedimentation are mainly controlled by the closure of the Palaeo–Tethys due to collision of Eocimmerian blocks with south Laurasia, opening of the South Caspian Basin, and Neo–Tethys ocean closure associated with Arabia–Eurasia collision.