Palustrine carbonates are frequently found with active and dried karstic springs in the foothills of the mountains bordering the Persepolis Basin, southwest Iran. A combination of geological conditions favours their formation, including (i) the presence of karstic limestone aquifers in the limbs of anticlines cut through by fault systems; (ii) very gentle slopes from the spring resurgence point towards the centre of the alluvial plain, creating a flat waterlogged area; and (iii) a semiarid climate with marked precipitation seasonality or significant fluctuations in water discharge and wetland water table. We suggest the term “anastomosing wetlands” or “anastomosing palustrine environments” to denote the studied karstic spring–fed carbonate wetlands, because of similarities with anastomosing river systems in aerial view. The common presence of extended anastomosing wetland carbonates in the Persepolis Basin and adjacent basins in the central and southern Zagros suggests that they can play an important role in the geological records of collision-related basin-and-range settings dominated by karstic limestones. Karstic spring wetlands are a main source of fresh water hosting a rich biodiversity, which attracts human communities, whose impact is visible in the archaeological material imbedded in the wetland stratigraphy. Fresh water availability, through these spring wetlands, partly explains why the semiarid Persepolis region was selected by successive civilizations, from Elamites to Persians until early Islamic entities, to establish regional centres throughout the period from the third millennium B.C. to the first millennium A.D. Only a few of these ecosystems have survived the intensive human activities of recent decades.
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Research Article|
June 27, 2018
Karstic spring wetlands of the Persepolis Basin, southwest Iran: unique sediment archives of Holocene environmental change and human impacts Available to Purchase
Morteza Djamali;
a
Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Ecologie, Aix Marseille Univ, Univ Avignon, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Europôle de l’Arbois, 13545 Aix-en-Provence, France.Corresponding author: Morteza Djamali (email: [email protected]).
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Sébastien Gondet;
Sébastien Gondet
b
Université de Lyon, Archéorient Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée, Unité Mixte de Recherche CNRS 5133/Université de Lyon II, 7, rue Raulin, F-69365 Lyon cedex 07, France.
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Javad Ashjari;
Javad Ashjari
c
Abanrood Consulting Company, 311 Jamalzadeh Street, Tehran, Iran.
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Cyril Aubert;
Cyril Aubert
a
Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Ecologie, Aix Marseille Univ, Univ Avignon, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Europôle de l’Arbois, 13545 Aix-en-Provence, France.
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Elodie Brisset;
Elodie Brisset
d
Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, Zona Educacional 4, Campus Sescelades Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Edifici W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain.e
Àrea de Prehistòria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Avinguda de Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain.
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Julien Longerey;
Julien Longerey
f
Aix-Marseille Univ, UMS3470 Pythéas, Marseille, France.
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Nick Marriner;
Nick Marriner
g
Laboratoire Chrono-Environnement Unité Mixte de Recherche CNRS 6249/Université de Franche-Comté, Unité de Formation et de Recherche ST, 16 route de Gray, 25030 Besançon, France.
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Marjan Mashkour;
Marjan Mashkour
h
Archéozoologie, Archéobotanique: sociétés, pratiques et environnements, Unité Mixte de Recherche Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique 7209, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, case postale 56, 55 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France.
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Naomi F. Miller;
Naomi F. Miller
i
Near East Section, University of Pennsylvania Museum, 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
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Abdolmajid Naderi-Beni;
Abdolmajid Naderi-Beni
j
Iranian National Institute for Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
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Majid Pourkerman;
Majid Pourkerman
j
Iranian National Institute for Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
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Elnaz Rashidian;
Elnaz Rashidian
k
Institute of Archaeology, Department of the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Goethe University Frankfurt, Norbert-Wollheim-Platz 1, D-60629 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
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Jean-Baptiste Rigot;
Jean-Baptiste Rigot
l
Unité Mixte de Recherche 6173 CItés, TERritoires, Environnement et Sociétés (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et Université de Tours) – 33 allée Ferdinand-de-Lesseps BP 60449 – 37204 Tours Cedex 3, France.
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Sonia Shidrang;
Sonia Shidrang
m
Saeedi Institute for Advanced Studies, Kashan University, Qotb-e Ravandi Blvd, 8731753153, Kashan, Isfahan, Iran.
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Alain Thiéry;
Alain Thiéry
a
Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Ecologie, Aix Marseille Univ, Univ Avignon, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Europôle de l’Arbois, 13545 Aix-en-Provence, France.
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Emmanuel Gandouin
Emmanuel Gandouin
a
Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Ecologie, Aix Marseille Univ, Univ Avignon, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Europôle de l’Arbois, 13545 Aix-en-Provence, France.
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a
Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Ecologie, Aix Marseille Univ, Univ Avignon, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Europôle de l’Arbois, 13545 Aix-en-Provence, France.
Sébastien Gondet
b
Université de Lyon, Archéorient Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée, Unité Mixte de Recherche CNRS 5133/Université de Lyon II, 7, rue Raulin, F-69365 Lyon cedex 07, France.
Javad Ashjari
c
Abanrood Consulting Company, 311 Jamalzadeh Street, Tehran, Iran.
Cyril Aubert
a
Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Ecologie, Aix Marseille Univ, Univ Avignon, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Europôle de l’Arbois, 13545 Aix-en-Provence, France.
Elodie Brisset
d
Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, Zona Educacional 4, Campus Sescelades Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Edifici W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain.e
Àrea de Prehistòria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Avinguda de Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain.
Julien Longerey
f
Aix-Marseille Univ, UMS3470 Pythéas, Marseille, France.
Nick Marriner
g
Laboratoire Chrono-Environnement Unité Mixte de Recherche CNRS 6249/Université de Franche-Comté, Unité de Formation et de Recherche ST, 16 route de Gray, 25030 Besançon, France.
Marjan Mashkour
h
Archéozoologie, Archéobotanique: sociétés, pratiques et environnements, Unité Mixte de Recherche Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique 7209, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, case postale 56, 55 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France.
Naomi F. Miller
i
Near East Section, University of Pennsylvania Museum, 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
Abdolmajid Naderi-Beni
j
Iranian National Institute for Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Majid Pourkerman
j
Iranian National Institute for Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Elnaz Rashidian
k
Institute of Archaeology, Department of the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Goethe University Frankfurt, Norbert-Wollheim-Platz 1, D-60629 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Jean-Baptiste Rigot
l
Unité Mixte de Recherche 6173 CItés, TERritoires, Environnement et Sociétés (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et Université de Tours) – 33 allée Ferdinand-de-Lesseps BP 60449 – 37204 Tours Cedex 3, France.
Sonia Shidrang
m
Saeedi Institute for Advanced Studies, Kashan University, Qotb-e Ravandi Blvd, 8731753153, Kashan, Isfahan, Iran.
Alain Thiéry
a
Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Ecologie, Aix Marseille Univ, Univ Avignon, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Europôle de l’Arbois, 13545 Aix-en-Provence, France.
Emmanuel Gandouin
a
Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Ecologie, Aix Marseille Univ, Univ Avignon, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Europôle de l’Arbois, 13545 Aix-en-Provence, France.Corresponding author: Morteza Djamali (email: [email protected]).
Publisher: Canadian Science Publishing
Received:
13 Mar 2018
Accepted:
16 Jun 2018
First Online:
17 Oct 2018
Online ISSN: 1480-3313
Print ISSN: 0008-4077
Published by NRC Research Press
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences (2018) 55 (10): 1158–1172.
Article history
Received:
13 Mar 2018
Accepted:
16 Jun 2018
First Online:
17 Oct 2018
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CitationMorteza Djamali, Sébastien Gondet, Javad Ashjari, Cyril Aubert, Elodie Brisset, Julien Longerey, Nick Marriner, Marjan Mashkour, Naomi F. Miller, Abdolmajid Naderi-Beni, Majid Pourkerman, Elnaz Rashidian, Jean-Baptiste Rigot, Sonia Shidrang, Alain Thiéry, Emmanuel Gandouin; Karstic spring wetlands of the Persepolis Basin, southwest Iran: unique sediment archives of Holocene environmental change and human impacts. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 2018;; 55 (10): 1158–1172. doi: https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2018-0065
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Index Terms/Descriptors
- absolute age
- archaeological sites
- Asia
- C-14
- carbon
- carbonate sediments
- Cenozoic
- Holocene
- human activity
- Iran
- isotopes
- karst hydrology
- lithofacies
- Middle East
- paleoenvironment
- paludal environment
- Quaternary
- radioactive isotopes
- sediments
- springs
- terrestrial environment
- Zagros
- Persepolis Basin
- Qadamgah
- Band-e Gomban
- Tall-e Malyan
Latitude & Longitude
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