ABSTRACT Sixty-four surface samples from the Lower Paleozoic rock units (mainly the Lalun, Abastu, and Abarsaj Formations) near the village of Kholin-Darreh in the Fazel Abad area, southeastern Caspian Sea, northern Iran, were analyzed to determine their age relationships. The samples from the Lalun Formation are barren, but those from the Abastu and Abarsaj Formations contain well-preserved and abundant palynomorph entities, which are dominated by acritarchs (23 species belonging to 15 genera) and chitinozoans (29 species distributed among 15 genera). Scolecodonts and graptolite remains as well as a few cryptospores were also observed, although these were not determined in detail. Based on the restricted stratigraphic range of acritarch species, an Early Ordovician (Tremadocian) age is assigned to the Abastu Formation, while based upon index chitinozoan and acritarch taxa, a Late Ordovician (Katian to Hirnantian) age is assigned to the Abarsaj Formation. Likewise, based on the presence of diagnostic chitinozoan taxa, the Abarsaj Formation can be assigned to the Armoricochitina nigerica, Ancyrochitina merga, Tanuchitina elongate , and Spinachitina oulebsiri chitinozoan biozones. These chitinozoan assemblages reflect a clear paleobiogeographic affinity with the so-called “North Gondwana Domain.” The composition of acritarch assemblages also appears to be consistent with newly proposed hypotheses of a Late Ordovician phytoplanktonic biogeographical differentiation between a Laurentian/Baltica realm and a Gondwanan realm, with the present assemblages belonging to the latter. The presence of some chitinozoan and acritarch taxa from the Baltic and Laurentia in Gondwanan chitinozoan biozones of the Fazel Abad area suggests the existence of counterclockwise marine currents, which brought planktonic organisms (acritarchs, chitinozoans, and graptolites) from lower latitudes (Baltica) to higher latitudes (North Gondwanan Domain) settings. The presence of a low-diversity acritarch assemblage in the Abastu Formation and taxonomically diverse chitinozoan, acritarch, and scolecodont assemblages in the Abarsaj Formation suggests a marine depositional environment for these two formations. Two major hiatuses are present within the studied Lower Paleozoic succession in the Fazel Abad area. The first hiatus appears between the Lalun Formation (Early Cambrian) and the Abastu Formation (Tremadocian) and includes the Middle-Upper Cambrian Mila Formation. The second hiatus occurs between the Abastu Formation (Tremadocian) and the Abarsaj Formation (Katian–Hirnantian) and spans the interval of the Floian-Sandbian, which corresponds to uplift related to the initial stage of rifting of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean.

Abstract The Lower Carboniferous Mobarak Formation in the Alborz Basin (northern Iran) was deposited along the northeastern margin of Gondwana in a carbonate ramp setting. This paper focuses on the Tournaisian stratigraphic interval of this formation that crops out at the Jaban section in the southwestern Central Alborz Basin. The following facies associations, representing different ramp palaeoenvironments, have been identified: (1) mudstone–wackestone outer-ramp facies; (2) crinoidal to skeletal grainstone–packstone mid-ramp facies; (3) peloidal to crinoidal grainstone–packstone inner-ramp facies; and (4) coastal facies, which include a variety of microbial laminated to oncoidal grainstones and mudstones with evaporitic pseudomorphs. This ramp profile was affected by frequent storms that were responsible for the formation of several skeletal to non-skeletal shoals in the distal mid-ramp to the most proximal inner-ramp areas. The development of the skeletal to non-skeletal shoals along the sea side of the ramp formed a semi-enclosed lagoon sensitive to the influence of both high tides and storm surges. The magnetic susceptibility (χ in ) of all the samples was measured and compared with that of the facies from which the sample was taken. There is a clear link between χ in and the facies; the average χ in values were higher for the distal facies than for the proximal facies. The χ in profile of this Lower Carboniferous carbonate sequence reflects stratigraphic variations in response to relative changes in sea level and the input of detrital materials. In the context of the sequence stratigraphic framework, the average χ in values for lowstand and transgressive systems tract deposits are higher than for the highstand systems tract deposits. The clear link between χ in and facies indicates at least a partly preserved primary χ in signal related to the detrital inputs. However, to obtain a better understanding of the nature and origin of the minerals carrying the χ in , we performed hysteresis measurements on selected samples. It appears that the χ in signal is mainly carried by low-coercivity ferromagnetic minerals such as magnetite, with a mixture of relatively coarse grains (detrital fraction) and ultra-fine grains (probably formed during diagenesis).

Abstract The allochthonous Tertiary salt of the Garmsar salt nappe extruded from where the most southerly point of the Alborz Mountain front is offset by the Zirab–Garmsar strike-slip fault. We used eleven descending Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images, acquired by the European Space Agency's ENVISAT satellite from 2003 to 2006, to map surface displacement over 23 increments ranging in time from 30 to 2 months. A 30 month SAR interferogram of the area shows that the regional folds and faults are active south of the mountain front, but are dampened by the allochthonous salt that otherwise appears to be merely degrading at rates that vary with the season. Interferograms for shorter epochs display different patterns of fault blocks in the country rocks that rose and fell with the seasons. By relating surface displacements mapped in these interferograms to the contemporaneous seismic record, we find that seismic faults reactivate repeatedly while their kinematics may have inverted on remarkably short timescales. Seismic disturbances propagate very slowly and faults are longer than expected for earthquakes with ML<3.5, indicating that the regional strains are more aseismic than anticipated by earlier studies.