Facies architecture,depositional environments,and sequence stratigraphy of the Middle Cambrian Fasham and Deh-Sufiyan Formations in the central Alborz,Iran

Based on their lithologic characteristics and stratal geometries, the Middle Cambrian Fasham and Deh-Sufiyan Formations of the lower Mila Group in the Central Alborz, northern Iran, exhibit 39 lithofacies representing several supratidal to deep subtidal facies belts. The siliciclastic successions of the Fasham Formation are divided into two facies associations, suggesting deposition in a tide-dominated, open-mouthed estuarine setting. The mixed, predominantly carbonate successions of the Deh-Sufiyan Formation are grouped into ten facies associations. Four depositional zones are recognized on the Deh-Sufiyan ramp: basinal, outer ramp (deep subtidal associations), mid ramp (shallow subtidal to lower intertidal associations), and inner ramp (shoal and upper intertidal to supratidal associations). These facies associations are arranged in small-scale sedimentary cycles, i.e., peritidal, shallow subtidal, and deep subtidal cycles. These cycles reflect spatial differences in the reaction of the depositional system to small-scale relative sea-level changes. Small-scale cycles are stacked into medium-scale cycles that in turn are building blocks of large-scale cycles. Systematic changes in stacking pattern (cycle thickness, cycle type, and facies proportion) allow to reconstruct long-term changes in sea-level. Six large-scale cycles (S1–S6) have been identified and are interpreted as depositional sequences showing retrogradational (transgressive systems tract) and progradational (highstand systems tract) packages of facies associations. The six depositional sequences provide the basis for inter-regional sequence stratigraphic correlations and have been controlled by eustatic sea-level changes.     

Stenolaemate bryozoans from the Geirud Formation (Upper Devonian/Lower Carboniferous) of Central Alborz (Iran)

Two bryozoan species are described from the Geirud Formation (Upper Devonian/Lower Carboniferous) of Central Alborz (Iran). Trepostome Schulgina mutabilis Troizkaya, 1975 is known from the Upper Devonian (Famennian) of Central Kazakhstan. The new species Ascopora geirudensis n. sp. is the earliest known representative of the rhabdomesine genus Ascopora Trautschold, 1876.     

Discovery of new open-air Paleolithic localities in Central Alborz, Northern Iran

The cooperative French-Iranian Paleoanthropological Project (FIPP) discovered three Paleolithic localities in Central Alborz, Northern Iran during its 2005 field mission. In the northern foothills near Baliran in Mazandaran province, Garm Roud yielded an open-air site with an archaeological layer attributable to the last glacial period that dates from the end of OIS 3 (28,486+/-190 cal BP). These geochronological data and the typo-technical observations converge to place the Garm Roud 2 assemblage in the Upper Paleolithic. Garm Roud 2 is thus the first site of this kind discovered in the area. In the southern foothills near Damavand in Tehran province, Moghanak and Otchounak represent two open-air surface localities with lithic assemblages of Mousterian to Ante-Mousterian affinity. Garm Roud, Moghanak, and Otchounak provide some of the first direct field evidence of early human settlements in this central area of the Middle East.     

Toarcian and Aalenian (Jurassic) ammonites from the Shemshak Formation of the Jajarm area (eastern Alborz, Iran)

In the Jajarm area (eastern Alborz Mountains, NE Iran) the ?Upper Triassic — Lower Bajocian siliciclastic Shemshak Formation is up to 2000 m thick. Whereas the lower third of the formation is nearly exclusively non-marine, the upper two-thirds are fully marine. The middle part is characterized by several levels containing a relatively diverse and well preserved assemblage of ammonites of the Toarcian to Aalenian stages. Two sections of the ammonite-bearing strata, spaced 20 km, are presented and correlated by means of ammonite biostratigraphy. The ammonite fauna consists of 27 taxa, some of which are recorded for the first time from the Alborz Mountains. The ammonites are briefly described and their palaeobiogeographic context is reviewed. The ammonite fauna of the Shemshak Formation at Jajarm, as elsewhere in North and Central Iran, is exclusively Northwestern Tethyan in character and is closely related to the faunas of Northwestern and Central Europe.     

Depositional environment and constraining factors on the facies architecture of the Qom Formation,Central Basin,Iran

In the Central Iran Basin, the mixed carbonate–siliciclastic deposits of the C member of the Qom Formation were deposited on a carbonate platform which is dominated by rhodalgal associations occurring in tropical–subtropical environment. The biogenic rhodalgal association is dominated by bryozoa, coralline red algae, bivalves and echinoids together with smaller amounts of photo-dependent biota including large benthic foraminifera and corals. The abundance of heterozoan association and the bloom of suspension-feeding organisms are the result of an increase in nutrient availability which has profound controlling effect on the biotic system. The low occurrence of symbiont-bearing benthic foraminifera and coral, typical of stable, oligotrophic condition, represents their low tolerance to unstable, nutrient-rich environment. In the investigated Oligocene–Miocene shallow marine carbonate succession, 10 different microfacies were distinguished through depositional texture and biotic components. The rock sequences investigated are referred to an open shelf carbonate platform in which the depositional environments range from outer shelf to inner shelf conditions.     

Middle Devonian Thelodonti (Agnatha) from the Khush-Yeilagh Formation,North-East Iran

New thelodont scales from the type section of the Khush-Yeilagh Formation, between Shahrud and Shahpasand(Iran), are described. They are provisionally referred to as Skamolepis sp. and Turinia cf. hutkensis. Together with T. hutkensis from South-East Iran and some undescribed scales from the Givetian of Australia, these specimens are some of the youngest thelodont scales known to date, since they are of Lower Eifelian age.     

Trace fossils analysis of fluvial to open marine transitional sediments: Example from the Upper Devonian (Geirud Formation), Central Alborz,Iran

This study integrates ichnological and sedimentological data to interpret depositional environments of the mixed siliciclastic-carbonate fluvial to marine sediments of the Geirud Formation (Upper Devonian) in the central Alborz, northern Iran. Lithofacies analysis shows that these sediments are deposited in fluvial, tidal, shoreface, and shelf environments. Fluvial and tidal deposits are characterized by the presence of bi- to multi-directional cross beddings, reverse directional current ripples, low angle cross beddings, and herringbone cross beddings, with a few scattered Skolithos and Palaeophycus. Shoreface sediments, accumulated in a storm-influenced setting, are characterized by a preferentially interface and low diversity Cruziana ichnoassemblage (Rhizocorallium, Thalassinoides, Palaeophycus, Chondrites, and Ophiomorpha). In contrast to the fluvial-tidal assemblage, the storm-influenced shelf sediments display a highly diversified, mixture of dwelling and feeding forms (Arenicolites, Protovirgularia, Diplocraterion, Palaeophycus, Thalassinoides, Chondrites, and Helminthopsis), reflecting the presence of adequate food resources both in substrate and water column under normal salinity conditions. A fluvial-shelf replacement of the weakly to scarcely bioturbated sediments by the Rhizocorallium-Thalassinoides suite (Cruziana) – Chondrites-Helminthopsis (distal Cruziana) suite from the lower to upper parts of the succession clearly indicates an overall deepening upward in the Geirud Formation. In contrast to the lower part, generally of restricted environment, the upper part of the succession mainly shows open marine conditions. Ichnofabric development is controlled primarily by depositional conditions, e.g., bottom water oxygenation, sediment type, food abundance, and hydrodynamic level, which all exert control on substrate colonization style.     

Frasnian bryozoans (Late Devonian) from the Khoshyeilagh Section,Alborz Mountains (northern Iran)

A bryozoan fauna containing seven species is described from the Upper Frasnian (Upper Devonian) rocks in the Khoshyeilagh Section, Alborz Mountains (northern Iran). The studied bryozoan assemblage includes one new trepostome species, Eridotrypella alborzensis sp. nov., an additional four species identified at species level: two trepostomes, Minussina akkayaensis Volkova, 1974 and Leptotrypella inaudita Morozova, 1961, and two rhabdomesine cryptostomes, Bigeyella mariae (Morozova, 1961) and Saffordotaxis multispinata (Morozova, 1955). Furthermore, two species are described in open nomenclature: the trepostome Schulgina sp. and the rhabdomesine cryptostome Nicklesopora sp. The studied fauna shows a close similarity at the species level between northern Iran and the Altai-Sayan Folded Belt (Russia), south China, and Transcaucasia.     

Depositional environment of the Upper Cretaceous orbitolinid-rich microfacies in the Kuh-e Mazar anticline (Kerman Province,Central Iran)

This study is focused on the depositional model and paleoenvironmental distribution patterns of orbitolinids-rich microfacies in an Upper Cretaceous carbonate succession in the Kuh-e Mazar anticline in Kerman Province, Central Iran. Twelve microfacies indicating a tidal flat (including intertidal and supratidal) and an inner ramp (consisting of subtidal lagoon and orbitolinid–rudist barrier shoal) belonging to a shallow-water ramp-type carbonate platform were recognised. Generally, the orbitolinid associations in the carbonate ramp are indicative of shallow warm waters with normal salinity. The occurrence and abundance of thick or conical orbitolinids in both shoal and lagoon show that such associations were well adapted to different environmental conditions including different depth, substrate stability and water energy. The slightly discoidal, almost discoidal and discoidal forms were only present in the deeper depths of the environment including the lagoon with muddy and more stable substrates and lower water energy. However, the orbitolinids in the inner part of the carbonate ramp were scarce or almost absent in the deep inner to middle lagoon due to the deep restricted environmental conditions unfavourable for benthic marine life.     

Ichnology of Lower Jurassic beach deposits in the Shemshak Formation at Shahmirzad,southeastern Alborz Mountains,Iran

A 19 m thick package of well-sorted lowermost Jurassic (Hettangian-Lower Sinemurian?) sandstones within the Shemshak Formation of the southeastern Alborz Mountains displays features characteristic of foreshore to upper shoreface environments such as tabular bedding, low-angle lamination, trough cross-stratification, parting lineation, and oscillation ripples. In contrast to most other beach successions recorded in the literature the sandstones contain a trace fossil assemblage characterised by low abundance but comparatively high diversity. The assemblage, comprising 14 ichnotaxa, is dominated by Palaeophycus heberti, Rhizocorallium irregulare, Gyrochorte comosa, and Parahaentzschelinia surlyki. Contrary to predictions, which assume a dominance of suspension-feeders in such high-energy environments, the trace fossil assemblage represents a variety of ethological groups ranging from suspension-feeders to deposit-feeders, detritus-feeders, scavengers, and a possible trap constructor (Ctenopholeus), whereby deposit-feeders predominate. This anomaly is explained by a high amount of organic detritus in the sediment, indicated by abundant plant material, and a position of the beach in the vicinity of a river mouth.     

Middle Permian calcareous algae and microproblematica (Dalan Formation, Dena Mountain, High Zagros, SW Iran)

Calcareous algae and microproblematica have been studied in the Middle Permian part of the Dalan Formation in Dena Mountain, Zagros, southwest Iran. Murgabian (=Wordian) microfossils are the most diversified. The assemblages encompass, among the dasycladales, Anthracoporella spectabilis, Epimastopora piae, Epimastoporella japonica, E. likana, Paraepimastopora? cf. densipora n. comb., Gyroporella cf. nipponica, G.? aff. fluegeli n. comb., G.? aff. symmetrica, G.? aff. digitula n. comb., Mizzia yabei; among the gymnocodiaceans, Gymnocodium bellerophontis, G. nodosum, Permocalculus cf. digitatus, P. forcepinus, P. cf. fragilis, P. plumosus, P. cf. solidus, Tauridium? sp.; among the “phylloid algae” Eugonophyllum? sp.; among the other incertae sedis algae Stacheoides sp., Ungdarella uralica, Fourstonella (Efluegelia) johnsoni, and among some microproblematica alternatively assigned to foraminifers or algae Aeolisaccus dunningtoni, Tubiphytes obscurus, Pseudovermiporella nipponica, P. sodalica, and P. longipora. Each taxon is briefly characterized, whereas a more detailed analysis of the epimastoporacean algae is given. Among them, the genera Epimastopora and Epimastoporella are emended. All the described microfossils have a relatively broad stratigraphic distribution in the Permian period but they are paleoecologically important. They are indeed confident micropaleontological Middle Permian proxies, particularly for shallow-marine, warm, well-oxygenated and relatively high-energy environments. They were affected by the end-Guadalupian crisis because they strongly decrease in the upper carbonate unit of the Dalan Formation and are not found in the Triassic sediments of the area.     

Paleobiogeographic significance of a new ozawainelloid fusulinid Pseudoacutella partoazari n. sp., from the Asselian (lowermost Permian) of Gaduk (Central Alborz,Iran)

The uppermost Carboniferous–Lower Permian Dorud Group that crops out at the Gaduk section of Central Alborz is over 44 m thick and includes thick sequences of conglomerate, quartzarenite, calcareous sandstone, oncolitic fusulinid limestone, sandy limestone, sandstone and shale. The Toyeh, Emarat and Shah Zeid formations of this Group were dated as latest Gzhelian to Early Sakmarian. A review of the Asselian fusulinids and smaller foraminifers of Iran emphasizes (1) how the foraminiferal assemblages of Alborz and central Iran differ; (2) why non-Pseudofusulina cannot be a nomen substitutum to Pseudofusulina (even if this latter was often misinterpreted in the Tethyan regions). A new smaller fusulinid Pseudoacutella partoazari n. sp. is described from the Emarat Formation (Asselian) that crops out in the Gaduk area. The palaeobiogeographic significance of Pseudoacutella is discussed, because this genus, which was cosmopolitan from Late Bashkirian to Moscovian, became rare in the Upper Pennsylvanian of the USA and the Carnic Alps, and then, very rare in Lower Permian of Texas, Arizona and Iran.     

Carpozoan echinoderms from the Middle Cambrian (Mayaktakh Formation) of Siberia (lower reaches of the Lena River)

Two new monotypic genera and a new monotypic family Rozanovicystidae of the class Cincta are described from the Middle Cambrian (Mayaktakh Formation) of the northeastern part of the Siberian Platform. Based on data obtained by morphofunctional analysis, there is a possibility that these animals could move by jet propulsion by ejecting water from the opercular aperture. Probable homologies of the main skeletal parts are discussed.     

Phylogenetic relationships of Eurasian Nuthatches (Sitta europaea Linnaeus, 1758) from the Alborz and Zagros Mountains,Iran

The Eurasian Nuthatch (Sitta europaea Linnaeus, 1758) is a resident bird in the Alborz and Zagros deciduous forests. We investigated the phylogenetic relationships and the taxonomic position of the Eurasian Nuthatch among other separated lineages of Eurasia with the help of blood samples collected from 19 individuals belonging to four populations in the Eastern and Western Alborz, as well as in the Northern and Southern Zagros forests. Genetic variation was then analysed using complete ND2 gene sequence (1041?bp) and phylogenetic analysis was done using Bayesian and maximum likelihood inference. Additionally, a median-joining algorithm was used to reveal the relationships among haplotypes. The results of the phylogenetic and haplo-type network analyses indicated that Eurasian Nuthatch haplotypes from the Alborz and Zagros Mountains form lineages distinct from the Asian, Caucasian and European haplotypes. Furthermore, an analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) detected significant (P<0.001) genetic structure among the lineages. The Asian, European, Caucasian and Alborz lineages diverged from one another by an uncorrected genetic distance ranging from 0.029 to 0.039, while the Zagros lineage showed a slightly lower genetic divergence from the Caucasian lineage (0.006), but it did not share any haplotype with the Caucasian lineage. Thus, we suggest considering five Conservation Significant Units (CSU) for the Eurasian Nuthatches as the result of used dataset.     

Depositional environment and sequence stratigraphy of the Oligo-Miocene Asmari Formation in SW Iran

The Asmari Formation, a thick carbonate succession of the Oligo-Miocene in Zagros Mountains (southwest Iran), has been studied to determine its microfacies, paleoenvironments and sedimentary sequences. Detailed petrographic analysis of the deposits led to the recognition of 10 microfacies types. In addition, five major depositional environments were identified in the Asmari Formation. These include tidal flat, shelf lagoon, shoal, slope and basin environmental settings and are interpreted as a carbonate platform developed in an open shelf situation but without effective barriers separating the platform from the open ocean. The Asmari carbonate succession consists of four, thick shallowing-upward sequences (third-order cycles). No major hiatuses were recognized between these cycles. Therefore, the contacts are interpreted as SB2 sequence boundary types. The Pabdeh Formation, the deeper marine facies equivalent of the Asmari Limestone is interpreted to be deposited in an outer slope-basin environment. The microfacies of the Pabdeh Formation shows similarities to the Asmari Formation.     

New species of Dzhulfian (Late Permian) ammonoids from the Hambast Formation of Central Iran

New ammonoid species of the genus Araxoceras (A. abarquense sp. nov. and A. iranense sp. nov.) are described from the Early Dzhulfian (Early Wuchiapingian) beds of the Hambast Formation of Central Iran (Abade). The data on the distribution of Paraceltites (Paraceltites sp.) and Vedioceras (V. umbonovarum Ruzhencev), for the first time discovered in the Dzhulfian beds of Abade, and of Eoaraxoceras are provided. The correlation of the Late Permian assemblages of ammonoids of Iran and Transcaucasia is amended.     

Early Cambrian Tommotiids of Khairkhan Section (Central Tyva)

Paleontological Journal - Tommotiida finds from the Lower Cambrian of the Khairkhan Section located within the Central Tuva trough were characterized for the first time. The assemblages of small...     

A unique edrioasteroid from the upper Middle Cambrian of Iran,its phylogenetic implications and paleoecology

One of the earliest isorophid edrioasteroids from the upper Middle Cambrian-lower Upper Cambrian (upper part of Series 3-lower part of the Furongian Series) of northern Iran is described. It has unusual branched ambulacra, which extend beyond the theca almost to the marginal rim. These unusual features reflect the latent possibility of appearance of separated from the theca and even branching food-gathering appendages, such as arms in crinoids and brachials in blastozoans, in common ancestor of all radially symmetrical echinoderms.     

Middle Cambrian cystoid (sensu lato) stem columnals from Bornholm, Denmark

A rich material of echinoderm fragments from two Middle Cambrian stratigraphical levels on Bornholm are preserved due to phosphatization of the original calcitic stereom. Preservation of echinoderms in this way - not previously recorded from the Middle Cambrian - permits detailed analysis of the three-dimensional stereom structure. Identifiable are fragments of stylophorans and eocrinoids. Stem columnals, most likely from eocrinoids, show a wide and advanced morphological variation indicating articulation similar to that of crinoids. The material from the Exsulans Limestone/Kalby marl ( Ptychagnostus gibbus Zone) represents stem-bearing cystoids older than Akadocrinus from Bohemia. The Andrarum Limestone ( Sole-nopleura brachymetopa Zone) contains echinoderm fragments from a higher stratigraphical level, a level correlatable with that from which the oldest North American stem–bearing cystoid, Eustypocystis , has been recorded.