A General Report of the Geological and Palaeontological Title Survey in Maragheh Area, North-West Iran, 1973
Kamei, Tadao; Ikeda, Jiro; Ishida, Hidemi; Ishida, Shiro; Author(s) Onishi, Ikuo; Partoazar, H; Sasajima, Sadao; Nishimura, Susumu
Memoirs of the Faculty of Science, Kyoto University. Series of Citation geology and mineralogy (1977), 43(1-2): 131-164
Issue Date 1977-01-31
URL http://hdl.handle.net/2433/186612
Right
Type Departmental Bulletin Paper
Textversion publisher
Kyoto University MEMolRs oF TrHE FAcuLTy oF SclENcE, KYOTO UNIvERsuTy, SERIES oF GEoL. & MINERAL. Vol. XLIII, No. 1/2, pp. 131-164, Pls 7-9, January 30, 1977
A General Report of the Geological and Paleontological Survey in Maragheh Area, North-West Iran, 1973
By
Tadao KAMEi*, Jiro IKEDA**, Hidemi.IsHiDA**, Shiro IsmDA*, Ikuo ONisHi**", H. PARToAzAR', Sadao SAsAJiMA* and Susumu NIsHIMuRA"
(Received Oct. 20, 1976)
Content
Abstract ...... 131 Introduction ...... ,...... 132 Previous Works ...... 132 General Geography and Geology in Maragheh Area ...... 134 Excavation at Dareh-e Gorg...... 136 a. Sites and Trenches ...... ,...... ,..,...... 136 b. Condition of fossil preservation ...... 141 c. Disposition of fossil bones ...... ,...... 141 d. Fossil specimens ...... 141 List of the collected fossils ...... 145 Stratigraphy ...... ,...... 146 Palaeomagnetism of Pyroclastic Sediments ...... ,...... 154 Fission-track Age of Pyroclastics and Chronology of Maragheh Formation ...... 157 Age Estimation of Maragheh Fauna ...... 159 Summary...... 161 Acknowledgement ...... ,...... 162 References ...... ,...... ,...... ,...... 162
Abstract The present article is a general report on the excavation of the bone beds in Maragheh area, N. W. Iran. The excavation has been done at four sites in Dareh-e Gorg, near Mordagh, in autumn of 1973. Many fossil bones were sampled and those dispositions were recorded. The fossil materials excavated in this time were listed, including many cranial and postcranial bones of iEripparion, Antelope, and other Bovidae, Carnivores, Choerolophodon, etc.
* Department of Geology and Mineralogy., Fac. Sci., Kyoto University ** Lab. Physical Anthropology, Zoological Dept., Fac. Sci., Kyoto University *** Inst. Geology, Fac. Liter. and Sci., Shimane University ' Geological Survey of Iran tt Dept. Earth Science, College Liberal Arts, Kyoto University 132 Tadao KAMEi et al.
The fossil bone was obtained from the sediments of 130 m thick in Mordagh area, consisting mainly of the alternations of tuffaceous sandstone and mudstone. Those are assignable to the lower part of the Maragheh Formation. The six tephra were recognized as the distinct marker beds in those sediments. Then, the sedimentary environment is presumed. Directions of natural remanent magneti- zation of 9 sites were measured. Six pyroclastics including one ash flow of basement were dated by fission-track method and the age of the Maragheh fauna was considered as 6.6 to 6.9 my.
introduction
For the occurrences of fossil bones in the area of Maragheh in North-west Iran many scientists have paid much attention since the middle of last century. In the autumn of 1971, three members ofthe Kyoto University Scientific Expedition (KUSE) team ofJapan, J. IKEDA, S. IsHiDA and N. SHiGEHARA, visited the Geological Survey of Iran (GSD after their field-work in the Siwalik Hills of India and in Sinap series of Turkey. With the collaboration scheme organized by the GSI, those three members and F. GoLsHANi, a geologist of the GSI, have carried out a brief recon- naissance survey at Dareh-e Gorg, en route from Mordagh to Kerjaveh in Maragheh area, during the middle of November of that year. Having been based on the result, the team determined to conduct more detailed excavation and geological survey around the vicinity of Maragheh. From September 12th to November lst, the KUSE team has been honorably given again the oppor- tunity to workjointly with the GSI in Maragheh area. The Japanese team con- sisted of five members, J. IKEDA, T. KAMEi, S. IsHiDA, H. IsHiDA and I. ONisHi, and the Geological Survey of Iran has dispatched H. PARToAzAR, to work in oollaboration with the Japanese team. In this report, those members of the joint team state the observation of field-work and excavation at Dareh-e Gorg, and the results of the paleomagnetic study for Maragheh samples by S. SAsAJiMA of Kyoto University and the fission-track ages determined by S. NisHiMuRA ofthe same university are included.
Previous Works
The study of the Maragheh bone beds has been undertaken since the middle of last century, but the story of fossil bone of the area went up in legend far more ancient time. R.T. GuNTHER (1899), reviewing the paleontological studies on the bone beds, wrote: "Village people regard the Mastodon bones as the remains of the big men who lived before the fiood; but the chief man of the village classified the bones under the heads elephant, deer, swine, unicorn and `devy', or men with horns like genii." It was the first scientific paper in which H.W. ABicH (1857) reported tusk of elephant, remains of deers and fossil onager found from Maragheh which had been Geological and Paleontological Survey in Maragheh Area, NW iran 133 sent from Russian mission KHANiKoFF to Dorpat University (now, Tortustat Uni- versity, Estonia). KHANiKoFF, who discovered Maragheh bone beds, had been in Persia in 1840. J.F. BRANDT (1870) and C. GREwiNGK (1881) studied the specimens of Dorpat University which had been sent frorn chemist M.A. GoEBEL, who was also a member of KHANiKoFF expedition. Based on ABicH's and BRANDT's works, Maragheh mammals had been con- sidered as Pleistocene fauna including living ones by A. GAuDRy, 1878. E. TiETz (1881) wrote in his "Ueber einige Bildungen derjungeren Epochen in Nord-Persien", regarding Maragheh mammals as "Steppen lehm" fauna. But another view was made by C. GREwiNGK in the same year. He found the presence of Hi parion, Rhinoceros non tichorhinus, Mastodon?, Helladotherium and Tragoceros in the fauna, and pointed out the close relation between Maragheh mammals and those of Pickermi in Greece. In addition to this, he commented that the living and Pleisto- cene forms observed in the fauna by ABicH and BikeNNDT might be the materials derived from cave deposits nearby. In 1884, H. PoHLiG was invited by a merchant of Tabriz and made ajourney to Persia, He excavated the bone beds near Maragheh during the season of June and July. According to him, "The fossil bones have been found in the reddish marls at more than six plaoes, at greater or less distances from the city (up to 30 miles), and at different horizons, which, however, do not differ from each other by any characteristics of the mammalian fauna." (1886). He intended to publish a mono- graph of Maragheh fossils, but left only the faunal list and short comment. PoHLiG listed sixteen species of mammals, and stated, "it seems to me therefore that a Pleisto- cene fauna does not really oecur in the Maragheh valley". PoHLiG's collection was mostly deposited in the Museum of Prof. Von FRiTscH at Halle. In summer of 1885, A. RoDLER and E. KiTTLE visited Maragheh and excavated bone beds by the help of Kaiserliche naturhistorische Hofmuseum of Wien (RoDLER, 1885; KiTTLE, 1885). In the report, KiTTLE enumerated following fossil localities: Korpan, Korpan-Mescha, Zad-Baschin, Rasat and Ketschara at Murditscha. Those materials excavated were sent to the Hofmuseum, and have been studied by KiTTEL (1887), RoDLER and WEiTHoFER (1890) and G. ScHLEsiNGER (1917). Owing to their efforts, it became clear that the Maragheh mammals have close relation with those of Pickemi and Samos and have position in "Pontian" fauna. On the other hand, R. LyDEKKER (1886) formed a notice on fossil materials of Maragheh which were sent from R. DAMoN to the British Museum. He, admitting the priority of this study to PoHLiG, stated a significant meaning of the Maragheh mammals in relation to the western limits ofthe Siwalik fauna of India. He assumed that the Maragheh beds are of later age than the Lower Siwalik. On September of 1899, R.T. GuNTHER visited Maragheh and stayed at the house of Quasha MusHi who had excavated and dispatched bone materials to PoHLiG. 134 Tadao KAMEi et al.
GuNTHER made picking up fossil materials near Kirdjawa (Kerjaveh). The materials were surveyed by C.I. Forsyth MAJoR who was working about the contemporaneous fauna of Samos. MAJoR had already reported the remarks on Orycteropus of Maragheh in 1893. J. de MoRGAN, a scientific mission delegated from Ministry of Public Instruction of France, had stayed in Persia during 1889-1891. He passed Maragheh in 1889 and had much interest in bone beds. His reports on the geology and paleontology of Persia were published in 1905, but prior to this, M. Marcellin BouLE of museum d'histore naturell de Paris got in tough with J. de MoRGAN and atso had much interest in Maragheh bone beds in 1897. 0n his suggestion, French expedition party went to Persia in 1904, and excavated bone beds at Kirdjawa (Kerjaveh) near Murdi- tchal (Mordagh) three times with twelve workers. They also carried out geological survey at Kingir, Korpan, Chollovend and Mourandjikh. At that time, new fossil localities were found near Kermedjawan, 26 km east of Maragheh. R. de MEcQuE- NEM, a member of this expedition, wrote short notes in 1905 and 1906. He engaged in the paleontological works of Maragheh mammals in the museum d`histoire naturelle and made some reports in 1908 and 1911. In 1924 and 1925, MEcQENEM published a monograph, "Contribution a 1'etude des fossiles de Maragha". In this paper, he described 7 families, 26 genera, 32 species ofmammals and two genera ofbirds. Among them, the discovery ofMesopi- thecus from Maragheh was noteworthy. After a long lapse of time, F. TAKAi of Tokyo University of Japan visited Maragheh and picked up some fossil bones at Karjabad in autumn of 1956 (TAKAi, 1958). In 1967, H. ToBiEN, Joh.-Gutenberg University of Mainz, visited Iran and excavated Maragheh bone beds. He reported a fossil list and discussed the occurrence of fossils (ToBiEN, 1968a, b). Recently, Dutch team of D.P.B. ERDBRiNK and others carried out field work in the region in 1973, and they published excellent results on stratigraphy, paleomagnetism and K¥-Ar dating (ERDBRiNK et al. 1976).
General Geography and Geology in Maragheh Area
In the geological map of Iran arranged by NIOC, the basement of this area is assigned to the rocks ranging chronologically from Jurassic to Mio-Pliocene, and the overlying sediments are designated as Plio-Pleistocene (QPI). The fossil-bearing deposits in Maragheh area is distributed widely ranging more than 3oo Km in north-south trend and about 500 Km in east-west trend. Kuh-e Sahand (3,562 m), mass of extinct volcanoe, is surrounded by those deposits within the reach of Tabriz, Maragheh, Miandoab and Mianeh (Fig. 1). In this report, the sediments in which abundant fossil vertebrates are contained were named there- after as the MARAGHEH FORMATION. Geological and Paleontological Survey in Maragheh Area, NW Iran 135
Our excavated sites are located at Dareh-e Gorg, about 2 Km north-northeast of Mordagh, the village of about 15 Km east-southeast of Maragheh (Figs. 2, 3 and 4). This area, is characterised by hilly-land extending about 30 Km from the southern foot (ca, 2,400 m) ofKuh-e Sahand to Mordagh (ca, 1,580 m). In south ofMordagh,
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Fig. 1. Index map and Geologic Map of Maragheh Area (from Geological Map of Iran,LNIOC 1957) 136 Tadao KAMEi et al.
rr " ,Zi////gitrc,,SiiiX7/$/tg-/k-'i¥/\' N e i."'` l.illllii?i'\e`, N NS Ns 0tsp .. 4igg'.-ilii)N e `Plie; ... Eli> NNID h¥ ew- .P p- w"; gli21!!ITttttiO,. L ' ttA ' ' tsf,iiiiiilliis,,ili,,gs$i,g)( ,betbg,p' 1 , tai--eaoo>N i'itttiii],,ee-(; tl ,-1.N>. To- 1 i¥;IS IIN`i,i¥i'IIKii lt 7 N t /t K 1 X¥,i)`li)ss , ,elii2i:fz'i,.iz7 )Ol[,f:)X,'t-}aaj'h" ' l e 1 I k ' : s 11 3.7' >s tl Davabumi NX -:.at\i.ity(ifillk&U/.V'ileepa/L tev.,.&,/gstZiis¥ 1 -- it,-5i." 2'ill' Excayation at Dareh-e Gorg a. Sites and trenches The excavation has been carried out at four sites, Site-I, II, III, and IV, in the vicinity of Dareh-e Gorg (Fig. 5). To this excavation the team applied stepped Geological and Paleontological Survey in Maragheh Area, NW Iran 137 Qoz .idi .' el}YL(L..;tt" -/ i <6 ' > Railway - ' i //¥ ¥ Road t A 1 .e -".Dard4Rha ii foSN - =Floed ?1afn J .tt' k l l N ruYer .A Sargizch" ' is.. / nv nyM slopei Cliff 7/ x/'t ';L2 / t I "nyvt -"' xtttt <1 / E Chavan -...-....#-x ncztobentt {. k t Ns vt --/ ....-..Z" Si8idi + l.ttysJv- s SN s@ -- -- T z?7 1 tt t"' Ghartowol s@ KeEjay v --.- iZs{)1 cf?,t / . t / tl t $ sx 'tt 'Syt x Heieh Taze Kand !uaag/Åë ta l 1/ Il1. Aliabad 7 1/ of .¥/7i¥,tS7 // oriekan t / tl t .,(:;n, @ '"-E'tt"'..---.- ..-. ,,,.,.s:>..ttl' [rh.zi,ili.,XN.,l2-a".nh geschaSan -----..- " 11" l t .ec se . / j site/ r r' / i (Ca i6asdi) L. " / --- ktl )" " L da 16anrn x To Mordagh U :Upper Pumice W:White Fine Tuff ,etr L:Lower Pumice O-50 m Fig. 4. Geologic Sketch Map of Upper Dareh-e Gorg (drawn by compass and pacing method) M.N, Å~?f a 8 o 5 10 rc 30m ee5 6' pa- pt n 9 " p ' a fi:' i l -- v e pt- G o to Site II o pt pt ¥---- p p g e 18 v-A o eeop .At!tl ! I 6' t pt- Site 1 a( ca " " g :6 tl " ? ,.O,, K-" site m v¥ B' Xrt ev e ca K m pt N ig Q g se b ts g a 8 v Nh Z e to R N -N Site N $ NV .b k!S ptw p t e/ -/" Fig. 5. Topographic Map of excavated Sites (drawn by use of hand-level, tape, and pole-measure) p wwo tuff a raSclislr sandy B sandy .mud mud s" 7 5 .sand and gravel . e g sandy mud reddish sandy mud v reddish sandy mud e sandy mud t r eddish sandy mud 2M x reddish sandy mud A z pt sandy mud o v x o 1 2 3m g8 e* Fig. 6. Cross Section of Site I (S : fossil) g sandy mud 5 sand E g- seil sandy mud su}cl m-d K v reddiab Z sandy rnud J sandy sand and gravel mud sand and gravel reddish gray sandy mud I / / leess-like fine sand and silt H /- C sandy sand rnud --L .-'{---:JI'/LI,Uigf:-:- t pinkish gray clay 2m reddish sandy rnud G .¥/{ tlit":'i."ig'!///ii"tT,-I. a sandymud F 1 / -l 1LMpinkish white 91ay sapdy mud E /a tuff 1 o - di 1 2 sandy mud 3m 2m Å~ sand D sandy rnud sand 73oo3 Fig. 8. Cross Section of Site III 1 sand mud c sand pinkish white clay B 73oo2 D x o 1 2 3m 73oo: tuff A Fig.7. Cross Section of Site II sandy mud Geological and Paleontological Survey in Maragheh Area, NW Iran 141 subdivided into seven layers successively each 20 cm in depth. Stratigraphically upper six layers correspond to Horizon-b, but the lowest layer, Layer 7, is equivalent to Horizon-a. For the convenience of excavation, each trench was divided into five or six sections, each of which was 2 m in length. Fossil bones were concentrated in Horizons-b, -c and -b'. The mudstone were sampled at about one ton from Horizon-b for studying small vertebrate fossils. Site IV: Many fossil bones were yielded from the trench. b. Condition offossil preservation It seems that the preservation of fossil bones is rather well. The matrix was moderately hard, and, therefore, various sharply pointed chisels were effective to pick up bone materials from the matrix. As the fossil bones were so fragile and were also much distorted, it was necessary to pick up them carefu11y together with surround- ing matrix. Sometimes, however, it happened to be broken down to pieces. c. Disposition of fossil bones Throughout the territory of Dareh-e Gorg, fossil bones were discovered in some clustered assemblages. In each cluster of bones, the disposition of fossils seems to have a definite orientation in exposition, as recognized clearly in Layers 4, 5 and 6 of Horizon-b' (Fig. 9). In addition to this, the assemblage of fossil bones seems to form concentrated piles in some sections and layers, noticeably in Layers 4, 5 and 6 of Sections IV, V and VI (Figs. 9 and 10). From the above-mentioned facts, it may be possible to deduce that the fossil bones were transported by a sort of a stream. However, there is another evidence that some fossil bones were found to be standing obliquely to the surface plane of the bed. Moreover, it was true that some bones, e.g. Ieg bones of Hipparion, were uncovered in the statas of aniculation in situ. Accordingly, it is possible to assume that those fossil bones had been transported by a stream, but not been drifted for a long distance. d. Fossilspecimens The fossil materials excavated in this time were listed below. They include many cranial and postcranial bones of Hi parion, Antelope and other Bovidae, Carnivores, Choerolophodon, etc. As the team adopted stepped trench method for the excavation, the analysis of fossil assemblages may be possible not only qualita- tively but also quantitatively. 142 Tadao KAMEi et al. b'-1SectionM v rv m `JS gNS "'" y " D 1rn b'-2 Sectionvr v rv m "- o " Åë b ,,,s.j}$see Ne 6 o lm s.-...... -.. b,-3 Section 'Vr v N m ts oe e Q klrn Fig. 9. Sketch of Horizontal Plane, Showing Fossil Disposition in Layers b' 1-6 of Geological and Paleontological Survey in Maragheh Area, NW Iran 143 b'¥4 Sectionvr v ' N m l iau$"b 1¥ , J s .tc=e ss!1([\"s" y¥Zll7 Nsip ' ss u9!..0 o 0" O lm b'-5¥Sectionvr v N .m ti.Il?l)zl a==' ajan kbNg4`.,. e esN.. eb 'e,ll` -ct- vPp tf{?3i}}¥5ef ood 5==,, a4- s¥mp:¥Q-)h Ab O lm b'-6Section'Vr v N m 0. .eD g"ll . "tp "NO ; d N oc} i iCilli ' o lm Sections IV-VI at Site III pk Section wt y W m II I :t,fit,¥f.tkt¥.,.,t:,--:,rl:-i.{;¥:iL,-;.'t'L'.l¥,l,E:,i¥;.t"¥:.t/fl:.f¥Sy,¥¥:¥¥:-¥¥¥ tHtJ- t- - Lt; -- ---t----t ;lr"¥?,li,i'.'¥'\¥-:.-g¥:,,tiE,¥.r.{ts/t¥tL¥¥i Layer :f-:;i'"•:-1•;'::-:r-::iLP-'1-;..T.'.'•:t--::ÅÄT•;Ti.L'I.t•-.trt;/",:-:'tE-".i.--::;•;L•fi,'t,.4-:i./'lltt/i--:f.':-I,..tLE!,]-::.ri:ltt.ÅÄ2,l.f,'ei,'."-:•Yv-'"-*'l,:•'.2•l'i•"l:::l:•Itt•ÅÄIl't•-'-.'./"'."7-iiJ•:-:-'l:il---- LAJ--vLt ---4 -l ------+ ;'¥tr,¥i4f¥i¥?'li'a¥--..:.l,ij¥:',-1¥ii¥lt.i-g¥i{¥i.-:.-Tt',[¥;L'Lrs'ki¥;=TL¥rfT.x,¥.,¥.,- -- ::, J= :X¥ '-'.-:..:ta. =e :..= : ,¥= := ¥.-¥ :l:,'::..¥s ..:,. g¥:',y¥i...'.l¥tLl¥.i-:i;-;¥'ST,i.ll¥1¥¥l#¥-,}tr,,1¥l¥tJl¥.v.i,:fl :-. =' ,-1¥- ;,¥ = ¥=;k, :-'.¥ :: J..h, ¥=,.'--'L; ¥,=1,':=¥L Tt-::-., Itt':I'l:i,l"-i,l:'ttli-:'t'"g":;':'ll'hayer -.¥ .. r. -::k:'.tf}:'f••:V•::r•!:h'-::tr,:•+t':.';`/'t'#.t/::-;V.li-:v;':-lihSre-.Sr•:T-.1"i:;rJL"L•ÅÄ7:-::'"••r.•-L# :-::u.i•;lf•Ittii.A.;•r•':'t:•TU'di:•:-"•-•'fÅÄ:-i-::::::i•j•r•:•:t c ¥::l- I.lf,-:;•+.l,.ÅÄ/1"r:•::Eg•]•."A-:::t'/rl!?rl•;,•.t'i,:-F;}ÅÄ.t•t;T•.•:,L=• I,:.\'k'li'tF.tLi,i'5'i.g,¥,i-l¥:.t,l¥:.tt,.j2,-",-v".¥i,i-'{-'4¥;.gt:,.tit:¥ti,¥,:¥:-:#;'¥:i'di¥r'.i-,.. rr:¥?ai. ig. :-r¥-.-¥T¥.:,t", i.tL'{t/tL,'t.t.1]t..-:$r¥:.¥:' ¥c '-¥ ¥t" Fr¥}¥:,;`,T¥gT::¥il¥#,'tte:t'El:e,:=:l:.J. - ':J ¥-¥ '- ¥-;k¥tt¥ ¥tt.'¥T¥of ::,t ,=.P- it{'¥'i.,/iii¥iit,rl':-l"/'l¥'k,:.tL:,,f,:,/r¥tlg.:.,¥,tl/r/¥,il,-'1/1''i:":¥i-g¥'-l/;-;/t:'l.e' --'- "tex='' H tN. Sr¥i¥ r.¥r.,r¥'¥X¥:¥L-¥s= g ' CL¥ r, ' = '-/,Lt. m-,-i-¥¥ I ;::'-L- B 1 : "-¥" . L¥.-¥ sr¥ ¥=r. =. t¥..z:¥r¥iv s=¥ =¥"'¥ :X¥ Lr¥st¥ "Tdr¥ .v:¥ ¥:¥¥¥ ,g, itt,¥1¥t¥;¥f¥;:.-¥4ii-:.-4;¥:¥l;¥,-'-,!.¥.lf¥.111¥tr,,#=,'¥;,ic,.:¥:,'.;¥.:;.;¥;¥fl' rlSn:¥' 2 .r.=:¥= ::tt¥-;¥:¥E¥il:ii'E¥¥ 2 x --"r-) ,fE-,{,g-l'tkl"il,-{'$-ii-gl-;.'ls'S,.,f;f./-E-al.illl,l:llllei-l'ii ' > s 3 K =- .=:'LS 't-: . ,=',3....'. . bt . l'iJ.::i..r'"' -b. N 4 t¥E¥}il,-:¥.:,.",-... 4 :"",.' ::ti:¥' t.)S;it/i:V:'¥;"Wf':'t '+::-yttt':-I -' ¥:-:i' e 9 5 l]'vii EIIIiipinkish White clay 5 sm pt- 6 E!i[l!] gray. sandy silt 6 1 thL 7) [IIIIIIII]pinkish gray clay cm o"-'-'tslo2m ro at Mreddish brown sandy mud a' ',.Li,i',/:¥ dark gray sana and gravel .,. grayel vo fossil Fig. 10. Sketch of Vertical Plane of the East Wall at Site III Geological and Paleontological Survey in Maragheh Area, NW Iran 145 List of the collected fossils MAMMALIA Proboscidea: Choerolophodon penteleci GAuDRy Broken but rather well preserved cranial bone with 2I, iMi, 2M2 and unerupted 3MS in situ; vertebral bone, probably lumbar vertebra; broken left scapula, rib bone; broken right humerus; broken left femur without epiphyses; left tibia, phalanges. Those materials are belongings of more than two individ- uals. Perisodactyla : Aceratherium persiae PoHLiG Only one broken left humerus is preserved. Chilotherium morgani MEcQu. Mandibles, one isolated tooth and one phalanges. Hi parion gracile KAup Cranial bones are preserved; broken and fragile maxila; mandibles; isolated teeth ; the vertebral bones are composed of one axis, one cervical vertebra and one thoracic vertebra. Scapulae, pelvis but broken are present. One left humerus and one right ulna. Metacarpus, one calcaneous, one astragulus, metatarsus, phalanges and one hoof remains are identified. Artiodactyla: Suid gen. et sp. indet. One femur, one fibula may belong to Suid. Helladotherium gaudryi MEcQu. One right maxila with M2, M3 and one broken mandible. Achtiara coelophrys RoDLER et WEITHoFER Only one isolated tooth is preserved. GiraMd gen. et sp. indet. One mandible, one isolated tooth and one calcaneous. Microstonyx sp. One mandible. Mandibles and isolated teeth, one pelvis, metatarsals. Tragocerus spp. Fragrnental cranial bones, mandibles, isolated teeth, fragmental horns, vertebrae, scapula, rib bones, pelvis, humerus, tibia, astragalus, calcaneous, metatarsals. 146 Tadao KAMEi et al. Hippotragus sp. Fragmental cranial bone, mandible, radius, ulna, metacarpus, tibia. Oioceros boulei MEcQu. Fragmental cranial bone, femur. Oioeeros sp. Tibia. Carnivora : Hyaenarctos maraghanus MEcQu. Mandible. ? Machairodus sp. Mandible. AVES Struthio sp. Pelvis. REPTILIA Ophidia gen. et sp. indet. Vertebral column. Clemys sp. One shield. As already mentioned, for the purpose of searching small vertebrate fossils, the materials were sampled at Sites II and III. As the result of carefu1 washing and sieving by use of 1 mm mesh sieve, contrary to our expectation, no traces of small vertebrate fossils whatever were recognizable, Stratigraphy As the main subject of this research has devoted to the excavation, the geological survey was carried out only for a week from October 15th to 21st. Due to a very short field work, the geological survey was compelled only to confine to take some geological columns in the neighbourhood ofDareh-e Gorg (Figs. 3, 11 and 12). The sediments 130 m thick in Mordagh area, mainly consisting of alternations of tuffaceous sandstone and mudstone, are assignable to the lower part of the Mara- gheh Formation. In this area, it is possible to recognize the following six distinct marker beds from the view point of tephro-chronological observation. The Maragheh Formation lies unconformably on the basement rocks near Chekan. At locality 15 (Fig. 3), biotite-bearing ash flow with a bedding plane of N16OE, 23eW overlies Jurassic ammonite-bearing marine shales with bedding plane of N260E, 31OS. In other places, gray siltstones of the Maragheh Formation abut Geological and Paleontological Survey in Maragheh Area, NW Iran 147 t : i "s 1 --m-- Scoria bed : tt=.s"tK' Al s E-.t....- rs )-- n hhili Upper PumiCe hl Sargizeh ts -4:-scN --- Azhh "".".".. White fine tuff ttMl li - h-" //`2.,,.,,,,.,Y -Lower Pumice 1.7 s-: ,lh hhh ) N Mordagh tuff b(s:""Vtttt: 7' h- N. it cho>i>lievand fault C'- l,.- .:" -"-- .) K'iiikuti", o 1 2km A."? :, g s) . IN" . -: E N`'ct l=. .J-tg.N r: S2: MomenehN . '¥ nN />) --.r' h.3 N, tN ,J , N v .. --.J -- L . .) "-vt 1- b 'N N t Nt --: ' .: . -:t- g.. hA 't" : 1 t/f"/`<.- h/ } 1 Aliabad : t sNlttt "-. -. N i" .sS" -""sn l t is -- :h ,: .s." ..vsw .: s- MI Ah h"k "")I h t S" ."NS " di "'-""--'" N" ' -r- "" ""hn-- --- . -d Dash"a.t.a.n.d "z ""N "s""j h tMh ""uttc """" s""NIh 7tt ."tLt""ttl"""s"-itt-"tt"tt:. tt;,",""'Mordag s""""N>"}"hh N lsl-IJNh"s2"hNn "NttS' t s"' "tttd. ""-"" it:r/'i,::-eti':'i.,,;.s,it'"'t'l:::""1=- . s"""" ..)'" Moghangegh ss N""""S k Sttetettt. :.' r..s" -" """" .---.-2 h "= ts -" .".xN";""3NN t.i/'"'-t' " stilsssN Karajugh sN NN-. ts "ssN"K" x-NS ssl . lFig. 11 . Geologic Sketch Map in the Neighbourhood of Mordagh 148 Tadao KAMEi et al. OSargizch @Kerjaveh CW) @Kerjaveh (SW) ./tittt )ttt i' ..' r=. /.,'L/:Ar t itt'-/ lil:r, ?/liil/I/ :N:tC'.N 1.i'J. -ltl t=x/ t- l- 1!1'.'tC - vyV L¥",( vv vvvvv t4-1. / ¥J:..-e. vv "'-kt: -6t,..'S.t"N."}v&.¥- i,rs,,{.I,E vv tt/t/t Xx.v vV l.¥!.tti. vv ,: !..- .i;1 @Momenchvvvvvvvv vvv i.1".t¥1-tt vv vv ;;ltt- -.- vev.3. vvv Vv ./.- vv ¥/ .:f,.::i¥ .- vVvV vv ../Tl.- PumicgSqlls v vv - 'i,'1:srr;¥' vv @Kerjaveh /111/ ---- vy vvv Yvvv (NWN) ".' v' 11////11S/l,,. @Dareh,e Gorg v vv "." v" ,, vv vVvVv lf/ v vv Site I, n vVv ? vvv I/t"J. - v vvy ! vvv .1¥11,! vvv vvv I5.'/t scon' vv L-:-: a bed ------k- t' vvv '/f/' :l. :. ------t--.s."N ':'bftt' ," vv ''=' vvv f`t v' vVYv .;V.'J --. Il,1i¥tt,L,,I vv es'¥5(el.:X-:!! !1 /1111//ti./1i: .--N---.---- Vv .,¥' vv vvv vvv l¥Xx¥ ,/ vv Å}"'i't vV . .x vvv yvv ----- 'I' %/E¥-{i, N.- '--""'-N.t vv 1!' vVv tt tttt vvv .-. vw ' ' vv vW {t vvv vvv { ,su,-,t/,eessXst. . vv vv 11 vvv vvv ti¥ vvv vv. vvv Yvv vvv vv //¥¥ vvy vvv -:- . vv vvv -- . vvv vv ---- vv vvv .-i-- /7' vvv vvv ---- vv vvv -- vvv vvv x I' vv vv -IS'S¥ vvv vvv !i vv VYv ----- vvv vvv --. ¥t . vVY vv t-.-.t"t .t 11 .-;.= .t T:.'t'i !I1:'k'.-6.'.-e'i2----t-icll.IZ vvv vv ?ÅÄ:''r'lti'•t---- , .v-' t.t vVv vvv ., t,r.:E' .I vvv ll¥i¥I'illl¥l,i vvv vv vv --' vYv vV .r, , , yv - -i vvv ------.--- vv . m oo J- YYv - vV t, vvv ' vv vvv vv tee;¥ ¥- vv vv vvv vv vvv ¥10 X(1) fossils, loc: no. in Figs. 13 and 14 @ Loc. no. in Fig. 3 Fig. 12. Geologic Columnar Sections at the Fifteen Localities in the Nejghbourhood of Mordagh o on alternations of sandstone and mudstone of Mesozoic age. Owing to high relief of the basement topography, in southern area some fenster hills of the basement rocks are surrounded by the Maragheh Formation. At 250 m west of Divrazm, hard dacitic fine ash fiow lies on the scoria fall deposit. The ash flow is about 4 m thick, nearly horizontal, and is cut by fault which runs in N80OW, 44OS. In the north of fault, there are cobble conglomerates and red sandy mudstones with a dip of 46 ONE and a strike of N55OW, it seems that cobble conglomerates belong to a member of the basement rocks and red sandy mudstones may represent a local facies of the Geological and Paleontological Survey in Maragheh Area, NW Iran 149 @Mabad@A!iabad @Mordagh @Darche Gorg (NE) as) (N) ;'i¥li, tilt,\:, :t."r'J,`{;' )'}l', -"-.b.---i--i-.. -t ¥ii-1,f.i t h------h---- "ii:'stÅ}rl" ------.-,¥ -.".-...-.----.-.-.-. i,I :.:.:swiandthYpTetTi"d,tle 'n..e.{X il lo) i.l silt il ::"[ sandy mud /jl/ri ::.:.: with pebble 'ÅÄ'"'ii :-i""h' /i'i @Mordagh- x. Dashatan :.:.::, N . /il' N N . ,,='--'-=-ti-t.g.PNsinÅí....TuN.ff.h.-.-...... :" d----pt- ¥s tlt' x -.t./ - /iig @Mordagh l ,I,I N.x } xN (NEE) /ii i" . i 'i.,iii¥I:l, Å~ , II' l ';,i¥'ili /- N. l 1 ,,. Nx . I ¥:¥:.:.':¥ 'cx /, ,, l ¥.¥].i¥¥: @Agh Kand iii,,¥'}l, ! / l,e•Åík{' ffh Mordatut :. dlt ! ! asih flow .}.{- "'s' PUrrlice flOW / tuffaceous mud llil.-l. / pumice, fall tuff (aslt fall) Ii' ,pt¥ 1 t;')l ://,'t;'¥ pumice and sand ,11;//¥1¥, / l} ¥ muddy ash =t / v' ." volcanic spmd and muddy aslr -•--..Q4-g-h Kand Åë) "l¥It.:'i pumice sand , / ! ;.:..: gravel -#gas., i:.:.:.:. gand ? / -¥-- rtrud silt-¥mud / sandy mud -:t fine sand and sht Maragheh Formation. The marker beds were named ascendingly as Mordagh tuff, Lower pumice, White fine tuff, Upper pumice, "Scoria" bed and Pumice falls (3 layers). Mordagh tuff crops out at the cliff along the waterway for irrigation at 1.2 Km NEE ofMordagh as shown in Column 8 ofFig. 12. It is 4.1 m thick in total. The detail lithology and sampled horizons are as follows: O.4 m reddish-purple pumiceous tuff O.3 reddish-purple granules 150 Tadao KAMEi et al. O.5 reddish-purple granule breccia bearing muddy ash 73015-2 O.5 yellow volcanic medium sands O.2 fall pumices 1.0 bedded greenish tuff with intercalation of coarse sand layer O.5 greenish tuff with abundant pumices of 5 mm dia. pumices at the top are 1 cm dia. O.3 volcanic gravels of granule size O.4 green tuff 73010, 73015-1 Lower pumice bed crops out at the slope from Dareh-e Gorg to Kerjaveh. At the southwest of Kerjaveh, it is 2.3 m thick. 1.5 m red-brown muds with rounded pumices, 10 cm in max. dia.; two kinds of pumice: light purple, ill-bubbled pumices with O.5 mm long horn- blende and white, fibrously bubbled pumices with 1 mm long horn- blende and O.5 mm biotite O.3 volcanic sands and small pumices O.3 pumices, 3 cm in max. dia., matrix a little ash O.1 pumice sands and ash, thin alternated O.05 light pink ash O.07 coarse ash with pumices White fine tuff consisting of glassfine lies immediately below the fossil bed at Site II, and III and IV in Dareh-e Gorg, and 67 cm thick at Site II. This tuff shows reddish-gray color (10R 5!1 in Munsell's color names)soil at the time of excavation, but becomes white in color in dry and weatherd condition. Upper pumice bed is 2.5 m thick at the top of eastern Dareh-e Gorg, Loc. 7. A variety of pumices are contained as follow: a) light-reddish purple, somewhat ill-bubbled, 3 mm feldspar is conspicuous, with biotite and hornblende b) pinkish, ill-bubbled, 1-2 mm quartz and feldspar, with biotite and horn- blende c) light-purple, ill-bubbled, O.5 mm hornblende, a less amount of phenocryst d) white, ill-bubbled, partly fibrous, O.2 mm hornblende, a little amount of phenocryst 2.0 m alternations of volcanic sand and pumiceous sand O.6 rounded pumice gravels of pebble and cobble size O.2 volcanic sands O.1 pumice bed O.2 volcanic sands O.6 rounded pumice gravels of pebble and cobble size O.6 alternations of pumiceous sand and sand Geological and Paleontological Survey in Maragheh Area, NW Iran 151 O.5 volcanic sands with lens of pumice pebble O.6 pebble and cobble pumice gravels O.1 ash O.5 red sandy muds Scoria bed lying on pumice fiow deposits is O.5-2 m thick and hard , and pro- jecting like eaves. Loc. 1, east of Sargizeh O.5 m hard subangular andesite granules, O.5-1 cm dia. O.4 red-brown pumiceous muds O.2 dark-gray volcanic sand 2.2 red-brown pumice flow Loc. 2, western southwest of Momeneh O. 8 m hard laminated sands 10 laminated coarse sands and granule breccias with pumices pebble and round-subangular gravels O.3 reddish-brown sandy muds with pumices 2.0 subround andesite pebble-bearing pumice flow Loc, 3. west of Kerjaveh 1.2m angular-subangular granules with 20 cm dia. andesite gravels O.4 3-4 cm dia. pumice O.25 volcanic sands with breccias 2m pumice fiow Pumice fall bed consists of2 or of 3 fallssmall pumices, showing graded bedding. The top of this bed is reverse by graded and shows convolute structure. Loc. 2, western southwest of Momeneh O.02 m coarse (2-3 mm dia.) fall pumices, reverse by graded O.02 graded fine (medium sandy) fall pumices O.05 graded coarse (3-5 mm dia.) fall pumices O.15 graded fall pumices Loc. 1, east of Sargizeh O. 15 m fine laminated (medium sandy) pumices O.03 fine ash O.07 yellow fall pumices O.03 fine ash O.06 fall pumices O.02 fine ash O.1 fall pumices 152 Tadao KAMEi et al. Owing to the fault run at the southside of Mordagh, the Mordagh tuff is not exposed there. Therefore, in the area extending from Mordagh to the south it was impossible to obtain precise data in this survey. The uppermost part of the sedjments in the areas of Mordagh and Kerjaveh .t ""s 7 Sargizehss "s" tl t/ o 1 2km tT tr / l tlllq"""" / Il / """ltttt- (i choil81>and "t i .F' K..ttt""N l xg -""s =ttl" s E ---. ,;.tv" Moineneh N "x v Kerjave h / ss t" si ** is'x ,Å~/C/1io //3 ;5-x" Nx Z Al,.betpt fXJ.. tt k..-,.. /J Tsi,,eKand ,i;{8X } N, b/vk i/ / IJ "sit. 7 t xld r= .f=! :- ""."7 ,,tst.5- .tr...,s' lji / tls" li/ -v-zllf /*s "h" X lrrr2 ..N -,¥ti ...siz --.-....-ce "gue"t"-...i.l.l-"il.'1"1 "" l/7s?i,<Å~ . / ashgt-a.npt..t '1 ' Ztrt ttrlllll.[st'C """"""sll"ttJtt,"l"" "T-t--- l Mor ag . I/1; NN.....,....,... I ..",d. ,F ""z"""N- :"titSZ t "-:' SIJIJ. -S ""N l ..i,,,,::r -tl";/ "sts"S"}"1--"""" .9'i Moghangegh LL "-- " """ ."t"'S:N S =.lr::r: 1 s .3'3"li"..bh"-'h'Cil(l."'!'.tlll'ii'5`'""' ' Fig. 13. Fossil Localities Observed in this Survey Geological and Paleontological Survey in Maragheh Area, NW Iran 153 x .9 g 6 M d s g Z a" "t$ g fl ..x gE a Åí..- g lichology E ¥ee b' es diac op m< Explanation of Fossil Localities 1. Northwest of Mordagh, 20 m lower than Lower pumice 2. North of Mordagh, 5 m lower than alt. of ss & ms 300? intercalated Lower pumice ash flows &falls 3. South of Kerjaveh, 5 m lower than {estirnated) Lower pumice 10 4. NortheastofAliabad,belowLower 73oo4-N?5.2 Korde deh ash fZeW 73ooe-N pumlce . 5. North of Mordagh, 5 m upper than Lower pumice 6. Dareh-e Gorg (SiteI), 5m upper alt. of ss & ms eo intercalated than Lower pumice ash flows & falls, 7. North part of Dareh-e Gorg, 1.5 m 10 cm to 1 m thick, in several m. intervales ' lower than White fine tuff 8. Dareh-e Gorg (Site II, III, IV), O-2 m upper than White fine tuff 73012r Sargizeh tuff 9. Northeast part of Dareh-e Gorg alt. ss & ms O-2 m upper than White fine pumice fqlls C3 Zayers) 10. Northeast of Aliabad, 5 m lower alt. ss & ms "sÅëoria" bed , than Upper pumice pumice flow 11. Northeast of Kerjaveh, below Up- alt. $s & ms per pumlce. 12. Northwest of Ghartowol, below 73019'6.6 'XITl2 rlPper pmice Upper pumice XIO 15¥. alt. ss & rns 73003-N 73oo2 I? x89 0.5 73oo1----N X7 Othite fine tuff x56 10- alt. ss & ms N: Normal Polarity 730i7 7,O Mordagh tuff ' ? 40 alt. ss & ms Fig.14,VCompiled Geologic Column with List and Stratigraphical Hori- ;gg18>----R-7,2 4-¥5 biotite bearing ash flow zons of Fossil Localities, Palaeo- biotite bearing ash fiow 73e2ih8Z magnetic Polarity and Fission-track $h & ss with Jurassic A;ru Dnite Age of Pyroclastics 154 Tadao KAMEi et al, submerges towards north in the area between Sargizeh and Agajari. To the north from Agajari, the upper part of the Maragheh Formation is accessible to observe. As to the upper part of this formation, the geological relation was ascertained in the region from Sargizeh to Korde-deh, the northernmost village of this area. The upper part of the Maragheh Formation in this area consists mainiy of alternations of tuffaceous sandstone and mudstone with intercalations of tuff and ash fiow which are superimposed in every 5 to 10 m intervals. The most of tuff and ash fiow beds have a thickness of less than 1 m. At Korde-deh, a remarkable non-welding ash flow bed, called as the Korde-deh ash flow, is observed at about 40 m higher above the river bed. The sediments, ranging from the Pumice falls of lower distinc tmarker bed below to this upper ash flow, is estimated to be about 90 m thick. Furthermore, the thickness of the upper part above the Korde-deh ash fiow is estimated as ap- proximately 300 m as thick. Accordingly, the total amount of thickness of the Maragheh Formation is assumed to be within a range from 500 to 600 m (Fig. 14). In the lower part of Maragheh Formation, eight horizons of fossil bones can be discriminated based upon some characteristic interventions of pyroclastics. Throughout the areas researched, the Maragheh Formation is horizontal in general except for some local disturbance. Such local distortion of the geological structure is probably due to tectonic warping depending upon the basement structure. Furthermore, it is recongnized that the area is thrown down by south side down fault, and those are situated in the fault zone in NW-SE direction which runs through the northern part of Mordagh. The Maragheh Formation is composed mainly of alternation of tuffaceous sandstone and mudstone with intercalations of volcanic ejecta such as ash fiow, ash fall, pumice fiow and so on, Though those sediments have some intercalations of gravels, no conspicuous conglomerate exists so far as we observed. From the observation given to those sedirnents, it may be possible to assume that the sedi- mentary environment had been predominated by fiuviatile condition. On the other hand, however, the many insertion of red clay within the deposits suggests that the land had occasionally emerged from subaquatic conditions. Moreover, well pre- served continuity of graded or reversely graded pumice fall and tuff may suggest the presence of widespread lacustrine environment throughout this area. From the consideration stated above, it is probable to deduce that there was the repetition of fiuviatile, steppe and lacustrine environments. During that time, the northern volcanoes of Mt. Sahand had provided intermitently ash and pumice flows, ranging from acid to intermediate type. Palaeomagnetism of Pyroclastic Sediments Recent geomagnetic data (1965) obtained at near Maragheh area, about 370 Geological and Paleontological Survey in -Maragheh Area, NW Iran 155 20'N in lattitude and 46020'E in longitude, are about 40E in declination, about 55.5O in inclination and about O.39 gauss in vertical component. Directions of natural remanent magnetization (NRM) of some pyroclastics were measured by means ofan astatic magnetometer. Sample, No. 73011 was taken from the coarse biotite tuflr, the lowermost Maragheh Formation lying unconformably on the Jurassic shales at locality 15, south of Chekan. The NRM polarity of this sample is reversed, though only one specimen is available (Fig. 15). NRMs of nine specimens from sample No. 73010, the basal part of Mordagh tuff at locality 8 are measured before and after rnagnetic cleaning with a peak field M, N. 7¥3003 e"xsstlSl/Xl tl-' ILX'Xt-s it3teP-O'i-Qs-xxxxiX,ilf3oo4kXtt,x.,/fikN.x-,)iss,.Q1.-t t!SLs(Noo,. IX- x-.4...... --.X....---tlt 73012 73011 o Fig. 15. Djrections of NRMs, Schmidt's equal area projection 73oo1, oo3 (N): White fine tuff after magnetic cleaning in a peak field of 200 Oe 73004, oo8 (N): Korde-deh ash flow gigll [I})l.: 8:Z:;e/iOttifftebearingaShflOW] notmagneticaiiycieaned 73011 is shown in upper hemisphere + : Direction of the present axial dipole field in this area 156 Tadao KAMEi et al. of 80 Oe. As shown in Fig. 16, NRMs do not exhibit well grouping after a.f. de- magnetization of 80 Oe. However, the polarity of this sample is certainly supposed to be normal. No. 73015-1 was collected from the same part with No. 73010. No. 73015-2 was from the upper part of Mordagh tuff at the same locality. Their NRM directions are pointing within the variation range of No. 73010. Sample No. 73001 taken from White fine tuff, II-A bed, was measured by 6 specimens, and after magnetic cleaning of 80 Oe it showed normal polarity having the mean values, declination of N240E and inclination of 450. The top of this tuff, No. 73002 showing disturbed deposition indicates extraordinary directions (Fig. 16). No. 73oo3 from II-C bed, of which lower part of mudstone bearing fossil bones, shows declination of Nl8 OW and inclination of 36O after a.f. demagneti- M.N. .xg o&oc !iRy'OIOactloE;e iOB 73ols-1CER.+ .X Q!.tl8})'K"-'7i g:1Qx¥¥¥' oioGX o' ,' 73010D oioH(gibcSti:oF OIOA N 73002 NNN'. Fig. 16. Directions ofNRMs 73oo2 (I?): White fine tuff; only one specimen after magnetic cleaning in a peak field of 1oo Oe aower hemisphere) 73010 (N) : Mordagh tuff after magnetic cleaning in a peak field of 80 Oe 73015 (N): Mordagh tuff Geological and Paleontological Survey in Maragheh Area, NW Iran 157 zation of 80 Oe (Fig. 15). No. 73012, the basal part of Sergizeh ash flow, 8 m higher than Pumice fa11, shows intermediate polarity, 900E in declination and 550 in inclination. Three specimens from the lowest part of Korde-deh ash fiow, No. 73oo4 and O08 all show normal polarity, although their declination are quite different (Fig. 15). Thus, the NRMs of the pyroclastics intercalated in Maragheh Formation show almost normal polarity excepting the basal one. This is not consistent with the postulation for the stratigraphic position of the Maragheh fauna, as BERGGREN and Van CouvERiNG (1974) considered in palaeomagnetic stratigraphy as comparative longer reversed polarity event c of Epoch 7. Fission-track Age of Pyroclastics and Chronology of Maragheh Formation Seven fission-track ages of zircons in pyroclastics were obtained. Zircon, because of its high uranium impurity content, its fragmental occurrence in common clastic rocks and of its high temperature stability, is suitable for the application of fission-track dating. Zircon crystals were separated from samples using the standard separating procedure with heavy solutions and isodynamic separator. For obtaining the best etching of fission-tracks in zircon it requires 2 hours in 1:1 concH2SO` and 55O/. HF at 1800C using tefron capusule in stainless steel container which is similar to what was designed by NisHiMuRA (1975). For the reactor run, a small amount of zircon was packed in a plastic container and irradiated in a reactor of Kyoto University of which neutron flux was also calibrated by the fission-track method (HAsHiMoTo et al., 1969). Fission-track age, T yr, can be represented by the following equation (FLEiscHER and PRicE, 1964); T== -1- in [i+i Pps, ÅëopO] where p, is the fossil fission-track density (cm-2), pi the induced track density by bombardment with the thermal neutrons (cm-2), the total decay constant for uranium (yr-i), af the fission decay constant for 2SSU (we used 6.85Å~10-i7 yr-i, Nishimura, 1975), c the thermal neutron cross section for fission 2S5U (cm2), Åë the thermal neutron dose (cm-2), and v the isotope ratio 235U/2SSU respectively. If T were smaller than 109 yr, the equation can be written T=6.12Å~lo-sÅë Ps . pi Ages of zircons obtained from pyroclastics are given in Table 1. The precision of the dates was usually under 10O/., being calculated from the sum of errors deter- 158 Tadao KAMEi et al. mined on the number of spontaneous and induced tracks counted in the volcanic crystals and the number of tracks counted in the standard. Errors in the uranium determination of the standard, in the decay constant and in ununiform distribution of uranium in crystals were not included. It is estimated Table 1. Fission-track ages of zircons of pyroclastics in Maragheh Formation Spontaneous Induced Thermal Fission-track Sarnple No. fission-track fission-track neutron dose age density density Ps (Cm-2) Pi (Cm-2) Åë (CM-2) T (my) 73021 6.3Å~lo6 5.2Å~106 1.10Å~10i5 82 73020 9.3Å~105 8.3Å~106 1.05Å~10is 72 73017 7.2Å~lo5 9.2Å~106 1.05Å~10is 5.0 73017 9.1Å~105 4.6Å~106 O.54Å~10is 6.5 73019 1.1Å~lo6 5.5Å~106 O.54Å~10i5 6.6 73oo4 6.6Å~lo5 4.2Å~106 O.54Å~10ifi 5.2 73010 1.1Å~106 5.2Å~106 O.54Å~1Ois 7.0 MY 8.0 ---. ------:------L--- 7.0 -- -.------h----::------..-.. h------.- ----. -"------s---.-.--.s ---- -.- --li------6.0 ----s- "------h------.-. -h--.-. ----- 5.0 + l ;, 4.0 o 1oo 2oo 3oom Fig. 17. Fission-track ages and thickness of beds between specimens and base of Maragheh Formation Geological and Paleontological Survey in Maragheh Area, NW Iran 159 at about 5-10O/.. On the other hand, when we get the fission-track age of each crystal in one sample, the standard deviation is about 15 O/,. Then, accuracy of these dates is under 200/.. In Fig. 17, the range of Å}20% to each value is shown. Age Estimation of Maragheh Fauna A fu11 succession of the Maragheh Formation is composed mostly of the product of fluviatile deposition. Therefore, it seems that there are some diMculties in the discussion of age estimation when we wish to combine fission-track age detemination and paleomagnetic polarities of those deposits. In fact, the relation between the fission-track ages and the stratigraphic horizons are examined basing on the results of the measurement for the basal part of this Formation (Fig. 14). At the road cut, west of Divrazum, biotite-bearing dacite ash fiow of the base- ment is exposed. The result of fission-track age of that rock (Sample No. 73021) is 82.0 my and suggests the surface erosion of continental environment in the Late Cretaceous. The basal biotite tuff of Maragheh Formation (No. 73011) indicates reversed polarity, and the same rock (No. 73020) is 7.2 my in fission-track age. Successively, tephra layers intercalated in the Maragheh Formation have following fission-track ages; the basal part of the Mordagh tuff (No. 73010) is 7.0 my; pumice gravel from the Lower pumice bed (No. 73017) reveals 5.0 and 6.5 my; pumice gravel from the Upper pumice bed (No. 73019) is 6.6 my; the lowest part of Korde-deh ash flow is 5.2 my. Because of an internal inconsistency we may discard a value of 5.0 my for the Lower pumice. Referring to the Late Neogene paleomagneto-stratigraphy reported by BERGGREN and Van CouvERiNG (1974), the present paleomagnetic data and fission-track ages of the Maragheh Formation are very effective in making strict correlation of Neogene stratigraphy. The basal ash fiow (7.2 my, reversed polarity) is correlatable with Epoch 7-b of BERGGREN and Van CouvERiNG. The Mordagh tuff (7.0 my, normal polarity) may be correlated to the normal interval between a and b of Epoch 7. The fission-track age and the polarity of the Korde-deh ash flow, 5.2 my, normal polarity, is inconsistent to the estimation of BERGGREN and Van CouvERiNG in paleomagneto-stratigraphy. On the other hand, the horizon of Maragheh fauna in our excavation is represented by the White tuff and it is measured as older than 6.6 my or younger than 6.5 my, normal polarity. Therefore, it may be reasonable to take such assumption into consideration for the age estimation of the Maragheh fauna basing upon the fission-track age, the geomagnetic polarity and the thickness values of the sediments between the marker beds. On the consistency concerning the thickness and fission-track age, it seems to be reasonable to adopt the values of7.2, 7.0 and 6.6 my 160 Tadao KAMEi et al. for the basal ash flow, the Mordagh tuff and the Upper pumice. In this way, it may be possible to designate the stratigraphical position of the Lower pumice to 6.8 my of the upper part of Epoch 7, and the Korde-deh ash flow to 5.8 my of the lower part of Epoch 5. As the result, those considerations will lead a conclusion that the White tuff of the normal polarity is corrrelatable to the top of Epoch 7, and then, about 6.7 my. Accordingly, it seems to be reasonable to estimate that the ages of the 12 localities of Maragheh fauna range from 6.6 to 6.9 my. BERGGREN and Van CouvERiNG (1974) considered that the Maragheh fauna was contemporaneous with Hipparion fauna of Morocco, Melka el Ouidane (Camp- Berteaux). As the K-A age of Melka el Ouidane is reported as 7.4 my (CHouBERT EUROPEAN T LAND CONTINENTALVERTEBRATEFAUNAS PERITerHYS mmy PALEOMAGNETIC MAMMAL AGE LANDS STRATIGRAPHYEPOCH EUROPE& IRAN SIWALIKHILLS EVENTS &AGE N.AFRICA TURKEY Firstappearanceof thphas 4.e TATROr PLIOCENE GILBERT z$ -Z 5,O 8U Anharmpithecrs ec ROUSSILLON SYNAPMOYEN z $ EPOCH5 kco KAVAKDERE 6.0 8 EvaperiteCetlrys - E D,)pptthectts EPOCH6 GigantoptthecttS COBANPINAR MARAGHEH DHOKPATHANMesoPithecas a Duterendationof 7.0 Hi'n Z MELKAELOUIDANE c < m H SAMOS57.4K-A ZateSteppeFauna ts A 8,O < Z o pt A < et EPOCH8 z H p z SAMOSI¥4S.5K¥A m e PIKERMr o o 9.0 o ect NE EPocH9 oH 10.0 Tnltiationefrelatively cootsummeranddry climate EPocH10 z 11.0 $ BACCINELLO Oreopt'thecus Z 2 EarlyStqppeFauna <--- H Am A" A g <> >< 12,O EPOCH11 s E Mca Ran:aPithecrs HOWENEGG125K¥AINONA NAGRr FirstHippan'en' Fig. 18. Correlation chart of the Maragheh fauna and its equivalents Geological and Paleontological Survey in Maragheh Area, NW Iran 161 et al, 1968), BERGGREN and Van CouvERiNG assigned the stratigraphical position of Maragheh fauna to thec of Epoch 7. Recently, ERDBRiNK et al. (1976) published a report, "The bone bearing beds near Maragheh in N.W. Iran". In the article, they stated precisely geology, strati- graphy, K-A dating and paleomagnetic survey in the Maragheh area. Their in- vestigation is very profitable for us to make the present report. However, it should be mentioned that the results of our survey leads to another conclusion as to the time range of the bone bearing beds and the age of the Maragheh fauna. According to ERDBRiNK and others, the range of the bone bearing beds near Maragheh has a duration of about 10 mi11ion years. In opposition to this, the result of our investigation suggests that the Maragheh fauna covers a longevity of about 2 million years. Moreover, being taken into consideration faunal assemblage, it seems adequate to correlate the Maragheh fauna with Late steppe fauna (7.4 my), rather than with Early steppe fauna (12.5 my). Here is given our tentative correlation of the Maragheh fauna with other faunas in the neighbourhood and with BERGGREN and Van CouvERiNG's paleomagneto- stratigraphy (Fig. 18). Anyhow, it is not to say that the synthetic study on the Maragheh fauna has important role in the study of Cenozoic vertebrate evolution in Asia, Europe and Africa. Therefore, it is necessary to continue the study of the Maragheh Formation, more precisely and syntheticaly from the view points of geology, stratigraphy, paleontology, paleomagnetism, geochronology and so on. Summary The geological and paleontological survey in Maragheh area was carried out by the joint team of Kyoto University and Geological Survey of Iran, 1973. They excavated at four sites in the vicinity of Dareh¥-e Gorg, about 2 km north-northeast of Mordagh and about 15 km east-southeast of Maragheh. The excavation was performed by the stepped trench method, And the fossils were sampled qualitatively as well as quantitatively. There are many pockets of fossil bone assemblage. It may be possible to assume that those fossil bones had been transported by a stream, but never been drifted for a long distance, The collected fossils contain many mammals, birds and reptiles as listed. The fossil-bearing sediments were named as the Maragheh Formation. It is composed mainly of alternation of sandstone and mudstone with intercalations of volcanic ejecta such as ash fiow, ash fall, pumice flow and so on. The deduction from the lithology reveals the repetition of fluviatile, steppe and lacustrine environ- ments. The Maragheh Formation is estimated to be within a range from 500 to 600 m in thickness. The sediments of 130 m thick distributed in Mordagh area are 162 Tadao KAMEi et al. assignable to the lower part of this Formation. NRMs of pyroclastic sediments shows almost normal polarity excepting the basal one. Seven fission-track ages of zircons in 6 pyroclastic layers were given. The fission-track agcs and paleomagnetic data were compared with the paleomagnetic stratigraphy by BERGGREN and Van CouvERiNG (1974). It is estimated that the ages of the Maragheh fauna range from 6.6 to 6.9 my. Acknowledgement Thanks are due to the Ministry of Education of Japan and Geological Survey of Iran, for providing agrant in aid ofthis research. Gratefu1 acknowledgement is made to Dr. N. KHADEM, the former Managing Director of the Geological Survey of Iran, and staff members ofthe G.S.I. especially to Mr. H. TARAz, Dr, M. MEHRNusH, Mr. M.H. NABAvi, Mr. F. GoLsHANI, for their helpful advices and help to the expedi- tion. The authors are much indebted to Mr. R. AssEF, the PREsENT Managing Director of the Geological Survey of Iran for his kind permission to publish the report. Thanks are also due to Mr. N. SHiGEHARA of Dokkyo Medical College for his cooperation, and also to late Mr. S. OMAcHi, Mr. A. YosHiKAwA, Mr. F. OKiTsu of Iranian Petroleum Company at Teheran for their friendly guidance and hospitality. References BERGGREN, W.A. and J.A. Van CouvERiNG 1974: The late Neogene-Biostratigraphy, geochrony- nology and paleoclimatology of the last 15 million years in marine and continental sequences. Palaeogeography, Palaeoelimatology, Palaeeecology 16, 1!2, 1-216. CHouBERT, G., R. CHARLoT, A. FAuRE-MuRET, L. HoTTiNGER, J. MARcAls, D. TissERANT and P. VmAL 1968: Note preliminaire sur le volcanism e messinien-"pontien" au Maroc. C.R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. D, 266, 197-199. ERDBRiNK, D.P.B, H.N.A. PRiEM, E.H. HEBEDA, C.C.P. DANKERs and S,A.P.L. CLoE[[iNGH 1976: The bone bearing beds near Maragheh in N. W. IRAN I. Koninkl. Nederl. Akad. van PVe- tenschappen-Amsterdam Ser. B, 79 (2), 85-101. , , , and 1976: The bone bearing beds near Mar- agheh in N. W. IRAN II. ibid 102-113. FLEiscHER, R.L. and P.B. PRicE 1964: Techniques for geological dating of minerals by chemical etching of fission fragment tracks. Geoehim. Cosmoehim. Acta, 28, 1705-1714. GREvviNcK, C. 1881: Ueber fossile Stiugethiere von Maragha in Persien. Jahrg. Verhandl. k. k. Geologisch Reichsanstalt, Nr. 15, 296. GuNTHER, R.T. 1899: The Pliocene Mammalia of the Bone-beds of Maragha. The Jour. of Linnean Soc. ZooL 27 (177), 376-378. HAsHiMoTo, T., S. IwATA, S. NismMuRA, T. NAKANisHi, and M. SAKANouE 1969: Measure- ments of reactor neutron flux by fission-track method. Paper 9th Ja. Conf. Radioisotopes, 231-234. KmT.E, E. 1885: Die fossile Saugethier-Fauna von Maragha in Persien. Jahrg. Verhandl. k. k. Geologisch Reichsanstalt, Nr. 16/17, 397-399. 1887: Beitrage zur Kenntniss der fossilen Saugethiere yon Maragha in Persien. I. Geological and Paleontological Survey in Maragheh Area, NW Iran 163 Carnivoren. AnnaL k. k. Naturhistorischen Hofmuseums, 2 (4), 317-338, taf. 14-18. LyDEKKER, R. 1886: On the Fossil Mammalia of Maragha, in North-western Persia. euart. Jour. Geol. Soc. London, 42, 173-176. MEcQuENEM, R. de 1924-1925: Contribution a 1'etude des Fossiles de Maragha. Annales de Paliontologie, 13 (1924), 135-160, pl. 19-22; 14 (1925), 1-62, pl. 1-5. NrsHrMuRA, S. 1975: On the problem of the application of fission-track dating for tephrochrono- logy. (in Japanese) Tsukumo Earth Seience, No. 10, 1-8, College Liber. Arts, Kyoto Univ. OzANsoy, F. 1965: Etude des Gisements Continentaux et des Marnrniferes du Cenozoique de Turquie. Mtim. de la Soc, GtioL de France, N.S. 44 (1), Mem. 102, 1-92, pl 1-10. PoHuG, H. 1884: Geologische Untersuchungen in Persien. Jahrg. Verhandl. k. k. Geologisch Reichsanst., Nr. 14, 280T284. 1886: On the Pliocene of Maragha, Persia, and its Resemblance to that of Pikermi in Greece; on Fossil Elephant Remains of Caucassia and Persia; and on the Results of a Mono- graph of the Fossil Elephants of Germany and Italy. euart. Jour. Geol. Soc. London, 42, 177-183. RoDLER, A. 1885: Das Knochenlager und die Fauna von Maragha. Jahrg. Verhandle. k. k. Geologisch Reichsanst., Nr. 14, 333-337. 1889: Ueber Urmistherium Polaki, einer neuen sivatheriiden aus dem Knochenfelde von Maragha. Denksch. d. Math.-Natur. Classe der K. Akad. der Miss.. 56. RoDLER, A. und K.A. WEiTHoFER 1890: Die Wiederkauer von Maragha. Denksch. d. Math.- Natur. Classe der K. Akad, der PViss., 52. TAKAi, F. 1958: Vertebrate fossiles from Maragha. (in Japanese) Oriental Culture, No. 26, 7-11. Inst. Orient. Cult., Univ. Tokyo. ToBiEN, H. 1967: Subdivision ofPontian Mammalian Faunas. Commitee Mediterranean Neogene stratigraphy. Proc. IV Session, Bologna 1967 Giornale di Geologia (2) 35, 1, 1-5. 1968: Palaontologische Ausgrabungen nach jungtertiaren Wirbeltieren auf der Insel Chios (Griechenland) und bei Maragheh (NW-Iran). Jahrb. d. Ver. "Freunde der Universitb't Mainz", 51-58. 164 Tadao KAMEI et a!¥ Explanation of Plate 7 Fig. 1. Excavation Sites of Upper Dareh-e Gorg, Site I to III from left to right (south view) Fig. 2. Site I and III (southwest view) Fig. 3. Scoria bed and Upper Pumice bed between Kerjaveh and Chollevand (south view) Fig. 4. Fossil disposition in Layer b'-4 at site III (north view) Fig. 5. Oocurrence of the mandible of Hipparion gracile (Site I) Explanation of Plate 8 Fig. 1. Choerolophodon penteleci GAuDRy, left side view of the sku11. (1/4) Fig. 2. ibid, palatinal view of iM'.2Mt in situ. (112) Explanation of Plate 9 Fig. 1. Hi parion gracile KAup, palatinal view with 4P.iM.2M.8M, Mi.M2.M8. Fig. 2. ibid, astragalus (upper) and metacarpus aower). unit of seale is 1 cm each. Mem. Fac. Sci,, Kyoto Univ., Ser. Geol. & Min., Vol. XLIII, No. 112 Pl. 7 pali ':$fes ie": - ts twIdi 1 "'kerej .Aewtye. 2 4 g¥"/rl2telffg,tt"S¥///'ftko,,,,, gf:l"'-`g",tw- igte . ,L,rew...vll:ff"it"¥X':g th 3 5 KAMEi et aL : Geological and Paleontological Survey in Maragheh Mem. Fac. Sci., Kyoto Univ., Ser. Geol. & Min., Vol. XLIII, No. 1!2 Pl. 8 i¥g¥',est...... : g, t"'$¥, ',4 -, ...g ' =¥ ¥st- -¥ pa -kt 'di't .¥ ?FfrtTitt.{' f-x ,. s':='¥/g.in¥s¥3be' 1 te,$¥,/k{ee,.. 'l3 l :.' i $'" 2 KAMEi et aL: Geological and Paleontological Survey in Maragheh Mem.Fac. Sci., Kyoto Univ., Ser, Geol. & Min., Vol. XLIII, No. If2 Pl. 9 1 2 KAMEi et al. : Geological and Paleontological Survey in Maragheh