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Thermal Histories from the Central Alborz Mountains, Northern Iran: Implications for the Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Deformation in Northern Iran

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Thermal Histories from the Central Alborz Mountains, Northern Iran: Implications for the Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Deformation in Northern Iran Thermal histories from the central Alborz Mountains, northern Iran: Implications for the spatial and temporal distribution of deformation in northern Iran Bernard Guest† Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095-1567, USA Daniel F. Stockli Department of Geology, University of Kansas, 1475 Jayhawk Boulevard, 120 Lindley Hall, Lawrence, Kansas 66045-7613, USA Marty Grove Gary J. Axen§ Patrick S. Lam# Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095-1567, USA Jamshid Hassanzadeh Department of Geology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran ABSTRACT Th)-He results from detrital apatites sampled 1987), Eocene–Oligocene (Hooper et al., 1994), along two separate horizontal transects all Oligocene (Yilmaz, 1993), Oligocene–Miocene We integrate new and existing thermochro- consistently yielded latest Miocene to Pliocene (Berberian et al., 1982), early to middle Miocene nological, geochronological, and geologic data apparent ages that imply that even supra- (Robertson, 2000), middle Miocene (Dewey and from the western and central Alborz Moun- crustal cover rocks within the Alborz have S¸engör, 1979; S¸engör and Kidd, 1979), middle tains of Iran to better constrain the late Ceno- undergone signifi cant, regionally extensive to late Miocene (Homke et al., 2004), late Mio- zoic tectonic evolution of northern Iran in the exhumation. Overall, our data are consistent cene (McQuarrie et al., 2003; Stoneley, 1981), context of the Arabia-Eurasia collision. New with ~5 km of regionally extensive denuda- and Pliocene (Philip et al., 1989). data are presented for two granitic plutons tion since ca. 12 Ma. The onset of rapid exhu- The apparent uncertainty regarding the initia- north of the Alborz Range crest. Additional mation in the Alborz at ca. 12 Ma appears to tion of collision is compounded by the idea that new apatite (U-Th)-He data are also presented be consistent with other timing estimates that the Arabia-Eurasia collision underwent a tec- for volcanic, intrusive, and detrital apatite place the onset of the Arabia-Eurasia collision tonic reorganization event at 5 ± 2 Ma (Wells, grains from two transects south of the range between 14 and 10 Ma. 1969; Westaway and Arger, 1994; Axen et al., crest. Our most defi nitive results include zir- 2001). This is based on the coincident timing con and apatite (U-Th)-He and limited K- Keywords: exhumation, (U-Th)-He, thermo- (5 ± 2 Ma) of rapid uplift of the Alborz Ranges, feldspar 40Ar/39Ar thermal history data from chronology, collision, Alborz Mountains, Iran. rapid subsidence of the south Caspian Basin, the Cretaceous (ca. 98 Ma) Nusha pluton that reorganization of the Dead Sea transform fault, reveal that the Alborz basement underwent INTRODUCTION Red Sea oceanic spreading, the initiation of the generally slow denudation (~0.1 km/m.y.) as North and East Anatolian faults, and coarse late as 12 Ma with more accelerated exhuma- Iran encompasses a large part of the Arabia- molasse sedimentation in the Zagros belt. Axen tion (~0.45 km/m.y.) that likely began shortly Eurasia collision zone (Fig. 1) and is therefore a at al. (2001) tentatively attribute tectonic reorga- after 12 Ma. The Lahijan pluton, a late Neo- key area for studying upper-crustal deformation nization in the Middle East to “choking” of the proterozoic–Cambrian basement exposure related to young continent-continent collision. Neotethyan subduction zone by Arabian conti- near the Caspian shore, records apatite (U- However, the spatial and temporal distribution nental lithosphere. Th)-He closure at 17–13 Ma. Additional (U- of deformation resulting from the Arabia-Eur- Allen et al. (2004) follow Robertson (2000) asia collision is poorly constrained, and the in placing the onset of Arabia-Eurasia colli- †Present address: Institute for Geology, Univer- timing of initial continent-continent collision sion at 16–23 Ma and suggest that, once thick sity of Hannover, 30167, Germany, bernard.guest@ remains controversial. crust built up in the Turkish-Iranian Plateau and geowi.uni-hannover.de. Temporal estimates for the onset of the Greater Caucasus (by 5 ± 2 Ma), convergence §Present address: Department of Earth & Environ- mental Science, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Arabia-Eurasia continent-continent collision shifted to less elevated regions like the Zagros Technology, Socorro, New Mexico 87801, USA. include Late Cretaceous (Haynes and McQuil- simple folded zone, south Caspian region #Present address: ENGEO Inc., San Ramon, Cali- lan, 1974; Stocklin, 1974b; Berberian and Ber- (including the Alborz), and the foothills of the fornia 94583, USA. berian, 1981; Alavi, 1994), Eocene (Hempton, greater Caucasus, accompanied by westward GSA Bulletin; November/December 2006; v. 118; no. 11/12; p. 1507–1521; doi: 10.1130/B25819.1; 8 fi gures; Data Repository item 2006189. For permission to copy, contact [email protected] 1507 © 2006 Geological Society of America Guest et al. 43°E 53°E an undivided Iranian-Arabian Gondwanan mar- T N gin. Rifting of central Iran-Alborz away from C ° A U 4 44°N C B 4 Zagros-Arabia presumably started in the Late B L A C K S E A A S R U P L C A O A Permian to Early Triassic. After rifting away S I C N Less U A K from Gondwana, these margin fragments were er C S N au transported north as the Paleo-tethys Ocean c a r k i s h s (Hercynian Ocean in Berberian and King, 1981) u I u S T r a s E subducted under the Eurasian margin, col- n A liding with Eurasia in Late Triassic to earliest i a T Jurassic time (Stocklin, 1974a; Berberian and L n A U Z L Z A A A B King, 1981) (Fig. 3). The Paleo-tethyan suture F E G P O R S R M O l is generally believed to lie north of the Alborz N a R S Fig. 2 A O - t (Stocklin, 1974b; Berberian and King, 1981; E F B e N S I a A Z u N T IRAN Berberian, 1983). It should be noted, however, 34°N R L 34°N A ZMFF R I R S E A R A B A that the nature of this suturing event and its posi- T T I D S E A P G U tion in time and space are poorly understood and M E T S U remain a fundamental research question in the R D R A E region. The Lower to Middle Jurassic Shem- E L A T E D shak Formation (mainly carbonaceous shale, P O E I A N R S siltstone, and sandstone) overlies older units in S IA N the Alborz along an angular unconformity and R E D G U is conformably overlain by fossiliferous Jurassic LF marl and limestone (Assereto, 1966). S E A Cretaceous carbonates and arc volcanic and Oman 4°N older rocks in the south-central Alborz are 24°N 2 folded and overlain above an angular unconfor- mity by the Paleocene–Eocene conglomerates 43°E 53°E (Fajan Formation) and the Eocene Ziarat Forma- tion (nummulitic limestone), which throughout Figure 1. Shaded relief map showing the Arabia-Eurasia collision zone. Iran’s border is northern Iran marks the base of the Eocene Karaj shown by a fi ne black line. Labels refer to major physiographic and tectonic units. ZMFF— Formation (Stocklin and Setudehnia, 1977). This Zagros Mountain front fl exure. Box over the western Alborz Mountains shows the location Cretaceous to Eocene succession represents the and coverage of Figure 2. transition from a period of tectonic quiescence during Jurassic and Cretaceous time to a period of regional compression in latest Cretaceous to extrusion of Turkey between the North and East logical data from the west-central Alborz Moun- Paleocene time (Stocklin, 1974b; Berberian and Anatolian faults. This idea implies that defor- tains (Fig. 2), which form parts of the northern King, 1981) (Fig. 3). mation in collisional zones builds outward from margin of the Arabia-Eurasia collision zone and The Karaj Formation consists of calc-alkaline, discrete belts or plateau areas surrounding the the northern boundary of the eastern Turkish- volcanic, and volcaniclastic rocks and shales suture and propagates into adjacent regions of Iranian Plateau (Fig. 1). The data (1) provide (Dedual, 1967; Annells et al., 1975a; Annells et low relief and crustal thickness. In this model, tentative temporal constraints for the onset of al., 1977; Berberian and Berberian, 1981; Vah- tectonic reorganization of the Middle East at 5 late Cenozoic orogenesis at a point on the north- dati Daneshmand, 1991) deposited in an arc and ± 2 Ma merely represents a shift in the locus of ern edge of the Arabia-Eurasia collision zone, backarc setting, probably during extension (Ber- deformation outward over time. The idea that (2) resolve two precollisional cooling events berian, 1983; Hassanzadeh et al., 2002; Allen et widespread tectonic reorganization is caused by presumably related to deformation during lat- al., 2003a). The Karaj Formation is unconform- choking of the subduction zone by the subduc- est Cretaceous–Paleocene and Eocene time, (3) ably overlain by shallow marine rocks, basalt, tion of thicker continental crust (e.g., Axen et provide a crystallization age for a large granitic and conglomerate of earliest Oligocene age. The al., 2001) implies that the deformation need not intrusion in the western Alborz (Nusha pluton), marine rocks include limestone correlative with progress outward over time but begins rapidly and (4) provide limits on the migration of defor- the Oligocene–Miocene Qom Formation of Cen- throughout a broader region as lithospheric het- mation within the western Alborz. This paper tral Iran and are interstratifi ed with 33 Ma basalt. erogeneities respond to the collision.
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