Evolution of the Zagros Suture Zone, Southern Iran
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SIMON J. HAYNES Department of Geology, Pahlavi University, Shiraz, Iran HENRY MCQUILLAN Oil Service Company of Iran (Private Company), P. O. Box 1065, Tehran, Iran Evolution of the Zagros Suture Zone, Southern Iran ABSTRACT lations of the sediments and the petrology amphibolites, and gneisses. In the south- of the ultramafic and metamorphic rocks in eastern part of the Sirjan high, the gneisses In the light of plate tectonic theory, a the neighborhood of Neyriz has allowed us contain large kyanite crystals. model for the evolution of the Zagros to develop a revised model for the evolution The metamorphic basement is overlain mountain system in southern Iran is of the Zagros orogen based on current by Paleozoic sediments north of the study proposed. A suture zone, which lies between theories of plate tectonics. area in the vicinity of Kerman and in the Arabian and Persian plates, comprises We consider that the Zagros mountain scattered localities north and west of Sirjan the Zagros mountain range. The suture zone chain and the region immediately to the (Stocklin, 1968). To the west, the basement is divisible into five segments, each of which north represent a still active suture zone is overlain by Permian-Triassic continental reflects the various lithologic and tectonic between the Arabian and Persian plates that sediments and Jurassic limestone that passes environments associated with stages in the was formed by the interaction of an southward into clastics. These are overlain collision of the Arabian and Persian Atlantic-type margin (the Arabian plate) by a fairly continuous line of Cretaceous continental masses. and a Pacific-type margin (the Persian plate). limestone along the southern edge of the A trench resulting from the subduction of We have chosen to define this suture as the stable block. the Arabian plate beneath the stable block of "Zagros suture zone." This zone is bounded Crush Zone. This zone was originally the Persian plate persisted until late on the south by the Persian Gulf and on the defined by geologists of the Anglo Iranian mid-Cretaceous time. This was the site of north by a line joining the Hamadan and Oil Company and is shown on the British radiolarian chert deposition and associated Sirjan basement highs parallel to the Petroleum Company maps of the area turbidites and olistoliths. Sharp fades northwest-southeast Zagros structural (1956, 1963). Falcon (1969) includes both changes in Upper Cretaceous sediments trend. The area presently under study is en- our crush zone and the southern portion of immediately southwest of the trench and closed between the Oman line to the east the stable block in his thrust zone. The crush severe tectonism in the crush zone to the and the Qatar-Kazerun line to the west. zone is composed of Cretaceous limestone north of the trench are suggestive: of These lines are surface manifestations of that has undergone severe tectonism. movements which involved the rupture and ancient structural features that have Northward, the extreme crushing of these upward thrusting of slices of oceanic crust modified or controlled structural deforma- rocks dies out and they lie, relatively now manifest as a belt of ultramafic rocks in tion and sedimentation patterns through undisturbed, over the Precambrian base- the trench zone. Subsequent northward much of the geologic column (Falcon, ment. Immediately northeast of Neyriz, they movement of the Arabian plate during 1967, 1969; McQuillan, 1973). East of the can be observed overlying the rocks of the Tertiary time resulted in thrust faulting and Oman line, the tectonic picture is compli- trench zone along a marked low-angle overfolding in the imbricated belt adjoining cated by the interaction of three plates thrust. the trench zone and more gentle folding in (Nowroozi, 1972) and the intersection of Trench Zone. Previously, this zone was the simply folded belt to the southwest. Key several ophiolite belts. The suture zone not classified as a separate entity. Through- words: tectonophysics, plate tectonics, Iran, undoubtedly passes west of the Qatar- out most of this zone, an assemblage of deep- stratigraphy, evolution, suture zone. Kazerun line, but there is a change in both water sediments, usually referred to as the tectonic style and lithology of the strati- colored series, occurs. Directly underlying INTRODUCTION graphic succession that suggests an envi- the crush zone thrust, the colored series In a recent review of the geology of Iran, ronment of greater compression. consists of red and green marls, grits, and Takin (1972) proposed a model for conglomerates. Southward, these rocks pass post-Paleozoic continental drift in the Zagros Suture Zone into a series of radiolarian chert enclosing Middle East. However, his geologic model The Zagros suture zone can be divided blocks of limestone and metamorphic for the interaction of the Arabian plate with into five parallel belts of varying widths (Fig. rocks. The exact ages of all the limestone the Persian plate is based primarily on 1). blocks are not known, but the metamorphic recently resurrected theories of large-scale Stable Block. This area has previously rocks bear a striking resemblance to the nappe movement (Ricou, 1968b, 1970) been called the Sanandaj-Sirjan Ranges Precambrian of the Sirjan high. along the contact zone between the (Stocklin, 1968), or the Rezaiye- Cutting the colored series is a belt of continents, an idea earlier proposed by Esfandagheh orogenic belt (Takin, 1972). ultramafic rocks that can be traced over a Gray (1950). In particular, Takin's model Since this region is now generally regarded distance" of about 100 km northwest of does not take into account the alternate as the southern margin of the Persian Neyriz. They form lenticular pods of hypothesis (advocated by several of Gray's continent, we feel that geographic names harzburgites, pyroxenites, and dunites that contemporaries in the then Anglo Iranian serve no useful purpose. are locally serpentinized to varying degrees. Oil Company) that the rocks of this zone are In the Neyriz region, the stable block In general, these pods are aligned parallel to essentially an in situ assemblage modified by comprises a metamorphic basement com- the strike of the Zagros orogen. Associated small thrust faults. This alternate idea has plex (the Sirjan basement high) thought to be with these ultramafic bodies are small been maintained up to the present by a of Precambrian age (Stocklin, 1968). The deposits of chromite. Although Wells (1969) number of geologists (Falcon, 1967, 1969; rocks represent an assemblage of regionally has placed emphasis on the restriction of the Stocklin, 1968; Wells, 1969). metamorphosed igneous and sedimentary chromite to the north of this belt, we have Although we agree in principle with the rocks, ranging from low-grade phyllites and observed numerous chromite showings in hypothesis of an in situ assemblage, a con- marbles through talc-tremolite—bearing the neighborhood of Neyriz, and we tinuing geologic investigation of the field re- carbonates, mica schists, and epidote consider chromite to be an integral part of Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 85, p. 739-744, 2 figs., May 1974 739 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/85/5/739/3418311/i0016-7606-85-5-739.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/85/5/739/3418311/i0016-7606-85-5-739.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 EVOLUTION OF ZAGROS SUTURE ZONE, SOUTHERN IRAN 741 the petrology of the whole ultramafic belt. In thrust from the north along a shallow fault Imbricated Zone. The imbricated zone, general, the ultramafic bodies are separated plane. Wells (1969), however, considers that as described by Falcon (1969), embraces from each other by septa of colored series the pre-Cretaceous ages obtained by Ricou both our imbricated and trench zones. The rocks. Although basalt is only subordinate, are due to reworking of fossils, and that the imbricated zone is developed along the we consider that these ultramafic rocks colored series is a normal Cretaceous leading edge of a thick sequence of represent an ophiolite sequence. succession. Much of his evidence is based on sediments deposited from Cambrian to About 30 km northwest of Neyriz, a large unpublished work by geologists of the Pliocene time (James and Wynd, 1965). body of diopside-bearing marble (several Iranian Oil Operating Companies who have Minor disconformities are present through- kilometers wide) is surrounded by apparently assigned a Late Cretaceous out the succession, and facies changes ultramafic rocks. This marble has been (Senonian) age to the colored series. reflecting epeirogenic movements are com- interpreted by Ricou (1971) as the result of However, due to the problem of accurately mon, but the area was not affected by major the contact metamorphism by peridotitic dating Radiolaria, we think that the lower orogenic processes until the Pliocene. Then, magma. However, this same ultramafic rock stratigraphie age may range into the Jurassic the sediments were folded and thrust can be seen cutting blocks of limestone and possibly even Triassic. The large parallel to the present northwest-southeast contained within the colored series. Al- number of olistoliths present in the cherts Zagros trend. though the limestone contains chert suggests that olistostromes may also have Structurally, the imbricated zone consists nodules, no calc-silicate minerals have slumped into the deep-water trench; thus the of a series of tight folds and southwest- formed, and the only evidence of succession observed by Ricou could well be directed overthrusts, the displacement metamorphism is minor recrystallization of a series of such displaced blocks. This amounts of which decrease toward the calcite and brecciation within 4 m of the succession could also be explained by simply folded belt. The southwest limit of contact. Since the diopside-bearing marble movement along a number of thrust slices the zone in the area concerned is marked by is petrologically consistent over several upthrown on their northern sides.