Abstract
Abstract. An extensive vertebrate tracksite from the middle–late Miocene Upper Red Formation in western Zanjan Province, northwestern Iran, provides new records of paleobiogeographical significance. These are records of common footprints of felids referred to as Felipeda lynxi Panin and Avram, canids referred to as Canipeda longigriffa Panin and Avram and less common bird footprints referred to as Iranipeda abeli Lambrecht. The Canipeda record establishes the late Miocene presence of canids on the Iranian Plateau as part of the Eurasia-wide “Eucyon event”. The Felipeda footprints are consistent with body fossil and footprint records elsewhere in Eurasia that indicate a widespread distribution of felids by late Miocene time. An unusual trace associated with the footprints is a large, shallow grazing or locomotion trace similar to Megaplanolites in some features but distinctive in various features and its occurrence in nonmarine facies, and it will be the subject of further study.
Highlights
The Upper Red Formation (URF) is known as the main and most extensive Miocene rock unit in Central Iran
The Lower Red Formation (LRF) and URF are the two main continental rock units, composed of marl, sandstone and gypsum red beds, that form the lower and upper boundaries, respectively, of the marine sediments of the Oligo–Miocene Qom Formation. All of these formations were deposited during the Oligocene to late Miocene after the late Eocene Pyrenean orogeny in the Central Iran basin. Both the LRF and URF are poor in index fossils, and their ages have been estimated by their lithostratigraphic position around the Qom Formation (Rupelian to Tortonian), so the LRF is considered early Oligocene in age, and the URF is assigned to the middle to late Miocene (Rahimzadeh, 1994; Gansser, 1955; Aghanabati, 2004)
Continental facies of the URF are a good candidate for vertebrate tracksite studies (Amini, 2001; Rafiei et al, 2011; Amini, 1997), and numerous vertebrate footprints have been reported from this formation (Abbassi, 2010; Abbassi and Amini, 2008; Abbassi and Shakeri, 2005)
Summary
The Upper Red Formation (URF) is known as the main and most extensive Miocene rock unit in Central Iran. The Lower Red Formation (LRF) and URF are the two main continental rock units, composed of marl, sandstone and gypsum red beds, that form the lower and upper boundaries, respectively, of the marine sediments of the Oligo–Miocene Qom Formation. All of these formations were deposited during the Oligocene to late Miocene after the late Eocene Pyrenean orogeny in the Central Iran basin. The location of this large slab (12 × 10 m) is in the north Hamzalu village; GPS coordinates are 36◦56.045 latitude and 47◦50.262 longitude
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