Fasciculate Kleopatrinid corals from the Bashkirian (late Carboniferous) of Sardar Formation (Ozbak-Kuh Mountains, East-Central Iran)

Abstract

In the East-Central Iran, the Sardar Formation (upper Visean–Moscovian) consists of shallow-water limestone with intercalations of shale containing rugose corals, tabulate corals and brachiopods. Ten sections were sampled in the Ozbak-kuh Mountains, from north to south. Among the rugose corals, an assemblage of fasciculate Kleopatrinidae has been collected. The latter contains the species: Paraheritschioides antoni antoni, P. antoni minor, P. gracilis and two new species for the genera Fomichevella and Heintzella. Heintzella is described from Iran for the first time. However, its age, as determined by conodonts and foraminifers, is early to middle Bashkirian (early late Carboniferous). The most similar, time-equivalent faunal associations are that of the Ellesmere Island, Sverdrup Basin in Arctic Canada, Alexander terrane and Brooks Range in southeastern Alaska and eastern Klamath terrane in northern California, where similar tropical warm water conditions have been identified during the Bashkirian in the northern hemisphere. During these times central Iran block and Northern provinces, characterized by a dominant carbonate facies and more diversified colonial coral faunas.