Palaeomagnetism, petrology and geochronology of tertiary magmatic and sedimentary units from Iran

Abstract

An amount of 160 samples from igneous and sedimentary formations of Palaeocene or Eocene age was collected in Iran, northeast of the Zagros belt. Palaeomagnetic analyses, petrological studies, and K-Ar dating indicate Palaeocene and Eocene palaeomagnetic directions in the Zabol-Baluch region (East Iranian Range) and show that the area remained approximately stable with respect to the Eurasian and African plates from the beginning of the Cainozoic Era. Conversely, large post-Eocene deformations occurred in Central Iran. These large rotations are both clockwise and anti-clockwise. They might have resulted from lateral shears between Arabia and northeast Iran. The Central Elburz underwent a large clockwise rotation which is probably late Oligocene in age. As a whole, our results show that the so-called “Persian Plate” did not exist during the Cainozoic Era.