Tectonic and climatic controls on the vertebrate evolution in the Middle East: insights from a new late Miocene terrestrial vertebrate fauna from the NW Zagros foreland Basin in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Abstract

The Late Miocene – Pliocene is a time of significant environmental changes in western Eurasia. The intensified mountain building process between the Eurasian, African and Arabian plates restructured the regional landscapes, basins, and biotic record. It has resulted in dramatic palaeoenvironmental events, like the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC) in the Mediterranean, the shrinking of the Eastern Paratethys and the formation of present-day basins and highlands. During such prominent tectonic vents, the shift in climate contributed to formation of climatic barriers and/or corridors for the faunistic interchanges. Nevertheless, the role of tectonics the evolution of the past biotic record has been poorly studied. The Middle East as a region is considered a key paleobiogeographic tying point between Europe, Asia, and Africa and, thus, has played a vital role in the intercontinental dispersal of vertebrate communities. The present study focuses on the newly discovered late Miocene vertebrate site Tazhga in the NW Zagros belt, Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The fossiliferous horizon is enclosed in bioturbated floodplain deposits that belong to the upper Miocene fluvial deposits of the Zagros foreland Basin. This new vertebrate fauna will enable constraining the age of the deposits and shed light on the effect of tectonics on biogeography. We will compare the newly discovered fauna with local and more extensive regional scale fossil records in the Middle East to provide palaeobiogeographical information on the evolution of vertebrate communities of the region. Such data will enable us to clarify the role of the Arabia-Eurasia convergence during the late Miocene – Pliocene on both regional evolution of the biotic record and the intercontinental dispersals.