Exhumation pattern of the Talesh Mountains, NW Iran; evidence for rapid cooling in the middle Miocene

  • Madanipour S
  • Ehlers T
  • Yassaghi A
  • et al.
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Abstract

The Talesh Mountains are located at the Northwestern part of the Arabia-Eurasia continental collision zone and have a curved structural geometry that is warped around the South Caspian basement block. The deformation and exhumation history along 300 km of the mountain range are generally unknown. Here we present new data and analysis on temporal and spatial variation in the exhumation of the mountains using integrated balanced cross sections and Apatite and Zircon (U-Th/He) thermochronometry. Restoration of the cross sections indicated that the southern and northern parts of the mountains with a general NW-SE structural trend record the highest magnitude of the Cenozoic shortening (30% in south and 22% in north). The central N-S trending part, however, has shortened by 13%. The apatite (U-Th/He) ages from the hanging wall of the emerged thrusts at three majortransects reproduce well and range from 35 to 4 Ma across the Mountains. Cooling ages plotted versus structural depth reveal an onset of rapid Middle Miocene (12 Ma) cooling due to thrust-induced erosion in the southern and northern parts of the Talesh Mountains. This phase of the accelerated exhumation has not been recorded at the central part of the belt. Collectively, our structural and cooling age data show that the Southern and northern parts of the Talesh Mountains which are structurally aligned almost per pendicular to regional compressional directions have experienced higher amount of the shortening and exhumation with respect to the central part since 12 Ma.

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APA

Madanipour, S., Ehlers, T. A., Yassaghi, A., Rezaeian, M., & Anonymous. (2012). Exhumation pattern of the Talesh Mountains, NW Iran; evidence for rapid cooling in the middle Miocene. International Geological Congress, Abstracts = Congres Geologique International, Resumes, 34, 3125. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1356357548?accountid=14503

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