Scientific Quarterly Journal of Geosciences

Scientific Quarterly Journal of Geosciences

Palynological study and age determination of the Ordovician sediments and Faraghan Formation in Kuh- e- Surmeh at Southern Iran

Document Type : Original Research Paper

Author
Exploration Division of National Iranian Oil Company, P. O. Box 1065, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
A total of 60 samples from the Ordovician sediments and Faraghan formation at Kuh-e-Surmeh in Fars province were selected and treated for palynological study, in order to determine more precisely their geological ages. 24 palynomorph taxa were identified in this study, including 10 acritarch, 10 chitinozoan, and 4 pollen species, which permit the recognition of two local ascending stratigraphic assemblage zones. Zone I appears in the Ordovician interval and represents the Upper Ordovician (Caradocian- Ashgillian). Zone II occurs through the Faraghan formation and suggests lower Permian (Fig. 1). Therefore, there is a major hiatus between the Late Ordovician sediments and Faraghan formation at Kuh-e- Surmeh.
This hiatus includes the whole Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous strata and possibly coincides with the Caledonian Orogeny in the Zagros Basin of Iran. Diverse acritarch and chitionozoan taxa in the Late Ordovician strata suggest an open- marine environment for these sediments. However, the association of a few acritarch taxa with numerous pollen species in the Faraghan formation reveals a shallow marine environment for this rock unit.
Subjects

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