Document Type : Original Research Paper

Authors

1 M.Sc. Student, Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Shahid Beheshti, Tehran, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Shahid Beheshti, Tehran, Iran

3 Ph.D., National Iranian Oil Company-Exploration Directorate, Tehran, Iran

4 Associate Professor, Research Institute for Earth Sciences, Geological Survey of Iran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Located in the Fars region of Simply Folded Belt of the Zagros orogen, the Dadenjan salt diapir is exposed in the core, with a tendency toward the southwestern flank of the salt-cored Dadenjan anticline. The diapir is also currently situated within a transtension zone between overlapping segments of the dextral Karehbas fault zone. This diapir is sourced from the latest Precambrian-Early Cambrian Hormuz evaporitic series. The geometry of strata flanking the diapir suggests pre-orogenic, long-term salt activity by “downbuilding”, in which syn-depositional, shallow drape folding resulted in thinned and progressively rotated strata adjacent to the rising diapir. Geometrically, halokinetic sequences adjacent to this diapir are completely different on either sides of the diapir, implying different salt rise-sediment accumulation interactions. The diapir and its related anticline are bound, on both sides, by wide synclines, each with a thicker sedimentary pile than the neighboring anticlines. These synclines have acted as depocenters for the continuously rising Dadenjan diapir, accumulated significant volumes of supplied sediments, thereby facilitated the rise of salt by downbuilding mechanism. The thick sedimentary pile within these synclines has subsequently been strong enough to resist against folding and locally disturbed, to some degree, the normal stress transfer during the Zagros folding. They have therefore prevented neighboring anticlines from normal propagation and regular shape development either along or across their strikes. The Neogene Zagros folding squeezed up the salt diapir, intensified its activity and resulted in partial extrusion of the salt.

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