Geometry, Kinematics and Structural Evolution of the Cheshmeh Nay Fault Zone in East Alborz-Allah Dagh

Naeimi, A.; Heidarzadeh, Gh.; Sheikholeslami, M. R.

doi:10.22071/gsj.2012.54053

Document Type : Original Research Paper

Authors

¹ M.Sc., Tarbiat Modares University, Basic Science Faculty, Tehran, Iran; Tectonic Group, Geological Survey of Iran, Tehran, Iran

² M.Sc., Islamic Azad University , North Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran; Tectonic Group, Geological Survey of Iran, Tehran, Iran

³ Assistant Professor, Research Institute for Earth Sciences, Geological Survey of Iran, Tehran, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22071/gsj.2012.54053

Abstract

The ~100km-long NE-SW Cheshmeh nay fault zone is located in Alborz-Allah Dagh Mountains. This fault zone is composed of several faults with dips between 40 to 85° toward NW or SE. The Cheshmeh nay fault zone belongs to the Shahrud fault system and has a left-lateral motion. Geomorphic evidence such as deflected streams, bisected alluvial fans and cut Quaternary deposits shows that this fault zone has been active during Quaternary. Exposure of Paleozoic and Mesozoic formations over or in contact with younger units as well as abundant thrust fault planes present in the fault zone indicate that there seems to have been a thrust faulting along the fault zone sometime during its evolution. In addition, the Cheshmeh nay fault zone coincides with the F-431 aeromagnetic lineament, indicating that the fault zone is supposed to be an old basement fault. Making part of the boundary between the Alborz and Kopeh Dagh basins, this fault zone was a basin-bounding normal fault zone which changed the kinematics into a thrust fault zone. This kinematics change resulted likely from the Iran Block moving toward the Turan and Kopeh Dagh regions and/or in Late Cretaceous. Following the regional reorganization in the Arabia-Eurasia collision zone between 3-7 Ma and/or in Quaternary, the Cheshmeh nay fault zone became a fault zone with a dominant left-lateral movement.

Keywords

20.1001.1.10237429.1391.22.86.5.5

References

References

Afshar Harb, A., 1969- A brief history of geological exploration and geology of the Sarakhs area and the Khangiran gas field. Bull. Off. Iranian Petr. Ins. 37, 86–96 (in Farsi).

Afshar Harb, A., 1979- The stratigraphy, Tectonics and Petroleum geology of Kopet Dagh region Northern Iran. Ph.D. Thesis. Petr. Geology Section, Royal School of Mines Imp. College, London, 316 p.

Alavi, M., 1992- Thrust tectonics of the Binalood region, NE Iran, Tectonics,11(2), 360–370

Alavi, M., 1996- Tectonostratigraphic synthesis and structural style of the Alborz mountain system in northern Iran: Journal of Geodynamics, 21 (1), 1–33,

Allen, M. B., Blanc, E. J. P., Walker, R., Jackson, J., Talebian, M. & Ghassemi, M. R., 2006- Contrasting styles of convergence in the Arabia-Eurasia collision: Why escape tectonics does not occur in Iran. in Dilek, Y., and Pavlides, S., eds., Postcollisional tectonics and magmatism in the Mediterranean region and Asia: Geological Society of America Special Paper, 409, 579–589, doi: 10.1130/2006.2409(26).

Allen, M. B., Ghassemi, M. R., Shahrabi, M. & Qorashi, M., 2003- Accommodation of Late Cenozoic oblique shortening in the Alborz range, northern Iran. Journal of Structural Geology, 25, 659–672.

Allen, M. B., Jackson, J. & Walker, R., 2004- Late Cenozoic reorganization of the Arabia-Eurasia collision and the comparison of short-term and long-term deformation rates. Tectonics, 23, TC2008, doi: 10.1029/2003TC001530.

Falcon, N. L., 1974- Southern Iran: Zagros mountains, Geol. Soc. Spec. Publ., 4, 199 – 211.

Fattahi, M., Walker, R., Hollingsworth, J., Bahroudi, A., Nazari, H., Talebian, M., Armitage, S. & Stokes, S., 2006- Holocene slip-rate on the Sabzevar thrust fault, NE Iran, determined using optically-stimulated luminescence (OSL). Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 245 (3–4), 673–684.

Guest, B., Axen, G. J., Lam, P. S. & Hassanzadeh, J., 2006- Late Cenozoic shortening in the west-central Alborz Mountains, northern Iran, by combined conjugate strike-slip and thin-skinned deformation. Geosphere, 2 (1), 35–52.

Hessami, K., 2002- Tectonic history and present-day deformation in the Zagros fold-thrust belt, Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden.

Hollingsworth, J., Jackson, J., Alarcόn, J. E., Bommer, J. & Bolourchi, M. J., 2007- The 4th February 1997 Bojnurd (Garmkhan) Earthquake in NE Iran: Field, Teleseismic, and Strong-Motion Evidence for Rupture Directivity Effects on a Strike-Slip Fault. Journal of Earthquake Engineering, 11, 193–214.

Hollingsworth, J., Jackson, J., Walker, R. & Nazari, H., 2008- Extrusion tectonics and subduction in the eastern South Caspian region since 10 Ma. Geology, 36(10), 763-766.

Hollingsworth, J., Jackson, J., Walker, R., Gheitanchi, M. R. & Bolourchi, M. J., 2006a- Strike-slip faulting, rotation and along-strike elongation in the Kopeh Dagh Mountains, NE Iran. Geophysical Journal international, 166, 1161–1177.

Hollingsworth, J., Walker, R., Jackson, J., Bolourchi, M. J. & Eshraghi, S. A., 2006b- Left-Lateral Strike-Slip Faulting in the East Alborz, NE Iran. American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract.

Jackson, J. A., Priestley, K., Allen, M. B. & Berberian, M., 2002- Active tectonics of the South Caspian Basin. Geophysical Journal International 148, 214–245.

Landsat image website, http://zulu.ssc.nasa.gov/mrsid/

Lyberis, N. & Manby, G., 1999- Oblique to orthogonal convergence across the Turan block in the post-Miocene. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull. 83 (7), 1135–1160.

Masson, F., Anvari, M., Djamour, Y., Walpersdorf, A., Tavakoli, F., Daignières, M., Nankali, H. & VanGorp, S., 2007- Large-scale velocityfield and strain tensor in Iran inferred from GPS measurements: new insight for the present-day deformation pattern within NE Iran. Geophysical Journal international, 170, 436–440. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.2007.03477.x.

Masson, F., Djamour, Y., Vangorp, S., Chéry, J., Tavakoli, F., Tatar, M. & Nankali, H., 2006- Extension in NW Iran inferred from GPS enlightens the behavior of the south Caspian basin. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 252, 180–188.

Meyer, B. & Le Dortz, K., 2007- Strike-slip kinematics in Central and Eastern Iran: Estimating fault slip-rates averaged over the Holocene. Tectonics, 26, TC5009, doi:10.1029/2006TC002073.

Meyer, B., Mouthereau, F., Lacombe, O. & Agard, P., 2006- Evidence of Quaternary activity along the Deshir fault: Implication for the Tertiary tectonics of Central Iran. Geophysical Journal international, 164, 192 – 201.

Reilinger, R., McClusky, S., Vernant, P., Lawrence, S., Ergintav, S., Cakmak, R., Ozener, H., Kadirov, F., Guliev, I., Stepanyan, R., Nadariya, M., Hahubia, G., Mahmoud, S., Sakr, K., ArRajehi, A., Paradissis, D., Al-Aydrus, A., Prilepin, M., Guseva, T., Evren, E., Dmitrotsa, A., Filikov, S. V., Gomez, F., Al-Ghazzi, R. & Karam, G., 2006 - GPS constraints on continental deformation in the Africa-Arabia- Eurasia continental collision zone and implications for the dynamics of plate interactions. Journal of Geophysical Research, 111, B05411, doi:10.1029/2005JB004051.

Ritz, J. F., Nazari, H., Ghassemi, A., Salamati, R., Shafei, A., Solaymani, S. & Vernant, P., 2006- Active transtension inside central Alborz: a new insight into northern Iran–southern Caspian geodynamics. Geology, 34 (6), 477–480.

Salamati, R. & Padashi, S. M., 2003- Geological map of Iran, Rey abad; 1:100,000 scale. Geological survey of Iran.

Salamati, R. & Shafei, A. R., 2001- Geological map of Iran, Dozin; 1:100,000, scale. Geological survey of Iran.

Shabanian, E., Bellier, O., Abbassi, M. R., Siame, L. & Farbod, Y., 2010- Plio-Quaternary stress states in NE Iran: Kopeh Dagh and Allah Dagh-Binalud mountain ranges. Tectonophysics, 480, 280–304.

Tavakoli, F., 2007- Present-day kinematics of the Zagros and east of Iran faults, Ph.D. thesis, University of Joseph Fourier, France, Grenoble.

Tchalenko, J. S., 1975- Seismicity and structure of the Kopet Dagh (Iran, USSR), Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., Series A., 278(1275), 1–28.

Vaziri, S. H. & Salamati, R., 2001- Geological map of Iran, Robat-e- Qarehbil; 1:100,000, scale. Geological survey of Iran.

Vernant, P., Nilforoushan, F., Hatzfeld, D., Abbassi, M. R., Vigny, C., Masson, F., Nankali, H., Martinod, J., Ashtiani, A., Bayer, R., Tavakoli, F. and Che´ry, J., 2004- Present-day crustal deformation and plate kinematics in Middle East constrained by GPS measurements in Iran and northern Oman. Geophysical Journal international, 157, 381–398.

Walker, R. & Jackson, J., 2002- Offset and evolution of the Gowk fault, S.E. Iran. A major intra-continental strike-slip system. Journal of structural Geology, 24, 1677-1698.

Walker, R. & Jackson, J., 2004- Active tectonics and Late Cenozoic strain distribution in central and eastern Iran, Tectonics, 23, TC5010, doi: 10.1029/2003TC001529.

Yousefi, E. & Friedberg, J. L., 1978a- Aeromagnetic map of the Jajarm 1:250000 quadrangle. Geological Survey of Iran.

Yousefi, E. & Friedberg, J. L., 1978b- Aeromagnetic map of the Kuh-e-kurkhod 1:250000 quadrangle. Geological Survey of Iran.

Zamani, G. B., Angelier, A. & Zamani, A., 2008- State of stress induced by plate convergence and stress partitioning in northeastern Iran, as indicated by focal mechanisms of earthquakes. Journal of Geodynamics, 45, 120–132.

Scientific Quarterly Journal of Geosciences

Geometry, Kinematics and Structural Evolution of the Cheshmeh Nay Fault Zone in East Alborz-Allah Dagh

References

References

Volume 22, Issue 86
December 2012
Pages 19-28

Geometry, Kinematics and Structural Evolution of the Cheshmeh Nay Fault Zone in East Alborz-Allah Dagh

References

References

Volume 22, Issue 86December 2012Pages 19-28

Volume 22, Issue 86
December 2012
Pages 19-28