Detrital zircon provenance record of the Zagros mountain building from the Neotethys obduction to the Arabia-Eurasia collision, NW Zagros fold-thrust belt, Kurdistan region of Iraq

Abstract

Abstract. Recognition of new angular unconformity and synthesizing of new detrital zircon U-Pb and (U-Th)/He provenance records, including zircon (U-Th)/(He-Pb) double dating, from the NW Zagros elucidate the basin dynamics of the foreland wedge-top and intermontane units, as well as the tectonic processes in the source terranes in response to different geodynamic phases. In this contribution, we present field observations and detrital zircon provenance data from hinterland basins to reconstruct the basin dynamics and the underlying tectonic controls in the NW Zagros in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Results reveal that the deposition of the suture zone units of the Red Beds Series (RBS; Suwais Group, Govanda Formation, Merga Group) occurred in an intermontane basin on top of folded Upper Cretaceous units with an angular unconformity. The RBS provenance data point at the Paleogene Walash-Naopurdan-Kamyaran (WNK) arc-related complex as a source area and show substantial decrease of magmatism by ~ 36 Ma, as reflected by the youngest ages peaks. New detrital zircon provenance data from the hinterland wedge-top units of the proto-Zagros foreland basin (the Tanjero, Kolosh, and Gercus Formations) exhibit exclusive derivation from the Upper Cretaceous Neotethys ophiolitic terranes, different from the provenance of the older Lower Cretaceous and Paleozoic units that are dominated by the Paleozoic and Neoproterozoic age spectra. These shifts in provenance between different tectonostratigraphic units argue for sediment route reversal from E to W in response to ophiolite obduction, arrival of the WNK complex and commencement of the continental collision during the late Eocene, followed by deposition of the RBS in the hinterland of the proto-Zagros fold-thrust belt, and paleodrainage connection with the post-collisional Neogene foreland basin.

Mineralogy and Origin of the Manganese Deposit in the Sulaimani Province, Kurdistan Region of Iraq: Insight to Serpentinization-Induced Manganese Production Scenario

“…The Merga I unit has variable thickness and locally disappeared along the Imbricated zone; Merga II is usually 200-250 m thick. Koshnaw et al (2021) confirmed the existence of Merag Red bed group around Mawat district. North to the Mawat district numerous numbers of exotic boulders of manganese ore have been recently observed associated probably with the Merga unit, varying in size from 10 cm to 2 m. They are very hard massive blocky with deep black color.…”

“…The Zagros orogenic belts are tectonic response of prolonged cretaceous to the Paleogene subduction collision cycle between Arabian and Eurasian plates (Mohammad and Cornell, 2017). These plates amalgamation leading to coexist different geological and tectonic units treading NW-SE ranging from Precambrian to Paleogene (Koshnaw et al,2021). In the frame of the regional tectonic anatomy of Zagros orogenic belt (Gürbüz and Farzipour Saein, 2019), Zagros orogenic belt in the Kurdistan region of Iraq encompass three parallel NW-SE-trending tectonic units.…”