Articles | Volume 27, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.1144/jm.27.2.125
https://doi.org/10.1144/jm.27.2.125
01 Nov 2008
 | 01 Nov 2008

Dinoflagellate cysts from the Upper Triassic (Norian) of northeastern Iran

Ebrahim Ghasemi-Nejad, Martin J. Head, and Maryam Zamani

Keywords: dinoflagellate, Miankuhi, Aghdarband, Triassic, Iran

Abstract. Upper Triassic (Norian) strata of the Miankuhi Formation in northeastern Iran have been studied palynologically, revealing a diverse but poorly preserved association of dinoflagellate cysts. Based on representatives of the genera Hebecysta, Heibergella, Rhaetogonyaulax and Sverdrupiella, the strata are assigned to the middle of the Hebecysta balmei Zone with an inferred age of early Late Norian. The association shows similarities with assemblages from Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Northwest Europe, arctic Canada and Alaska, indicating an interconnection of warm Tethyan waters during the Late Triassic. The occurrence of Sverdrupiella species in the clastic, near-shore marine deposits of Miankuhi, and their presence in similar sedimentary facies world-wide, indicate that this genus was well adapted to clastic shallow-marine environments.

Download