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Foraminiferal biostratigraphy of the Miocene Qom Formation, northwest of the Qom, Central Iran

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Abstract

Near Dochah, in the type area of the Qom Formation, Central Iran, the Miocene is partly developed in pelagic facies. From the 894.1 meter thick, ‘a to e’ members of this section, 152 samples were collected. Abundant planktonic foraminifera let us correlate the study section with the global planktonic foraminifera biozonations. High diversity of foraminifera in the study section allow us to adapt the study succession to global biozonations. Twenty-seven genera and thirty-four species are reported for the first time from the Dochah section. First reports of Praeorbulina sicana and Praeorbulina transitoria in the upper part of this section led to recognition of the Praeorbulina sicana lower occurrence subzone (M5a) biozone with a late Late Burdigalian age.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the NIOC Exploration Directorate and Kharazmi University for providing the facilities for this study. We would also like to show our immensely gratitude to Dr. Peter M. Sadler from the University of California for his comments on an earlier version of this manuscript that greatly improved it. In addition, we thank all referees for their comments which were helpful for improving the quality of this manuscript.

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  1. Geology Department, Kharazmi University, Tehran, 15719-14911, Iran

    Jahanbakhsh Daneshian & Leila Ramezani Dana

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  1. Jahanbakhsh Daneshian
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  2. Leila Ramezani Dana
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Correspondence to Jahanbakhsh Daneshian.

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Daneshian, J., Ramezani Dana, L. Foraminiferal biostratigraphy of the Miocene Qom Formation, northwest of the Qom, Central Iran. Front. Earth Sci. 12, 237–251 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-017-0669-5

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