Structural Interpretation of New High-Resolution Aeromagnetic and Radiometric Data in Central Iran

From 2010, regional high-resolution airborne geophysical surveys were undertaken in central and northwestern Iran, commencing with 140,000 km2 from Esfahan to Gonabad, at 500-m line spacing. Interpretation of these data sets provides unprecedented resolution of the structural geometry of central Iran, which is mostly under cover. Central Iran consists of a mosaic of continental blocks separated by complex fold and thrust belts that are transposed into strike-slip crustal sutures due to ongoing non-coaxial or rotational deformation. Prior to anticlockwise rotation of the Central Iranian Microcontinent, tectonic activity in central Iran was dominated by opening and subsequent closure of two temporally overlapping Tethyan Oceans: the northern (current azimuths) Paleo-Tethys Ocean and the southern, younger, Neo-Tethyan Ocean. Oblique convergence and strike-slip tectonics due to oblique subduction of the Neotethys to the south of the Central Iranian Microcontinent during Early-Middle Cimmerian events are commonly cited.