Pre-Permian Extensional Deformation and Uplift in the Central High Zagros, Iran

Throughout the Arabian Plate (Figure 1), a more-or-less prominent sedimentary hiatus separates the late Carboniferous (?)–Permian sequence from the older sedimentary formations. This hiatus and corresponding unconformity is generally named the “Hercynian unconformity” suggesting a relationship with the Hercynian (Variscan) Orogeny, which affected Western Europe and westernmost Africa during the Carboniferous. In the High Zagros Belt (HZB), which belongs to the Zagros Fold-and-Thrust belt (ZFTB), this pre- Permian unconformity exists everywhere. However, this unconformity seals truncated Lower Paleozoic strata and normal faults by the new mapping and field evidences (Figure 2).