Misplaced Pages

#916083

56-678: It is 302 km long, arising in the Zagros Mountains of Kurdistan Province south of Saqqez , where it is also known as the Jaghatu River (Jaghatu Chay). Its real name is Jegatoo, a well known name among local residents over the centuries. The name Zarrīneh Rūd , meaning "golden river" in Persian , is historically attested by Rashid al-Din Hamadani in his entry for the year 1263 (661 AH). According to Vladimir Minorsky ,

112-513: A Lur tribe from Iran , primarily inhabiting the Central and South Zagros. Major cities inhabited by Bakhtiaris include Masjed Soleyman , Izeh and Shahr-e Kord . A significant number of Bakhtiari still practice nomadic pastoralism. Kurds are another Iranic group found in the northwestern and the eastern Zagros Taurus mountain ranges , which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northern Syria. The high altitude of

168-674: A common feature of the Zagros Mountains. Salt domes are an important target for petroleum exploration , as the impermeable salt frequently traps petroleum beneath other rock layers. There is also much water-soluble gypsum in the region. The mountains are completely of sedimentary origin and are made primarily of limestone . In the Elevated Zagros or the Higher Zagros, the Paleozoic rocks can be found mainly in

224-524: A deeper layer bounded by the basal and Dashtak Formation décollement levels and shallower one between the Dashtak décollement and the surface. There is also evidence of a thick-skinned element to the deformation. The lack of Hormuz salt exposed at the surface makes the nature of the basal detachment less certain than in the Fars domain, but the presence of this salt layer is inferred from the observation that

280-567: A layer of rock salt (acting as a ductile decollement with a low basal friction ), whereas in the NW Zagros the salt layer is missing or is very thin. This different basal friction is partly responsible for the different topographies on either side of the Kazerun fault. Higher topography and narrower zone of deformation in the NW Zagros is observed whereas in the SE, deformation was spread more and

336-510: A long mountain range in Iran , northern Iraq , and southeastern Turkey . The mountain range has a total length of 1,600 km (990 miles). The Zagros range begins in northwestern Iran and roughly follows Iran's western border while covering much of southeastern Turkey and northeastern Iraq. From this border region, the range continues southeast to the waters of the Persian Gulf . It spans

392-615: A thick and continuous salt being present beneath the salients and either missing, thin or discontinuous in the embayments. The distribution of the Hormuz salt is controlled by the extent of late Proterozoic basins. The belt is also divided into zones from northeast to southwest. Next to the Main Zagros Reverse Fault is a zone sometimes referred to as the 'High Zagros', the highest part of the Zagros Mountains reaching heights in excess of 4,500 m (14,800 ft), with

448-471: A wider zone of deformation with lower topography was formed. Stresses induced in the Earth's crust by the collision caused extensive folding of the preexisting layered sedimentary rocks . Subsequent erosion removed softer rocks, such as mudstone (rock formed by consolidated mud) and siltstone (a slightly coarser-grained mudstone) while leaving harder rocks, such as limestone (calcium-rich rock consisting of

504-701: Is also home to populations of Assyrians , Turkic peoples and Farsi speaking Iranians . The mountains contain several ecosystems . Prominent among them are the forest and forest steppe areas with a semi-arid climate . As defined by the World Wildlife Fund and used in their Wildfinder, the particular terrestrial ecoregion of the mid to high mountain area is Zagros Mountains forest steppe (PA0446). The annual precipitation ranges from 400–800 mm (16–31 in) and falls mostly in winter and spring. Winters are severe, with low temperatures often below −25 °C (−13 °F). The region exemplifies

560-508: Is an approximately 1,800-kilometre (1,100 mi) long zone of deformed crustal rocks, formed in the foreland of the collision between the Arabian plate and the Eurasian plate . It is host to one of the world's largest petroleum provinces, containing about 49% of the established hydrocarbon reserves in fold and thrust belts (FTBs) and about 7% of all reserves globally. The Zagros FTB

616-624: Is formed along a section of the plate boundary that is subject to oblique convergence with the Arabian plate moving northwards with respect to the Eurasian plate at about 3 cm per year. The degree of obliqueness reduces southwards along the Zagros, with the collision becoming near orthogonal within the Fars domain . The relative movement between the plates is only partly taken up within the Zagros,

SECTION 10

#1732772091917

672-766: The Fars Province have somewhat lower summits, reaching 4,000 metres (13,000 feet). They contain some limestone rocks showing abundant marine fossils. The peaks that are at least 3800 meters high and have a topographic prominence of at least 300 meters: The Zagros Mountains have significant ancient history. They were occupied by early humans since the Lower Paleolithic Period. The earliest human fossils discovered in Zagros belongs to Neanderthals and come from Shanidar Cave , Bisitun Cave , and Wezmeh Cave. The remains of ten Neanderthals , dating from around 65,000–35,000 years ago, have been found in

728-599: The Makran Trench , east of the Strait of Hormuz , in the southeast. The belt varies in width with two main salients (where the thrust belt bulges out towards the foreland) in the Lorestan and Fars domains and two main embayments (between the bulges) at Kirkuk and Dezful . The variation in geometry along the strike is attributed to the distribution of the late Proterozoic to Early Cambrian Hormuz salt layer , with

784-722: The Miocene (about 25–5 mya or million years ago ) and folded the entirety of the rocks that had been deposited from the Paleozoic (541–242 mya) to the Cenozoic (66 mya – present) in the passive continental margin on the Arabian Plate. However, the obduction of Neotethys oceanic crust during the Cretaceous (145–66 mya), and the continental arc collision in the Eocene (56–34 mya) both had major effects on uplifts in

840-562: The Neolithic period . The DNA from this bone fragment shows that it is from a distinct genetic group, which was not known to scientists before. He belongs to the Y-DNA haplogroup G2b, specifically its branch G-Y37100 , and mitochondrial haplogroup J1d6. He had brown eyes, relatively dark skin, and black hair, although Neolithic pre Indo-European Iranians carried reduced pigmentation-associated alleles in several genes and derived alleles at 7 of

896-689: The Paleogene (66–23 mya) rocks south of the Cretaceous rocks and then the Neogene (23–2.6 mya) rocks south of the Paleogene rocks. The mountains are divided into many parallel sub-ranges (up to 10 or 250 km (6.2 or 155.3 miles) wide), and orogenically have the same age as the Alps . Iran's main oilfields lie in the western central foothills of the Zagros mountain range. The southern ranges of

952-643: The Sumerian , Akkadian and Assyrian cities of Mesopotamia . The mountains create a geographic barrier between the Mesopotamian Plain, which is in modern Iraq , and the Iranian plateau . A small archive of clay tablets detailing the complex interactions of these groups in the early second millennium BC has been found at Tell Shemshara along the Little Zab . Tell Bazmusian , near Shemshara,

1008-519: The Zagros Mountains mouse-like hamster ( Calomyscus bailwardi ), the Basra reed-warbler ( Acrocephalus griseldis ) and the striped hyena ( Hyena hyena ). The Persian fallow deer ( Dama dama mesopotamica ), an ancient domesticate once thought extinct, was rediscovered in the late 20th century in Khuzestan Province, in the southern Zagros. Also, wild goats can be found almost all over

1064-500: The pet trade and habitat destruction . Climate change is predicted to strongly impact this species. The entrance to the ancient Mesopotamian underworld was believed to be located in the Zagros Mountains in the far east. A staircase led down to the gates of the underworld. The underworld itself is usually located even deeper below ground than the Abzu , the body of freshwater which the ancient Mesopotamians believed lay deep beneath

1120-616: The 'High Zagros Fault' forming its southwestern boundary. The next zone between the High Zagros Fault and the Main Frontal Fault (also Mountain Front Flexure) is known as the 'Simply Folded Zone', characterised by many elongate folds and very few surface faults. The zone to the southwest of the Main Frontal Fault is considered to be part of the foreland basin although active structures are observed as far out as

1176-479: The 'Mesopotamian Basin', together represent the active foreland basin to the Zagros FTB, caused by the loading of the leading edge of the Arabian plate by the Zagros thrust sheets. The gulf is being progressively infilled by the southeastward prograding delta of the river system. Northeastward subduction of Tethyan oceanic crust continued along this portion of the Eurasian plate until continental crust of

SECTION 20

#1732772091917

1232-550: The 12 loci, showing the strongest signatures of selection in ancient Eurasians. He did not contribute to the genetic makeup of early European farmers or modern Europeans . Instead, he was the most genetically similar to modern Iranian Zoroastrians , followed by Fars , Balochi , Brahui , Kalash and Georgians . Gallego-Llorente et al. (2016) believes that the Zagros Mountain was a plausible source of Eurasian ancestry in Central and South Asia, along with Kotias , which

1288-707: The Arabian plate became involved in this convergent boundary . The exact timing of the onset of the subsequent collision is uncertain although there is evidence of some deformation during the deposition of the Asmari Formation in the Oligocene , or possibly as early as the Late Eocene . Deformation within the Zagros FTB has continued from then until the present day, although unconformities of regional extent suggest that there have been several distinct phases of deformation. Unconformities have been recognised at

1344-480: The Eurasian plate along this part of the plate boundary, in contrast to the neighbouring segment along the Makran Trench , an active subduction zone, where a dipping slab is well imaged by seismic tomography . The ending of subduction has been linked to evidence that the Main Zagros Reverse Fault is no longer active, suggesting that further deformation is occurring by distributed deformation of

1400-659: The Great) at the border with West Azerbaijan, producing a large reservoir. There is a power plant there. The river continues north and slightly west past the cities of Shahin Dezh , Kashavar and Miandoab and into Lake Urmia . Although it is perennial, unlike many of the streams in the Urmia Basin, its flow is still markedly seasonal with a discharge into Lake Urmia ranging from 500 cubic metres (0.41 acre⋅ft) per second to only 10 cubic metres (0.0081 acre⋅ft) per second at

1456-650: The Last Glacial Period they had been glaciated to a depth in excess of 1,900 metres (1.2 miles), and during the Last Glacial Period to a depth in excess of 2,160 metres (7,090 feet). Evidence exists of a 20 km (12 miles) wide glacier fed along a 17 km (11 miles) long valley dropping approximately 1,600 m (5,200 ft) along its length on the north side of Kuh-i-Jupar with a thickness of 350–550 m (1,150–1,800 ft). Under conditions of precipitation comparable to current climatic record-keeping, this size of glacier could be expected to form where

1512-461: The Miocene, this area became a depocentre in which locally thick Gachsaran salt was deposited. The presence of locally thick Gachsaran salt has caused disharmonic folding between the sequences above and below that layer. The Fars salient forms the southeastern end of the Zagros FTB. This area is underlain by a thick Hormuz salt layer that comes to the surface in several places where it extrudes from

1568-601: The Shanidar Cave. The cave also contains two later " proto-Neolithic " cemeteries, one of which dates back about 10,600 years and contains 35 individuals. Evidence from later Upper Paleolithic and Epipaleolithic occupations come from Yafteh Cave, Kaldar Cave near Khoramabad , and Warwasi , Malaverd near Kermanshah , Kenacheh Cave in Kurdistan, Boof Cave in Fars and a number of other caves and rock shelters. Signs of early agriculture date back as far as 9000 BC in

1624-684: The Zagros Frontal Fault. In northern Iraq, the Zagros FTB is relatively narrow and this area is referred to as the Kirkuk embayment. This part of the fold belt lacks an effective basal Hormuz salt detachment. The Lorestan (or Lurestan) domain forms the northerly of the two main salients in the Zagros FTB. The structural style of the simply folded zone is interpreted here to be dominated by detachment folding with some degree of disharmonic folding (folding of differing wavelengths at different structural levels). The disharmony occurs between

1680-463: The Zagros into two distinct zones of deformation. The GPS results also show different shortening directions along the belt, normal shortening in the southeast, and oblique shortening in the northwest Zagros. The Zagros mountains were created around the time of the second ice age, which caused the tectonic collision, leading to its uniqueness. The sedimentary cover in the SE Zagros is deforming above

1736-545: The Zagros mountain range. In the late 19th century, the Asiatic lion ( Panthera leo persica ) inhabited the southwestern part of the mountains. It is now extinct in this region. The Luristan newt ( Neurergus kaiseri ) is a salamander endemic to a small section of the central Zagros Mountains in Iran. It lives in highland streams and is primarily aquatic. This newt is considered vulnerable to extinction due to poaching for

Zarrineh River - Misplaced Pages Continue

1792-480: The Zagros mountains produces a series of choke points and valleys perfect for agriculture and human development. It has also long defended the Kurds in times of war by acting as a natural barrier . Qashqai people are a tribal confederation in Iran mostly of Turkic origin. Significant populations can be found in Central and South Zagros, especially around the city of Shiraz in the Fars province . The Zagros

1848-454: The annual average temperature was between 10.5 and 11.2 °C (50.9 and 52.2 °F), but since conditions are expected to have been dryer during the period in which this glacier was formed, the temperature must have been lower. Although currently degraded through overgrazing and deforestation , the Zagros region is home to a rich and complex flora. Remnants of the originally widespread oak -dominated woodland can still be found, as can

1904-570: The base and top of the Asmari Formation (Late Eocene and Early Miocene), at the base of the Agha Jari Formation (late mid-Miocene) at the base of the Bakhtyari Formation (latest Pliocene) and mid Pleistocene, interpreted to date these separate phases. These deformation pulses were associated with southwestward migration of the active deformation front. There is no evidence of continued subduction of oceanic crust beneath

1960-615: The continental variation of the Mediterranean climate pattern, with a snowy winter and mild, rainy spring, followed by a dry summer and autumn. The mountains of the East-Zagros, the Kuh-i-Jupar (4,135 m (13,566 ft)), Kuh-i-Lalezar (4,374 m (14,350 ft)) and Kuh-i-Hezar (4,469 m (14,662 ft)) do not currently have glaciers. Only at Zard Kuh and Dena some glaciers still survive. However, before

2016-486: The crests of anticlines, forming salt glaciers , although it may be missing over the Fars platform, a continuation of an area of the foreland in which the salt layer is not present. This dextral fault system transfers some of the dextral displacement along the Main Recent Fault onto thrust faults and folds of the Fars domain as the relative motion changes from strongly oblique to near orthogonal. It also forms

2072-463: The earth. The region was influenced by Mesopotamian and Hurrian religion in the Bronze and Iron Ages, and later by Zoroastrianism and Syriac Christianity . Today the vast majority of the population are Iranic and Turkic Muslims , with small numbers of Christians , mainly Assyrians and Armenians also extant. Zagros fold and thrust belt The Zagros fold and thrust belt (Zagros FTB)

2128-546: The effective southeastern boundary to the Dezful embayment. In detail the Kazerun fault system consist of a series of en echelon segments within an overall fan shaped zone. From the focal depth of earthquakes along this zone it is clear that these faults are developed within the underlying basement rocks. The Persian Gulf and the area of lowland occupied by the alluvial plain of the Tigris–Euphrates river system , known as

2184-516: The end of the dry season. The tributaries of the Zarrineh River include: This Kurdistan province location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This West Azerbaijan province location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article related to a river in Iran is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Zagros Mountains The Zagros Mountains are

2240-506: The foothills of the Zagros mountains, including Sulaymaniyah , Kermanshah , Khorramabad , and Shiraz . The Lurs are an Iranic tribe, primarily inhabiting the Central, Western, and Southern Zagros. Cities inhibited by Lurs include Khorramabad , Borujerd , Malayer , Izeh , Shahr-e Kord , Yasuj . Lurs speak Luri and span across many provinces in Iran including Lorestan , Khuzestan , Chaharmahal and Bakthiari , Ilam , Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad , and Hamedan . The Bakhtiaris are

2296-515: The foothills of the mountains. Some settlements later grew into cities, eventually named Anshan and Susa ; Jarmo is one archaeological site in this area. Some of the earliest evidence of wine production has been discovered in the mountains; both the settlements of Hajji Firuz Tepe and Godin Tepe have given evidence of wine storage dating between 3500 and 5400 BC. A human metatarsal bone fragment from Wezmeh Cave has been analyzed and dated to

Zarrineh River - Misplaced Pages Continue

2352-640: The leading edge of the Arabian plate. This is consistent with observations of recent seismicity. The Zagros FTB contains 49% of the world's hydrocarbon reserves hosted in fold and thrust belts and about 7% of all reserves. The Zagros province includes many giant and supergiant oilfields, such as the Kirkuk Field with over ten billion barrels of remaining oil reserves as of 1998, and the Asmari Reservoir, an Oligocene - Miocene limestone subsequently folded into anticline structural traps during

2408-480: The major mountain belts like Alborz and Zagros. A relatively dense GPS network which covered the Iranian Zagros also proves a high rate of deformation within the Zagros. The GPS results show that the current rate of shortening in the southeast Zagros is ~10 mm/a (0.39 in/year), dropping to ~5 mm/a (0.20 in/year) in the northwest Zagros. The north–south Kazerun strike-slip fault divides

2464-448: The mountain range include: Allium iranicum , Astragalus crenophila , Bellevalia kurdistanica , Cousinia carduchorum , Cousinia odontolepis , Echinops rectangularis , Erysimum boissieri , Iris barnumiae , Ornithogalum iraqense , Scrophularia atroglandulosa , Scorzonera kurdistanica , Tragopogon rechingeri , and Tulipa kurdica . The Zagros are home to many threatened and endangered species, including

2520-584: The name Jaghātū is most likely derived from the Mongolian word jaqa , meaning "border" or "bank", with the possessive suffix -tu . Minorsky wrote that such a name was fitting, since "the Jaghatu in its sweep encloses a definite geographical region". Since about the mid-20th century, the old name of Zarrineh Rud has come back into use, and the nearby Tatavu has been similarly renamed Simineh Rud, or "silver river". Minorsky reconstructed an even earlier name of

2576-477: The northeastern parts of the belt. The process of collision continues to the present, and as the Arabian Plate is being pushed against the Eurasian Plate, the Zagros Mountains and the Iranian plateau are getting higher and higher. Recent GPS measurements in Iran have shown that this collision is still active and the resulting deformation is distributed non-uniformly in the country, mainly taken up in

2632-416: The park-like pistachio / almond steppelands. The ancestors of many familiar foods, including wheat, barley , lentil , almond, walnut , pistachio, apricot , plum , pomegranate and grape can be found growing wild throughout the mountains. Quercus brantii (covering more than 50% of the Zagros forest area) is the most important tree species of the Zagros in Iran. Other floral endemics found within

2688-802: The remainder is taken up by deformation in the Alborz mountains and the Lesser Caucasus Mountains to the north of the Iranian plateau and along the zone formed by the Greater Caucasus Mountains, the Apsheron-Balkan Sill and the Kopet Dag mountains further north again. The Zagros FTB extends for about 1,800 km (1,100 mi) from the Bitlis suture zone in the northwest to the boundary with

2744-418: The remains of marine organisms) and dolomite (rocks similar to limestone containing calcium and magnesium ). This differential erosion formed the linear ridges of the Zagros Mountains. The depositional environment and tectonic history of the rocks were conducive to the formation and trapping of petroleum, and the Zagros region is an important area for oil production. Salt domes and salt glaciers are

2800-747: The river as *Vālā-rūd , from the "Balaráthō" (Βαλαράθω) given by Theophylact Simocatta , and also in the Life of Mar Yahballaha which refers to a river "called in Mongolian Jaghatuy and in Persian Vakya-rud". The Zarrineh rises near the Shiler Valley , an important communication route between Mesopotamia and the Iranian plateau which forms a deep salient of Iraqi territory into Iran. It then flows north towards Lake Urmia . On

2856-406: The southern parts of the Armenian highlands , and the whole length of the western and southwestern Iranian plateau , ending at the Strait of Hormuz . The highest point is Mount Dena , at 4,409 metres (14,465 ft). The Zagros fold and thrust belt was mainly formed by the collision of two tectonic plates , the Eurasian Plate and the Arabian Plate . This collision mainly happened during

SECTION 50

#1732772091917

2912-411: The taper angle (the angle between the basal detachment and the current topographic slope) is identical to that where the salt is proven further south. Between the two main salients of the Zagros FTB, the Dezful embayment developed in an area that lacked an effective basal Hormuz salt detachment, resulting in a steeper topographic slope of 2°, compared to 1° for both the Lorestan and Fars domains. During

2968-438: The upper and higher sections of the peaks of the Zagros Mountains, along the Zagros main fault. On both sides of this fault, there are Mesozoic rocks, a combination of Triassic (252–201 mya) and Jurassic (201–145 mya) rocks that are surrounded by Cretaceous rocks on both sides. The Folded Zagros (the mountains south of the Elevated Zagros and almost parallel to the main Zagros fault) is formed mainly of Tertiary rocks, with

3024-412: The way, its course makes a long sweep to the east. It receives the Saruq River as a tributary before bending back to the west and eventually emptying into the lake. Near the lake, the Zarrineh comes very close to meeting the Simineh River , and the two might have merged to form one river at some point in the past. The Zarrineh river is dammed at Shahid Kazemi Dam or Sadd-e Kurosh-e Kabir (Dam of Cyrus

3080-418: Was inhabited by Caucasus Hunter-Gatherers. He cites archaeological evidence of eastward Neolithic expansions from the Near East. During early ancient times, the Zagros was the home of various Pre Indo-European peoples such as the Hurrians , Guti , Kassites , Elamites , Turukku and Lullubi , (together with Semitic peoples such as Assyrians and Amorites on the western side) who periodically invaded

3136-410: Was occupied between 5000 BCE and 800 CE, although not continuously. The Zagros mountains have been inhabited by different groups of pastoralists and farmers for thousands of years. Current Pastoralist groups such as Lurs , Bakhtiari Lurs , Kurds or Qashqais move from their herds from the east slopes in summer ( Yeylāgh ) to the west slopes in winter ( Gheshlāgh ). Some major cities are located on

#916083