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Carbon Isotope Stratigraphy of the Uppermost Aptian–Lower Cenomanian Strata from the Lut Block, East Iran

  • Paleontology and Paleoenvironment
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Abstract

The Mid-Cretaceous interval has been recognized as a crucial period in Earth’s history, and a number of studies on Neo-Tethyan successions illustrate intense evolutions in the nature of Mid-Cretaceous ocean chemistry, sea level, and marine faunal communities. However, much less investigations have been conducted in the Sistan Ocean, in the eastern Neo-Tethys. Here, the Nimbolook Section (Lut Block, central Iran) has provided an opportunity to address these shortcomings and provide a better understanding of the paleoenvironmental changes in this region. The biostratigraphic analysis and age interpretation of the Nimbolook Section have been performed in earlier investigations by means of planktonic foraminifera, ammonites and calcareous nannofossils. This provides a reliable age framework for the chemostratigraphic interpretations. In the Nimbolook Section, the δ13C stratigraphy was carried out on a total of 41 samples, which ranged between −3.26‰ and 2.86‰ with an average of 1.09‰ (standard deviation = 1.15‰), and expanded within the upper Aptian to lower Cenomanian stages. However, there is a prominent negative shift at the base of the section, accompanied by episodes of sea-level fluctuations. Notably, according to the age-diagnostic calcareous nannofossils records, this carbon isotope negative shift (0.88‰ to −3.26‰) straddle between late Aptian and early Albian ages. Furthermore, these new chemostratigraphic observations could be interpreted as being the coeval data from the reference well-studied successions in the other parts of the world, tentatively reflecting the oceanic anoxic event (OAE) 1b.

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Acknowledgments

Helpful comments and suggestions from two anonymous reviewers and the editors are highly appreciated. The authors would also like to thank the Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University, Taipei for geochemical analyses. Logistical supports for field works and laboratory facilities were partly financed by the University of Birjand, Iran. Thanks go to Iranian friends for their kind cooperation in the field. We thank Prof. Gregory Price (University of Plymouth) for his comments during completing this article. The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-023-1911-4.

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  1. Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, University of Birjand, Birjand, Iran

    Javad Sharifi, Seyed Naser Raisossadat, Maryam Mortazavi Mehrizi & Maryam Motamedalshariati

  2. Earth Sciences Research Group, University of Birjand, Birjand, Iran

    Seyed Naser Raisossadat

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  1. Javad Sharifi
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Sharifi, J., Raisossadat, S.N., Mehrizi, M.M. et al. Carbon Isotope Stratigraphy of the Uppermost Aptian–Lower Cenomanian Strata from the Lut Block, East Iran. J. Earth Sci. 34, 1793–1799 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-023-1911-4

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