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Pteridospermophyta in the Mesozoic floras of Abyek and Jirande, Western Alborz, Iran

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Abstract

This paper deals with the Mesozoic seed ferns from the Shemshak Group from two localities in the Western Alborz Mountains, Northern Iran (i.e., the Abyek area in Qazvin Province and the Jirande area in Gilan Province). The materials were obtained from two coal-bearing horizons in the Shemshak Group, Late Triassic-Middle Jurassic in age. Five species from the Abyek and two species from the Jirande area, belonging to the phylum Pteridospermophyta, were identified. Vegetative and reproductive organs of Caytoniales (i.e., Sagenopteris sp. A and Sagenopteris sp. B leaves, Caytonia sp. ovuliferous organ, and Caytonanthus arberi Thomas (Harris) emend. Harris, 1964 microsporangiate organ, as well as two form-species of incertae sedis seed ferns, Pachypteris lanceolata Brongniart, 1828 and Ptilozamites tenuis Ôishi 1932 emend. Ôishi and Huzioka, 1938) are described in the present paper. This paper discusses the morphological characters of these species, together with discussions on their previous palaeobotanical descriptions, as well as the stratigraphic and palaeogeographical distribution of these taxa. This is the first record of Caytonanthus arberi in Asia and Ptilozamites tenuis from Iran. Pachypteris lanceolata is described for the first time in the Western Alborz.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University (IAU), Tehran, Iran

    Seyed Kamyar Kamran, Mehran Arian & Ali Solgi

  2. Department of Petroleum, Mining and Materials Engineering, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran

    Masoomeh Sohrabi Mollayousefi

  3. Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran

    Majid Mirzaie-Ataabadi

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Kamran, S.K., Mollayousefi, M.S., Arian, M. et al. Pteridospermophyta in the Mesozoic floras of Abyek and Jirande, Western Alborz, Iran. Arab J Geosci 15, 1573 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-022-10691-5

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