Geomorphic Evidence for Ancestral Drainage Patterns in the Zagros Simple Folded Zone and Growth of the Iranian Plateau

Walker, Richard T. and Ramsey, Lucy A. and Jackson, James (2011) Geomorphic Evidence for Ancestral Drainage Patterns in the Zagros Simple Folded Zone and Growth of the Iranian Plateau. Geological Magazine, 148 (5-6). pp. 901-910. DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016756811000185

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Abstract

We describe the geomorphology of a large (~10000 km2) internally draining region within the Zagros fold-and-thrust belt of Fars province, Iran. A series of wind gaps through fold crests and a continuous line of low-slope pixels in digital elevation models indicate the presence of an older, and now abandoned, through-going river system. We suggest, from the presence of the wind gaps, that the original through-going river system was abandoned as a direct result of fold growth. At present, through-going drainage in Fars is restricted to only two major rivers, the Kul and the Mand, which bound the margins of the internally drained region. The low gradients of the Kul and the Mand rivers are similar to those in topographic profiles drawn along the course of the abandoned drainage. The Mand and Kul rivers may be defeated in the future, causing an expansion of the internally drained region, and resulting in a profound change in the distribution of sediment and surface elevations within the Zagros. The internally draining part of the Zagros resembles the Central Iranian Plateau both in its geomorphology and in the apparently slow rates of deformation within it. We speculate that the development of internally drained basins and distribution of shortening within the range may be causally linked. The geomorphology that we describe might, therefore, record a stage in the southward expansion of the non-deforming and topographically high Central Iranian Plateau.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	BG Group, cml
Uncontrolled Keywords:	2011AREP; IA63; cml;
Subjects:	02 - Geodynamics, Geophysics and Tectonics
Divisions:	02 - Geodynamics, Geophysics and Tectonics
Journal or Publication Title:	Geological Magazine
Volume:	148
Page Range:	pp. 901-910
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016756811000185
Depositing User:	Sarah Humbert
Date Deposited:	19 Jul 2011 15:02
Last Modified:	23 Jul 2013 10:02
URI:	http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/id/eprint/2116

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