The Cimmerian geopuzzle: new data from South Pamir

Lucia Angiolini,1 Andrea Zanchi,2 Stefano Zanchetta,2 Alda Nicora1 and Giovanni Vezzoli21Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra “A. Desio”, Via Mangiagalli 34, 20133, Milano Italy; 2Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Ambiente e del

Territorio e di Scienze della Terra, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126, Milano Italy

ABSTRACT

Based on its Permian-Triassic stratigraphic and biotic evolu-

tion, we correlate the SE Pamir to the Karakoram terrane,

and we consider them equivalent, along with the Central

Pamir, to the Qiantang Terrane of Tibet, all of Palaeozoic

Gondwanan ancestry. We prove the occurrence of a marked

Cimmerian unconformity, documented by lowermost Jurassic

deposits suturing intensively faulted and folded Permian and

Triassic units, which suggests that the South Pamir collided

around the T-J boundary with the Central Pamir along the

Rushan-Pshart suture. Collision of the Karakoram to the South

Pamir happened slightly later along the Wakhan-Tirich Bound-

ary Zone. Progressive time shifting of deformation can be

related to the complex setting of the Cimmerian belt, which

was subdivided into minor blocks by incipient oceanic basins,

providing strong crustal mobility.

Terra Nova, 25, 352–360, 2013

Introduction

A complex pre-Cenozoic history ofbasin evolution, continental accretionand collision is recorded in the Pam-irs. The Cenozoic collision of Indiahas later deformed the Palaeozoic andMesozoic orogenic belts (Burtmanand Molnar, 1993), resulting in a verycomplex tectonic setting with multiplesuture zones (Yin and Harrison, 2000;Schwab et al., 2004), whose signifi-cance is still controversial (Robinsonet al., 2012). Understanding thesesutures is of paramount importance tocorrelate the tectonic terranes of theHimalaya-Tibetan orogen and theirpotential western extension across thePamirs into Afghanistan and Iran(Fig. 1).The Pamirs consist of three main

orogenic belts: North, Central andSouth Pamir (Fig. 2). Here, we focuson South Pamir, which is one of theCimmerian blocks breaking off theGondwanan margin in the EarlyPermian and drifting northward tocollide with Eurasia in Middle Trias-sic, forming the Cimmerian orogen(e.g. Seng€or, 1979; Gaetani, 1997;Zanchi et al., 2009; Muttoni et al.,2009; Robinson et al., 2012). ItsPermian-Triassic evolution has neverbeen reconstructed in detail, nor hasa geodynamic model of the Pamirbelts fully considered the role of the

Cimmerian orogeny. This tectonicevent has been generally overlooked(e.g. Burtman and Molnar, 1993), inspite of the strong evidence alreadypresented (Dronov and Leven, 1990;Vlasov et al., 1991). Understandingthis process has implications for theevaluation of final shortening andpresent-day crustal architecture ofthe Pamirs (Burtman and Molnar,1993; Schmidt et al., 2011; van Hins-bergen et al., 2011). Also, althoughrecent attempts have been made tocorrelate the South and CentralPamir with the Qiangtang block(Schwab et al., 2004; Robinsonet al., 2012), their relationships withother Central Asian blocks remain

largely unknown, as is the continua-tion of their bounding sutures.Here, we describe the Permian-

Triassic sedimentary evolution andbiotic change of the South Pamir toconstrain its ancestry and we providenew structural evidence to prove theoccurrence and understand the con-sequences of the Cimmerian orogeny,tracing the Palaeotethys suturethrough Central Asia.

Geological setting

The South Pamir is a complex beltbounded northward by the CentralPamir and southward by the Karak-oram (Pashkov and Budanov, 1990;

Fig. 1 Present tectonic setting of the SE Pamir, a Cimmerian block sandwichedbetween the Eurasian plate to the north and the Karakoram, Kohistan/Ladakhand the Indian plate to the south. The studied area is outlined in violet. KKSZ,Karakoram-Kohistan suture zone; MMT, Main mantle thrust. Modified fromSchwab et al. (2004); Zanchi and Gaetani (2011); Robinson et al. (2012).

Correspondence: Lucia Angiolini, Diparti-

mento di Scienze della Terra “A. Desio”, Via

Mangiagalli 34, 20133 Milano, Italy. Tel.:

00390250315513; e-mail: lucia.angiolini@

unimi.it

352 © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

doi: 10.1111/ter.12042

Schwab et al., 2004; Zanchi andGaetani, 2011) (Fig. 1). The bound-ary between South and CentralPamir corresponds to the Rushan-Pshart zone (Leven, 1995), whichresulted from the Jurassic closure of

a small oceanic basin developed inthe Permian between the two terr-anes during their drift from Gondw-ana (Leven, 1995; Burtman, 2010;Robinson et al., 2012). The southernboundary of South Pamir is less

defined: some authors (e.g. Schwabet al., 2004; Robinson et al., 2012)consider the South Pamir and Ka-rakoram to be continuous, howeverZanchi et al. (2000) showed theoccurrence of a possible suture zonealong the Tirich Mir Fault.The South Pamir comprises two dis-

tinct regions, the SE and SW Pamir,which are separated by a regional sys-tem of Cenozoic extensional detach-ments developed along the flanks ofgigantic crustal domes (Schwab et al.,2004; Schmidt et al., 2011) (Fig. 2).The SE Pamir is a polyphase fold andthrust belt developed at upper crustallevels during Mesozoic and Cenozoictimes. It comprises a thick Permian toCretaceous sedimentary succession,capped by Cenozoic deposits (Fig. 3).The SW Pamir consists of Precam-brian metamorphic rocks with anOligocene-Miocene high-grade meta-morphic peak, which may representthe crystalline basement of SE Pamir.These rocks were exhumed fromdepths of 30–40 km in the Miocene,due to severe shortening caused bysubduction of the Indian plate(Schmidt et al., 2011).

Carboniferous-Jurassicsedimentary evolution

The Carboniferous-Jurassic sedimen-tary succession of the SE Pamir hasbeen thoroughly studied (e.g. Dutke-vich, 1937; Grunt and Dmitriev,1973; Novikov, 1976, 1979; Leven,1958, 1967; Chediya et al., 1986;Grunt and Novikov, 1994; Korcha-gin, 2008) (electronic appendix).The Upper Carboniferous-Lower

Permian succession (Fig. 4) comprisesthe siliciclastics Uruzbulak and Tash-kazyk formations (Bazar DaraGroup), showing sharp variations inthickness. The unconformably over-lying Middle-Upper Permian succes-sion consists of a carbonate platform(Kurteke Formation), interfingeringwith slope and basinal facies(Kochusu, Shindy, Kubergandy, Ganand Takhtabulak formations). Theseconsist of bioclastic limestones, chertylimestones, shales, volcaniclastics,sandstones and conglomerates, withdebris flows and olistostromes. TheTriassic succession (Korchagin, 2008,2009) comprises Induan-Norian car-bonate platforms (Karatash and Ak-

Fig. 2 Tectonic setting of the Pamirs that comprises three main units: North, Cen-tral and South Pamir; mainly based on Vlasov et al. (1991) and on Schwab et al.(2004).

Fig. 3 Geological map of the studied area, based on Vlasov et al., 1991 and on ori-ginal observations.

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tash Groups), which are overlain byRhaetian flysches (Lokzun Group)dated by Dronov et al. (2006), whichinclude Permian olistolithes with Cen-tral and North Pamir biotic affinity(Dronov and Leven, 1990).The Permian-Triassic succession is

unconformably capped by red con-glomerates and sandstones (Darbasa-tash Group), which cut deeply intothe deformed underlying succession.These are conformably followed byHettangian limestones of the Gur-umdi Group (Dronov et al., 2006).

Interpretation

The syn-rift succession of the BazarDara Group at the base of the succes-sion thus records extensional tectonicactivity in the Carboniferous-EarlyPermian. A marked deepening fol-lowed in the Middle Permian, withincreasing volcanic activity and synse-dimentary tectonics in the Gan andTakhtabulak formations. Novikov(1979) and Leven (1995) correlate thisvolcanic activity with that of the EastPshart zone, which consists of transi-tional to alkaline basalts; we considerboth to be linked to the opening of

the Rushan Ocean between the Southand Central Pamir. The Upper Trias-sic flysches record the progressive clo-sure of this ocean, which culminateswith continental collision in the EarlyJurassic, as testified by the spectacularangular unconformity at the base ofthe Lower Jurassic red beds, fed bythe erosion of a volcanic arc relatedto the closure of the Rushan Ocean.Quantitative provenance analysis onthe Jurassic sandstones of the Darba-satash Group was assessed using thelog-ratio method for statistical analy-sis of compositional data (Aitchson,1986; Egozcue et al., 2003). Todiscriminate provenance, we appliedsimplicial principal component analy-sis and centring of data in a ternarydiagram (Fig. 5; Daunis-Estadellaet al., 2006; von Eynatten et al.,2002). The compositional trendrecorded by the sandstones of theDarbasatash Group testify to unroo-fing of a volcanic arc (UndissectedMagmatic Arc Provenance; Marsagliaand Ingersoll, 1992).Even if broadly similar (electronic

appendix), the coeval succession of theKarakoram (Gaetani et al., 1995; Zan-chi and Gaetani, 2011) differs by the

following features (Fig. 4): (1) a com-plete Palaeozoic succession is exposedon a pre-Ordovician crystalline base-ment; (2) no widespread volcanismoccurs in Middle-Late Permian; (3) nosharp angular unconformities occur inthe Early Jurassic, although the com-position of the Jurassic sandstones(Ashtigar Formation) suggests erosionof an accretionary complex close to anarc-trench system.These data suggest that the erosion

of the Cimmerian orogen is recordedby a time transgressive erosional sur-face, which can be followed acrossCentral Asia from Iran to Mongolia(Zanchi et al., 2009; Jolivet et al.,2010).

Biotic change in the Permian

To assess the biotic change in the SEPamir, a statistical palaeobiogeo-graphical analysis was performedusing PAST software (Hammeret al., 2001), comparing the brachio-pods of the Lower Permian Tash-kazyk and Middle Permian Kurtekeformations with coeval faunas fromseveral Gondwanan and Eurasianregions in two distinct analyses (elec-tronic appendix).The first is based on a data matrix of

78 brachiopod genera of Early Perm-ian (Asselian-Sakmarian) age from 11operational geographical units(OGUs), which was compiled addingthe occurrence of the brachiopod ofthe Tashkazyk Formation to thematrix of Angiolini et al. (2007). Thematrix was processed in Q mode bycluster and principal coordinate analy-ses based on the Jaccard coefficient ofcommunity. This analysis shows thatLower Permian brachiopods of the SEPamir are grouped with cold Gondwa-nan taxa (Fig. 6). They have a strongeraffinity to the Karakoram, CentralAfghanistan and Western Australiafaunas, but no link with Iran. This sug-gests that they were located along theGondwanan margin in the Asselian-Sakmarian and were bathed by coldcurrents, whereby Iran was under theinfluence of a warm current gyre (Angi-olini et al., 2007).A second analysis was based on

Middle Permian (Roadian-Wordian)faunas. A data matrix of 139 generafrom 10 geographical operationalunits was compiled, adding theoccurrence of the brachiopods of the

Fig. 4 Synthetic chronostratigraphic scheme showing the comparison between thePermian-Jurassic sedimentary successions of the SE Pamir (based on original dataand the Russian literature quoted in the text) and Karakoram (based on Zanchiand Gaetani, 2011 and Gaetani et al., 2013).

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Kurteke Formation to the matrix ofAngiolini et al. (2013). The resultsare difficult to interpret due to thelow diversity of the Guadalupianbrachiopods from the SE Pamir.However, they seem to have a pala-eoequatorial affinity, being morerelated to Central Afghanistan andKarakoram (Fig. 7).These analyses show that the affin-

ity of the SE Pamir, Central Afghani-stan and Karakoram terranes shifted

from Gondwanan in the Asselian-Sakmarian to Palaeoequatorial in theRoadian-Wordian, testifying theirnorthward drift from the Gondwananmargin since the late Early Permian.

Evidence for the Cimmeriandeformation event

Lowermost Jurassic red beds (Darba-satash Group) unconformably coverthe Permian-Triassic units of the SE

Pamir, which are strongly deformed bytight to isoclinal folds and intensivefaulting, suggesting an importantdeformation event pre-dating the depo-sition of the Jurassic deposits.The best outcrops of this uncon-

formity are in Kutal, Kurteke andBozTerek Valley (Fig. 3). At Kutal,gently tilted red conglomerates andsandstones unconformably cover theintensively folded Upper TriassicFlysch (Fig. 8). Conglomerates aremonogenic at the base and containsmall pebbles of the underlying Tri-assic sandstone.At Kurteke, close to tight N–S to

NNW–SSE upright horizontal foldsdeform the Permian-Triassic succes-sion, which is also affected by N–Strending high-angle reverse faults,overthrusting the Gan Formation onthe Permian Kurteke and on theLower Triassic Karatash Formation(Fig. 9). Here, the Jurassic successionshows E–W trending folds and thrustfaults, which strongly differ from thetectonic trends of the older units.At the top of the BozTerek Valley

(Fig. 3), a spectacular 90° unconfor-mity occurs between the Gan Forma-tion folded by N–S trending, uprightto inclined tight folds and the over-lying horizontal Jurassic red beds,which are in turn covered by carbon-ates (Fig. 10). Continuous N–Strending folds deforming the Permian-Triassic succession can be followedfor at least 10 kilometres southward.These structural relationships dem-

onstrate the occurrence of a deforma-tional event occurring before thedeposition of the Jurassic beds. N–S toNNW–SSE trending folds are charac-teristic of the pre-Jurassic deformationevent, whereas tectonic structuresaffecting the Mesozoic and Cenozoicsuccessions show E–W and ESE–WNW trends (Fig. 11), related to sub-sequent deformation events (Pashkovand Budanov, 1990; Schwab et al.,2004). Superposed folds with a typicalbasin and dome Type 1-pattern, causedby the interference between the Cimme-rian and the post-Cimmerian events,are evident in the Permian-Triassicunits north of the Alichur river (Fig. 3).

Conclusions

We have shown the occurrence ofsimilarities in the Carboniferous-Triassic sedimentary and biotic evo-

Fig. 5 Petrography of Jurassic sandstones of the Darbasatash Group. Sample fromBashgumbaz is characterized by acidic to intermediate volcanic-sandstone grains.Samples from Kutal are dominated by monocrystalline quartz with minor arena-ceous rock fragments and acidic volcanic grains. Samples from Kurteke includedominant monocrystalline quartz with minor carbonate rock fragments, acidic vol-canic grains and chert. The compositional principal axes (PC1 and PC2) retain88% and 13% for centred LvLsLm-diagram and 59% and 41%, for centred QFL-diagram respectively, of the total relative variability. Q = quartz; F = feldspars;L = Lithic fragments; Lv = volcanic grains; Ls = sedimentary grains; Lch = chertgrains; Lm = metamorphic grains. White scale bar 250 microns.

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lution of the Karakoram and SE Pa-mir, indicating that they were part ofa major Cimmerian belt thatdetached from Gondwana in theEarly Permian, as did the CentralPamir and Qiangtang (Fig. 12).However, several features suggest

that this belt was dissected intodistinct terranes separated by deepextensional basins. Evidence for sep-aration between the Central andSouth Pamir is given by the Rushan-Pshart Zone (Leven, 1995), whichcontains serpentinites indicative ofan oceanic basin. In a similar way,the Karakoram and South Pamir areseparated by the Wakhan-TirichBoundary Zone (TBZ), extendingacross Chitral for more than 150 kmand cut eastward by the Kilik thrustfault (Zanchi and Gaetani, 2011). The

Fig. 6 Results of the principal coordinates and cluster analyses based on Asselian-Sakmarian brachiopod faunas, obtainedusing PAST software (Hammer et al., 2001). CA of the data matrix has been carried out by flexible unweighted pair-grouparithmetic averaging based on the Jaccard coefficient of community. Both the ordination plot and the CA dendrogram show awell-defined group formed by SE Pamir, Karakoram, Central Afghanistan and W Australia. Palaeogeographical map modifiedfrom Zanchi and Gaetani (2011).

Fig. 7 Results of the principal coordinates and cluster analyses based on Roadian-Wordian brachiopod faunas, obtained usingPAST software (Hammer et al., 2001), as indicated above. In the CA dendrogram, SE Pamir, Karakoram and C Afghanistanform a distinct group which is not well defined in the ordination plot. However, SE Pamir has the same coordinate along theaxis of variation 1 of Karakoram and C Afghanistan; it is also closer to Karakoram along axis 2 than to any other faunal sta-tion. The loose grouping can be due to the low diversity of the SE Pamir fauna. Palaeogeographical map modified from Zanchiand Gaetani (2011).

Fig 8 The Cimmerian unconformity at Kutal. The Jurassic red beds of the Darba-satash Group unconformably rest above folded Upper Triassic sandstone east ofKutal. Monogenic conglomerates (inset) containing clasts of the Upper Triassicbeds occur at the base of the sandstones. Location in Fig. 3.

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TBZ includes serpentinized subconti-nental mantle peridotites, metagabb-ros and high-grade metamorphicsinterpreted as a strongly sheared crus-tal-mantle boundary developed along

a zone of extended continental crust(Zanchi et al., 2000).A comparison with the crustal

structure of western Tibet suggeststhat the South Pamir, Central Pamir

and Karakoram terranes are lateralequivalents of the Qiantang terraneand that the Rushan-Pshart is possi-bly correlative to the Shuanghusuture, whereas the Tanymas suture

Fig. 9 Folded Upper Permian limestones of the Kurteke Fm. rest below flat-lying Jurassic red sandstones and limestones atKurteke. Structural data refer to folds (S0: poles to bedding, F1: fold axis, Pa1: poles to fold axial plane S1: poles to axial-planecleavage) measured in the Upper Permian limestones and show N–S to NNW–SSE trending folds, which are peculiar of theCimmerian deformation. Location in Fig. 3.

Fig. 10 Spectacular panoramic view of the Cimmerian unconformity at the top of the BozTerek Valley. Structural data havebeen measured in the Gan Fm. directly below the unconformity. In the insets. Close view of the unconformity in the BozTerekValley, 4900 m a.s.l. Location in Fig. 3.

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is correlative to the Jinsha suture, asalready suggested (Schwab et al.,2004; Burtman, 2010; Robinson

et al., 2012). In this context, the SEPamir and Karakoram are equiva-lents to the southern Qiangtang

block (Liu et al., 2011). However,Kapp et al. (2003) and Pullen et al.(2008) showed that the HP rocks ofthe Shuanghu suture may have beenunderthrust from the Jinsha suturewithout defining a distinct suturezone; it is thus possible that the RPZis not continuous eastward, withCentral Pamir being an isolatedblock.We have also recognized the

occurrence of a lowermost JurassicCimmerian deformation event, whichcan be directly related to the Cimme-rian collision. Tectonic structuresaffecting the SE Pamir Permian-Triassic succession are typical of theexternal part of a fold and thrustbelt developed in front of a colli-

Fig. 11 Structural data from Kuristyk related to post-Cimmerian deformationalevents; location in Fig. 3; same symbols as in previous figures.

Fig. 12 Rifting, drifting, and final collision of the Cimmerian blocks to the Eurasian margin showing the origin and the devel-opment of the main sutures that cross Central Asia.

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sional orogen, with no significantmetamorphism. This type of defor-mation can be related to the begin-ning of the closure of the Rushanocean between South and CentralPamir, which was possibly coevalwith the emplacement of the Bash-gumbaz ophiolites (Fig. 3), believedto root in the suture zone.The closure of the Rushan ocean

was at least in part coeval with theclosure of the Palaeotethys, whichresulted in the collision of theCentral Pamir and North Pamir,representing at that time the Eur-asian margin (Schwab et al., 2004;Robinson et al., 2012) (Fig. 12). TheCimmerian deformation then propa-gated southward, as suggested by theslightly younger age of the terrige-nous Jurassic successions of the Ka-rakoram (Zanchi and Gaetani, 2011;Gaetani et al., 2013). Importantmetamorphism at the Triassic-Juras-sic boundary is described in the Balt-oro region, Karakoram (Searle et al.,1989; Searle and Tirrul, 1991) andEast Hindu Kush (Hildebrand et al.,2001). This was followed by subduc-tion-related magmatism (ShusharGranite, K-Ar age on muscovite:177 � 3.4 Ma; Gaetani et al., 1996),that may be linked to the closure ofthe TBZ. The latter is then sharplycut by the 121 Ma Tirich Mir granite(Heuberger et al., 2007).To conclude, the Karakoram and

SE Pamir terranes have a PalaeozoicGondwanan ancestry and were sub-sequently involved in the Cimmerianorogeny; this is the oldest Mesozoicdeformational event in the region,related to the formation of the Palae-otethys, Rushan-Pshart and TBZsutures, producing respectively theaccretion of the Central Pamir toNorth Pamir and of the South Pamirto Central Pamir in the earliestJurassic and finally of the Karak-oram to South Pamir slightly later.Any attempt to evaluate the

amount of crustal shortening due tothe progressive development of thePamirs belts should take into accountthe Cimmerian events, which playeda primary role in the first stages ofthe construction of the orogen.

Acknowledgements

This work was financed by the DARIUSPROGRAMME, Project CA11/01. V.

Minaev, E. Kanaev, A. Niyazov and J.Mamadjanov are thanked for introducingus to the Geology of the Pamirs and forpermissions. R. Brandner, M. Jolivet J.Peckmann and A. Robinson are warmlythanked for their insightful and detailedreviews.

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Received 18 October 2012; revised version

accepted 28 February 2013

Supporting Information

Additional Supporting Informationmay be found in the online versionof this article:Appendix S1. The Permian-Juras-

sic successions of SE Pamir.

360 © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Is South Pamir a Cimmerian block? • L. Angiolini et al. Terra Nova, Vol 25, No. 5, 352–360

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