Structural styles and tectonic evolution of the Bandar Abbas area, southern Iran: A model based on geologic, satellite, and geophysical data

The structural styles in the Bandar Abbas area are dominantly controlled by two major tectonic features. The first is two sets of extension faults in the basement--an older NW-SE-trending set that is probably of late Precambrian age, and a younger, N-S-trending set perhaps of Permo-Triassic age. The first set is interpreted as incipient continental rifting which is not well-developed, but which has formed widespread zones of weakness throughout the Afro-Arabian continent and Iran. These zones are demarcated by discrete axial lineaments such as the Main Zagros Thrust (MZT), the proto-Red Sea trend, and the Najd Shear Zone of Arabia. The N-S basement faults were apparently fully developed rift basins, along one of which Iran separated from Arabia to form the Neo-Tethyan Ocean during Late Triassic-Early Jurassic time. The second major tectonic feature is a set of N-trending fracture zones (e.g. Oman Line and Kazerun fault), whose effects are manifest as dextral strike-slip faults within the Phanerozoic sedimentary rocks. The observed surface structural styles, such as whaleback folds, faults, salt diapirism, and scattered magmatic intrusions and outpourings, are regarded as the result of intermittent reactivation of basement structures.;Results from studies of these data, along with pertinent evidence from the literature, suggest that a major continental collision between Arabia and Iran may have occurred just after ophiolite obduction in Oman and Iran at ;Post-collisional deformation in southern Iran is dominated by strong right-lateral strike-slip faults coupled with high-angle thrusting. Surface features such as the NE-trending sinistral faults on Landsat imagery indicate clockwise rotation of the N-S-oriented basement faults, which still show sinistral strike-slip faults along their original trends within the sedimentary section. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.).