Tectono-Stratigraphic Evolution of the Zagros Fold-Thrust Belt in Kurdistan, Northern Iraq

Summary This study investigates the tectono-stratigraphyres of the Zagros fold-thrust belt in the Duhok region, Kurdistan, Northern Iraq, and is based on field studies, remote sensing-GIS analyses, cross-section restorations, and tectonic analysis of key structures. The Duhok fold belt is a frontal zone of the north-western part of the Zagros fold and thrust belt in Kurdistan near the north-eastern margin of the Arabian Plate. It is characterized by WNW-ESE striking, doubly-plunging, upright symmetric to asymmetric detachment folds that involve ∼ 8.2–10.9 km of Paleozoic to Quaternary strata. Five regional and twelve local structural cross-sections were constructed parallel to the regional SSW tectonic transport and perpendicular to the fold axial trends. Two main detachment levels have been inferred for the Duhok fold belt. A deep basal detachment was placed at the base of the Paleozoic successions. Shallower, intermediate detachment levels occur within the shales and evaporites of the Mid-Upper Permian and Upper Jurassic strata. The thickness of the Paleozoic succession in the Duhok fold belt is around 2 km. Deformation by thin-skinned detachment folding together with thick-skinned thrusting is inferred to have occurred in the Duhok region from the Mid Miocene through to the Present-Day.