Impact of Arabian Plate Lithospheric Dynamics on the Cenozoic Evolution of the NW Zagros Foreland Basin

Summary This study investigates the uplift and subsidence history of the northeastern Arabian Plate, with an emphasis on the Arabia–Eurasia suture zone and the Zagros foreland basin. Using thermochronology, isopach mapping, geophysical datasets, and basin‑analysis techniques, this research explores how slab breakoff has shaped the modern NW Zagros orogenic belt. The Zagros foreland basin in the Kurdistan region of Iraq preserves ∼3–4 km of synorogenic strata, implying subsidence beyond what tectonic loading alone can account for. Thermochronometric data from suture‑zone intrusions record two rapid cooling pulses (∼35–25 Ma and ∼15–5 Ma) corresponding to the initial Arabia–Eurasia collision and later Neotethys oceanic slab tearing. Isopach maps reveal a Miocene shift in basin depocenter, with uplift in the northwest and concurrent subsidence in the southeast, coinciding with the arrival of the Afar plume beneath the suture. This study proposes two stages of basin evolution: early Miocene subsidence from surface tectonic loading, and middle to late Miocene subsidence driven by horizontal slab tearing. This conclusion illuminates the coupled interplay between deep‑Earth processes and surface deformation at convergent margins.