The Problem of the Origin and the Age of the South Caspian Basin and Its Possible Solutions

摘要

A debatable issue of the time and mode of formation of the deep South Caspian Basin is discussed. The geological data on its framework lead to the conclusion that the basin could not have originated earlier than in the Jurassic and later than in the late Eocene. This happened, most probably, in the late Eocene-early Oli-gocene as a result of backarc spreading conjugated with the Elburz volcanic arc in northern Iran. As an alternative, it is suggested that an integrated basin was formed in the Oligocene by merging two relict E-W-oriented Jurassic basins: the northern Greater Caucasus-Kopet Dagh, and the southern Lower Kura. Subsequently, largely in the late Miocene, additional N-S-oriented subsidence that conjugated with the Transcaucasus uplift was driven by northward drift of the Arabian microplate.