Morphological and systematic interpretation of some Late Cretaceous (Turonian-Santonian) irregular echinoids, Kopet-Dagh Basin, NE Iran

Taherpour Khalil Abad, M.

Morphological and systematic interpretation of some Late Cretaceous (Turonian-Santonian) irregular echinoids, Kopet-Dagh Basin, NE Iran

Document Type : Original Research Articles

Author

M. Taherpour Khalil Abad

Young Researchers Club and elites, Mashhad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Islamic Republic of ran

Abstract

Abderaz Formation is one of the Upper Cretaceous formations in the Kopet-Dagh sedimentary basin. A stratigraphic section from the mentioned formation is selected for detailed systematic description with regard to echinoids. Numerous well preserved representatives of the families Mircrasteridae wright, 1857 and Echinocorythidae Lambert, 1920 are described from the Ghaleh-Zoo stratigraphic section in the Kopet-Dagh sedimentary basin, northwest of Shirvan township (NE Iran). The age of the fossil assemblage is determined as Turonian-Santonian based on four echinoid species: Micraster (Micraster) coranguinum Leske, 1778, Micraster (Micraster) cortestudinarium (Goldfuss, 1829), Echinocorys gravesi (Agassiz & Desor, 1847) and Echinocorys ex gr. scutata Leske, 1778.

Keywords

Echinoids

Late Cretaceous

Kopet-Dagh

NE Iran