Biostratigraphy of Calcareous Nannofossils of Abtalkh Formation in the Eastern Kopet-Dagh Basin, Jalilabad (Southwest of Kalat) and Abtalkh Village (East of Mashhad) Stratigraphic Sections

The Kopet-Dagh basin is located in the northeast of Iran, in the triangle border of Iran, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan and consists of the marine Jurassic to Neogene strata. The Abtalkh Formation is one of the thickest lithostratigraphic upper Cretaceous units in the eastern Kopet-Dagh basin and is composed of light gray, green to bluish marl and silty marl. The Abtalkh Formation conformably overlies the Abderaz Formation, which contains marls and chalky limestones and is conformably overlain by the Nayzar Formation, which consists of sandstone, silty marl and limestone. The Abtalkh Formation contains very aboundant, rich and good to moderately preserved calcareous nannofossil assemblages of Tethyan realm. The total 220 samples in the jalilabad and 467 samples in the Abtalkh Village stratigraphic sections, representing the oldest and youngest strata of upper Abderaz, Abtalkh and base of Nayzar successions, were collected. The thickness of Abtalkh Formation in the Jalilabad stratigraphic section is 1325.8m and for the Abtalkh Village stratigraphic section is 1765m. One hundred sixteen nannoplanktonic species belonging to forty three genera and fifteen families were identified. The biostratigraphic study allowed the recognition of the calcareous nannofossil biozones of Sissingh (1977) emended by Perch-Nielsen (1985) and Burnett 1998). From bottom to top, part of CC19, CC20, CC21, CC22, part of CC23a biozones and UC14dTP, UC15bTP, UC15cTP, UC15dTP subzones and UC16 biozone were identified in the Jalilabad section. The Abtalkh Village section in the middle of eastern Kopet-Dagh basin is started with CC20 (UC15bTP) biozone and continued to CC23a (UC16) biozone. Nearly more than 30 calcareous nannofossil species were reported for the first time in Iran. The results of this study indicated that the age of Abtalkh Formation spans from early to uppermost Late Campanian for these two sections in the Kopet-Dagh basin.