Biostratigraphy and palaeoecology of marine microphytoplankton cysts from Member 4 of the Mila Formation, Mila Kuh, eastern Alborz

Abstract Well preserved and diverse organic-walled marine microphytoplankton cysts (acritarchs sensu lato) occur in Member 4 (comprising mostly of fine-grained clastics with thin carbonate intercalations) of the Mila Formation at the type section, southwestern Damghan. Based on the association of such index acritarch taxa as Timofeevia phosphoritica, Cristallinium cambriense, Ninadiacrodium dumontii, Vulcanisphaera africana, Ooidium rossicum, Cymatiogalea cuvillieri, Caldariola glabra, and Dasydiacrodium sp. in the material studied, an local biozone, namely Ooidium rossicum -Vulcanisphaera africana assemblage biozone dated as Late Cambrian (Furongian), and a barren interval are introduced in the upper and lower parts, respectively, of the rock unit investigated. Occurrence in the examined assemblages of such middle latitude acritarchs as Ninadiacrodium indicates that the Alborz Ranges was located in southern mid-latitudes (30º–60º) during the Late Cambrian. Retrieved marine microphytoplankton cysts from Member 4 of the Mila Formation is comparable with the Late Cambrian assemblages recorded from elsewhere, this allows for the pertinent assemblages to be associated with peri-Gondwanan palynofloras. Keywords: Biostratigraphy, Palaeoecology, Acritarchs, Late Cambrian, Mila Formation.   Introduction Biostratigraphic zonation of the Middle and Upper Cambrian strata is based mainly on trilobites, particularly planktonic agnostids and olenids. For example, in South China base of the Furongian Series is defined by Glyptagnostus reticulatus Zone (Peng et al. 2004). In the last decades, organic-walled microfossils (acritarchs) have been widely used for Palaeozoic stratigraphic subdivisions (Molyneux et al. 1996). The Acritarch group is defined as organic-walled microfossils of unknown biological affinities by Evitt (1963). They are a heterogeneous group of various microfossils and may include the remains of a wide range of different kinds of organisms, such as egg of small metazoans, spores of different algal classes, and resting cysts (Servais 1996). Recently, some of the acritarchs have been attributed to different groups of algae e.g. Prasinophytes or Chlorophytes (Colbath and Grenfell 1995). In the last decades, organic-walled microphytoplankton have been widely used for stratigraphic correlation both regionally and globally and their utility in dating Proterozoic and Palaeozoic marine sedimentary rocks is widely recognized (Playford 2003). Acritarchs feature a relatively rapid development of morphological innovations and a large number of new morphotypes appeared. Several palynological investigations have been undertaken on the Upper Cambrian strata across the world; e.g., Canada (Martin and Dean 1988; Palacios 2012), Russia (Raevskaya and Golubkova 2006), Germany (Montenari and Servais 2000), Iran (Ghavidel-Syooki 2006; Ghavidel-Syooki and Vecoli, 2008), North Africa (Vecoli 1999), England (Potter et al. 2012) and Spain (Albani et al. 2006). The Mila Formation is the first lithostratigraphic unit representing the Middle–Upper Cambrian strata in the Alborz Ranges and the other parts of Iran (Aghanabati 2004). Palaeontological and structural geological studies in the Alborz indicate that northern Iran, along with central Iran and Zagros located on the divergent margin of protopaleotethys and north of the Gondwana palaeocontinents. The Mila Formation at its type section measured 585 m (Stöcklin et al. 1964) and subdivided into five members: Member 1, dolostone–marl; Member 2, terrigenous – carbonate; Member 3 fossiliferous limestone; and mainly terrigenous members 4 and 5. According to palaeontological and stratigraphical studies the first 2 units attributed to the Middle Cambrian and members 3 and 4 to the Late Cambrian. The former Member 5 of this unit was later considered to be equivalent of the Lashkarak Formation (Early Ordovician). The Mila Formation at the its type section is underlain and overlain by the Lalun and Jeirud formations, respectively. The Mila Formation generally consists of dolostone, thin-bedded, crystalline, glauconitic limestone, marl, coloured shales and sandstones. Several palaeontological investigations have been conducted such as on trilobites (Kushan 1973; Peng et al. 1999), brachiopods (Popov et al. 2009, 2013), conodonts (Müller 1973; Fazli and Hamdi 2008; Jahangir et al. 2016) and palynomorphs (Ghavidel-Syooki 2006). Considering the stratigraphic significance of organic-walled marine microphytoplankton in the Lower Palaeozoic biostratigraphy, the aim of this study is to determine relative age and to derive palaeogeographic implications for the Member 4 at its type section.   Material & To retrieve palynological content of the Member 4 of Mila Formation at the type section, 21 surface samples collected from this rock unit. All samples prepared in palynological laboratories at Kharazmi University, Tehran and University of Lille, France using standard palynological processing procedures, encompassing initial treatment with HCl 10-50% and HF 40% for dissolution of carbonates and silicates, respectively. Then the residues saturated with ZnCl2 solution (2.0 gr/cm3) for mineral separation. All residues are sieved with 15 and 20 µm mesh and three slides of each sample are made.   Discussion of Results & Well-preserved and diverse palynomorphs occur in Member 4 of the Mila Formation at the Mila Kuh section. The assemblage contains 14 species assigned to 13 genera of acritarchs and one species of prasinophytes. Based on the occurrence and stratigraphic distribution of index acritarch taxa such as Timofeevia phosphoritica, Cristallinium cambriense, Ninadiacrodium dumontii, Vulcanisphaera africana, Ooidium rossicum, Cymatiogalea cuvillieri, Caldariola glabra, and Dasydiacrodium sp. one local assemblage biozone namely Ooidium rossicum-Vulcanisphaera africana assemblage biozone is introduced in 41 m of the Member 4 and assigned to the Late Cambrian (Furongian). Additionally, one barren interval zone at the base (45 m) of the rock unit is also identifiable. The biozone (Ooidium rossicum-Vulcanisphaera africana) introduced herein is comparable to microflora A2 (partial) – A6 of Martin and Dean (1981, 1988) and RA3–RA10 microflora of Parsons and Anderson (2000) as well as the upper part of VK2 to VK5 of Volkova (1990) at the East European Platform. Furthermore, it is equivalent with the Zone II to IV of Ghavidel-Syooki and Vecoli (2008) in the High Zagros Mountains, southern Iran. Occurrence of such mid-latitude taxa as Ninadiacrodium and comparison of the acritarch assemblages with those from elsewhere in the world indicates the peri-Gondawanan affinity; thus supporting a 30°-60°S palaeolatitude for the eastern Alborz in the Late Cambrian