Use of feldspar grains in provenance determination and the study of transportation and depositional history, examples from central and NW Iran

Feldspar grains, as a significant provenance indicator, of two terrigenous formations from Central Iran, the Upper Red Formation, and Moghan area, Zivah Formation, are used for provenance determination and the study of transportation and depositional history. The Upper Red Formation (URF) is volumetrically the most important siliciclastic unit of the Central Iran and Zivah Formation (ZF) represents the most important hydrocarbon reservoir in northwest Iran. Two representative sections of the URF in the southern foot hills of Central Alborz and three representative sections of the ZF in the northern foot hills of Talesh Mountains are investigated in this study. The sections represent best outcrops of the formations in their basin margin. Chemical composition, zoning and twining are the main characteristics of the feldspar grains used for this study. Results from facies analysis of the formations show that ~68% of the URF and ~73% of the ZF facies are suitable for this study, for having considerable amount of feldspar grains (>5% detrital feldspars).