Articles | Volume 24, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/fr-24-101-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/fr-24-101-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Extensive vertebrate tracksite from the Upper Red Formation (middle–late Miocene), west Zanjan, northwestern Iran
Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, University of Zanjan,
Zanjan, 45371-38791, Iran
Masoumeh Khoshyar
Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, University of Zanjan,
Zanjan, 45371-38791, Iran
Spencer G. Lucas
New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, 1801 Mountain Road
N.W., Albuquerque, NM 87104-1375, USA
Farid Esmaeili
Department of Surveying Engineering, Faculty of Technology and
Engineering, Zanjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Zanjan, 45156-58145, Iran
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Short summary
The Chehrabad area, NW Iran, is known as the historical site of Saltmen mine dated to the Achaemenid and Sassanid eras. We, however, discovered animal footprints in NW Chehrabad (ca. 3 km NW of the Saltmen mine) on a very large slab. These footprints belong to the Miocene age and include canid, felid and bird tracks as old as 10.7 Ma. The canid footprint record establishes the late Miocene presence of canids on the Iranian Plateau as part of the Eurasia-wide “Eucyon event”.
The Chehrabad area, NW Iran, is known as the historical site of Saltmen mine dated to the...