Content overview: “Geologists Uncover Evidence of Missing Late Cretaceous Magmatic Arc in Northwestern Iran”. An international research team led by Istanbul Technical University (ITU) has discovered evidence of a previously unknown Late Cretaceous continental magmatic arc in northwestern Iran. The finding, published in a peer-reviewed journal, fills a significant gap in the geological record of the region, which has been shaped by the closure of the Neotethys Ocean and the subsequent collision of the Arabian and Eurasian plates. The arc, which formed between roughly 100 and 66 million years ago, was identified through geochemical and geochronological analysis of volcanic and plutonic rocks in the Alborz–Azerbaijan magmatic belt.
These rocks show signatures typical of subduction-related magmatism, indicating an active continental margin that had been largely erased by later deformation and erosion. The discovery matters because it clarifies the tectonic evolution of the Arabia–Eurasia collision zone, a region of ongoing seismic hazard and economic mineral potential. For the complete material, the listing points back to the source inside the network.