The Tehran Plain is a landscape formation in Iran delimited by the adjacent
Alborz Mountain range. It is a site of prehistoric archaeological and geoscientific interest. Numerous faults and deformed
quaternary units in the Tehran plain prove it is a region of ancient tectonic activity.
Geology
The Tehran Plain is a landscape formation in Iran. It consists of
Neogene and
Quaternary sediments.
[Angela Landgraf, Lucilla Benedetti, Regis Braucher, Didier Bourles et al]
Pleistocene deformation and landscape evolution in the Tehran plain: results from tectonic geomorphology and TCN-dating.
Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 12, EGU2010-11196, 2010 EGU General Assembly, 2010
The North Tehran Fault thrust up
Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...
rocks of the
Alborz Mountain range.
Geomorphologically three different zones can be described:
[
In the western part, the plain has been deformed by thrusting, as can be seen by a segmented and internally deformed ]anticline
In structural geology, an anticline is a type of fold that is an arch-like shape and has its oldest beds at its core, whereas a syncline is the inverse of an anticline. A typical anticline is convex up in which the hinge or crest is the ...
and old and diverted channels on both sides. This process has been dated at possibly after 25,000 years.
In the central part of the plain, which lies below the megacity
A megacity is a very large city, typically with a population of more than 10 million people. Precise definitions vary: the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in its 2018 "World Urbanization Prospects" report counted urban ...
of Tehran
Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...
, thrusting and left-lateral strike-slip faulting has caused several uplifted fluvial terrace
Fluvial terraces are elongated terraces that flank the sides of floodplains and fluvial valleys all over the world. They consist of a relatively level strip of land, called a "tread", separated from either an adjacent floodplain, other fluvial t ...
s, reminiscent of a transpressional structure of uncertain age, possibly ~195,000 years, i.e. Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...
.
In the Eastern part, ramp-structures are ~195,000y-old, of middle Pleistocene
The Chibanian, widely known by its previous designation of Middle Pleistocene, is an age in the international geologic timescale or a stage in chronostratigraphy, being a division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. Th ...
[
]
Archaeology
A channel for artificial water management on the Tehran Plain dating from the Late Neolithic
In the archaeology of Southwest Asia, the Late Neolithic, also known as the Ceramic Neolithic or Pottery Neolithic, is the final part of the Neolithic period, following on from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic and preceding the Chalcolithic. It is some ...
was described in 2009, suggesting that farmers at Tepe Pardis in Iran irrigated crops in the 6th millennium. This corresponds to findings from Choga Mami in Iraq.
Stone tool finds on the Tehran Plain from the late Neolithic through to Early Chalcolithic
The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and ''líthos'', "stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin '' aeneus'' "of copper"), is an archaeological period characterized by regular ...
show that stone blade production was organised around craft specialists and also part-time blade producers within the household economy and the craft collapsed with increasing use of bronze.White Revolution
The White Revolution ( fa, انقلاب سفید ''Enqelāb-e Sefid'') or the Shah and People Revolution ( fa, انقلاب شاه و مردم ''Enqelāb-e Shāh o Mardom'') was a far-reaching series of reforms resulting in aggressive moderniz ...
.
Landlord villages were enclosed by a mud brick wall and four bastions. The landlord-owner had a large house while his tenant farmers, who tended irrigated land outside the village had smaller houses. The structure enforced inequality, poverty and the power of the landlord.
Water
Groundwater sampling in southern parts of Tehran plain in 2012 found more than half of the samples unsuitable for drinking and agricultural use because of high levels of salinity.
References
{{coord missing, Tehran Province
Landforms of Tehran Province
Iranian Plateau
Archaeological sites in Iran