Editing Paleogene (section)

==== Zagros Mountains ====
The [[Zagros Mountains|Zagros mountain]] belt stretches for c. 2000 km from the eastern border of [[Iraq]] to the [[Makran]] coast in southern [[Iran]]. It formed as a result of the convergence and collision of the [[Arabian plate|Arabian]] and Eurasian plates as the Neotethys Ocean closed and is composed sediments scrapped from the descending Arabian Plate.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last1=Koshnaw |first1=Renas I. |last2=Schlunegger |first2=Fritz |last3=Stockli |first3=Daniel F. |date=2021-11-03 |title=Detrital zircon provenance record of the Zagros mountain building from the Neotethys obduction to the Arabia–Eurasia collision, NW Zagros fold–thrust belt, Kurdistan region of Iraq |url=https://se.copernicus.org/articles/12/2479/2021/#section6 |journal=Solid Earth |language=English |volume=12 |issue=11 |pages=2479–2501 |doi=10.5194/se-12-2479-2021 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2021SolE...12.2479K |issn=1869-9510 |access-date=2024-08-19 |archive-date=2024-08-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240819143651/https://se.copernicus.org/articles/12/2479/2021/#section6 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |last1=Fu |first1=Xiaofei |last2=Feng |first2=Zhiqiang |last3=Zhang |first3=Faqiang |last4=Zhang |first4=Zhongmin |last5=Guo |first5=Jinrui |last6=Cao |first6=Zhe |last7=Kor |first7=Ting |last8=Cheng |first8=Ming |last9=Yan |first9=Jianzhao |last10=Zhou |first10=Yu |date=2024-03-01 |title=Wilson cycles of the Zagros fold and thrust belt: A comprehensive review |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1367912023004546 |journal=Journal of Asian Earth Sciences |volume=262 |pages=105993 |doi=10.1016/j.jseaes.2023.105993 |bibcode=2024JAESc.26205993F |issn=1367-9120}}</ref>

From the Late Cretaceous, a [[volcanic arc]] developed on the Eurasia margin as the Neotethys crust was subducted beneath it. A separate intra-oceanic subduction zone in the Neotethys resulted in the [[Obduction|obuction]] of ocean crust onto the Arabian margin in the Late Cretaceous to Paleocene, with break-off of the subducted oceanic plate close to the Arabian margin occurring during the Eocene.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" /> Continental collision began during the Eocene c. 35 Ma and continued into the Oligocene to c. 26 Ma.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" />