INTRODUCTION AND PREVIOUS WORK

Permian strata are widely distributed in the Kalmard area in East-Central Iran. The Permian sediments were first reported by Aghanabati (1977) who recognized the uniqueness of this sequence and proposed the name "Khan Formation" for it. Aghanabati (1977) divided the formation into three members (A, B, and C), corresponding to Early, Middle and Late Permian, respectively. These members were correlated with the Dorud, Ruteh and Nessen Formations of the Alborz area in North Iran. In all, six stratigraphic sections have been studied including Abdollaho, Bakhshi, Gachal, Rahdar, Halvan and Madbeiki. The following foraminifers were reported there: Member A - Schwagerina sp., Pseudofusulina sp., Brevaxina sp. and Staffella sp. Member B - fusulininaceans (sensu lato) without certain taxonomy and smaller foraminifers Geinitzina sp., Globivalvulina sp., Gl. biserialis, Cribrogenerina sp., Lunucammina sp. and Pachyphloia sp. Member C - smaller foraminifers Padangia sp., Lunucammina sp., L. perberata, Agathammina sp., Hemigordius sp. and Glomospira sp. (Aghanabati 1977).

Triticites primaries isfarensis (Bensh 1972) and Pseudofusulina alpine antique (Schellwien 1898), attributed to the Late Carboniferous, were reported in the Kalmard region although without specific locations of the samples (Kahler 1977). The analyses of figures provided in this publication suggest that these fossils belong to the new genus Perigondwania.

In recent years, the biostratigraphic study of Member A of the Khan Formation by Haftlang (1998) and Gorgij (2002) showed that this member belongs to the Mississippian and includes no evidence of Permian fossils.

The current study is a part of the project "Permian stratigraphy and geochemistry in East-Central Iran" and has been carried out by the junior author for the last six years (Arefifard 2006). Four stratigraphic sections were carefully measured and sampled for paleontologic, geochemical and sequence stratigraphic analyses. The goals of this contribution are 1) to summarize the stratigraphy of the Khan Formation, 2) offer thorough taxonomic studies and analyses of fusulinids that are found in the Khan Formation and 3) provide biostratigraphic dating of Permian deposits based on fusulinids.