The Maikop series are composed of a thick succession of black shales, and are considered the most important source rock for hydrocarbons in the Caspian basin. The type section of this formation is located near the city of Maykop in Russia, north of the Greater Caucasus. Corresponding anoxic sediments can be traced in a vast area from Austria to China. Deposition of these sediments is linked to anoxic conditions that prevailed since the birth of the Paratethys and are related to decreased basin circulation. Due to the lack of (micro) organisms or ash layers, the onset of Maikop deposition has not been dated accurately so far. The Maikop is presently assumed to be of Oligocene to Miocene age. Precise dating of the start of Maikop sedimentation could aid in understanding the role of tectonics and climate change on the onset of anoxia in the Paratethys basin, as both have affected the region during the Paleogene. The Arabia-Eurasia collision has caused uplift, which could have caused a restriction in interaction with the Tethys Sea further south. Alternatively, basin restriction might have been caused by a major glacio-eustatic regression, associated with the transition from greenhouse to icehouse climate around the Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT).

Furthermore, in the Talysh Mountains in Azerbaijan, Eocene volcanic rocks are present underneath the anoxic sediments. During my MSc research, these volcanics were also sampled. Geochemical analyses have given rise to more questions about the tectonic setting in which these volcanics were deposited.

This research requires a comparison with the Eocene volcanics of the Urumieh-Dokhtar Magmatic belt in Iran, where we will hopefully soon be able to go for extensive sampling. 

Annique is supervised by Wout Krijgsman and Cor Langereis.

• Van der Boon, A., van Hinsbergen, D.J.J., Rezaeian, M., Gürer, D., Honarmand, M., Pastor-Galán, D., Krijgsman, W. and Langereis, C.G. (2018). Quantifying Arabia-Eurasia convergence accommodated in the Greater Caucasus, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 482, 454-468. 

• Cotton, L.J., Zakrevskaya, E.Y., Van der Boon, A., Asatryan, G., Hayrapetyan, F., Israyelyan, A., Krijgsman, W., Less, .G., Monechi, S., Papazzoni, .A., Pearson, P.N., Razumovskiy, A., Renema, W., Shcherbinina, E. and Wade, B.S. (2017). Integrated stratigraphy of the Priabonian (upper Eocene) Urtsadzor section, Armenia, Newsletters on Stratigraphy, 50, 269-295. 
• Van der Boon, A., Kuiper, K.K., Villa, G., Renema, W., Meijers, M.J.M., Langereis, C.G., Aliyeva, E. and Krijgsman W. (2017). Onset of Maikop sedimentation and cessation of Eocene arc-volcanism in the Talysh (Azerbaijan), In: Sosson, M., Stephenson, R.A., Adamia, Sh. (Eds), Tectonic Evolution of the Eastern Black Sea and Caucasus, Geological Society London, Special Publications, 428, 145-169.   
• van der Boon, A. (2017). From Peri-Tethys to Paratethys, Basin restricton and anoxia in central Eurasia linked to volcanic belts in Iran.  Utrecht Studies in Earth Sciences, Volume 142.    

• Hüsing, S.K., Beniest, A., van der Boon, A., Abels, H.A., Deenen, M.H.L., Ruhl, M., Krijgsman, W. (2014). Astronomically-calibrated magnetostratigraphy of the Lower Jurassic marine successions at St. Audrie's Bay and East Quantoxhead (Hettangian-Sinemurian; Somerset, UK), Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 403, 43-56.  

• Annique van der Boon (Escher Prize 2012). Afsluiting van de Paratethys aan het begin van het Oligoceen: tektoniek of klimaat ? Geo.brief 38(5), August 2013