miospores – based palynostratigraphy of the hojedk formation, eshkeli, north of kerman

reasonably diverse and fairly preserved palynoflora, dominated by land-derived palynomorphs (miospores) in association with minor marine entities, such as dinoflagellate cysts, foraminiferal test linings, and acritarchs, occur in surface samples of the hojedk formation, at the eshkeli stratigraphic section, north of kerman. spores with radiosymmetrical symmetry (trilete spores), bisaccate and monosaccate pollen, in descending order, are abundant in the assemblages; twenty-six species of spores (assigned to 18 genera) and eight species of pollen (distributed among 7 genera) are recovered. klukisporites zone and klukisporites variegatus subzone are identified based on the notable abundance of the ubiquitous index species in the assemblages and dated as late bajocian-early bathonian. co-occurrence of miospores with known vertical ranges, viz., klukisporites variegatus, osmundacidites senectus, concavissimisporites verrucosus, striatella spp. suggests a middle jurassic age (late bajocian-early bathonian) for the host strata thus corroborating with the available plant megafossil data.