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Facies architecture, depositional environments, and sequence stratigraphy of the Middle Cambrian Fasham and Deh-Sufiyan Formations in the central Alborz, Iran

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Abstract

Based on their lithologic characteristics and stratal geometries, the Middle Cambrian Fasham and Deh-Sufiyan Formations of the lower Mila Group in the Central Alborz, northern Iran, exhibit 39 lithofacies representing several supratidal to deep subtidal facies belts. The siliciclastic successions of the Fasham Formation are divided into two facies associations, suggesting deposition in a tide-dominated, open-mouthed estuarine setting. The mixed, predominantly carbonate successions of the Deh-Sufiyan Formation are grouped into ten facies associations. Four depositional zones are recognized on the Deh-Sufiyan ramp: basinal, outer ramp (deep subtidal associations), mid ramp (shallow subtidal to lower intertidal associations), and inner ramp (shoal and upper intertidal to supratidal associations). These facies associations are arranged in small-scale sedimentary cycles, i.e., peritidal, shallow subtidal, and deep subtidal cycles. These cycles reflect spatial differences in the reaction of the depositional system to small-scale relative sea-level changes. Small-scale cycles are stacked into medium-scale cycles that in turn are building blocks of large-scale cycles. Systematic changes in stacking pattern (cycle thickness, cycle type, and facies proportion) allow to reconstruct long-term changes in sea-level. Six large-scale cycles (S1–S6) have been identified and are interpreted as depositional sequences showing retrogradational (transgressive systems tract) and progradational (highstand systems tract) packages of facies associations. The six depositional sequences provide the basis for inter-regional sequence stratigraphic correlations and have been controlled by eustatic sea-level changes.

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Acknowledgments

Financial support and field expenses, provided to Aram Bayet-Goll by the Geology Department, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, are gratefully acknowledged. The contribution of Gerd Geyer has been supported by research grant GE 549/21-1 of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). We thank the journal reviewers O. Elicki (Freiberg) and E. Landing (Albany, NY) as well as journal editor M. Tucker for helpful comments on the manuscript, and Hamed Mohamadian, Hasan Khazaiee, and Yaghub Nasiri for their assistance during field work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

    Aram Bayet-Goll, Asadollah Mahboubi & Reza Moussavi-Harami

  2. Lehrstuhl für Geodynamík und Geomaterialforschung, Bayerische Julius-Maximilians-Universität, Am Hubland, 97074, Würzburg, Germany

    Gerd Geyer

  3. Museum für Mineralogie und Geologie, Sektion Paläozoologie, Senckenberg Naturhistorische Sammlungen Dresden, Königsbrücker Landstr. 159, 01109, Dresden, Germany

    Markus Wilmsen

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  1. Aram Bayet-Goll
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Correspondence to Aram Bayet-Goll.

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Bayet-Goll, A., Geyer, G., Wilmsen, M. et al. Facies architecture, depositional environments, and sequence stratigraphy of the Middle Cambrian Fasham and Deh-Sufiyan Formations in the central Alborz, Iran. Facies 60, 815–841 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10347-014-0401-9

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