The Shah Kuh Formation, a latest Barremian - Early Aptian carbonate platform of Central Iran (Khur area, Yazd Block)

Wilmsen M, Fürsich F, Majidifard MR (2013)


Publication Language: English

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2013

Journal

Book Volume: 39

Pages Range: 183-194

DOI: 10.1016/j.cretres.2012.02.013

Abstract

The Shah Kuh Formation of the Khur area (Central Iran) consists of predominantly micritic, thick-bedded shallow-water carbonates, which are rich in orbitolinid foraminifera and rudists. It represents a late(est) Barremian – Early Aptian carbonate platform and overlies Upper Jurassic – Barremian continental and marginal marine sediments (Chah Palang and Noqreh formations); it is overlain by basinal deposits of the Upper Aptian – Upper Albian Bazyab Formation. The lithofacies changes at both, the base and top of the Shah Kuh Formation are gradational, showing that the formation is part of an overall transgressive sedimentary megacycle, and that the formational boundaries are potentially diachronous on larger distances. Analyses of facies and stratal geometries suggest that the Shah Kuh carbonate system started as a narrow, high-energy shelf that developed into a large-scale, flat-topped rudist platform without marginal rim or steep slope. The Shah Kuh Platform is part of a large depositional system of epeiric shallow-water carbonates that characterized large parts of present-day Iran during Late Barremian – Aptian times (“Orbitolina limestones” of NW and Central Iran, the Alborz and the Koppeh Dagh). Their biofacies is very similar to contemporaneous deposits from the western Tethys and eastern Arabia, and they form an important, hitherto poorly known component of the Tethyan warm-water carbonate platform belt.

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How to cite

APA:

Wilmsen, M., Fürsich, F., & Majidifard, M.R. (2013). The Shah Kuh Formation, a latest Barremian - Early Aptian carbonate platform of Central Iran (Khur area, Yazd Block). Cretaceous Research, 39, 183-194. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2012.02.013

MLA:

Wilmsen, Markus, Franz Fürsich, and Mahmoud Reza Majidifard. "The Shah Kuh Formation, a latest Barremian - Early Aptian carbonate platform of Central Iran (Khur area, Yazd Block)." Cretaceous Research 39 (2013): 183-194.

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