Abstract
The Fahliyan Formation is an important reservoir unit of Cretaceous strata in the south of Iran (Zagros Mountains). This formation with the age of Lower Cretaceous overlies unconformably the Hith Formation and is conformably covered by the Gadvan Formation in the studied area. To evaluate the original carbonate mineralogy, paleotemperature, and diagenetic environment in Kuh-e Siah anticline in Boushehr Province, the Fahliyan Formation was investigated by petrographic and geochemical analyses. Petrographic studies led to the recognition of 25 microfacies that were deposited in four facies belts: tidal flat, lagoon, and shoal in inner ramp and shallow open marine in mid-ramp environment. Of these microfacies, twenty-one belong to inner ramp and four are located in the mid ramp. Calcareous algae and benthic foraminifera are abundant in the shallow-marine carbonates of the Fahliyan Formation. Evidences such as absence of calciturbidite deposits and reefal facies, the occurrence of widespread tidal flat deposits, gradual facies changes, and abundant micrites indicate that the Fahliyan Formation was deposited in a homoclinal carbonate ramp environment. Abundant aragonite skeletal and non-skeletal components and presence of dolomites in Fahliyan carbonates indicate original aragonite mineralogy. Radial ooids generated in low-energy environments similar to modern aragonitic forms. Deformed and spalled ooids as well as shattered micritic envelopes indicate aragonite dissolution during meteoric diagenesis. Isopachous and fibrous sparry calcite cements resemble modern aragonite morphologies. Micritization, geopetal fabric, bioturbation, neomorphism, compaction, cementation, dissolution, dolomitization, dedolomitization, and fracturing are diagenetic processes in the Fahliyan Formation, occurring in marine to meteoric and burial diagenetic environments. Cementation, dissolution, and dolomitization are the main diagenetic processes that affected the original texture. Values of major (Ca and Mg) and minor (Sr, Na, Fe and Mn) elements (such as high Sr value) and δ18O and δ13C designate that the Fahliyan carbonates were deposited in a shallow warm-water sub-tropical environment and aragonite was the original carbonate mineralogy. Variations of Sr/Ca and δ18O values versus Mn suggest that diagenetic alteration must have occurred in an open diagenetic system, with high water–rock interaction. Dolomitization, dissolution and cementation are the main diagenetic features observed in the Fahliyan Formation of Kuh-e Siah and confirm high water–rock interaction in open diagenetic system. Dissolution as leaching is the most important diagenetic event in the evolution of porosity, particularly where green algae and other benthic foraminifera are abundant. This may indicate that the original carbonate mineralogy of the mentioned bioclasts might be aragonite, rather than low-Mg calcite. Temperature calculation based on the oxygen isotope value of the least-altered sample, using Anderson and Arthur (Stable isotopes in sedimentary geology, vol 10. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists. Short Course, pp 1–151, 1983) equation, indicates paleotemperature to be around 29.1 °C.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adabi MH (1996) Sedimentology and geochemistry of Upper Jurassic (Iran) and Precambrian (Tasmania) carbonates. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Tasmania, Australia 407 p
Adabi MH (2004) A re-evaluation of aragonite versus calcite seas. Carbonates Evaporites 19:133–141
Adabi MH (2009) Multistage dolomitization of Upper Jurassic Mozduran Formation, Kopet-Dagh Basin, NE Iran. Carbonates Evaporites 24:16–32
Adabi MH, Asadi Mehmandosti E (2008) Microfacies and geochemistry of the Ilam Formation in the Tang-E Rashid area, Izeh, SW Iran. J Asian Earth Sci 33:267–277
Adabi MH, Rao CP (1991) Petrographic and geochemical evidence for original aragonitic mineralogy of Upper Jurassic carbonates (Mozduran Formation), Sarakhs area Iran. Sediment Geol 72:253–267
Adabi MH, Salehi MA, Ghabeishavi A (2010) Depositional environment, sequence stratigraphy and geochemistry of Lower Cretaceous carbonates (Fahliyan Formation), south-west Iran. J Asian Earth Sci 39:148–160
Al-Aasm IS, Veizer J (1986) Diagenetic stabilization of aragonite and low-Mg calcite, I. Trace element in rudists. J Sediment Petrol 56:138–152
Alavi M (2007) Structures of the Zagros fold-thrust belt in Iran. Am J Sci 307:1064–1095
Anderson TF, Arthur MA (1983) Stable isotopes of oxygen and carbon and their application to sedimentologic and paleoenvironmental problems. In: Arthur MA, Anderson TF, Kaplan IR, Veizer J, Land LS (eds) Stable isotopes in sedimentary geology, vol 10. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists. Short Course, pp 1–151
Asadi Mehmandosti E, Adabi MH (2013) Application of geochemical data as evidence of water–rock interaction in the Sarvak formation, Izeh Zone, Zagros Iran. Proced Earth Planet Sci 7:31–35
Aubourg C, Smith B, Bakhtari H, Guya N, Eshragi A, Lallemant S, Molinaro M, Braud X, Delaunay S (2004) Post-Miocene shortening pictured by magnetic fabric across the Zagros-Makran syntaxis (Iran). Geol Soc Am 383:17–40
Bachmann M, Hirsch F (2006) Lower Cretaceous carbonate platform of the eastern Levant (Galilee and the Golan Heights): stratigraphy and second-order sea-level change. Cretac Res 27:487–512
Bahroudi A, Koyi HA (2003) Effect of spatial distribution of Hormuz salt on deformation style in the Zagros fold and thrust belt: an analogue modelling approach. J Geol Society Lond 160:719–733. doi:10.1144/0016-764902-135
Barron EJ (1983) A warm equable Cretaceous: the nature of the problem. Earth Sci Rev 19:305–338
Bathurst RGC (1975) Carbonate Sediments and their Diagenesis: developments in sedimentology, 12th edn. Elsevier, Amsterdam, p 658
Bodzioch A (2003) Calcite pseudomorphs after evaporates from the Muschelkalk (Middle Triassic) of the Holy Cross Mountains (Poland). Geologos 7:169–180
Booler J, Tucker ME (2002) Distribution and geometry of facies and early diagenesis: the key to accommodation space variation and sequence stratigraphy: upper Cretaceous Congost carbonate platform, Spanish Pyrenees. Sed Geol 146:225–247
Bordenave ML (2003) Gas prospective areas in the Zagros domain of Iran and in the gulf Iranian waters, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Annual Meeting, Houston, Texas, 10–12 Mar 2002
Brand U, Veizer J (1980a) Chemical diagenesis of a multicomponent carbonate system—I: trace elements. J Sediment Petrol 50:1219–1236
Brand U, Veizer J (1980b) Chemical diagenesis of multicomponent carbonate system—II: stable isotopes. J Sediment Petrol 51:987–997
Bucur I, Săsăran E (2005) Relationship between algae and environment: an Early Cretaceous case study, Trascau Mountains, Romania. Facies 51:274–286
Costa E, Vendeville BC (2002) Experimental insights on the geometry and kinematics of fold-and-thrust belts above weak, viscous evaporitic décollement. J Struct Geol 24:1729–1739
Elrick M, Read JF (1991) Cyclic ramp-to-basin carbonate deposits, Lower Mississippian, Wyoming and Montana: a combined field and computer modelling study. J Sediment Petrol 61:1194–1224
Flügel E (2004) Microfacies of carbonate rocks: analysis. Interpretation and Application, Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, p 976
Gaines A (1980) Dolomitization kinetics; recent experimental studies; In: Zenger DH, Dunham JB and Ethington RL (eds) Concepts and models of dolomitization. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, vol 28, Special Publication, pp 139–161
Given RK, Wilkinson BH (1985) Kinetic control of morphology, composition and mineralogy of abiotic sedimentary carbonates. J Sediment Petrol 55:109–119
Gregg JM, Shelton KL (1990) Dolomitization and dolomite neomorphism in the back reef facies of the Bonneterre and Davies formations (Cambrian), southeastern Missouri. J Sediment Petrol 60:549–562
Gregg JM, Sibley DF (1984) Epigenetic dolomitization and the origion of xenotopic dolomite texture. J Sediment Petrol 54:908–931
Grocke DR, Price GD, Rufell AH, Mutterlose J, Baraboshkin E (2003) Isotopic evidence for Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous climate change. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 202:97–118
Hallock P (1997) Reefs and reef limestones in earth history. In: Brikeland C (ed) Life and death of coral reefs. Chapman and Hall, New York, pp 13–42
Hardie LA (1996) Secular variation in seawater chemistry: an explanation for the coupled secular variation in the mineralogies of marine limestones and potash evaporites over the past 600 my. Geology 24:279–283
Husinec A, Sokač B (2006) Early Cretaceous benthic associations (foraminifera and calcareous algae) of a shallow tropical-water platform environment (Mljet Island, southern Croatia). Cretac Res 27:418–441
Jackson MPA, Cornelius RR, Craig CH, Gansser A, Stöcklin J, Talbot CJ (1990) Salt diapirs of the Great Kavir. Geological Society of America, Memoir, Central Iran, p 177
Jamalian M, Adabi MH, Moussavi MR, Sadeghi A, Baghbani D, Ariyafar B (2011) Facies characteristic and paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the Fahliyan Formation, Lower Cretaceous, in the Kuh-e Siah area, Zagros Basin, southern Iran. Facies 57:101–122. doi:10.1007/s10347-010-0231-3
James NP, Clarke J (1997) Cool-water carbonates. Society of Economic Paleontology and Mineralogy, vol 56, Special Publication 440 p
Kelth LM, Weber JN (1964) Carbon and oxygen isotopic composition of limestones and fossils. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 28:1787–1816
Kent PE (1979) The emergent Hormuz salt plugs of southern Iran. J Pet Geol 2:117–144
Khatibi Mehr M, Adabi MH (2013) Microfacies and geochemical evidence for original aragonite mineralogy of a foraminifera-dominated carbonate ramp system in the Paleocene to Middle Eocene. Carbonates Evaporates, Albora basin, Iran. doi:10.1007/s13146-013-0163-4
Kyser TK, James NP, Bone Y (2002) Shallow burial dolomitization and dedolomitization of Cenozoic cool-water limestones, southern Australia: geochemistry and origin. J Sediment Res 72:146–157
Land LS, Hoops GK (1973) Sodium in carbonate sediments and rocks: a possible index to the salinity of diagenetic solutions. J Sediment Petrol 43:614–617
Lees A (1975) Possible influence of salinity and temperature on modern shelf carbonate sedimentation. Mar Geol 19:159–198
Lucia FJ (1999) Carbonate reservoir Characterization. Springer, Berlin, p 226
Mackenzie FT, Morse JW (1992) Sedimentary carbonates through Phanerozoic time. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 56:3281–3295
Mackenzie FT, Pigott JD (1981) Tectonic controls of Phanerozoic rock cycling. J Geol Soc 138:183–196
Marfil R, Caja MA, Tsige M, Al-Asam IS, Martin-Crespo T, Salas R (2005) Carbonate-cemented stylolites and fractures in the Upper Jurassic limestone of the Eastern Iberian range, Spain: a recorder of palaeofluids composition and thermal history. Sediment Geol 178:237–257
Mazzullo SJ (1992) Geochemical and neomorphic alteration of dolomite: a review. Carbonates Evaporites 7:21–37
Milliman JD (1974) Marine carbonates recent sedimentary carbonates, part 1. Speringer-Verlag, Berlin, p 375
Moore CH (1989) Carbonate diagenesis and porosity. Developments in Sedimentology, Amsterdam, vol 46, Elsevier, 338 p
Morrison JO, Brand U (1986) Geochemistry of Recent marine invertebrates. Geosci Can 13:237–254
Morse JW, Mackenzie FT (1990) Geochemistry of sedimentary carbonates. Development in Sedimentology, vol 48, Amsterdam (Elsevier), 707 p
Mosadegh H, Parvaneh Nejad Shirazi M (2009) Algal biozonation of Fahliyan Formation (Neocomian) in the Zagros basin. European Geoscience Union, General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, Iran
Nelson CS (1988) An introductory perspective on non-tropical shelf carbonates. Sed Geol 60:3–12
Palma RM, Lopez-Gomez J, Piethe RD (2007) Oxfordian ramp system (La Manga Formation) in the Bardas Blancas area (Mendoza Province) Neuquen Basin, Argentina: facies and depositional sequences. Sed Geol 195:113–134
Parvaneh Nejad Shirazi M (2008) Calcareous Algae from the Cretaceous of Zagros Mountains (SW Iran). World Appl Sci J 4:803–807
Purser BH (1973) The Persian Gulf Holocene carbonates sedimentation and diagenesis in a shallow epicontinental Sea. Springer-Verlag, New York, p 471
Rao CP (1990) Petrography, trace elements and oxygen and carbon isotopes of Gordon Group carbonate (Ordovician), Florentine Valley, Tasmania, Australia. Sed Geol 66:83–97
Rao CP (1991) Geochemical differences between sub-tropical (Ordovician), temperate (Recent and Pleistocene) and subpolar (Permian) carbonates, Tasmania, Australia. Carbonates Evaporites 6:83–106
Rao CP (1996) Modern carbonates, tropical, temperate. Polar, Introduction to Sedimentology and Geochemistry, Hobart (Tasmania), p 206
Rao CP, Adabi MH (1992) Carbonate minerals, major and minor elements and oxygen and carbon isotopes and their variation with water depth in cool, temperate carbonates, western Tasmania, Australia. Marine Geol 103:249–272
Rao CP, Amini ZZ (1995) Faunal relationship to grain-size, mineralogy and geochemistry in recent temperate shelf carbonates, western Tasmania, Australia. Carbonates Evaporites 10:114–123
Rao CP, Jayawardane MPJ (1994) Major minerals, elemental and isotopic composition in modern temperate shelf carbonates, eastern Tasmania, Australia: implications for the occurrence of extensive ancient non-tropical carbonates. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 107:49–63
Rao CP, Nelson CS (1992) Oxygen and carbon isotope fields for temperate shelf carbonates from Tasmania and New Zealand. Mar Geol 103:273–286
Reolid M, Gaillard C, Lathuilière B (2007) Microfacies, microtaphonomic traits and foraminiferal assemblages from Upper Jurassic oolitic–coral limestones: stratigraphic fluctuations in a shallowing-upward sequence (French Jura, Middle Oxfordian). Facies 53:553–574
Riding R (1991) Calcareous algae and stromatolites. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, p 571
Robinson P (1980) Determination of calcium, magnesium, manganese, strontium and iron in the carbonate fraction of limestones and dolomites. Chem Geol 28:135–146
Salehi MA, Adabi MH, Ghalavand H, Ghobishavi A (2007) Reconstruction of the sedimentary environment and the petrographic and geochemical evidence for the original aragonite mineralogy of Lower Cretaceous carbonates (Fahliyan Formation) in the Zagros sedimentary basin, Iran: 13th Bathurst Meeting of Carbonate Sedimentologists, UK (Poster)
Sandberg PA (1985) Aragonite cements and their occurrence in ancient limestones. In: Schneidermann N, Harris PM (eds) Carbonate cements. Society of Economic Paleontology and Mineralogy, vol 36, Special Publication, pp 33–57
Scholle PA, Ulmer-Scholle DS (2006) A Color Guide to the Petrography of Carbonate Rocks: Grains, Textures, Porosity, Diagenesis. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, Memoir, vol 77, USA, 459 p
Sherkati S, Molinaro M, Frizon De Lamotte D, Letouzey J (2005) Detachment folding in the Central and Eastern Zagros fold-belt (Iran): salt mobility, multiple detachments and late basement control. J Struct Geol 27:1680–1696
Sibley DF (1982) The origin of common dolomite fabrics: clues from the Pliocene. J Sediment Petrol 52:1087–1100
Sibley DF, Gregg JM (1987) Classification of dolomite rock texture. J Sediment Petrol 57:967–975
Sibley DF, Dedoes RE, Bartlett TR (1987) Kinetics of dolomitization. Geology 15:1112–1114
Stanly MS, Hardie LA (1998) Secular oscillations in the carbonate mineralogy of reef-building and sediment- producing organisms driven by tectonically forced shifts in seawater chemistry. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 144:3–19
Tucker ME, Wright VP (1990) Carbonate sedimentology. Publication, Blackwell Scientific, p 482
Tucker ME, Calvet F, Hunt D (1993) Sequence stratigraphy of carbonate ramps: systems tracts, models and application to the Muschelkalk carbonate platform of eastern Spain. In: Posamentier HW, Summerhayes CP, Haq BU, Allen GP (eds) Sequence Stratigraphy and Facies Associations. International Association of Sedimentology, vol 18, Special Publication, pp 397–415
Van Buchem FSP, Razin P, Homewood PW, Oterdoom WH, Philip J (2002) Stratigraphic organization of carbonate ramps and organic rich intrashelf basins: Natih Formation (middle Cretaceous) of northern Oman. Am Assoc Pet Geol Bull 86:21–53
Veizer J (1983) Trace elements and isotopes in sedimentary carbonates. Rev Mineral 11:265–300
Veizer J, Ala D, Azmy K, Bruckschen P et al (1999) 87Sr/86Sr, & #x03B4;l3C and & #x03B4;l8O evolution of Phanerozoic seawater. Chem Geol 161:59–88
Weijermars R, Jackson JA, Vendeville B (1993) Rheological and tectonic modeling of salt provinces. Tectonophysics 217:143–174
Westphal H, Munneck A (2003) Limestone- marl alternations: a warm-water phenomenon? Geology 31:263–266
Wilkinson BH, Owen RM, Carroll AR (1985) Submarine hydrothermal weathering, global eustasy, and carbonate polymorphism in Phanerozoic marine oolites. J Sediment Petrol 55:171–183
Wilson JL (1975) Carbonate facies in geologic history. Springer-Verlag, New York, p 471
Winefield PR, Nelson CS, Hodder APW (1996) Discriminating temperate carbonates and their diagenetic environments using bulk elemental geochemistry: a reconnaissance study based on New Zealand Cenozoic limestones. Carbonates Evaporites 11:19–31
Wray JL (1977) Calcareous algae. Elsevier, Amsterdam, p 185
Wright VP (1986) Facies sequences on a carbonate ramp: the carboniferous limestone of South Wales. Sedimentology 33:221–241
Acknowledgments
This paper is part of a Ph.D. thesis by M.J. at Shahid Beheshti University. This study was supported by the University of Shahid Beheshti and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC-Exp). The authors wish to thank the School of Earth Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Iran, for elemental analysis, the Central Science Lab, University of Tasmania, Australia for isotope analysis. The authors are also thankful to Dr. Ali Ghabeishavi and Mr. Mohsen Goodarzi for their fieldwork assistance in Zagros Mountains and their informative discussions.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jamalian, M., Adabi, M.H. Geochemistry, microfacies and diagenetic evidences for original aragonite mineralogy and open diagenetic system of Lower Cretaceous carbonates Fahliyan Formation (Kuh-e Siah area, Zagros Basin, South Iran). Carbonates Evaporites 30, 77–98 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13146-014-0211-8
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13146-014-0211-8