Facies analysis, depositional environment and sequence stratigraphy of the Permian Ruteh Formation in north of Mahabad (NW Iran)

The Permian Ruteh Formation is known as one of the most significant successions in northwestern Iran. In the studied area it exposed a thick succession (201 m) of medium to thick-bedded carbonate sedimentary rocks in the west of Kuseh-Kahrizeh village in the north of Mahabad city. This formation unconformably overlain the Cambrian Mila Formation and it is unconformably underlain by the Oligo-Miocene Qom Formation The laboratory studies on the thin sections led to the identification of 15 microfacies that are arranged in three facies associations: inner ramp, mid-ramp and outer ramp. The petrographic results and facies analysis demonstrate that the depositional environment of Ruteh Formation in the studied area exhibits the characteristics of a homoclinal carbonate ramp platform of a gentle slope. This platform is mainly composed of supratidal, intertidal, lagoon, shoal, open marine, mid-ramp, and outer ramp environments. According to facies frequency analysis, the lagoon environment accounts for the highest abundance of facies (33%), whearas the outer ramp environment shows the least abundance (2%). Vertical distribution analysis of sedimentary facies led to the identification of transgressive and regressive depositional patterns. Accordingly, a total of 4 depositional sequences of third-order, 5 sequence boundaries and 4 maximum flooding surfaces were identified. The boundaries between all sequences are identified as SB1.