Palaeoesedimentary environment, sequence stratigraphy and geochemistry of the Taleh Zang Formation in Ritt Anticline, southeastern Lorestan Basin

The carbonate deposits of the Taleh Zang Formation are exposed extensively in the southeastern to northern Lorestan zone, SW Iran. The thickness of the shallow water carbonate Taleh Zang Formation in Ritt Anticline is 84.5 meters. It overlies on top of the turbidity Amiran Formation and it is overlain by the clastic-dominated Kashkan Formation. Petrographic examinations revealed seven facies deposited in tidal flat, lagoon, shoal and open marine. Detailed analysis of sedimentary facies indicates that in the Late Paleocene interval, the depositional system of the Taleh Zangi Formation was a ramp carbonate platform. Changes in the depositional facies and cycle stacking patterns indicate one transgressive-regressive sea-level cycle from the bottom to the top of the section, which is equivalent to the last eustatic sea level rise in the Late Paleocene (Thanetian).  This depositional sequence is separated by type 2 and 1 sequence boundaries at its lower and upper boundaries, respectively. Elemental geochemical evidence indicates a closed to weakly open digenetic system, with low water-rock interaction for carbonates of the Taleh Zang Formation. The relatively open digenesis system in this formation could be due to the influence of meteoric fluids in the erosional discontinuity at the border between the two formations, the Taleh Zang and Kashkan formations.