A sedimentological investigation of Miocene deposits at the periphery of the Zagros foreland basin, Kurdistan Region, NE Iraq, reveals a cyclical arrangement of carbonate-evaporite ramp facies. The study aims to provide rare insight into the lateral variability of microfacies and environments of such systems' inner ramp and shoreline. Between 10 and 40 depositional cycles are preserved, separated by a flooding surface, and recording an overall basinward progradation. In each cycle, a shallowing-upward trend from a lower-energy calcareous mudstone and mudstone-wackestone carbonate microfacies at the base to a higher-energy packstone-grainstone-rudstone or low-energy algal mat/stromatolitic carbonate microfacies above is evident. Evaporite deposits of supratidal sabkha origin cap each carbonate deposit. Red clastic sediments that advanced south-westward into the basin from the adjacent Zagros hinterland overlie each evaporite deposit. A flooding surface and return to calcareous mudstones mark the start of the next cycle. Outcrop and thin-section analysis of the carbonate deposits of each cycle reveals a shoaling-up to inner-ramp facies with varied environmental settings that developed under a range of hydrodynamic conditions. Microfacies analysis indicates that these environments included normal marine salinity open lagoons, hypersaline lagoons, restricted and shallow lagoons, sand shoals, intertidal and supratidal flats, supratidal ponds, and a coastal alluvial plain that included channelised deposits and palaeosols. The cyclical facies trend changes toward the top of the succession in that the relative rate of siliciclastic supply markedly increased, whereas the rate of carbonate and evaporite production decreased. Progradation and shoreline migration through time caused lateral and vertical facies changes and thickness variations over the succession. Repeated relative sea-level changes, associated changes in climate, and variations in sediment supply from the hinterlands during the collision of the Arabian and Iranian plates, combined with a variable rate of accommodation generation, are inferred to have controlled the preserved cyclicity.

对伊拉克东北部库尔德斯坦地区扎格罗斯前陆盆地外围中新世沉积物的沉积学调查揭示了碳酸盐蒸发岩斜坡相的周期性排列。该研究旨在提供对此类系统内部斜坡和海岸线微相和环境横向变化的罕见见解。保留了 10 到 40 个沉积循环，被洪水表面隔开，并记录了整个盆地的进积。在每个周期中，从较低能量的钙质开始逐渐变浅底部的泥岩和泥岩 - 瓦砾岩碳酸盐微相到上面的高能灰岩-粒纹石-粉砂岩或低能藻垫/叠层石碳酸盐微相是明显的。潮上的蒸发盐沉积物萨勃哈原点帽每个碳酸盐沉积物。从相邻的扎格罗斯腹地向西南方向进入盆地的红色碎屑沉积物覆盖在每个蒸发岩沉积物上。泛滥的表面和返回钙质泥岩标志着下一个周期的开始。对每个循环碳酸盐沉积物的露头和薄片分析揭示了在一系列水动力条件下形成的具有不同环境设置的内斜坡相的浅滩。微相分析表明这些环境包括正常的海洋盐度开放泻湖、高盐度泻湖、受限和浅水泻湖、沙洲、潮间带和潮上滩、潮上池塘和沿海冲积平原，其中包括沟状沉积物和古土壤。循环相趋势向层序顶部变化，硅质碎屑供给的相对速率显着增加，而碳酸盐和蒸发岩的生产速率下降。随着时间的推移，进积和海岸线迁移导致了沿序列的横向和垂直相变化和厚度变化。在阿拉伯和伊朗板块碰撞期间，反复的相对海平面变化、相关的气候变化以及来自腹地的沉积物供应的变化，加上可变的住宿产生率，被推断控制了保存的周期性。