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.
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