Stratigraphy of the Paleogene Tethyan Carbonate Banks and the Diachronous Arabian Plate Convergence

Abstract

The shoaling sequence of the Zagros foreland basin of NE Arabia is punctuated by linear bank-ramp carbonate bodies developed over inverted intra-basinal highs. These carbonate facies are dominated by coralgal-foraminiferal associations that have been assigned to the Paleocene –Eocene age. These banks display similarities in microfacies and benthic community types with a different chronostratigraphic evolution. These carbonate bodies are shaped over a series of an intra-basinal highs arranged in a NW–SE trend parallel to the Zagros trend, and have evolved in response to the compressional tectonic and basin inversion history. The timing of the development of these banks and their facies associations reveal a diachronous basin inversion, which is consistent with the oblique convergence of the Arabian platform.