Vol 24, No 3 (2016)

The Vendian (Ediacaran) beds of the Zavkhan Basin, in the upper part of the Tsagaanolom Formation (<632 ± 14 Ma), yielded a new “Zavkhan” association of algae, microfossils, and problematic organisms, which is established in the series of alternating chert-carbonate shale with phosphorite interbeds. This association is distinct in the predomination of large (250 μm and over) sphaeromorphic microfossils of the genera Tasmanites, Archaeooides, and Leiosphaeridia, whereas acanthomorph acritarchs are represented by rarely found Cavaspina sp. and Tanarium sp. Multicellular algae included fragments of encrusting or foliate thalli with pseudoparenchymatous structure of polygonal cells characteristic of Rhodophyta algae (Thallophycoides sp.), and cordlike thalli of Vendotaenid algae Tyrasotaenia podolica. These layers of siltstone contain imprints of the problematic Vendian macrofossil Beltanelliformis brunsae. In their stratigraphic position, chemostratigraphic data, and fossil assemblage, the “Zavkhan” association can be assigned to the Upper Vendian.

The Zagros Basin is one of the most universal oil and gas basins that is located in the west to south of Iran and in north of the Arabian Plate. The Guri Member at the bottom of the Mishan Formation, in some areas such as Bandar Abbas hinterland, contains a significant amount of gas. The Bandar Abbas hinterland is located in the southeast of Zagros. The Guri Limestone is the youngest hydrocarbon reservoirs of the Zagros Sedimentary Basin. In this study, a total of 178 samples from the Guri Limestone in the Handun section are investigated for foraminiferal biostratigraphy. The study of foraminifers led to a recognition of 43 genera and 57 species of benthic and planktonic foraminifera. For the first time, planktonic foraminiferal species including Praeorbulina glomerosa, Praeorbulina transitoria, Orbulina suturalis, and Orbulina universa are reported, and based on the identified benthic and planktonic foraminifera taxa, the age of the Guri Member at Handun section is estimated as late Burdigalian to Langhian.

The complex lithological, geochemical, geochronological, and micropaleontological (diatoms, spores, pollen) investigations of stratified bottom sediments that constitute facies-variable sedimentary sequences in a small isolated lake located near the upper limit of the sea on the White Sea coast made it possible to define lithostratigraphic units (LSU) forming the complete sedimentary succession in deep parts of isolated basins. It is shown that stratigraphy of heterogeneous sequences is determined by two regional transgressive–regressive cycles in relative sea level fluctuations: alternating late Glacial and Holocene transgressions and regressions. The lower part of a clastogenic clayey–sandy–silty sequence successively composed of freshwater (LSU 1) and brackish-water (LSU 2) sediments of the ice-marginal basins and marine postglacial facies (LSU 3) was formed during the late Glacial glacioeustatic marine transgression. Its upper part formed in different isolated basins at different stages of the Holocene is represented depending on its altimetric position on the coastal slope by costal marine sediments (LSU 4) and facies of the partly isolated inlet (LSU 5). The organogenic sapropelic sequence, which overlies sediments of the marine basin and partly isolated bay, corresponds to lithostratigraphic units represented by Holocene sediments accumulated in the meromictic lake (LSU 6), onshore freshwater basin (LSU 7), and freshwater basin with elevated water mineralization (LSU 8) deposited during maximum development of Holocene transgression and lacustrine sediments (LSU 9) formed in coastal environments during terminal phases of the Holocene. The defined lithostratigraphic units differ from each other in lithological, micropaleontological, and geochemical features reflected in structural and textural properties of their sediments, their composition, inclusions, and composition of paleophytocoenoses and diatom assemblages.