Deposition of the Devonian Bahram Formation in the Central-East Iranian microcontinent

During the Middle-Late Devonian, the Bahram Formation was deposited in the northern margin of the Gondwana. The formation was mainly precipitated on a homoclinal carbonate ramp in central Iran and the Central-East Iranian Microcontinent (CEIM). Our studies on a mixed carbonate-clastic succession in the north of the Kerman area, south of the CEIM indicate that the Bahram Formation comprises two clastic and seven carbonate facies representing tidal flat, back-reef lagoon and coral-stromatoporoid marginal reef paleoenvironments. The identified facies and paleoenvironments point to development of a mixed carbonate-clastic shallow marine rimmed shelf during the Middle-Late Devonian. Generally, due to a shallow-trend and a gradual increase in inputs of clastic sediments from the continental environments along a direction from the northern parts of the CEIM towards its southern parts and the central Iran. Mixed carbonate-clastic shallow marine depositional systems of the Bahram Formation were developed. Reefal and biostromal shoals/barriers of the inner and middle ramps and/or shelves of the formation were also extended along the same shallowing-trend. This study introduces a rare sedimentary model for the Bahram Formation's depositional system in the northern Kerman area, contributing to broader investigations of Devonian mixed carbonate-clastic systems and paleoenvironmental dynamics on Gondwana's northern margin.