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Fars Formation
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Fars Fm base reconstruction

Fars Fm

Period: 
Neogene

Age Interval: 
Langhian-Tortonian, Iq2, Sr1, Kw1, UAE1


Province: 
Iraq, Syria, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates

Type Locality and Naming

Column: Central Iraq, Syria, United Arab Emirates

Depending upon local facies, it is often separated into a Lower Fars Fm of predominately evaporite, and an Upper Fars Fm of predominantly clayey sandstone

Synonym: Upper Fars Fm = Injana Fm, Injana Mbr (Upper Fars); Lower Fars = also spelled as Fat'ha Fm, Fatha Mbr (Lower Fars)


Lithology and Thickness

Lower Fars Fm = Comprises from bottom to top: a) Transition beds normally comprising beds of anhydrite, mudstone and thin limestones, b) salty beds comprising anhydrite and halite with beds of siltstone, mudstone, and less frequent limestone beds, c) Seepage Beds comprising anhydrites with beds of siltstone, mudstone and limestone, d) Upper Red Beds comprises red mudstones, siltstones and relatively frequent beds of limestone and anhydrite.

Upper Fars Fm = Comprises fine-grained pre-molasse sediments deposited initially in the coastal area, and later in a fluviolacustrine system. In the subsidiary type section, the basal unit comprises thin bedded calcareous sandstone, and red and green mudstones with one thin gypsum bed, and a purple siltstone horizon with glass shards. Interfingers with Dibdibba Fm in Central Iraq. Thickness is very variable due to subsequent erosion over major folds. A maximum thickness of 900m was measured in Kirkuk


Lithology Pattern: 
Gypsiferous claystone


Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

Regionally, the schematic strat column indicates the next older unit as Jeribe Fm (Iraq, Syria) or Ghar Fm (Kuwait). The United Arab Emirates has a hiatus between it and the underlying Pabdah Fm.

Upper contact

Regionally, the schematic strat columns indicate the next younger unit as Dibdibba Fm (Iraq, Kuwait) or the Bakhtiari Fm (Syria, United Arab Emirates)

Regional extent


GeoJSON

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Fossils


Age 

Langhian – lower Tortonian (Upper Fars is lower Tortonian)

Age Span: 

    Beginning stage: 
Langhian

    Fraction up in beginning stage: 
0.3

    Beginning date (Ma): 
15.34

    Ending stage: 
Tortonian

    Fraction up in the ending stage: 
0.4

    Ending date (Ma):  
9.88

Depositional setting


Depositional pattern:  


Additional Information


Compiler:  

From S. Z. Jassim and J. C. Goff, Geology of Iraq, 2006. Fig. 14-2: "Stratigraphic correlation of formations of Megasequence AP11 (Excluding the Quaternary).