Abstract The Lower Carboniferous Mobarak Formation in the Alborz Basin (northern Iran) was deposited along the northeastern margin of Gondwana in a carbonate ramp setting. This paper focuses on the Tournaisian stratigraphic interval of this formation that crops out at the Jaban section in the southwestern Central Alborz Basin. The following facies associations, representing different ramp palaeoenvironments, have been identified: (1) mudstone–wackestone outer-ramp facies; (2) crinoidal to skeletal grainstone–packstone mid-ramp facies; (3) peloidal to crinoidal grainstone–packstone inner-ramp facies; and (4) coastal facies, which include a variety of microbial laminated to oncoidal grainstones and mudstones with evaporitic pseudomorphs. This ramp profile was affected by frequent storms that were responsible for the formation of several skeletal to non-skeletal shoals in the distal mid-ramp to the most proximal inner-ramp areas. The development of the skeletal to non-skeletal shoals along the sea side of the ramp formed a semi-enclosed lagoon sensitive to the influence of both high tides and storm surges. The magnetic susceptibility (χ in ) of all the samples was measured and compared with that of the facies from which the sample was taken. There is a clear link between χ in and the facies; the average χ in values were higher for the distal facies than for the proximal facies. The χ in profile of this Lower Carboniferous carbonate sequence reflects stratigraphic variations in response to relative changes in sea level and the input of detrital materials. In the context of the sequence stratigraphic framework, the average χ in values for lowstand and transgressive systems tract deposits are higher than for the highstand systems tract deposits. The clear link between χ in and facies indicates at least a partly preserved primary χ in signal related to the detrital inputs. However, to obtain a better understanding of the nature and origin of the minerals carrying the χ in , we performed hysteresis measurements on selected samples. It appears that the χ in signal is mainly carried by low-coercivity ferromagnetic minerals such as magnetite, with a mixture of relatively coarse grains (detrital fraction) and ultra-fine grains (probably formed during diagenesis).

Abstract Limestones at the Puech de la Suque Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) of the Givetian–Frasnian boundary show a drastic change towards much higher magnetic susceptibility values in the Givetian rocks. Different rock magnetic parameters indicate that ferromagnetic minerals are the main controlling factor. The ferromagnetic fraction is composed of low- (magnetite-type) and high-coercivity (hematite and goethite) phases. Confirmed by the spectral reflectance, high coercivity minerals are fluctuating along the section with a higher abundance in the basal Frasnian. These phases may be of secondary origin and produced during burial stage. The magnetite-type phase contains two different grain-size populations. The identified that Stable Single-domain/Superparamagnetic (SSD/SP) particles are of diagenetic origin and their amount decreases slightly upwards. A second group of magnetite grains correspond to coarse-grained particles identified using the squareness v. coercive force plot. It is tentatively suggested here that these particles present throughout the section are of primary origin. On the contrary, the paramagnetic minerals underwent a clear diagenetic overprinting and may represent secondary minerals. The presence of a primary ferromagnetic carrier allowed the use of spectral analyses, leading to the detection of spectral peaks at 1.25 and 4 cycles/m, which can be interpreted as the result of 405-kyr and 100-kyr eccentricity forcing, respectively.