The Sorbas Member is a late Messinian complex sedimentary system that formed immediately following deposition of the Messinian evaporites in the Sorbas Basin (South-east Spain). This work describes the sequence architecture and facies organization of a continuous kilometre long, alluvial fan to open platform transect near the village of Cariatiz in the north-east of the basin. The postevaporitic Cariatiz platform was a mixed carbonate-siliciclastic system composed of four intermediate-frequency, fifth-order depositional sequences (Depositional Sequences 1 to 4) arranged in an overall prograding trend. The intense fracturing and brecciation of these deposits is attributed to the deformation and dissolution of an evaporite body measuring several tens of metres in thickness. The four sequences display significant spatial-temporal variability in both architecture and facies distribution, with two main phases: (i) Depositional Sequences 1 and 2 are ooid and oobioclastic dominated, and show normal marine faunas; and (ii) Depositional Sequences 3 and 4 show a higher siliciclastic contribution and are microbialite dominated. These important changes are interpreted as modifications of the primary controlling factors. Following an initial 70 m drowning, possibly linked to increased oceanic input, Depositional Sequences 1 to 3 were controlled mainly by eustatic variations and inherited topography; their progradation destabilized the evaporite body near the end of the Depositional Sequence 2 period. During the second phase, Depositional Sequences 3 and 4 recorded a progressive restriction of the Sorbas Basin related to a 30 to 40 m fall in water level that was driven mainly by regional factors. These regional factors were dissolution and gravity-induced deformation of the evaporites and correlative evaporative fluid circulation associated with the contrasted arid/humid regional climate that, respectively, controlled sequence geometry and fluctuating water salinity which caused a microbialite bloom.

The Middle-to-Upper Permian in the Kuh-e Gakhum anticline (southeastern Iran) has rarely been studied due to its structural complexity and the diYcult access. Rich Permian fusulinid assemblages varying in age from Wordian to Changhsingian were found in a thick carbonate succession corresponding to the Dalan Formation. Three new species of foraminifers are described and a new biostratigraphic framework including Wve biozones is proposed. One of these, described and deWned for the Wrst time in the Dalan Formation, is based on the presence of Praedunbarula simplicissima n. gen. n. sp. When compared to the fossil content of existing bioprovinces, the Xoro-faunal biota of the Dalan Formation shows an aYnity with Central and Western Tethys. A mass extinction of fusulinids and small foraminifers (70%) occurred concomitantly with the onset of a relative sea-level fall. This event led to a change in the carbonate factories from biologically induced carbonate production to ooid-rich chemically induced precipitation. The morphology of the platform at the Guadalupian/ Lopingian transition evolves from a bioclastic ramp to a shelf. This transition is also characterized by a major sequence boundary and morphological anomalies in foraminifers. Therefore, as the regression and the changes in Xoro-faunal contents have been observed at the Guadalupian/Lopingian boundary, the extinction event is considered as end-Guadalupian. It is followed by a Lopingian transgression yielding renewed foraminiferal assemblages.