ooid

Facies analysis allowed the definition of eight facies from proximal to distal settings, with different proportion of skeletal and non-skeletal components (ooids, peloids, intraclasts and oncoids).

This ooid grainstone microfacies corresponds to Wilson's (1975) Standard Microfacies Types (SMF) 15, which is equivalent of RMF 29 (Flugel,2004).

This lithofacies contains several types of ooids: i) subrounded ooids, ii) oblate spheroidal ooids, iii) compound ooids, iv) broken ooids, v) deformed ooids, and vi) calcareous lumps.

Allochems are represented by ooids (62 Percent) and bioclasts (22 Percent).

They appear as small mounds up to 0.5 m thick and 1.2 m wide, growing interbedded with ooid and bioclast grainstone, with high siliciclastic input.

Iron ooid limestones predominated in the central and SE areas of the platform.

This facies forms the first division of carbonate turbidites in the Cutri Formation, which is transitional with graded peloidal ooid packstones forming the rest of the Lowe sequence.

Found mostly in shallow tropical seas like the in Bahamas, the ooids are a rare occurrence in the coastal waters of the Arabian Gulf.

The second interesting insight Raman spectroscopy provides is that the fluorescence of the sample varies within the ooids and between regions of the cement, and allows multiple phases of ooid growth and cementation to be identified, which is depicted in Figure 3d,e.

- Massive buff-colored Limestone having ooid and intraclast

The rock contains ellipsoidal ooid grains that are fully dolomitized to two distinct crystallite phases: a thin isopachous layer (rims of the elliptical ooids) and the inner core.

Rugose corals colonized the hard substrate at the top of the ooid shoal.