Late Maastrichtian Calcareous Nannofossil Biostratigraphy and Paleoecology of the Tamera Well, Siwa Area, Western Desert, Egypt — Oak Academic Publishing
Research ArticleOpen AccessGoogle Scholar indexed
Late Maastrichtian Calcareous Nannofossil Biostratigraphy and Paleoecology of the Tamera Well, Siwa Area, Western Desert, Egypt
Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Damanhour University, Damanhour, Egypt
1 Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Damanhour University, Damanhour, Egypt
The upper Cretaceous interval of the Khoman Formation in the Tamera well, Siwa area, Western Desert of Egypt was studied for the first time on the basis of calcareous nannofossils. Twenty - one nannofossil species were identified from this interval. The study interval includes the Micula murus Zone, which is precisely dated as Late Maastrichtian age. The Micula murus Zone includes besides the marker species: Micula decussata , Watznaueria barnesae , Ark hangelsktella cymbiformis and relatively rare occurrences of Eiffellithus turrisieffellii , Cribrosphaerella ehrenbergii , Thoracosphaera operculata and Braarudosphaera bigelowii . The latest Maastrichtian Micula prinsi Zone is missing, and an unconformity surface is detected in this well. The high abundance of Micula decussata is indicative of very low surface productivity and high-stress environmental conditions. Several nannofossil species are recognized as cool water indicators such as Micula decussata , and Arkhangelsktella cymbiformis .
R., Said, “The Geology of Egypt,” Elsevier, Amsterdam, New York, 1962, 377p.
R. Said, “The Geology of Egypt,” Egypt. G.P.C., Conoco and Rep. Exple., Balkema, Rotterdam, Brookfield, 1990, 734 pp.
P. R. Bown and J. R. Young, “Techniques,” In: P. R. Bown, Ed., Calcareous Nannofossil Biostratigraphy (British Micropaleontological Society Series), Chaman and Hall/ Kluwer Academic Publishers, London, 1998, pp. 16-28.
W. Sissingh, “Biostratigraphy of Cretaceous Calcareous Nannoplankton,” Geologie en Mijnbouw, Vol. 56, No. 1, 1977, pp. 37-65.
K. Perch-Nielsen, “Mesozoic Calcareous Nannofossils,” In: H. M. Bolli, J. B. Saunders and K. Perch-Nielsen, Eds., Plankton Stratigraphy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1985, pp. 329-426.
D. Bukry and M. N. Bramlette, “Coccolith Age Determinations,” Leg 3, Initial Report of DSDP 3, 1970, pp. 589-611.
K. Perch-Nielsen, “New Maastrichtian and Paleocene Calcareous Nannofossils from Africa, Denmark, the USA and the Atlantic and some Paleocene Lineages,” Eclogae Geologicae Helvetiae, Vol. 74, 1981, pp. 7-23.
P. Cepek and W. W. Hay, “Calcareous Nannoplankton and Biostratigraphic Subdivisions of the Upper Cretaceous,” Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions, Vol. 19, 1969, pp. 323-336.
A. J. T. Romein, “Lineages in the Early Paleogene Calcareous Nannoplankton,” State University of Utrecht, Utrecht, 1979, 231p.
F. H. Wind, “Maestrichtian-Campanian Nannofloral Provinces of the Southern Atlantic and Indian Oceans,” In: M. Talwani, W. W. Hay and W. B. F. Ryan, Eds., Deep Drilling Results in the Atlantic Ocean: Continental Margins and Paleoenvironment, American Geophysical Union (AGU), Washington DC, 1979, pp. 123-137.
P. H. Doeven, “Cretaceous Nannofossil Stratigraphy and Paleocology of the Canadian Atlantic Margin,” Geological Survey of Canada, Vancouver, 1983, 69p.
D. K. Watkins and J. M. Self-Trail, “Calcareous Nannofossil Evidence for the Existence of the Gulf Stream during the Late Maastrichtian,” Paleoceanography, Vol. 20, 2005, 9p. doi:10.1029/2004PA001121
H. R. Thierstein, “Late Cretaceous Nannoplankton and the Change at the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary,” In: J. E. Warme, R. G. Douglas and E. L. Winterer, Eds., The Deep Sea Drilling Project: A Decade of Progress, Special Publications of SEPM, The Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Tulsa, 1981, pp. 355-394.
S. Shafik, “Late Cretaceous Nannofossil Biostratigraphy and Biogeography of the Australian Western Margin,” Australian Government Publishing Service, 1990
A. S. Henriksson and B. A. Malmgren, “Biogeographic and Ecologic Patterns in Calcareous Nannoplankton in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans during the Terminal Cretaceous,” Studia Geologica Salmanticensia, Vol. 33, 1997, 17-40.
J. A. Lees, “Calcareous Nannofossils Biogeography Illustrates Palaeoclimate Change in the Late Cretaceous Indian Ocean,” Cretaceous Research, Vol. 23, No. 5, 2002, pp. 537-634. doi:10.1006/cres.2003.1021
Y. Eshet, S. Moshkovitz, D. Habib, C. Benjamini and M. Margaritz, “Calcareous Nannofossil and Dinoflagellate Stratigraphy across the Cretaceous/Tertiary Boundary at Hor Hahar, Israel,” Marine Micropaleontology, Vol. 18, No. 3, 1992, pp. 199-228. doi:10.1016/0377-8398(92)90013-A
A. A. A. M. Tantawy, “Calcareous Nannofossil Biostratigraphy and Palaeoecology of the Cretaceous-Tertiary Transition in the Central Eastern Desert of Egypt,” Marine Micropaleontology, Vol. 47, No. 3-4, 2003, pp. 323-356. doi:10.1016/S0377-8398(02)00135-4
T. Worsley and E. Martini, “Late Maastrichtian Nannoplankton Provinces,” Nature, Vol. 225, 1970, pp. 1242-1243. doi:10.1038/2251242b0
D. K. Watkins Jr., S. W. Wise, J. J. Pospichal and J. Crux, “Upper Cretaceous Calcareous Nannofossil Biostratigraphy and Paleoceanography of the Southern Ocean,” In: A. Moguilevsky and R. Whatley, Eds., Microfossils and Oceanic Environments, University of Wales-Aberstyweth Press, Aberystwyth, 1996, pp. 355-381.
P. H. Roth and K. R. Krumbach, “Middle Cretaceous Nannofossil Biogeography and Preservation in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans: Implications for Palaeoceanography,” Marine Micropaleontology, Vol. 10, No. 1-3, 1986, pp. 235-266. doi:10.1016/0377-8398(86)90031-9
E. Erba, F. Castradori, G. Guasti and M. Ripepe, “Calcareous Nannofossils and Milankovitch Cycles: The Example of the Gault Clay Formation (Southern England),” Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, Vol. 93, No. 1-2, 1992, pp. 47-69. doi:10.1016/0031-0182(92)90183-6
M. A. Lamolda, A. Gorostidi and R. C. Paul, “Quantitative Estimates of Calcareous Nannofossil Changes across the Plenus Marls (Latest Cenomanian), Dover, England: Implications for the Generation of the Cenomanian-Turonian Boundary Event,” Cretaceous Research, Vol. 15, 1992, pp. 143-164.
J. R. Williams and T. J. Bralower, “Nannofossil Assemblages, Finefraction Stable Isotopes, and the Paleoceanography of the Valanginian-Barremian (Early Cretaceous) North Sea Basin,” Paleoceanography, Vol. 10, No. 4, 1995, pp. 815-839. doi:10.1029/95PA00977
C. G. Fisher and W. W. Hay, “Calcareous Nannofossils as Indicators of Mid-Cretaceous Paleofertility along an Ocean Front, U.S. Western Interior,” In: E. Barrera and C. C. Johnson, Eds., Evolution of the Cretaceous Ocean-Climate System, Geological Society of America, Boulder, 1999, pp. 161-180.
M. E. Hill, “Selective Dissolution of Mid-Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Calcareous Nannofossils,” Micropaleontology, Vol. 21, No. 2, 1975, pp. 227-235. doi:10.2307/1485025
H. R. Thierstein, “Selective Dissolution of Late Cretaceous and Earliest Tertiary Calcareous Nannofossils: Experimental Evidence,” Cretaceous Research, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1980, pp. 165-176. doi:10.1016/0195-6671(80)90023-3
J. Mutterlose, “Das Verteilungs-und Migrationsmuster des Kalkigen Nannoplanktons in der Borealen Unterkreide (Valangin-Apt) NW-Deutschlands,” Palaeontographica, Vol. B221, 1991, pp. 27-152.
J. Mutterlose and K. Kessels, “Early Cretaceous Calcareous Nannofossils from High Latitudes: Implications for Palaeobiogeography and Palaeoclimate,” Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, Vol. 160, No. 3-4, 2000, pp. 347-372. doi:10.1016/S0031-0182(00)00082-1
M. Melinte and J. Mutterlose, “A Valanginian (Early Cretaceous) ‘Boreal Nannoplankton Excursion’ in Sections from Romania,” Marine Micropaleontology, Vol. 43, No. 1-2, 2001, pp. 1-25.
J. O. Herrle, J. Pross, O. Friedrich and C. Hemleben, “Short-Term Environmental Changes in the Cretaceous Tethyan Ocean: Micropalaeontological Evidence from the Early Albian Oceanic Anoxic Event 1b,” Terra Nova, Vol. 15, No. 1, 2003, pp. 14-19. doi:10.1046/j.1365-3121.2003.00448.x
J. O. Herrle, J. Pross, O. Friedrich, P. Kossler and C. Hemleben, “Forcing Mechanisms for Mid-Cretaceous Black Shale Formation: Evidence from the Upper Aptian and Lower Albian of the Vocontian Basin (SE France),” Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, Vol. 190, 2003, pp. 399-426. doi:10.1016/S0031-0182(02)00616-8
D. Bukry, “Coccolith and Silicoflagellate Stratigraphy, Tasman Sea and Southwestern Pacific Ocean, Deep Sea Drilling Project Leg 21,” Deep Sea Drilling Project Initial Reports, Vol. 21, 1973, pp. 885-893. doi:10.2973/dsdp.proc.21.127.1973
D. K. Watkins, “Upper Cretaceous Nannofossils from Leg 120, Kerguelen Plateau, Southern Ocean,” Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results, Vol. 120, 1992. pp. 343-370.
B. T. Huber and D. K. Watkins, “Biogeography of Campanian-Maastrichtian Calcareous Plankton in the Region of the Southern Ocean: Paleogeographic and Paleoclimatic Simplications,” In: J. P. Kennett and D. A. Warnke, Eds., The Antarctic Paleoenvironment: A Perspective on Global Change, American Geophysical Union (AGU), Washington DC, 1992, pp. 31-60.
M. Black and B. Barnes, “The Structure of Coccoliths from the English Chalk,” Geological Magazine, Vol. 96, No. 5, 1959, pp. 321-328. doi:10.1017/S0016756800062294
K. Perch-Nielsen, “Der Feinbau und die Klassifikation der Coccolithen aus dem Maastrichtien von Danemark,” K. Dan. Vidensk. Selsk. Biol. Skr., Vol. 16, No. 1, 1968, pp. 1-96.
G. Deflandre, “Sur les Nannofossiles Calcaire et leur Systematique,” Rev. Micropaleontol., Vol. 2, 1959, pp. 127-152.
V. N. Vekshina, “Coccolithophoridae of the Maastrichtian Deposits of the West Siberian Lowlands,” SNIIGGIMS, Vol. 2, 1959, pp. 56-77.
A. D. Arkhangelsky, “Upper Cretaceous Deposits of East European Russia,” Materialien zur Geologie Russlands, Vol. 25, 1912, pp. 1-631.
G. Deflandre and C. Fert, “Observation sur les Coccolithophorides Actuels et Fossils en Microscopie Ordinaire et Electronique,” Annales de Paleontologie, Vol. 40, 1954, pp. 115-176.
E. Martini, “Nannoplankton aus dem Tertiar und der Obersten Kreide von SW-Frankreich,” Senckenbergiana Lethaea, Vol. 42, 1961, pp. 1-32.
H. Stradner, “New Contributions to Mesozoic Stratigraphy by Means of Nannofossils,” Proceedings of the 6th World Petroleum Congress, Frankfurt am Main, 19-26 June 1963, pp. 1-16.
M. N. Bramlette and E. Martini, “The Great Change in Calcareous Nannoplankton Fossils between the Maastrichtien von Danemark,” K. Dan. Vidensk. Selsk. Biol. Skr., Vol. 16, No. 1, 1964, pp. 1-96.