University of Southampton OCS (beta), AASP Southampton 2011

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PALYNOLOGY OF THE EOCENE-OLIGOCENE DABAA FORMATION, QATTARA DEPRESSION, NORTH WESTERN DESERT, EGYPT
Salah Y. El Beialy, Martin J. Head, Haytham S. El Atfy, Essam M. El Khoriby

Last modified: 2011-08-16

Abstract


The palynological investigations of 30 surface samples collected from a series of stratigraphic sections have been constructed for a number of sites in the Qattara Depression, north Western Desert, Egypt. Only 6 samples have yielded a very well preserved and diverse assemblage of palynomorphs including pollen and spores, dinoflagellate cysts, acritarchs and other miscellaneous palynomorphs including fungal palynomorphs and colonial algae .

The productive samples are not dated before, but our palynological investigations revealed Late Eocene- Late Oligocene age (Chattian), for the Dabaa Formation. This allows for the first time a major revision and new interpretation of the lithostratigraphy of this area. Our biostratigraphic conclusions are based on the local, regional and global correlations of our recorded assemblages with other published dinocyst and spore-pollen distribution patterns from different Eocene/Oligocene stratigraphic sites all over the world.


Keywords


Palynology