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Belaya River Section of Maikop deposits is the closest to the Maikop town, typical for Western and Central Ciscaucasus, well outcropped and studied and should be considered as a type section for the Maikop Group. Here it is possible to observe a continuous transition from the underlying light marls of Belaya Glina Formation to the dark clays of Pshekha Formation at the base of the Maikop succession. Pshekha Fm is characterized by nannoplankton NP21 and NP22 zones, dinocysts Phthanoperidinium amoenum (D13) and Wetzeliella symmetrica zones, mollusk association with Pterolucina batalpashinica at the bottom and rich fish fauna. The succession shows a normal polarity chron C13n for the base of the Pshekha and revers polarity C12r above. Marl of Polbian Bed with brackish Lower Solenovian mollusks, ostracod association with Disopontocipris oligocaenica, nannoplankton of NP23 Zone and dinocysts of Wetzeliella gohtii Zone lies above with erosion contact. Overlying Lower Morozkina Balka Subformation contains from non-calcareous clays and concludes the remains of fish and dinocysts of Wetzeliella gohtii Zone. The Upper Morozkina Balka Subformation contains calcareous sublayers with nannoplankton NP23 Zone in lower part and NP24 one above, dinocysts Chiropteridium partispinatum Zone, Rhombodinium draco Subzone. Polarity pattern we interpret to correspond to C10n, C9r and C9n. Batalpashinsk Formation corresponds to the time of maximum hydrogen sulfide contamination of the Late Oligocene basin and is dated by nannoplankton NP25 Zone, and dinocysts Chiropteridium patrispinatum Zone with Rhombodinium draco Subzone in lower part and Deflandrea spinulosa (non typica) Subzone in the middle and upper parts. Septarian+Zelenchuk Fm is composed of clays with septarian concretions, and interbedded sands with the same dinocysts and foraminifera with Spiroplectammina aff. terekensis. Calcareous interlayers in the top of the formation conclude nannoplankton of NP25-NN1 Zone. Karadzhalga Formation is composed mainly “fish lithofacies” and includes dinocysts zone Labyrinthodinium truncatum (Lower Miocene) in basal part.

The present-day notions of the Paleogene history, paleogeography, and paleobiogeography of Central Asia middle latitudes are based on studies carried by A.L. Yanshin in the second quarter of the 20th century. Here, main phases in the geologic history of the West Siberian and Turan Plates and Turgai depression are considered. In the Paleocene and Eocene, these regions were key links of a continuous meridional marine communication system connecting the Tethys and Arctic Oceans. Before the emergence of the latitudinal Alpine–Himalayan orogenic belt, the Tethys and its marginal seas formed a united shelf area. The closest linkage of the water bodies and biota exchange between them existed in the Thanetian and in the first half of the Ypresian. There was intense heat transfer from tropical to higher latitudes through the entire system of epeiric seas and straits. From the end of the Paleocene, this system was supplemented and complicated by latitudinal straits that ensured the connection of the seas of the Northern Peri-Tethys with the Northern Sea basin and the Atlantic. The combination of two sea systems determined the climatic history of this region from the Paleocene till the Late Eocene. The Arctic Basin influenced mainly the structure of cold-water benthos, and the Tethys, the composition of planktonic biota in the photic zone. During the Bartonian and Priabonian, in the last phase of marine sedimentation, the West Siberian epeiric sea was completely isolated from the Arctic Basin and connected only with the Turan sea through the Turgai strait. The Azolla beds accumulated during the low stand of the World Ocean in desalted surface waters and in disoxic bottom waters inhabited by depauperated benthos. At the Eocene/Oligocene boundary, the drainage of the Tavda–Chegan sea was followed by the formation of an N-S-directed river network in the vast areas of West Siberia, Turgai, and the northern cis-Aral region. The climate was unstable, moderately warm to subtropical, with variable humidity. The formation of the Turgai ecotype of mesophytic conifer-broadleaved flora was completed by the end of the Early Oligocene.