Palynological and palaeoenvironmental analyses of the upper Albian-Cenomanian succession in Gindi Basin, Egypt: Implication for transgressive/regressive systems tracts

Geochemistry and palynology of the upper Albian at the Abu Gharadig Basin, southern Tethys: Constraints on the oceanic anoxic event 1d

“…The high proportions of opaque woody particles over brown phytoclasts (Figure , Appendix S2), supports the proposition of overall deltaic/marginal marine to proximal inner neritic environments, usually coarser sandy‐beaches (Tyson, ). Similar investigations of the Kharita Formation depositional environment were carried out in the El‐Sagha 1A well from the Gindi Basin (Mansour & Tahoun, ), located to the east of the Abu Gharadig Basin, and indicated deposition in deltaic‐marginal to shallow marine inner neritic environment.…”

“…densimurus started at 2,446 m and ranged down to 2,610 m, which is typical for the upper Albian. The above marker species has been previously reported from the North Western Desert of Egypt through the late Albian of the Tiba‐1 well (Mahmoud & Moawad, ), the late Albian to early Cenomanian palynozones of Ibrahim () and Zobaa, El Beialy, El‐Sheikh, and El Beshtawy (), the late Albian Interval Zone of the El‐Sagha 1A well (Mansour & Tahoun, ). The most significant marker palynomorphs taxa and palynofacies associations and their distributions are shown in Figures and .…”

“…Despite the minor sedimentological change in facies, the palynofacies analysis of the Kharita Formation indicates a cascading vertical transition from PFA‐1 to PFA‐2 that can be used to interpret the depositional paleoenvironment (Tyson, ). Several studies focused on interpreting the depositional environment based on palynofacies and palynomorphs analyses over NE African territory, particularly the Cretaceous of the Western Desert (Gentzis et al, ; Ghassal et al, ; Mansour et al, ; Mansour & Tahoun, ; Tahoun et al, ). The upper part of the Kharita Formation contained moderate abundances of both AOM and phytoclasts, which plotted mainly in the palynofacies field VI (Figure a), with high proportions of opaque phytoclasts (Figure , Appendix S2), thus revealing deposition in a proximal high energetic suboxic–anoxic shelf (Tyson, ).…”

“…Based on the discriminated palynofacies assemblages, the PFA‐1 is mainly dominated by pteridophyte spores and pollen grains. Specific groups of spores and pollen grains community were widely used as indicators of the environment of deposition (Aboul Ela et al, ; Mansour & Tahoun, ). The predominance of psilatrilete spores, including Cyathidies , Deltoidospora , and Cicatricosisporites groups (Appendix S1) were growing on wet biotopes under warm conditions (Kedves, ; Schrank & Mahmoud, ), reveals deposition adjacent to active terrigenous input.…”

“…Besides, the quantitative abundance of the pollen grains is moderate in PFA‐1 and represented by relatively higher percentage of the sphaeroidal gymnosperms Classopollis , Araucariacites , and Inaperturopollenites groups, which increase toward a basinward direction compared to lower abundances in high‐energy proximal marine settings (Aboul Ela et al, ; Tyson, ). The angiosperm Afropollis group reinforce deposition under more local coastal humidity conditions (Mansour & Tahoun, ; Schrank, ). The Elaterates are also abundant through the PFA‐1 that are characteristic of deposition during warm‐temperate arid to semiarid conditions (Herngreen, ).…”