Bio- and Sequence Stratigraphy of Upper Cretaceous – Palaeogene rocks, East Bahariya Concession, Western Desert, Egypt

• Published in: Geologia Croatica
• Main Authors: Mohamed Mahsoub, Radwan Abulnasr, Mohamed Boukhary, Mahmoud Faris, Mohamed Abd El Aal
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Croatian Geological Survey 2012
• Subjects: Planktonic foraminifera; Calcareous nannofossil; Upper Cretaceous; Palaeogene; seismic interpretation; sequence stratigraphy; Bahariya; Egypt; Geology; QE1-996.5
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.4154/GC.2012.09; https://doaj.org/article/a2f6ab5851b54dcaab05a018fbc0d725

This work deals with the plankton stratigraphy of the subsurface Upper Cretaceous-Palaeogene succession of theEast Bahariya Concession based on planktonic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils. The examination of the cuttings from five wells: AQSA-1X, KARMA-E-1X, KARMA-3X, KARMA-NW-1X and KARMA-NW-5X is biostratigraphically evaluated. It is possible to identify the planktonic foraminifera as well as the calcareous nannofossil biozones. The analyses of calcareous nannofossils revealed the presence of several hiatuses. Information obtained from well data such as seismic facies analysis for the studied area has enabled classification of the Upper Cretaceous Palaeogene succession into five major 2nd order depositional sequences, separated by four major depositional sequence boundaries (SB1, SB2, SB3 and SB4). The Upper Cretaceous-Palaeogene succession in the East Bahariya is dividedinto 17 systems tracts. These systems tracts are: 7 System tracts of probable Cenomanian age, (the sequence stratigraphic framework as well as the cycles and system tracts of the Cenomanian Bahariya Formation match well with thoseof CATUNEANUet al., 2006); 4 System tracts of Turonianage, 2 System tracts of Campanian-Maastrichtian ageand 4 System tracts of Eocene age.