Micropaleontological and stratigraphical analyses of K/P succession

The marine Late Campanian to Early Eocene sedimentary sequence of the Southern Nile Valley (Egypt) is recorded and described in five land sections in the area between Sinn El Kaddab in the south and Wadi Abu Ghurra in the north. The samples was investigated with respect to quantitative and qualitative analyses of the calcareous nannofossils, planktonic and benthonic foraminiferal assemblages. Due to their composition the benthonic foraminiferal assemblages are assigned to three different Ecological groups: 1) mixohaline shallow water assemblages, 2) Tethyan carbonate faunal assemblages (TCF) and 3) euhaline deeper shelf assemblages: Midway-type fauna (MF)and Velasco-type fauna (VF). These three assemblages suggest lagoonal environments with considerably reduced salinity in warm climates and high runoff for the Late Campanian- Maastrichtian interval. Middle-outer neritic conditions (50-200 m) are indicated for the Paleocene and inner-middle shelf carbonate platforms (<50-75 m) for the Early Eocene sequence.