Abstract
Lower Paleogene marine deposits cover extensive areas of Egypt and Israel, usually in a sub-horizontal or slightly tilted position. In combination with a near absence of vegetation, this setting provides unique opportunities to study upper Paleocene stratigraphy and events basin-wide and in great detail. We studied five upper Paleocene successions, focusing on planktic and benthic foraminifera, and stable isotopes. The sections are arranged on a generally NW-dipping slope of an epicontinental basin, which in its northern part was interrupted by ‐ predominantly submarine ‐ highs and lows of the Syrian Arc. Benthic foraminifera assemblages indicate overall deposition at c. 500 m at Ben Gurion and Wadi Nukhl, c. 200 m at Gebel Aweina and Gebel Qreiya, and c. 75 m at Gebel Duwi (Fig. 1). Lithology. ‐ Monotonous gray to brown marls prevail within the studied interval (Biozones P4‐P6a). The short stratigraphic interval of global biotic and environmental change, however, is marked by a foraminifera-rich calcarenitic bed, overlying ‐ in the more complete sections ‐ a 20‐50-cm thick fissile (Duwi) or TOCrich laminated (Nukhl and Qreiya) marl bed. The Aweina and Ben Gurion sections do not show the latter bed, but instead a discontinuity (omission surface) at the base of the calcarenitic bed. δ 13 C isotopes. ‐ The global negative carbon-isotope trend and the superimposed negative δ 13 C excursion (CIE) have been recorded in whole-rock samples from all sections within Zone P5 (sensu Berggren et al. 1995). The CIE coincides with the anomalous beds and terminates above the calcarenitic bed. In Aweina and Ben Gurion, the base of the CIE coincides with the discontinuity, indicating that in these sections at least the lower part of the shift is truncated (Fig. 2). Whereas whole-rock isotopic records from this region are suitable for stratigraphic purposes, specimenbased paleoenvironmental studies are generally not reliable. Thin-shelled fora
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