First Palynological Record from the Upper Carboniferous/Lower Permian Succession in West Beni Suef Basin, Egypt, with Paleoecological and Paleogeographical Implications

Abstract

FOR THE FIRST time, a palynological assemblage was recovered from the Safi Formation in the west Beni Suef Basin of the Western Desert in Egypt. A total of 65 miospore taxa were recognized; they included 31 species of pteridophyte spores (related to 20 genera) and 34 species of gymnosperm pollen (related to 14 genera). The dominance of monosaccate pollen confirms an age not older than Westphalian (Late Carboniferous) as documented in various Gondwanan basins. Besides the restricted presence and limited counts of typical guide taeniate bisaccate and non-taeniate bisaccate pollen in the present assemblage constrain and limit the age to the Asselian (Early Permian) and not younger. The paleovegetation of the studied palynoassemblage is reconstructed based on the paleobotanical affinities of the identified miospores, which are generally consistent with other macrofloral fossil records obtained from Egyptian outcrops during the Late Carboniferous and Early Permian. The paleoecological significance of the reconstructed paleovegetation enabled the recognition of two paleofloral communities: A lowland paleoflora represented by a cold climate wetland fern community associated with Lycopsida and Sphenopsida and an upland paleoflora dominated by a primitive group of gymnospermic plants with a unique moisture-independent reproduction strategy developed under the influence of a glacial climate. The high representation of the bilaterally or radially symmetrical monosaccate pollen genera, which are typical Late Paleozoic Gondwanan gymnospermic vegetation, in the present material supports the hypothesis that Egypt’s Western Desert was part of the Gondwanan floral province during the Late Carboniferous/Early Permian.