Abstract
Quantitative paleobiogeography is a powerful tool for detecting the migration routes of microfossils. This is factual and applicable when we select appropriate analyses for proper problems in the following manner. The quantitative study of 43 selected ostracod species (total of 136 species) from 11 countries of North Africa and the Middle East led to the detection of two migration routes in the late Early to early Late Cretaceous times. The first route of migration was from east to west during the intervals of Aptian-Albian to Cenomanian. While in the Turonian time, reduced oxygen conditions prevailed and minimized the east-west migration. The second route was from north to south for the duration of Aptian-Albian to Cenomanian. On the other hand, four ostracod biofacies, each with its distinctive environmental conditions, have been identified in the studied countries ranging in age from Aptian to Turonian.
Highlights
Several authors studied the Cretaceous ostracods of the Middle East and North Africa and the paleoenvironmental factors that affected their distribution
Elewa [14] concluded that there are two main biogeographical provinces that were connected during the Maastrichtian to early Eocene intervals of North and West Africa and the Middle East through the Trans-Saharan Seaway
The data differentiate between two main geographical provinces connected through the Trans-Saharan Seaway, termed the South Tethyan Province (STP), which is subdivided into the Eastern South Tethyan Province (ESTP) and the Western South Tethyan Province (WSTP) and the Asian
Summary
Several authors studied the Cretaceous ostracods of the Middle East and North Africa and the paleoenvironmental factors that affected their distribution. The authors of this paper dealt with investigating the paleobiogeographical and paleoecological inferences of the ostracod assemblages of North Africa and the Middle East with the aid of multivariate data analyses (see [24], for more details on using these techniques to interpret paleoenvironments). They aim to determine the ostracod migration routes, together with the important environmental factors that affected ostracod migrations during the Cretaceous (Aptian to Turonian)
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