PALEONTOLOGY, PALEOENVIRONMENT AND PALEOGEOGRAPHY OF THE EARLY PALEOGENE PAKISTANIAN BENTHIC FORAMINIFERAL SPECIES OF HAQUE – SUBORDER TEXTULARIINA (AGGLUTINATED FORAMINIFERA)

Abstract

The present study is a part of the comprehensive works concerned with the complete record of the Paleogene small benthic foraminiferal content in the Ranikot and Laki Formations of the Nammal Gorge, Salt and Sor Ranges of Pakistan. The first part was concerned with the Miliolina and Lagenina foraminiferal assemblage of Haque from Pakistan, and followed by the second part which concerned with the Rotaliid assemblage of the same author of Pakistan. The third part is concerned with the Textulariid part and presented in this study. Twenty one Early Paleogene Pakistanian smaller Textulariid (Agglutinated) benthic foraminiferal species and subspecies from the Ranikot and Laki Formations of the Nammal Gorge, Salt and Sor Ranges of Pakistan have been studied and are systematically listed. This systematic description provides a list of modern synonyms, short remarks about morphological features, and some annotations about taxa with problematic generic status. These species are: Spiroplectinella ushbali, Gaudryina nitida, Siphogaudryina daviesi, S. elongata, S. nammalensis, Verneuilina laevigata, Tritaxia elongata, T. limbata, Dorothia nammalensis, Marssonella nammalensis, Bigenerina khirthari, B. metingensis, B. nodosa, Textularia crookshanki, T. haquei, T. punjabensis, Clavulinoides lakiensis, C. spatha, C. symmetrica, Valvulina n. nammalensis, V. nammalensis longa. Most of the recorded species are an endemic to Pakistan, except five species Siphogaudryina elongata, Tritaxia elongata, T. limbata, Textularia crookshanki and T. punjabensis are recorded in some Northern Tethys (France, Hungary) and Southern Tethys (India, Iran, UAE, Egypt, Algeria). The paleoenvironmental interpretations of the identified species in the study area of Pakistan were deposited in somewhat deep water and open-marine environments. The abundance of pelagic Pakistanian benthic foraminiferal assemblages indicate an open connection to the Tethys, which represents middle-outer neritic environment (100-200 m depth) and shows an affinity with the Atlantic-Tethyan Regions: “Midway Type Fauna “.