The biostratigraphic and paleoecological importance of the subsurface Carboniferous microfossil assemblages from Faghur-1x well, Western Desert of Egypt

Abstract

The microfossil assemblages of subsurface Carboniferous rocks from Faghur-1x were examined and identified. Their biostratigraphical and paleoenvironmental importance were investigated. The assemblage included well-preserved foraminifera like Omphalotis omphalota, Omphalotis sp. 2, Omphalotis sp. 3, Paraarchaediscus stilus, Paraarchaediscus koktjubensis, Archaediscus krestovnikovi, Archaediscus complanatus, Archaediscus inflatus, Archaediscus karreri, Diplosphearina inequalis, Eotubertina sp., Tetrataxis conica, Cribrostomum lecomptei, Palaeotextularia angulata, and Palaeotextularia longiseptata. This foraminiferal association indicates the late Visean-early Serpukhovian. The other microfossils are gastropods, brachiopods, ostracods, crinoidal ossicles, frond-like fenestrate bryozoan types and stick-like colonies, echinoderms, microproblematica like Draffania biloba and algal Calcisphaera and the dasyclad Koninckopora. This microfossils assemblage points to the deposition in a restricted to open platform in a lagoonal framework environment. The Tehenu Basin is the eastern segment of northern African Sahara basins that provided refuge for the foraminiferal genera through the mass extinction events during the glacial Visean-Serpukhovian times. However, its foraminiferal associations have lower diversities than the western basins, which indicate that it was more readily affected by the mass extinction event.