The Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary in Taramsa section, west of Qena, Nile Valley, Egypt

Abstract

Examination of the late Cretaceous-early Tertiary succession in Taramsa section, West of Qena, has revealed the presence of latest Maastrichtian fauna and nannofossil flora. The distinct biotic changes at the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary characterize a profound environmental instability. The gradual replacement of the Cretaceous taxa by Tertiary ones suggests a transitional character of the boundary. The marked change in colour and the observed variation in lithology near the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary do not indicate, at the present time, whether the sedimentation was contineous or contain a hiatus at the boundary.

Upper Paleocene-lower Eocene planktonic foraminiferal biostratigraphy of the Qreiya (Gebel Abu Had) section, Upper Nile Valley (Egypt)

“…According to Faris et al (1985), Luger (1988), Soliman (1998) and Tantawy (1998) the conglomerate bed associated with a hiatus of varying magnitude at the K/P boundary localities in southern Egypt is entirely absent in the Qreiya section. Stratigraphic continuity across this boundary is inferred from the complete (planktonic foraminiferal) biozonal succession of the (uppermost Maastrichtian) P. hantkeninoides Zone (Tantawy 1998), and the (lowest Danian) P. eugubina (P) (Luger 1988;Soliman 1998;Tantawy 1998) and Guembelitaria cretacea (P0) Zone (Soliman 1998), and supported by the occurrence of the uppermost Maastrichtian nannofossil Micula prinsii Zone (Faris et al 1986;Tantawy 1998).…”