Cretaceous Ostracods of North Africa and the Middle East: Paleogeography and Paleoecology
Ashraf M. T. Elewa
Citation : Ashraf M. T. Elewa, Cretaceous Ostracods of North Africa and the Middle East: Paleogeography and Paleoecology International Journal of Research in Environmental Science 2018,4(2) : 11-21
The Cretaceous paleobiogeography of North Africa and the Middle East is detailed through the combination of traditional and novel tools to detect the extinctions of ostracods during the breakup of Gondwana and the drift of the African Plate towards Asia. The multiple causes scenario of extinctions is established using high resolution quantitative data of 43 selected ostracod species from a total of 136 investigated species belonging to 11 countries of North Africa and the Middle East. The studied ostracod assemblages clarified a possible relationship between the cyclic paleoenvironmental changes, most likely associated with see-saw like oscillations of the African continental plate (specifically during the breakup of Gondwana), and the cyclic variations of the orbit of the Earth. However, further studies of the Asian plate are needed to emphasize the see-saw like oscillations in Asia. On the other hand, three ostracod groups, ranging in age from Aptian to Turonian, have been discriminated, each of which has its paleoecological characteristics.