Abstract
Micropaleontology and field studies were carried out on the top part of the Middle to Upper Jurassic Antalo Limestone Formation exposed near Gohatsion (Blue Nile Basin, central western Ethiopia) to precisely determine the ages and understand depositional conditions. This succession (ca. 30 m thick) consists of pack to wackestones, an alternation of micritic mudstones and oolitic grainstones, lime mudstones and stromatoporoid floatstone (containing Cladocoropsis mirabilis Felix), in stratigraphic order. The benthic foraminiferal assemblage is represented by Alveosepta jaccardi, Pseudomarsonella maxima, Redmondoides lugeoni, Kurnubia palastiniensis Nautiloculina oolithica and Siphovalvulina variabilis, Glomospira and Placopsilina. The identified dasycladaean algae include Sal**oporella annulata, Sal**oporella pygmaea and Thyrsoporella pseudoperplexa. Sal**oporella annulata ranges in age from the Bathonian to Hauterivian, whereas Thyrsoporella pseudoperplexa is indicative of the Upper Jurassic. Other identified species include Garwoodia (a cyanobacteria) and some scleractinian corals. Based on the foraminiferal-algal assemblage, and in particular the presence of the globally recognized upper Oxfordian-lower Kimmeridgian Alveosepta jaccardi Taxon Range Zone, a late Oxfordian to early Kimmeridgian age is proposed for the studied section.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Assefa, G. (1980). Stratigraphy and sedimentation of the type Gohatsion Formation (Lias–Malm), Abbay River Basin, Ethiopia. Sinet: Ethiopian Journal of Science, 3, 87–110.
Atnafu, B. (2003). Facies and diagenetic development of Jurassic carbonates (Callovian, Oxfordian, Kimmeridgian) in the Abay River Basin (Upper Blue Nile, Ethiopia). Ph.D. thesis, Friedrich–Alexander Universitat Erlangen, Germany.
Bosellini, A. (1989). The continental margins of Somalia: Their structural evolution and sequence stratigraphy. Memoirie di Scienze Geologiche, XLI, 373–458.
Clark, G., & Boudagher-Fadel, M. (2002). The larger benthic foraminiferal assemblages and stratigraphy of the late Jurassic Bhanness complex, Central Lebanon. Revue De Paleobiologie, 21, 679–695.
Domenico, G. (2010). Facies analysis of Middle to upper Jurassic carbonates in Eastern and North-Central Ethiopia. Ph.D. thesis, Kyushu University, Japan.
Granier, B., & Deloffre, R. (1993). Inventaire critique des algues dasycladales fossiles: II° Partie-les algues dasycladales du Jurassique et du Crétacé. Revue De Paléobiologie, 12, 19–65.
Kurita, H., Domenico, G., & Sano, H. (2009). Timing of Jurassic carbonate deposition in an East African aulacogen; dinoflagellate cysts from the Dejen section, Blue Nile Basin, North Central Ethiopia. In Annual Meeting of the Palaeontological Society of Japan, Chiba, Japan (Vol. 66).
Russo, A., Getaneh, A., & Balemwal, A. (1994). Sedimentary evolution of the Abay River (Blue Nile) Basin, Ethiopia. Neues Jahrbuch Für Geologie Und Paläontologie—Monatshefte, 5, 291–308.
Septfontaine, M. (1988). Vers une classification evolutive des lituolides (foraminiferes) Jurassiques en milieu de plate-forme carbonatee. Revue De Paléobiologie, Spec, 2, 229–256.
Taslı, K. (2001). Benthic Foraminifera from the Upper Jurassic platform carbonates of the Aydıncık (İçel) area, Central Taurides, S Turkey. Geologia Croatica, 54, 1–13.
Turi, A., Bigi, L., & Radrizzani, C. (1980). Microfacies of the Antalo Limestone (Middle to Upper Jurassic) in some sections of East-Central Ethiopia. Bollettino Societa Geologica Italiana, 99, 437–454.
Velic, I. (2007). Stratigraphy and paleobiogeography of Mesozoic benthic foraminifera of the Karst Dinarides (SE Europe). Geologia Croatica, 60, 1–113.
Wolela, A. (2010). Diagenetic evolution of the Ansian-Pliensbachian Adigrat sandstone, Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia. Journal of African Earth Sciences, 56, 29–42.
Ziegler, M. (2001). Late Permian to Holocene Paleofacies evolution of the Arabian Plate and its hydrocarbon occurrences. GeoArabia, 6, 445–504.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Domenico, G.K. (2023). Upper Jurassic (Oxfordian—Kimmeridgian) Benthic Foraminifera and Algae from the Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia. In: Lucci, F., et al. Selected Studies in Geomorphology, Sedimentology, and Geochemistry. CAJG 2020. Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43744-1_37
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43744-1_37
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-43743-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-43744-1
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)