Late Cretaceous planktonic foraminifera from the coastal area east of Susa (Apollonia), northeastern Libya
F. T. Barr
Upper Cretaceous limestone, which is strikingly similar lithologically to the upper Cretaceous chalk of western Europe, is exposed along the coastal area east of Susa. These strata in the Wadi Merghes-Wadi el Atrun area have yielded diverse and well-preserved foraminiferal faunas which include more than 70 benthonic and 14 planktonic species. The planktonic foraminifers indicate that this sequence is correlative to the Globotruncana tricarinata zone of Bolli (1957) (upper Campanian-lower Maestrichtian). Specimens of Bolivinoides miliaris Hiltermann & Koch in a late stage of evolutionary development suggest further that these strata are early Maestrichtian (late Cretaceous) in age. Ratios of planktonic to benthonic specimens indicate that this limestone was probably deposited in an outer neritic or upper bathyal environment.
This record provided courtesy of AGI/GeoRef.
