Palaeophytogeographical and palaeoecological implications of a miospore assemblage of earliest Devonian (Lochkovian) age from Saudi Arabia

in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (2007), 250(1-4), 237-254

Palynological samples from two boreholes drilled in the eastern part of Saudi Arabia contain a rich assemblage of cryptospores and trilete spores. They are dated as most probably Lochkovian in age ... [more ▼]

Palynological samples from two boreholes drilled in the eastern part of Saudi Arabia contain a rich assemblage of cryptospores and trilete spores. They are dated as most probably Lochkovian in age. Intriguingly, the cryptospores are very similar to those from a coeval continental palynomorph assemblage from the Old Red Sandstone Continent, whereas the trilete spores show a strong affinity with miospore assemblages from Western Gondwana. It is suggested that cryptospore-producing plants inhabited confined, damp biotopes and had a wide range of climatic tolerance. On the otherhand, trilete spore-producing plants inhabited a wider variety of biotopes but were more sensitive to climatic variations. The high degree of similarity between Old Red Sandstone and Saudi Arabian cryptospore assemblages favours palaeogeographic reconstructions where there is close proximity between Western Gondwana and Euramerica and/or a land connection between these palaeoplates. Climatic differences between the Old Red Sandstone Continent and the northern part of Western Gondwana can be invoked to explain the variations in the trilete spore assemblages. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. [less ▲]

A classification of spores by support vectors based on an analysis of their ornament spatial distribution - An application to Emsian miospores from Saudi Arabia

in Carnets de Géologie = Notebooks on Geology (2007), CG2007(M01/02), 9-15

Stratigraphic palynology of Devonian boreholes from northern Saudi Arabia

in Carnets de Géologie = Notebooks on Geology (2005), Memoir 2005/02, CG2005 M02/01

Palaeozoic palynology of the Kingdom Saudi-Arabia

Conference (2000)

GeoArabia Special Publication 1 <br /> <br />Knowledge of the Palaeozoic biostratigraphy of the Arabian Peninsula, situated close to the northern margin of Gondwana, was poorly known until a joint special ... [more ▼]

GeoArabia Special Publication 1 <br /> <br />Knowledge of the Palaeozoic biostratigraphy of the Arabian Peninsula, situated close to the northern margin of Gondwana, was poorly known until a joint special project was held by the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) and the Commission Internationale de Microflore du Paléozoïque (CIMP) in 1990. Prior to that only a small number of investigations had been published. Few efforts had been made to exploit the strati-graphic potentials of the many undescribed indigenous microfossils. The joint Saudi Aramco-CIMP project was designed to reverse that situation. Comprehensive studies were carried out on a range of microfossil groups throughout the Palaeozoic and results were published in 1995. <br /> <br />The 13 papers presented in this GeoArabia Special Publication update those initial findings. They clearly indicate the potential for these palynomorph assemblages to not only to provide a method for well-to-well correlations within Saudi Arabia, but also for establishing the palaeo-biogeographical relationships of the Arabian Plate relative to adjacent landmasses. The conclusions that are proposed here can now be compared with datasets throughout North Africa and with the central and southern parts of South America. <br /> <br />Editors: Sa’id Al-Hajri and Bernard Owens <br />231 pages <br />40 plates/62 illustrations [less ▲]

Palynostratigraphy of the Jauf Formation in the Ghawar area, Eastern Saudi Arabia

in Al-Husseini (Ed.) Geoarabia (1998)