The Unitary Association method in biochronology and its potential stratigraphic power between benthic and planktic organisms: A case study on foraminifers from Paleocene–Eocene strata of southern Egypt

Abdelhady A, Seuß B, El-Dawy M, Obaidalla N, Hussien S, Mahfouzd K (2018)


Publication Language: English

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2018

Journal

Book Volume: 51

Pages Range: 259-268

DOI: 10.1016/j.geobios.2018.06.005

Abstract

Although foraminifers have been extensively used for biochronology, no quantitative evaluation of the
quality of their application is available. In this work we apply a quantitative approach – the Unitary
Association (UA) method – to evaluate the relative quality of planktic and benthic foraminifers in
biostratigraphy. Based on 12,321 specimens belonging to 65 planktic and 132 benthic foraminifer
species in 117 samples from the Paleocene–Eocene strata of the Kharga-Baris Oases (Western Desert,
Egypt), the potential stratigraphic resolution power of benthic foraminifers is quantitatively assessed
and compared to planktic foraminifers. The UA method accounts for superpositional contradictions
between sets of coexisting taxa and generates unitary associations, which are conceptually similar to
Oppel zones. The analysis produced fifteen unitary associations for the Paleocene–Eocene benthic
Foraminifera of the studied sections, instead of three classical zones; most of these unitary associations
are easily identified by the restricted occurrence of a single species. Although planktic Foraminifera have
a higher seriation reality leading to a more robust biozonation, benthic Foraminifera have a higher
stratigraphic resolution, at least at such regional scale. Furthermore, there was a significant positive
correlation between the number of unitary associations and the number of species (R = 0.78 for planktic
and 0.70 for benthic foraminifers; both with p < 0.001). These results corroborate that quantitative
techniques may lead to a higher resolution in biochronology, even when applied to poor
biochronological markers. Moreover, in contrast to simple spatiotemporal analyses, the Unitary
Association method can accurately assess the stratigraphic potential of a given taxonomic group.

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How to cite

APA:

Abdelhady, A., Seuß, B., El-Dawy, M., Obaidalla, N., Hussien, S., & Mahfouzd, K. (2018). The Unitary Association method in biochronology and its potential stratigraphic power between benthic and planktic organisms: A case study on foraminifers from Paleocene–Eocene strata of southern Egypt. Geobios, 51, 259-268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geobios.2018.06.005

MLA:

Abdelhady, Ahmed, et al. "The Unitary Association method in biochronology and its potential stratigraphic power between benthic and planktic organisms: A case study on foraminifers from Paleocene–Eocene strata of southern Egypt." Geobios 51 (2018): 259-268.

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