The history of palynology in Egypt

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis contribution marks the achievements made in the past decades by a group of palynologists. The data generated covers a long-time span from the Precambrian to the Holocene of Egypt. Previously published results are devoted primarily to the study of many exploration wells and outcrop sections. Comprehensive studies were carried out on a range of palynomorph groups including spores and pollen, algae and prasinophytes, dinoflagellates, acritarchs, scolecodonts, chitinozoans, and other miscellaneous forms as well as palynofacies. Particular attention is given to the history of palaeopalynology. This study presents three main phases. The results of the first phase were limited, as the knowledge of palynology in Egypt was poorly known from 1959 until 1979. Between 1980-2000, which represents the second or shaping phase, an intensive study of surface and subsurface material was carried out. The third phase (2000 until now) provides the academic and commercial expansion of palynological research in Egypt, where palynology can have immediate application in petroleum exploration studies.In the first phase, the application of palynology is seriously hampered by the limited extent of the published data. Only 27 works emerged by the end of 1979. A considerable acceleration could be noticed in the second phase when palynological research was established in many national institutions and started to play a considerable role in petroleum exploration. Beyond academia, some of the operating oil companies started to set up palynological labs and staff as part of biostratigraphy teams. These included, for example, GPC, Khalda Petroleum Co. with a focus on the north Western Desert, and GUPCO with a focus on the Gulf of Suez, and most of the results obtained were incorporated with the internal data on the well files. During the period 2000-2009, especially when palynofacies studies were incorporated, the progress and the attitude of palynological research changed. This allowed for a more accurate reconstruction of the depositional process and eventually a paleobiogeographic history mainly for the Cretaceous age, which is an important target for hydrocarbon exploration in Egypt. From 2010 onwards, the number of publications has clearly grown and reached 23 publications in 2020. Such a high pace of development seems to have been at the expense of basic research comprising taxonomy and biostratigraphy, something that might negatively impact the quality of research and also researchers, especially the young ones. The change brought about through this phase by integrating organic geochemistry, sedimentology, and other disciplines may, however, have left a positive impact, principally in terms of international collaborations and expansion of palynology applications beyond the standard academic cluster.Important highlights and outputs, and prospective forthcoming developments and recommendations pertaining to Egyptian palynology generally (and in each phase) are discussed.Key words: palynologyEgypthistoryannotated bibliographyDisclaimerAs a service to authors and researchers we are providing this version of an accepted manuscript (AM). Copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proofs will be undertaken on this manuscript before final publication of the Version of Record (VoR). During production and pre-press, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal relate to these versions also. Additional informationNotes on contributorsAli Soliman ALI S.A. SOLIMAN graduated in geology from the University of Tanta, Egypt in 1995. In 2000, he finished his MSc studies on the Jurassic palynostratigraphy of the Western Desert, Egypt with Salah El Beialy. In October 2002, he received a Ph.D. scholarship funded by the ÖAD, Austria and he completed his studies on Miocene dinoflagellate cysts from the Gulf of Suez, Egypt in March 2006 under the supervision of W.E. Piller and M.J. Head. Since November 2006, he has been a post-doc embedded in projects funded by the ÖAW and FWF dealing with the taxonomy and stratigraphy of the Miocene dinoflagellates of the Central Paratethys and the ancient Lake Pannon. Currently, Ali is a professor of stratigraphy and palaeontology at the University of Tanta, Egypt.Haytham El Atfy HAYTHAM EL ATFY is an associate professor at Mansoura University (Egypt) from where he received a B.Sc. degree in geology and an M.Sc. in palynology. He received a Ph.D. in geosciences (palynology and organic geochemistry) from Goethe University, Frankfurt (Germany) in 2014, and a PD (Habilitation) from the University of Tübingen (Germany) in 2022. Since 2023, Haytham joined the Palaeobotany Group, Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, University of Münster, Germany. He acquired experience in industrial palynology through work with GUPCO (BP), Egypt. Haytham has been a Research Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at the University of Tübingen (Germany) since 2019. He was recently a visiting scientist at the Senckenberg Research Institute in Germany. His research interests span all aspects of palynology and its applications in dating, palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic reconstructions, and hydrocarbon exploration, particularly of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic and, to a lesser extent, the Palaeozoic. He has more recently become involved in organic geochemistry. He is a member of the AASP—The Palynological Society, the Micropalaeontological Society (TMS), Arbeitskreis für Paläobotanik und Palynologie (APP), and the Palaeontological Society of Egypt (PSE). He received many awards, including the Bernd Rendel Prize from the German Science Foundation (DFG), the Egyptian State Incentive Award, and the First-Class Excellence Concession that the Egyptian president provides.