Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Palynostratigraphy and Palynofacies of the Shushan Basin, North Egypt

The current work can produce an updated quantitative analysis and prospective paleoenvironment reconstruction from Tut oil Field, Shushan Basin to evaluate the hydrocarbon reservoirs in space and times for further development plans and modelling in the Tethyan regime. Two sporomorph interval zones (<i>Classopollis brasiliensis</i> and <i>Afropollis jardinus</i>), and one total foraminiferal Range Zone (<i>Thomasinella punica</i>) are proposed. Three palynofacies assemblages are differentiated using cluster analysis of the different palynofacies parameters. The paleoenvironmental conditions during the Cenomanian age were reconstructed. Palynofacies assemblage I of the Baharyia Formation suggests a marginally dysoxic-oxic basin environment with a common occurrence of ostracods and terrestrial organic matter, while palynofacies assemblage II reflects the high abundance of dinoflagellate cysts, suggesting a suboxic-anoxic middle neritic environment. Palynofacies assemblage III of the upper part of Abu Roash G Member represents a relatively deep water inner-middle neritic environment. Three 3^rd order significant sequences separated by two hiatus surfaces (Ce3 and Ce4) are described and correlated with the global eustatic sea-level. The hydrocarbon evaluation results show that the samples from the Abu Roash G Member contain oil-prone material of kerogen type II, while the samples of the Baharyia Formation are characterized by kerogen type III (gas-prone). Spore coloration analysis reveals that the samples from the studied formations are too immature to produce gas or oil and are ineffective as sources of hydrocarbon.