Palynological Analysis of Bahariya Formation

Fifty-six subsurface core and cuttings samples belonging to the early Cenomanian Bahariya Formation, gathered from four wells in the north Western Desert, Egypt, are palynologically investigated for this study. Such subsurface material is available, as the Bahariya Formation is an important target for petroleum exploration in the north Western Desert. The studied wells are GPJ-1, TSW-21, GPT-3, and GPTSW-7 wells (Fig 3). The Bahariya Formation in the GPTSW-7 and GPT-3 wells, was previously examined for its palynostratigraphy and palynofacies analysis ([62 ,72 ,73 ], respectively). However, the other two wells are investigated here for the first time and their results were supplemented with a re-interpretation of the data retrieved from both GPTSW-7 and GPT-3 boreholes, as outlined in Table 1.
Samples were processed following maceration techniques including cold hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acid (HCl-HF) demineralization but lacking alkali or oxidation handlings (e.g., [78 ]). The neutralized residues were sieved at 10 μm using a nylon mesh, stained with Safranin ‘O’, and strew-mounted on slides with the aid of Lucite International’s Elvacite 2044 acrylic resin. When drying, this offers a permanent mount with good optic properties, and notably for photography, the palynomorphs are all held to the surface of the coverslip and close to a single plane of focus. Relevant slides and residues are stored at the Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt.