Late Eocene - Early Oligocene Litho-biostratigraphy of the Caspian and Black Sea Regions

Upper Cretaceous and Lower Oligocene deposits around the Caspian and Black Sea regions contain hydrocarbon resources. Therefore, the study of the litho-biostratigraphy of the marine and terrestrial terrigenous to carbonaceous Eocene-Oligocene deposits of the area has a great interest. These deposits contain abundant fossil organic remains of various provenance and climate zones which allows to understand the evolution of faunal and floral assemblages of Upper Eocene-Oligocene on the background of global climate and environmental changes. Most widespread faunal and floral taxa belong to planktic and benthic foraminifera, nannoplankton, ostracoda, fish as well as palynomorph (spore, pollen and dinoflagellate) associations. Whereas radiolaria are encountered rarely and chara are met recurrently. Among these planktic and benthic foraminifera, ostracoda and palynomorph associations are very crucial for delineation and correlation of Upper Eocene deposits in which planktic foraminifera and dinoflagellate zones were defined properly. Overlying Oligocene deposits is known as Maykop Suite where there is poor benthic foraminiferal association, very rare plankton species and lack of some species was coursed by hostile paleo-environment. Vertical distribution of benthic foraminifera made it possible to define only local foraminiferal biozones. As far as the palynological data is considered, Lower Oligocene deposits are characterized by abundant and diverse dinoflagellate taxa. Whereas, Upper Oligocene deposits are is rich in terrestrial palynomorphs.