PALEONTOLOGY, PALEOENVIRONMENT AND PALEOGEOGRAPHY OF THE EARLY PALEOGENE PAKISTANIAN BENTHIC FORAMINIFERAL SPECIES OF HAQUE - SUBORDER ROTALIINA

Abstract

Eighty-five Early Paleogene Pakistanian smaller Rotaliid benthic foraminiferal species belong to thirty-nine genera from the Ranikot, Nammal and Laki Formations of the Nammal Gorge, Salt and Sor Ranges of Pakistan have been studied. The modern taxonomic consideration and systematic description of the species is based on the diagnostic morphology, list of synonyms, short remarks about morphological features, and annotations about taxa with problematic generic status. Most of the recorded species are, so far, an endemic to Pakistan, except 19 species of them were recorded in other localities in the Southern Tethys (India, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Nigeria) and also in Northern Tethys (France, Spain, Slovenia). The high abundance of pelagic Pakistanian foraminiferal assemblage indicate open connection to the Tethys, which represents middle-outer neritic environment (100-200 m depth) and shows an affinity with Midway-Type Fauna ‘MTF’.