Foraminifera from Paleocene –early Eocene rocks of Bir El Markha section (West Central Sinai), Egypt: Paleobathymetric and paleotemperature significance

•The cooling event started during the earliest Paleocene.•Warming episode reached its maximum at the latest Paleocene and continued till the earliest Eocene.•The authors recognize four sea-level cycles during the Paleocene/Eocene.

In the studied section, there is cooling event started during the earliest Paleocene Pα till P1b Subzones. The warming event started at P1c Subzone and continued till P2 Zone. Nevertheless, during the late Paleocene (Zone P3) there is a cooling trend. Zone P4 is characterized by a warming episode and reached its maximum at the latest Paleocene and continued till the earliest Eocene (Subzone P5b), which indicate that the Late Paleocene-Early Eocene was the warmest period of the Cenozoic. It was possible to recognize four sea-level cycles during the Paleocene/Eocene; the first cycle marks the upper part of P3a Zone and represents shallow depth to ∼50 m; the second cycle (P3b/P4) marks another stratigraphic gap at the top of this zonal boundary, the third sea-level cycle (Zone P5a) marks the greatest paleodepth of ∼600 m whereas the fourth cycle represents gradual return to middle-shallow outer neritic.

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