Stratigraphy of the Middle Eocene - Lower Oligocene successions in northwestern and eastern Jordan

Rocks of Eocene and Oligocene age, consisting mainly of carbonate ramp facies, are widely distributed in Jordan, but no previous stratigraphic works have dealt with the Eocene - Oligocene contact. Stratigraphic analysis, based on field exploration, and detailed lithostratigrapic and biostratigraphic preliminary data detected a major hiatus that separates the Middle Eocene (Lutetian) from the Early Oligocene (Rupelian) in the studied exposures in the Wadi El Ghadaf and Ash Shunah areas of Jordan. Our results reveal that the planktonic foraminifera Turborotalia cerroazulensis/Pseudohastigerina spp. (P18) Zone and the calcareous nannoplankton Ericsnia subdisticha (NP21) Zone of early Oligocene age were recorded immediately above the Morozovelloides lehneri (E11) Zone and the Discoaster tanii nodifer (NP16) Zone indicating, a period of non-deposition as a result of tectonic activity and/or sea level changes. A correlative hiatus and time gap were also reported in different parts of the Arabian and African plates, which representing the contemporaneous paleo-high areas. The presence of the early Oligocene shallow marine calcareous planktonic assemblages indicates that shallow shelves of the Tethys Ocean occupied the paleotopographic lows of Jordan, with deepening of the depositional basin toward the north.