Citation:
Abstract:
The Cenomanian ‘Marnes de Smail’ Formation in Djebel Sabaoune (Batna, Algeria) contains many fossil ostracods with 73 species taxa that are identified for the first time from this area. The ostracod assemblages are consistent with the Cenomanian age formerly assigned by means of invertebrate macrofossils: ammonites, corals, bivalves, echinoids and gastropods. The diverse ostracofaunal assemblages allowed us to reconstruct the palaeoenvironmental parameters that prevailed during the Cenomanian. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses of ostracod assemblages, along with foraminiferal associations and lithofacies, documented progressive environmental change from a relatively deep marine or outer distal platform (at the base of this series) to a middle, inner platform and, finally, to a reefal environment (at the top). The ostracod taxa are mostly endemic species. However, the occurrences of species already known from North and West Africa, the Middle East and the Atlantic clearly demonstrate that migrations still occurred during the Cenomanian.