Hesham M. El Asmar and Amin M. Gheith - Volume 3, January, 1995

Stable isotope stratigraphy and paleoclimatology of offshore subsurface Quaternary sediments, Nile Delta, Egypt.
Hesham M. El Asmar and Amin M. Gheith

Dept. Geology, Damietta Fac. Sciences, Egypt
1 Dept. Geology, Fac. Sciences, El Mansoura Univ. Egypt

Stable oxygen and carbon isotope analysis for benthonic foraminifera shells collected from the subsurface Quaternary succession of three offshore wells north of the Nile Delta revealed the presence of at least four major paleoclimatic periods in close relationship to sea level oscillations.

Each climatic period started with warm phase characterized by high negative (light)

^¹⁸ O and

^¹³ C and related to a particular phase of sea transgression. The same period ended by cold phase with a relatively heavier

^¹⁸O and and

^¹³C related to a phase of sea regression. These periods can be correlated to the stable isotope stratigraphy (isotope stages 9, 7 and 5 for the wet phases, and 8, 6, 4 for the cold ones) and the general stratigraphic sequence (reduced / oxidized periods) of the Eastern Mediterranean.