PALEOCENE-EOCENE DEEP-WATER AGGLUTINATED FORAMINIFERA FROM THE NUMIDIAN FLYSCH (RIF, NORTHERN MOROCCO) - THEIR SIGNIFICANCE FOR THE PALEOCEANOGRAPHY OF THE GIBRALTAR GATEWAY

A lower bathyal to abyssal agglutinated foraminiferal fauna (over 78 t axa belonging to 31 genera) is documented from Palaeocene-Eocene deep- water sediments of the Numidian Flysch (Talaa Lakrah Unit) in Northern Morocco. The sample locality is adjacent to the Strait of Gibraltar, which comprised an oceanic 'gateway' between the Tethys Ocean and the North Atlantic during the Palaeogene. The chronostratigraphy of the se ction is based upon long-distance comparisons with the stratigraphic r anges of identified species in the North Atlantic region and the Polis h Carpathians. Although no major evolutionary turnover among deep-wate r agglutinated foraminifera (DWAF) is observed across the Palaeocene/E ocene boundary, a change from Palaeocene Aschemocella- and Trochammino ides-dominated assemblages to an early Eocene Glomospira assemblage is recognized. This Glomospira biofacies occurs throughout the North Atl antic and western Tethys and may indicate lowered productivity and wid espread oxygenated deep-water conditions during the early Eocene green house conditions. A change to an overlying Reticulophragmium amplecten s biofacies in green claystones reflects renewed higher productivity. Taxonomic affinities and the succession of benthic foraminiferal assem blages from the Gibraltar gateway display greater affinities to Tethya n assemblages than North Atlantic assemblages. This is interpreted as faunal evidence for a late Palaeocene to early Eocene equivalent of 'M editerranean outflow water', flowing from the western Tethys into the Atlantic.