CARBONIFEROUS MACROFAUNA FROM SINAI, EGYPT - BIOSTRATIGRAPHY AND PALEOGEOGRAPHY

The study of Carboniferous successions in the Um Bogma and Abu Durba a reas of west-central Sinai yielded 70 species of brachiopods, corals, bryozoans, molluscs and trace fossils, 10 of which are new to Sinai. T he distribution of these fossils suggests the presence of three macrof aunal biostratigraphic units within distinctive lithofacies: a Middle- early Late Visean coral/brachiopod assemblage in the Um Bogma Formatio n, a Serpukhovian-Bashkirian brachiopod/trace fossil assemblage in the Abu Thora Formation and an Early Moscovian brachiopod/bryozoan assemb lage in the Abu Durba Formation. The fossil associations indicate that the Carboniferous sequence of Sinai was deposited in a subtropical ep icontinental sea inferred to have covered a greater area in northern A frica. The palaeoecological conditions and the palaeobiogeographic rel ations of these macrofaunas to the Carboniferous Palaeotethys Realm ar e discussed.