New Insights on Stratigraphic Level and Record of the Nummulites Postfossulatus Sirel and Deveciler (Foraminiferida) in Safranbolu (NW Turkey) and Malatya Basins (E Turkey)

Abstract

A new species, postfossulatus, was originally described by Sirel and Deveciler in the middle Lutetian sediments in the Haymana region (Central Anatolia, Central Turkey). The main purpose of this research is to reveal the new locations and new stratigraphic level of the new species. In this study, Nummulites postfossulatus was also reported for the first time in the early-middle Eocene sediments of the Safranbolu and Malatya Basins. Safranbolu Basin is located on the Anatolian Plate, and Malatya Basin is located in the                southern branch of Neo-Tethys. Safranbolu (Western Black Sea Region) and Malatya basins                (SW Malatya, eastern Anatolia), which are important basins of Turkey in biostratigraphic research, have rich fossil content, especially benthic foraminifera, during the Eocene period. The early-middle Eocene units of the Safranbolu Formation is widely exposed in the Safranbolu Basin-Karabuk (northwestern Turkey). This formation is composed of abundant macro-micro fossiliferous limestone. The Yıldıztepe Formation outcropping in the Malatya Basin, represented by reefal limestones containing abundant foraminifera, algae, and coralline, is of middle-late Lutetian age. This study determined that the stratigraphic level of N. postfossulatus went up to the Upper Lutetian because it was seen in the Nummulites aturicus zone representing late Lutetian in the Yıldıztepe Formation.