Organic walled dinoflagellate cysts from the Tarim Basin, western China; Implications for the timing of the early Paratethys Sea retreat

Abstract

Upper Cretaceous and Paleogene sediments in the Tarim Basin (western China) are archive of the easternmost remnants of the early Paratethys Sea, an epicontinental sea that covered a large part of Eurasia. This thesis presents a preliminary biostratigraphic framework for the westernmost part of the Tarim Basin, predominately based upon organic walled remains of surface dwelling dinoflagellates (dinocysts), that allowed for biostratigraphic correlation and paleoenvironmental interpretations.