Ostracoda Assemblages of the Hartha Formation (Late Campanian - Early Maastrichtian) from Balad (8) well, Central Iraq

Abstract

Fundamentally, the current study is concerned with the investigation and diagnosing of Ostracoda fossils from the subsurface section of the Hartha Formation (Late Campanian - Early Maastrichtian) from (Ba-8) well at central Iraq. Fifty-nine Ostracoda species belonging to (29) genera/ subgenera from (13) families are diagnosed and classified to their ranks according to the standard systematic paleontology. Whereat (57) species are attributed to species previously described from local and regional studies. Two species are left under open zoological nomenclature basically because of lack of specimens. As a result, the study inferred that the species diagnosed in the Hartha Formation belong to the Late Campanian - Early Maastricht. As These species are very similar in terms of the external appearance and geologic age to the same species that were compared with them and which were previously described in the regions of East, West, and North Africa as well as the Arabian Gulf region.