CIMP-Aramco Special Project:
Palaeozoic palynology of the Arabian Plate and adjacent areas
:The CIMP-Aramco Special Project has now been running since 1990. Here we provide a brief history of the project and its major accomplishments.
In the mid-1980s discussion began between the Commission Internationale de Microflore du Paléozoïque (CIMP) and the company Saudi Aramco regarding setting up a formal scientific collaboration. Initial discussion was led largely by the then CIMP President Bernard Owens. In November 1990 a formal agreement was drafted and signed. The plan was to make available to CIMP scientists the vast quantities of exquisitely preserved Palaeozoic palynological preparations Saudi Aramco were producing from the Arabian Plate. The (largely academic) scientists of CIMP were free to work on this material collaborating with the palynologists employed by Saudi Aramco, presenting their results at special symposia/sessions organised at international scientific conferences and publishing their findings in the open scientific literature. In doing so they began to establish a rigid taxonomy for the Palaeozoic palynomorphs of the Arabian Plate (acritarchs, chitinozoans, spores, pollen etc.), develop biostratigraphical schemes and work on other aspects such as palaeoenvironment interpretation (palynofacies) and palynological indicators of thermal maturity.
Such was the success of this early work that there have been continual contract extensions through to the present day and beyond. Five special volumes dedicated to the project have been published (details below) and numerous other individual papers published including in the journal Science. At nearly every major palynological conference since 1990 special symposia/sessions have been organised that allow the CIMP scientists and Saudi Aramco employees to present their work to the scientific community and discuss their findings. Numerous workshops have also been organised where shared microscope work has enabled the establishment of a rigid and coherent taxonomy. The most recent sessions were at the ‘European Palaeobotany and Palynology Conference’ (EPPC) in Dublin, Ireland in 2018, ‘The Annual Meeting of the Palynological Society-AASP’ in Ghent, Belgium in 2019, the ‘International Palaeontological Congress’ in Thailand in 2022 and at STRATI in Lille, France in 2023. The project was initially managed on behalf of CIMP by Bernard Owens. Following Bernard’s retirement, management was passed over to Charles Wellman (University of Sheffield). Team membership has varied considerable over the years due to project needs, incoming of fresh talent and new employees, and outgoing due to retirements.
The Special Project team are currently working on a 6th publication that will serve as a review of the work completed to date. Symposia are planned for the ‘International Palynological Congress/International Organisation of Palaeobotany Conference’ to be held in Prague, Czech Republic in May 2024. The latter symposia (delayed from 2020 due to the Covid pandemic) will be in honour of Bernard Owens, one of the architects of the project, who sadly passed away in 2019.
SPECIAL VOLUMES
OWENS, B., AL-TAYYAR, H. VAN DER EEM, J.G.L.A. & AL-HAJRI. S. (Eds.) 1995. Palaeozoic Palynostratigraphy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology (Special Issue), 89, 1-150. [a collection of 10 papers]:
- AL-HAJRI, S., 1995. Biostratigraphy of the Ordovician chitinozoa of northwestern Saudi Arabia. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 89, 27-48.
- CLAYTON, G., 1995. Carboniferous miospores and pollen from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 89, 115-124.
- JACHOWICZ, M., 1995. Ordovician acritarch assemblages from central and northwestern Saudi Arabia. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 89, 19-26.
- LE HÉRRISÉ, A., AL-TAYYAR, H. & VAN DER EEM, H., 1995. Startigraphic and palaeogeographic significance of Silurian acritarchs from Saudi Arabia. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 89, 49-74.
- LOBOZIAK, S. & STREEL, M., 1995. Late Lower And Middle Devonian miospores from Saudi Arabia. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 89, 105-114.
- MARSHALL, J.E.A., 1995. The Silurian of Saudi Arabia: thermal maturity, burial history and geotectonic evolution. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 89, 139-150.
- OWENS, B. & TURNER, N., 1995. Late Westphalian palynomorphs from northern Saudi Arabia. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 89, 125-138.
- PARIS, F., VERNIERS, J., AL-HAJRI, S. & AL-TAYYAR, H., 1995. Biostratigraphy and palaeogeographic affinities of Early Silurian chitinozoans from central Saudi Arabia. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 89, 75-90.
- STEEMANS, P., 1995. Silurian and Lower Emsian spores in Saudi Arabia. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 89, 91-104.
- STUMP, T.E., AL-HAJRI, S. & VAN DER EEM, J.G.J.L., 1995. Geology and biostratigraphy of the Late Precambrian through Palaeozoic sediments of Saudi Arabia. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 89, 2-5.
AL-HAJRI, S. & OWENS, B. (Eds.) 2000. Stratigraphic Palynology of the Palaeozoic of Saudi Arabia. GeoArabia Special Publication, 1, 1-231. [a collection of 13 papers]
PARIS, F., OWENS, B. & MILLER, M.A. (Eds.) 2007. Palaeozoic Palynology of the Arabian Plate and Adjacent Areas. Revue de Micropaléontologie (Special Issue), 50, 1-148. [a collection of 9 papers]:
- PARIS, F., OWENS, B. & MILLER, M.A., 2007. Palaeozoic Palynology of the Arabian Plate and Adjacent Areas. Revue de Micropaléontologie, 50, 1.
- LE HÉRISSÉ, A., AL-RUWAILI, M., MILLER, M. & VECOLI, M., 2007.·Environmental changes reflected by palynomorphs in the early Middle Ordovician Hanadir Member of the Qasim Formation, Saudi Arabia. Revue de Micropaléontologie, 50, 3-16.
- MILLER, M.A. & AL-RUWAILI, M., 2007.·Preliminary palynological investigation of Saudi Arabian Upper Ordovician glacial sediments. Revue de Micropaléontologie, 50, 17-26.
- BREUER, P., AL-GHAZI, A., AL-RUWAILI, M., HIGGS, K.T., STEEMANS, P. & WELLMAN, C., 2007.·Early to Middle Devonian miospores from northern Saudi Arabia. Revue de Micropaléontologie, 50, 27-57.
- AL-GHAZI, A., 2007.·New evidence for the Early Devonian age of the Jauf Formation in northern Saudi Arabia. Revue de Micropaléontologie, 50, 59-72.
- MARSHALL, J., MILLER, M.A., FILATOFF, J. & AL-SHAHAB, K., 2007.·Two new Middle Devonian megaspores from Saudi Arabia. Revue de Micropaléontologie, 50, 73-79.
- PARIS, F., LE HÉRISSÉ, A., MONOD, O., KOZLU, H., GHIENNE, J-F., DEAN, W.T., VECOLI, M. & GÜNAY, Y., 2007.··Ordovician chitinozoans and acritarchs from southern and southeastern Turkey. Revue de Micropaléontologie, 50, 81-107.
- HASSAN KERMADJI, A.M., 2007.·Silurian-Devonian miospores from the western and central Algeria. Revue de Micropaléontologie, 50, 109-128.
- GHAVIDEL-SYOOKI, M. & OWENS, B., 2007.·Palynostratigraphy and palaeogeography of the Padeha, Khoshyeilagh, and Mobarak formations in the eastern Alborz Range (Kopet-Dagh region), northeastern Iran. Revue de Micropaléontologie, 50, 129-144.
WELLMAN, C.H., BREUER, P., MILLER, M.A., OWENS, B. & AL-HAJRI, S. 2015. Palaeozoic palynostratigraphy of the Arabian plate (a joint project between Saudi Aramco and the Commission Internationale de Microflore du Paleozoique (CIMP)). Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology (Special Issue), 212, 1-225. [a collection of 10 papers]:
VECOLI, M., WELLMAN, C.H. & AL-HAJRI, S. 2017. New palynological investigations in the Paleozoic of Saudi Arabia and Adjoining areas (Saudi Aramco–CIMP Joint Project). Revue de Micropaléontologie, 60, 279-432. [a collection of 9 papers]:
- VECOLI, M., WELLMAN, C. & AL-HAJRI, S. 2017. New Palynological Investigations in the Paleozoic of Saudi Arabia and Adjoining Areas (Saudi Aramco–CIMP Joint Project). Revue de Micropaléontologie, 60, 279-280.
- TAYLOR, W.A., STROTHER, P.K., VECOLI, M. & AL-HAJRI, S. 2017. Wall ultrastructure of the oldest embryophytic spores: Implications for early land plant evolution. Revue de Micropaléontologie, 60, 281-288.
- LE HÉRISSÉ, A., VECOLI, M., GUIDAT, C., NOT, F. & STEEMANS, P., 2017. Middle Ordovician acritarchs and problematic organic-walled microfossils from the Saq-Hanadir transitional beds in the QSIM-801 well, Saudi Arabia. Revue de Micropaléontologie, 60, 289-318.
- VECOLI, M., WELLMAN, C., GERRIENNE, P., LE HÉRISSÉ, A., & STEEMANS, P., 2017. Middle Ordovician cryptospores from the Saq-Hanadir transitional beds in the QSIM-801 well, Saudi Arabia. Revue de Micropaléontologie, 60, 319-331.
- AL-SHAWAREB, A., MILLER, M. & VECOLI, M., 2017. Late Ordovician (Katian) chitinozoans from northwest Saudi Arabia: Biostratigraphic and paleoenvironmental implications. Revue de Micropaléontologie, 60, 333-369.
- BREUER, P., AL-HAJRI, S., LE HÉRISSÉ, A., PARIS, F. & WELLMAN, C.H., 2017. A distinctive marginal marine palynological assemblage from the Přídolí of northwestern Saudi Arabia. Revue de Micropaléontologie, 60, 371-402.
- MARSHALL, J.E.A., ZHU, H., WELLMAN, C.H., BERRY, C.M. & BREUER, P., 971. Provincial Devonian spores from South China, Saudi Arabia and Australia. Revue de Micropaléontologie, 60, 403-409.
- CLAYTON, G., GOODHUE, R., ABDELBAGI, S.T. & VECOLI, M., 2017. Correlation of Palynomorph Darkness Index and vitrinite reflectance in a submature Carboniferous well section in northern Saudi Arabia. Revue de Micropaléontologie, 60, 411-416.
- STEPHENSON, M.H., KADEER AL-MASHAIKIE, S.Z.A., KURUKCHI, W.M., 2017. Palynological assemblages across the Hercynian unconformity in Western Iraq. Revue de Micropaléontologie, 60, 417-432.