.Th e 850 m thick Upper C retaceous- Lower Tertiary succession of the Th emed are a , East Cen tral S i n a i , ranges i n age from the Cenomanian to the late Lutetian or even B iarritzia n . I n the c e ntral and northern parts of the study area, the newly introduced Th e m e d Formation i s a lateral equivalent of the Matulla Formation . The Maas trich tian-Paleocene contact is located within the lower part of the Esna Formation . The nummulitic limestone sequence at the top of the Paleogene part of the succession contains Nummulites c f. lyelli which ind icates a late Lutetian to B iarri tzian age