Abdel Ghani A. El Shamma,^1,*,** Tarek F. Mostafa,^1,*** Walid A. Makledhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-2209-885X<sup>1,****

1</sup>Exploration Department, Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute, 1 Ahmed El-Zomor Street, El-Zohour Re

^*CONTACT Walid A. Makled walidmakled@yahoo.com, walidmakled@epri.sci.eg
^**ABDEL GHANI A. EL SHAMMA has been a professor of palynology in the Exploration Department of the Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute (EPRI) since 1999. He received his PhD from Moscow University in Russia in 1985, on palynology of the Western Desert. He led the projects in the micropalaeontology laboratory for over 30 years. His main area of interest is the palynological biozonation of subsurface rocks for industrial applications in the Western Desert and Gulf of Suez. His research covers palynology of the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic, and their palaeoclimatological phases.
^***TAREK F. MOSTAFA has been an assistant professor in the micropalaeontology laboratory of the Exploration Department in the Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute (EPRI) since 2015. He received his PhD in 1997 from Ain Shames University, on the palynology of the Palaeozoic in the subsurface of Western Desert. He has been involved in many palynological projects and industrial services during his career. Although he has produced significant work on the Mesozoic and Cenozoic, his main interest is the palynological biozonation of the Palaeozoic, especially of chitinozoans and acritarchs.
^****WALID A. MAKLED has been an assistant professor in the micropalaeontology laboratory of the Exploration Department in the Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute (EPRI) since 2016. He obtained his PhD from Steinmann Institute, Bonn University, Germany, under Prof. Martin Langer on the Neogene foraminifera and palynology from the Nile Delta, as well as several studies on recent marine environments. He received a post-doctoral position in the same institute in 2014. Since 2011, he has concentrated on developing the application of microfossils in the petroleum industry. Besides biostratigraphy and sequence stratigraphy, his research involves the evaluation of source rock and thermal maturity of organic matter using organic geochemistry, palynofacies, spore colouration and organic petrology.