Ahmed Mansourhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-2466-7494,^1,*,** Sameh S. Tahounhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-0425-8848,^2,** Thomas Gentzis,^3,*** Ashraf M.T. Elewa<sup>1,****

1</sup>aGeology Department, Faculty of Science, Minia University, Minia, Egypt
²bGeology Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt
³cReservoir Geology, Core Laboratories LP, Houston, TX, USA

^*CONTACT Ahmed Mansour ahmedmans48@mu.edu.eg Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Minia University, 61519 Minia, Egypt.
^**Sameh S. Tahoun is an associate professor in the Geology Department at Cairo University, Egypt. He received his BSc (1999), MSc (2004) and PhD (2008) from Cairo University. His research interests are focused on palynological stratigraphical applications in oil industry and the biostratigraphy of Egypt and Middle East. His main research interest and publications include Mesozoic quantitative palynology for biostratigraphical correlation, palynofacies studies, thermal maturation, sequence recognition and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions.
^***Thomas Gentzis holds a BSc degree in Geology from the University of Calgary, Canada (1981) and a MSc degree also in Geology from the University of Alberta (1985). He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, in 1991, specializing in organic petrology and geochemistry. He spent 10 years with the Alberta Research Council in Edmonton, Canada, researching coal and hydrocar bon processing, source-rock potential, coalbed methane exploration, trace element geochemistry of coals, and carbon storage/enhanced CBM production. This was followed by 3 and ½ years on heavy oil and bitumen upgrading and refining at the National Center for Upgrading Technology in Alberta. In 2001, Thomas joined CDX Canada, where he played a key role in the successful drilling and production from horizontal wells in deep, low-permeability coals beds in western Canada. Thomas joined Petron Resources in Dallas, Texas, in January 2007 as an unconventional resource specialist by supporting the development of exploration projects nationally and internationally. Eventually, he was hired by Core Laboratories at the Houston Advanced Technology Center in June 2009. In his present capacity as Geological Advisor and Organic Petrologist, Thomas leads a team in organic petrological and geochemical services to clients worldwide and in maintaining functional excellence in the geosciences. Thomas has published 150 technical papers in peer-reviewed journals, three book chapters, has given numerous presentations at conferences and symposia by invitation, and is/has been a member of the editorial board of three journals and several scientific organizations. In January 2017, he was appointed Adjunct Professor at the Department of Petroleum Engineering, University of North Dakota, USA, where he co-supervises a number of graduate students. Currently, Thomas serves as President of TSOP (The Society for Organic Petrology).
^****Ashraf M.T. Elewa currently serves as a full professor and head of the geology department, at Minia University. He earned B.Sc. (Geology), M.Sc. (Lithostratigraphy and Paleontology), and Ph.D. (Micropaleontology and Biostratigraphy) degrees from the same University. His main interests are: 1) paleoecology, biostratigraphy, paleobiogeography and evolution by means of Ostracoda and foraminifera (Cretaceous to Miocene) with the aid of the Multivariate Data Analyses (correspondence analysis, principal coordinate analysis, principal component analysis, canonical correlation analysis, canonical variate analysis, cluster analysis, discriminant analysis, multiple regression analysis, MANOVA etc.); 2) Traditional and geometric morphometrics with the aid of different techniques like: canonical variate analysis, principal warps and thin plate splines, eigenshape analysis, Fourier analysis and others; 3) Systematics and the evolutionary trends in Ostracoda; 4) Predation by drills on Ostracoda.