الفهرس 
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Abstract
El-Fayoum Province is a more or less circular depression in the Western Desert, situated 70 Km. south-southwest of Cairo and 15 Km. northwest of Beni Suef. It lies between latitudes 28° 50’ and 29° 50’ North, and longitudes 30° 00 and 31° 15′ East. It covers an area of approximately 1,700 km2. (Fig.1).
El-Fayoum is bounded on all sides by hills or escarpments which are truncated to the southeast by the Hawara Channel, through which flows the irrigation canal Bahr Youssef that leaves the Nile at Lahun and enters the depression at Hawara.
The lowest portion of the depression is occupied by a brackish water lake, Birket Qarun, which lies at the foot of the northern scarp. It has an areal extent of less than 200 km2. and an elevation of 45m. below sea level.
Scope of the present work
The aim of the present work is to discuss in detail the stratigraphy and paleontological characteristics of El- Fayoum Province.
Detailed stratigraphical studies of the exposed Eocene strata were made through the study of four stratigraphic sections (Fig.2), and correlate the studied sections on lithologic and faunal bases.
The bivalvian shells, that collected from several horizons within each section, were identified, described, and this helped in the determination of the age of the different exposed rock units.