K–T transition in Deccan Traps of central India marks major marine Seaway across India

Triggering of the largest Deccan eruptions by the Chicxulub impact

“…In a remarkable set of recent papers, Keller and colleagues have been able to fi nd planktic foraminifera of late Maastrichtian and Danian age closely associated with the Deccan Traps, although the sedimentological evidence for environments of deposition needs to be carefully studied. At Jhimili in the Mandla Lobe, 150 km southwest of Jabalpur, Keller et al (2009) found earliest Danian (P1a zone) planktic foraminifera in a 14 m sedimentary unit between two lava fl ows. If these foraminifera are not reworked, and if the underlying basalt belongs to the Ambenali Formation, probably present throughout the Mandla lobe (Peng et al, 1998;Vanderkluysen et al, 2011), this discovery of zone P1a foraminifera would suggest that the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary and the Ambenali fl ows were nearly time-coincident; geochemical identifi cation of the basalt and environmental analysis of the sediments will thus be critical.…”

Presence of Frambocythere COLIN, 1980, (limnic ostracode) in the Maastrichtian of the Zagros Mountains, Iran: a newly recognized link between southern Europe and the Far East

“…It has been reported in the Albian (Loia Formation) of the Democratic Republic of Congo as Frambocythere pustulosa (GREKOFF, 1957) and also from the Albo-Aptian of Chad (COLIN, 1993;COLIN & DÉPÊCHE, 1997 (BABINOT, 1980;COLIN, 1991;BABINOT et al, 1996), and one subspecies, , 1999;WHATLEY & BAJPAJ, 2000, 2006WHATLEY et al, 2002;KELLER et al, 2009). The same year as HELMDACH (1978) described the Spanish species as Bisulcocypris tumiensis, in north-west China, YE (in HOU et al, 1978), named a species Bisulcocypris fanghiaensis from the Upper Maastrichtian.…”

“…The presence of Frambocythere in the Maastrichtian of India is more difficult to explain since the collision of India with Asia is dated 10 Ma years later, at about 55 Ma (AIT- CHISON et al, 2007). The most likely scenario is that Laurasian terrestrial taxa, including ostracodes, amphibians and vertebrates, entered India following a presumed terrestrial route as suggested by PRASAD & RAGE (1991), SAHNI (2009) andRAGE (2003) (Fig. 4) …”

87Sr/86Sr anomalies in Late Cretaceous-Early Tertiary strata of the Cauvery basin, south India: Constraints on nature and rate of environmental changes across K-T boundary

“…According to these studies, an increasing body of evidence points to the presence of abrupt δ 18 O and δ 13 C changes associated with the KTB (Romein and Smit 1981;Hsü et al 1982;Shackleton and Hall 1984;Mount et al 1986;Zachos and Arthur 1986). At number of localities, however, δ 18 O and δ 13 C changes have been found to precede the K-T boundary (Keller et al 1998Keller et al 2008aKeller et al , 2008b2009a, 2009b as defined by the worldwide iridium anomaly (Renard et al 1984;Williams et al 1983;Mount et al 1986;Zachos and Arthur 1986;Zhao et al 2002). Similarly, Kramar et al (2001); Stüben et al (2002); Keller et al (2002a) and Adatte et al (2002) recorded anomalies of Platinum group elements far below K-T boundary.…”

“…Acidification of ocean water due to Deccan volcanism and resultant environmental deterioration, preceding KTB was interpreted through Os isotopic profiles by Robinson et al (2009) that imply not only the deterioration of atmosphere by addition of CO 2 , but also the direct influence of volcanism on marine environment by acidification that made it inhospitable for selective species. The studies of Keller (2008bKeller ( , 2009b) that followed multidisciplinary approach to document bio, litho, magnetostratigraphic, mineralogic, and sedimentological data of KTB of Krishna-Godavari basin and stratigraphic records of Jhilmili area of Madhya Pradesh, India respectively, suggested that significant part of Deccan volcanism itself might have ended prior to perceived KTB. Predating of Deccan volcanism has been suggested by few other authors too (Venkatesan et al 1993;Bhandari et al 1993a;Khadkikar et al 1999).…”