Late Maastrichtian vegetation and palaeoclimate: Palynological inferences from the Deccan Volcanic Province of India

Mishra, Shreya; Singh, Sarvendra Pratap; Arif, Md.; Singh, Arvind; Srivastava, Gaurav; Ramesh, B.R.; Prasad, Vandana

doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2021.105126

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 146 publications

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“…Published palaeoclimate studies generally agree that a tropical climate prevailed at equatorial latitudes during the Maastrichtian, based on biostratigraphy (Schlüter et al, 2008), palaeosol analysis (Kumari et al, 2021), and palynology (Mishra et al, 2022). In the Qahlah Formation of the Fanja Basin, this is supported mineralogically, first of all by the presence of laterite, which reflect chemical weathering of exposed surfaces and near‐surface rocks during tropical‐subtropical conditions (Al‐Khirbash, 2020; Nolan et al, 1990).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Impact of faulting in depocentres development, facies assemblages, drainage patterns, and provenance in continental half‐graben basins: An example from the Fanja Basin of Oman

et al. 2022

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Fault throw gradients create transverse folding, and this can influence accommodation creation and sedimentary routing and infill patterns in extensional halfgraben basin. The Fanja half-graben basin (Oman) offers an excellent outcrop of an alluvial fan succession displaying cyclical stacking and basin-scale growthfold patterns. These unique conditions allow for an investigation of fault-timing and accommodation development related to fault-transverse folding. Our study combines geological mapping, structural analysis, sedimentary logging and correlation, and bulk mineralogical compositions. Mapping reveals that the basin is bounded by a regional-scale fault, with local depocentres changing position in response to transverse syncline and anticline development ascribed to faultdisplacement gradients. The alluvial Qahlah Formation (Late Cretaceous) is unconformably overlying the Semail Ophiolite, and is in turn overlain by the marine Jafnayn Formation (Late Palaeocene). Facies and stratigraphic analysis allows for subdivision of the Qahlah Formation into four informal units, from base to top: (i) laterite in topographic depressions of the ophiolite, (ii) greenish pebbly sandstones, deriving from axially draining braided streams deposited in the lowrelief half-graben basin. This green Qahlah grades vertically into the red Qahlah, formed by alluvial fanglomerates and floodplain mudstones, with drainage patterns changing from fault-transverse to fault-parallel with increasing distance to the main fault. The red Qahlah can be divided into (iii) the Wadi al Theepa member, found in a western basin depocentre, with higher immaturity and sand: mud ratio, suggesting a more proximal source, and (iv) the Al Batah member, located in the eastern part of the basin. The latter shows better sorting, a lower sand: mud ratio, and more prominent graded sub-units. It also shows eastward expansion from an orthogonal monocline, ascribed to accommodation developed in a relay EAGE WÜRTZEN et al.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Impact of faulting in depocentres development, facies assemblages, drainage patterns, and provenance in continental half‐graben basins: An example from the Fanja Basin of Oman

et al. 2022

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“…110–50 Ma). The primary evidence for the presence of the family in India and Africa during that interval is palynological ( Morley, 2018 ; Prasad et al, 2018 ; Ashton et al, 2021 ; Bansal et al, 2022 ; Mishra et al, 2022 ) and quite compelling, appearing to eliminate the rival idea of Asian dipterocarp origins ( e.g ., Shukla, Mehrotra & Guleria, 2013 ; Srivastava et al, 2014 ). However, nearly all potentially supporting macrofossil and geochemical evidence has been contested ( Shukla, Mehrotra & Guleria, 2013 ; Kooyman et al, 2019 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First fossil-leaf floras from Brunei Darussalam show dipterocarp dominance in Borneo by the Pliocene

Wilf

Zou

Donovan

et al. 2022

PeerJ

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The Malay Archipelago is one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth, but it suffers high extinction risks due to severe anthropogenic pressures. Paleobotanical knowledge provides baselines for the conservation of living analogs and improved understanding of vegetation, biogeography, and paleoenvironments through time. The Malesian bioregion is well studied palynologically, but there have been very few investigations of Cenozoic paleobotany (plant macrofossils) in a century or more. We report the first paleobotanical survey of Brunei Darussalam, a sultanate on the north coast of Borneo that still preserves the majority of its extraordinarily diverse, old-growth tropical rainforests. We discovered abundant compression floras dominated by angiosperm leaves at two sites of probable Pliocene age: Berakas Beach, in the Liang Formation, and Kampong Lugu, in an undescribed stratigraphic unit. Both sites also yielded rich palynofloral assemblages from the macrofossil-bearing beds, indicating lowland fern-dominated swamp (Berakas Beach) and mangrove swamp (Kampong Lugu) depositional environments. Fern spores from at least nine families dominate both palynological assemblages, along with abundant fungal and freshwater algal remains, rare marine microplankton, at least four mangrove genera, and a diverse rainforest tree and liana contribution (at least 19 families) with scarce pollen of Dipterocarpaceae, today’s dominant regional life form. Compressed leaves and rare reproductive material represent influx to the depocenters from the adjacent coastal rainforests. Although only about 40% of specimens preserve informative details, we can distinguish 23 leaf and two reproductive morphotypes among the two sites. Dipterocarps are by far the most abundant group in both compression assemblages, providing rare, localized evidence for dipterocarp-dominated lowland rainforests in the Malay Archipelago before the Pleistocene. The dipterocarp fossils include winged Shorea fruits, at least two species of plicate Dipterocarpus leaves, and very common Dryobalanops leaves. We attribute additional leaf taxa to Rhamnaceae (Ziziphus), Melastomataceae, and Araceae (Rhaphidophora), all rare or new fossil records for the region. The dipterocarp leaf dominance contrasts sharply with the family’s <1% representation in the palynofloras from the same strata. This result directly demonstrates that dipterocarp pollen is prone to strong taphonomic filtering and underscores the importance of macrofossils for quantifying the timing of the dipterocarps’ rise to dominance in the region. Our work shows that complex coastal rainforests dominated by dipterocarps, adjacent to swamps and mangroves and otherwise similar to modern ecosystems, have existed in Borneo for at least 4–5 million years. Our findings add historical impetus for the conservation of these gravely imperiled and extremely biodiverse ecosystems.

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“…Fossil pollen for the present study were recovered from four Indian geological sites (Figure 2): Gaumukh village (24º 19´41″ N, 77º 16´ 45 E″), Intertrappean beds, Madhya Pradesh, India; Maastrichtian age (Mishra et al, 2022). Sonari Lignite Mine (25º57´38″ N, 71º16´ 25 E″), Barmer Basin, Rajasthan, India.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biogeographic and evolutionary history of Crotonoideae based on pollen evidence from Indian Late Cretaceous and Paleogene sediments

Bansal¹,

Mishra²,

Prasad³

2022

Biotropica

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Euphorbiaceae Juss. is a globally distributed angiosperm family with considerable diversity. It is divided into five subfamilies, each of which possesses pollen of distinct morphology. The subfamily Crotonoideae, occurring in evergreen, moist deciduous as well as dry deciduous forests of the world, shows a disjunct distribution pattern in Gondwana and Southeast Asia. This subfamily underwent multiple speciation and extinction events during the northward voyage of the Indian Plate during the Late Cretaceous-early Paleogene. We studied Crotonoideae fossil pollen from the Late Cretaceous Deccan Intertrappeans (Central India) and early Paleogene sediments from the western Indian lignite mines, and as a result, report 10 pollen fossils showing similarity with the extant genera Blachia, Croton, Endospermum, Jatropha, Klaineanthus, and Tetrorchidium, representing 4 tribes of Crotonoideae viz. Adenoclineae, Codiaeae, Crotoneae, and Jatropheae. Fossil evidences from the present study suggest a Gondwanan origin for Crotonoideae. Based on the extant and fossil species, Africa could be the place of origin for most of the Crotonoideae lineages that later dispersed to India via the Kohistan-Ladakh Island Arc during the late Maastrichtian-Paleocene time. The former distribution of Crotonoideae in mid-high latitudinal regions is due to the dispersal of the subfamily from Africa to mid latitudinal regions of northern hemisphere during the early Paleogene via the boreotropical dispersal route. This study also corroborates the "Out of India" hypothesis for the dispersal of Crotonoideae from India to Southeast Asia. The present deep-time fossil records from India discussed in this study substantiate the evolutionary and biogeographic history of subfamily Crotonoideae.

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Late Maastrichtian vegetation and palaeoclimate: Palynological inferences from the Deccan Volcanic Province of India

Cited by 10 publications

References 146 publications

Impact of faulting in depocentres development, facies assemblages, drainage patterns, and provenance in continental half‐graben basins: An example from the Fanja Basin of Oman

Impact of faulting in depocentres development, facies assemblages, drainage patterns, and provenance in continental half‐graben basins: An example from the Fanja Basin of Oman

First fossil-leaf floras from Brunei Darussalam show dipterocarp dominance in Borneo by the Pliocene

Biogeographic and evolutionary history of Crotonoideae based on pollen evidence from Indian Late Cretaceous and Paleogene sediments

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