Stratigraphic correlation between different Gondwana Basins of India

Abstract

Gondwana Basins of India occur within the suture zones of Precambrian cratonic blocks of Peninsular India along some linear belts. More than 99% of the total coal resource of the country is present within these basins. The basins are demarcated by boundary faults having graben or half-graben geometry.These basins preserve a thick sedimentary pile deposited over nearly 200 million years from latest Carboniferous to Lower Cretaceous. However, due to lack of well-constrained data, age of most of the formations is assigned tentatively. This has resulted in diversified views on both intra-and inter-basinal stratigraphic correlation particularly in case of Upper Gondwana formations.It is well recognised that there are distinct spatial and temporal similarities in lithological, faunal and floral distribution in different Gondwana Basins of southern continents, including India, that were once part of supercontinent Gondwanaland.To address the problems of Indian Gondwana stratigraphy, during the present study, some unique events, also recognised in other parts of Gondwanaland, like marine flooding surfaces, large scale tectonic events or major change in depositional environment have been used as a tool for temporal correlation within the Gondwana Basins of India. Many of these events have been dated from different basins elsewhere. Considering these major events as time planes the total time span of deposition in Gondwana Basins has been classified into seven time slots. Recognition of these time planes helps in interbasinal correlation of different formations in Indian Gondwana basins and assigning the age, wherever available. This approach also helps in better understanding of basinal history. Unless otherwise mentioned, the time scale proposed by International Commission on Stratigraphy (2004) has been followed in this paper.

Record of Permian Tethyan transgression in eastern India: A reappraisal of the Barren Measures Formation, West Bokaro Coalfield

“…The West Bokaro Coalfield manifests similar characteristics. Many researchers evaluated the sedimentation pattern of these coal-bearing deposits and their tectono-climatic conditions (Fox, 1931(Fox, , 1934Sen, 1967;Casshyap, 1970Casshyap, , 1973Casshyap, , 1979Raja Rao, 1987;Casshyap and Tewari, 1988;Chandra, 1992;Bandhyopadhyay, 1996;Mukhopadhyay, 1996;Tewari, 1998;Dutt and Mukhopadhyay, 2001;Mukhopadhyay et al, 2010;Bhattacharya et al, 2012, and many others). In comparison, the Barren Measures Formation (middle Permian), a distinct lithounit sandwitched between the Barakar and Raniganj Formations, remained neglected, possibly due to the simple fact that this lithounit is completely devoid of coal reserves.…”

“…In comparison, the Barren Measures Formation (middle Permian), a distinct lithounit sandwitched between the Barakar and Raniganj Formations, remained neglected, possibly due to the simple fact that this lithounit is completely devoid of coal reserves. The paleoenvironmentalepaleoclimatic attributes of the Barren Measures Formation remained unexplored and unassigned for long, apart from few isolated, sketchy documentations (Sengupta et al, 1979;Mukhopadhyay, 1984;Srivastava and Tewari, 2001;Dasgupta, 2005;Hota and Das, 2010;Mukhopadhyay et al, 2010). The researchers found drastic change from coal-depositing to non-coal depositing setup, commonly attributed to climatic conditions within a predominant fluviatile/lacustrine depositional realm.…”

Structural model of the Balkassar area, Potwar Plateau, Pakistan

“…Furthermore, similar mobilization of the Harmos and Namakdan salt diapirs is observed in the Persian Gulf (Mukherjee et al 2010). A likewise deep erosion, faulting, tilting of strata are observed in the Indian basins that marks post-Early Norian hiatus (Mukhopadhyay et al 2010;Iqbal et al 2014b). Similar normal faults are present below: Rothas anticline, Domeli thrust in eastern Potwar (Pennock et al 1989), Joya Mair-Chak Naurang anticline, Qazian-Bhubar anticline and Chank Beli Khan anticline in central Potwar (Lillie et al 1987;Baker 1987;Baker et al 1988).…”

Pennsylvanian conifers from interglacial taphoflora of Monte Mor, Itararé Group, State of São Paulo, Brazil: the earliest of the Paraná Basin

“…There are some diachronic evidences of these events in Gondwana sediments of Brazil, Argentina, Africa, India, Antarctica and Australia (Mukhopadhyay et al, 2010).…”