Current Science

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

Early Oligocene (Rupelian) Dinoflagellate Cysts and Calcareous Nannofossils from Lumpy Clay Member of Maniyara Fort Formation, Kutch, Gujarat, India


Affiliations
1 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, 53-University Road, Lucknow 226 007, India
 

The Palaeogene succession of Kutch, Gujarat exhibits huge shallow marine carbonate deposits of Middle Eocene and Oligocene ages. These deposits were mainly dated on the basis of larger benthic foraminifers. The paucity of foraminifers in the intermittent units of the succession resulted in discrepancy in precise dating of these strata. Lumpy Clay Member of Maniyara Fort Formation is one such example. This is considered as unfossiliferous in terms of foraminifers and was dated on the basis of foraminiferal assemblages of underlying Basal and overlying Coral Limestone members. In the present study, palynological biostratigraphy is proposed for the Lumpy Clay Member exposed at Bermoti Village, in Kutch. On the basis of age-diagnostic calcareous nannofossil and dinoflagellate cyst assemblages, the studied succession has been dated as Middle Rupelian (~31 Ma). The palynological data suggests a shallow marine neritic depositional setting, occasionally swept by open oceanic water.

Keywords

Calcareous Nannofossils, Dinoflagellate Cysts, Kutch, Lumpy Clay Member, Maniyara Forth Formation, Rupelian.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • Miller, K. G. et al., The phanerozoic record of global sea-level change. Science, 2005, 310, 1293–1298.

  • Coxall, H. K. and Pearson, P. N., The Eocene–Oligocene transition. In Deep-Time Perspectives on Climate Change: Marrying the Signal from Computer Models and Biological Proxies (eds Williams, M. et al.), The Micropalaeontological Society, Special Publications, The Geological Society, London, 2007, vol. 2, pp. 351–387.

  • Adams, C. G., Butterlin, J. and Samanta, B. K., Larger foraminifera and events at the Eocene/Oligocene boundary in the Indo-West Pacific region. In Terminal Eocene Events (eds Pomerol, C. and Premoli Silva, I.), Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1986, pp. 237–252.

  • Renema, W., Larger foraminfera as marine environmental indicators. Scr. Geol., 2002, 124, 1–239.

  • Renema, W., Fauna development of larger benthic foraminifera in the Cenozoic of Southeast Asia. In Biogeography, Time, and Place: Distributions, Barriers, and Islands (ed. Renema, W.), Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 2007, pp. 179–215.

  • Wilson, M. E., Cenozoic carbonates in Southeast Asia: implications for equatorial carbonate development. Sediment. Geol., 2002, 147, 295–428.

  • Mukhopadhyay, S. K., Earliest Pellatispira Boussac from the middle Eocene of India: morphological speciality of the ancestral stock. J. Asian Earth Sci., 2003, 22, 209–225.

  • Sarangi, S., Sarkar, A., Bhattacharya, S. K. and Ray, A. K., Isotopic evidence of a rapid cooling and continuous sedimentation across the Eocene–Oligocene boundary of Wagapadhar and Waior, Kutch. J. Geol. Soc. India, 1998, 51, 245–248.

  • Sarangi, S., Sarkar, A., Bhattacharya, S. K., Ebihara, M. and Ray, A. K., Growth rate and life span of Eocene–Oligocene Nummulites tests: Inferences from Sr/Ca ratio. Terra Nova, 2001, 13, 264–269.

  • Sarkar, A., Sarangi, S., Ebihara, M., Bhattacharya, S. K. and Ray, A. K., Carbonate geochemistry across the Eocene/Oligocene boundary of Kutch, western India: implications to oceanic O2-poor condition and foraminiferal extinction. Chem. Geol., 2003, 201, 281–293.

  • Nagappa, Y., Foraminiferal biostratigraphy of the Cretaceous– Eocene succession in the India–Pakistan–Burma region. Micropalaeontology, 1959, 5(2), 145–192.

  • Chatterji, A. K. and Mathur, U. B., A note on the Nari Series of Kutch, Gujarat. Bull. Geol. Soc. India, 1966, 3(1), 9–11.

  • Biswas, S. K. and Raju, D. S. N., Note on the rock-stratigraphic classification of Tertiary sediments of Kutch. Q. J. Geol. Min. Met. Soc. India, 1971, 43(3), 177–180.

  • Biswas, S. K., Tertiary stratigraphy of Kutch. J. Palaeontol. Soc. India, 1992, 37, 1–29.

  • Biswas, S. K., A note on the geology of Kutch, Gujarat. Q. J. Geol. Min. Metall. Soc. India, 1971, 43, 223–235.

  • Biswas, S. K., Time stratigraphic classification of the Tertiary rocks of Kutch – a revision and amendments. Q. J. Geol. Min. Metall. Soc. India, 1973, 44(3), 223–235.

  • Biswas, S. K., A new classification of the Tertiary rocks of Kutch, western India. Bull. Geol. Min. Metall. Soc. India, 1965, 35, 1–6.

  • Kumar, A. and Saraswati, P. K., Response of larger foraminifera to mixed carbonate – siliciclastic environments: an example from the Oligocene–Miocene sequence of Kutch, India. Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol., 1997, 136, 53–65.

  • Bown, P. R. and Young, J. R., Techniques. In Calcareous Nannofossil Biostratigraphy (ed. Bown, P. R.), Cambridge University Press, Chapman and Hall, London, 1998, pp. 16–28.

  • de Kaenel, E. and Villa, G., Oligocene–Miocene calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy and paleoecology from the Iberia Abyssal Plain. In Proceedings of the ODP, Scientific Results (eds Whitmarsh, R. B. et al.), 1996, vol. 149, pp. 79–145; doi:10.2973/odp.proc.sr.149.208.1996.

  • http://www.mikrotax.org/Nannotax3/index.php?dir=Coccolithophores/Isochrysidales/Noelaerhabdaceae/Reticulofenestra/R.%20umbilicus%20group/Reticulofenestra%20circus

  • Brinkhuis, H. and Biffi, U., Dinoflagellate cyst stratigraphy of the Eocene/Oligocene transition in central Italy. Mar. Micropaleontol., 1993, 22, 131–183.

  • Williams, G. L., Brinkhuis, H., Pearce, M. A., Fensome, R. A. and Weegink, J. W., Southern Ocean and Global dinoflagellate cyst events compared: index events for the Late Cretaceous–Neogene. In Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results (eds. Exon, N. F., Kennett, J. P. and Malone, M. J.), 2004, vol. 189, pp. 1–98.

  • Eaton, G. L., Fensome, R. A., Riding, J. B. and Williams, G. L., Re-evaluation of the status of the dinoflagellate cyst genus Cleistosphaeridium. N. Jb. Geol. Abh., 2001, 219, 171–205.

  • Köthe, A., Paleogene dinoflagellates from Northwest Germany – biostratigraphy and paleoenvironment. Geol. Jahrb. A, 1990, 118, 3–111.

  • Köthe, A. and Piesker, B., Stratigraphic distribution of Paleogene and Miocene dinocysts in Germany. Rev. Paléobiol., 2007, 26(1), 1–39.

  • Benedek, P. N., Ergebnisse der Phytoplankton-Untersuchungen aus dem Nordwestdeutschen Tertiär. In Nordwestdeutschland im Tertiär–Beiträge Regzur Regionalen (ed. Tobien, H.), Beiträge zur regionalen Geologie der Erde, 1986, vol. 18, pp. 157– 185.

  • Williams, G. L. and Bujak, J. P., Distribution patterns of some North Atlantic Cenozoic dinoflagellate cysts. Mar. Micropaleontol., 1977, 2, 223–233.

  • Williams, G. L., Stover, L. and Kidson, E. J., Morphology and stratigraphic ranges of selected Mesozoic–Cenozoic dinoflagellate taxa in the Northern Hemisphere. Geol. Surv. Can. Pap., 1993, 92(10), 1–137.

  • De Coninck, J., Organic-walled phytoplankton biostratigraphy of the Eocene–Oligocene transition in the Kallo borehole and the Rupelian stratotype area (North-western Belgium). Bull. Soc. Belge Géol., 1999, 105, 171–209.

  • Van Simaeys, S., Munsterman, D. and Brinkhuis, H., Oligocene dinoflagellate cyst biostratigraphy of the southern North Sea Basin. Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol., 2005, 134, 105–128.

  • Awad, W. K. and Oboh-Ikuenobe, F. E., Late Paleogene–early Neogene dinoflagellate cyst biostratigraphy of the eastern Equatorial Atlantic. J. Afr. Earth Sci., 2018, 140, 267–231.

  • Stover, L. E. and Hardenbol, J., Dinoflagellates and depositional sequences in the Lower Oligocene (Rupelian) Boom Clay Formation, Belgium. Bull. Soc. Belge Geol., 1994, 102(1–2), 5–77.

  • Zonneveld, K. A. F. et al., Atlas of modern dinoflagellate cyst distribution based on 2405 data points. Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol., 2013, 191, 1–197.

  • Stover, L. E., Oligocene and Early Miocene dinoflagellates from Atlantic Corehole 5/5B, Blake Plateau. Am. Assoc. Strat. Palynol., Contrib. Ser. A, 1977, 5, 66–89.

  • Awad, W. K. and Oboh-Ikuenobe, F. E., Early Paleogene dinoflagellate cysts from ODP Hole 959D in the Côte d’Ivoire-Ghana Transform Margin, West Africa: new species, biostratigraphy and paleoenvironmental implications. J. Afr. Earth Sci., 2016, 123, 123–144.

  • Brinkhuis, H., Late Eocene to Early Oligocene dinoflagellate cysts from the Priabonian type-area (northeast Italy): biostratigraphy and paleoenvironmental interpretation. Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol., 1994, 107, 121–163.

  • Dybkjaer, K., Morphological and abundance variations in Homotrybliumcyst assemblages related to depositional environments; uppermost Oligocene–Lower Miocene, Jylland, Denmark. Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol., 2004, 206, 41–58.

  • Dale, B. and Fjellsa, A., Dinoflagellate cysts as paleoproductivity indicators: state of the art, potential, and limits. In Carbon Cycling in the Glacial Ocean: Constraints on the Ocean’s Role in Global Change (eds Zahn, R. et al.), Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1994, pp. 521–537.

  • Edwards, L. E., New semiquantitative (paleo) temperature estimates using dinoflagellate cysts, an example from the North Atlantic Ocean. In Neogene and Quaternary Dinoflagellate Cysts and Acritarchs (eds Head, M. J. and Wrenn, J. H.), American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists Foundation, Dallas, Texas, USA, 1992, pp. 69–87.

  • Wall, D., Dale, B., Lohmann, G. P. and Smith, W. K., The environmental and climatic distribution of dinoflagellate cysts in modern marine sediments from regions in the North and South Atlantic Oceans and adjacent areas. Mar. Micropaleontol., 1977, 2, 121– 200.

  • Edwards, L. E. and Andrle, V. A. S., Distribution of selected dinoflagellate cysts in modern marine sediments. In Neogene and Quaternary Dinoflagellate Cysts and Acritarchs (eds Head, M. J. and Wrenn, J. H.), American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists Foundation, Texas, USA, 1992, pp. 259–288.

  • Udeze, C. U. and Oboh-Ikuenobe, F. E., Neogene paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic events inferred from palynological data: Cape Basin off South Africa, ODP Leg 175. Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol., 2005, 219, 199–223.

  • Ogg, J. G., Ogg, G. and Gradstein, F. M., A Concise Geologic Time Scale, Elsevier, 2016, pp. 1–240; ISBN: 9780444637710.

  • Martini, E., Standard Tertiary and Quaternary calcareous nannoplankton zonation. In Proceedings of the Second Planktonic Conference Roma 1970 (ed. Farinacci, A.), Edizioni Tecnoscienza, Rome, 1971, vol. 2, pp. 739–785.


Abstract Views: 242

PDF Views: 73




  • Early Oligocene (Rupelian) Dinoflagellate Cysts and Calcareous Nannofossils from Lumpy Clay Member of Maniyara Fort Formation, Kutch, Gujarat, India

Abstract Views: 242  |  PDF Views: 73

Authors

Poonam Verma
Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, 53-University Road, Lucknow 226 007, India
Abha Singh
Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, 53-University Road, Lucknow 226 007, India

Abstract


The Palaeogene succession of Kutch, Gujarat exhibits huge shallow marine carbonate deposits of Middle Eocene and Oligocene ages. These deposits were mainly dated on the basis of larger benthic foraminifers. The paucity of foraminifers in the intermittent units of the succession resulted in discrepancy in precise dating of these strata. Lumpy Clay Member of Maniyara Fort Formation is one such example. This is considered as unfossiliferous in terms of foraminifers and was dated on the basis of foraminiferal assemblages of underlying Basal and overlying Coral Limestone members. In the present study, palynological biostratigraphy is proposed for the Lumpy Clay Member exposed at Bermoti Village, in Kutch. On the basis of age-diagnostic calcareous nannofossil and dinoflagellate cyst assemblages, the studied succession has been dated as Middle Rupelian (~31 Ma). The palynological data suggests a shallow marine neritic depositional setting, occasionally swept by open oceanic water.

Keywords


Calcareous Nannofossils, Dinoflagellate Cysts, Kutch, Lumpy Clay Member, Maniyara Forth Formation, Rupelian.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv116%2Fi9%2F1571-1580