Palyno-Stratigraphy of the Lower Gondwana Rocks of Darjeeling, Eastern Himalaya, India

In the course of systematic palynological investigation of the Lower Gondwana (Permian) coals from Darjeeling district, West Bengal, 36 miospore genera are recorded. The two coal-bearing Lower Gordwana slices, referred to as Rongtong or Lower unit and Tindharia or upper unit in this paper, differ both in qualitative and quantitative distribution of miospore genera and miospore groups. It is also possible to divide each unit into zones on the basis of frequency distribution of some miospore genera and this zonation may prove helpful in the correlation of the coal seams of the area. Miospore assemblage of the coal is comparable with those from the Lower Gondwana of Peninsular India and suggests that Rongtong unit is equivalent to the upper Barakar, and Pankhabari-Bagrakote unit to the Raniganj assemblages respectively of Peninsular Lower Gondwana.