An Exhumed Channel Sandstone body of Suraideval Formation (Lower Cretaceous), Saurashtra Basin, Gujarat: A Possible Example of Delta Distributary and Nearshore Deposit

An earthy brown, cross-bedded, channel sandstone body overlying a thinly bedded sequence of white sandstone and red shale of the Surajdeval Formation (Iower-Cretaceous) stands out as a low-lying flat-topped escarpment, about 3-4 m high and 30-60 m wide, alongside the village Dhaduka near Chotila on the Surendranagar-Rajkot highway. Plane ta ble survey brings out a sinuous pattern of the channel sandstone body longitudinally in the north-south direction all along the escarpment.

Integrated evidence from geometry, lithofacies and paleocurrents suggest that the Dhaduka sequence is an example of exhumed channel bar of delta distributary, in association with thinly-bedded coastal plain (1ongshore/tidal current) deposits.