Tidal Cyclicity in Lower Bhander Sandstone, Maihar, Madhya Pradesh

The Upper Proterozoic Lower Bhander Sandstone, occupying a major part of the Tamasa valley at Maihar, has been thought to be deposited in a tidal flat-lagoon complex,in an intertidal to supratidal environment, dominated by ebb and flood tides. A tidal bundle (a medium grained thicker sandstone unit and a thinner siltstone bed) is thought to bear the imprint of velocity and discharge associated with each tidal current as reflected in the thickness of the layers. Thickness data pertaining to 155 tidal bundles recognized in the exposures have been analysed using techniques of Smoothing, Autocorrelation and Fourier filtering, to reveal whether or not any tidal cyclicity existed. The results amply support not only the presence of alternating high spring-neap-low spring semi-lunar cycles, but a dominant periodicity of 32 bundles corresponding to 16 semi-lunar days.