Palaeoenvironment of Bist College Member in Krol Formation Nainital, Lesser Himalaya

The Bist College member of Krol Formation, a locally developed arenaceous succession within the dominantly carbonate sequence is comprised of five major lithofacies, viz. (A) Thickly bedded fine to medium grained sandstone, (B) Cross-bedded sandstone, (C) lnterbedded sandstone-siltstone, (D) Rippled-parallel laminated fine-grained sandstone, and (E) Quartzarenite. The Bist College Member is characterised by repetition of lithofacies, and its deposition took place in subtidal-intertidal complex, in subtidal channels, tidalflat and tidal creeks. The clastic sedimentation of Bist College Member started as a result of increased influx of sediment from land and repetitive facies sequences were formed due to lateral shifting of depositional domains coupled with gradual subsidence. This terrigenous clastic sedimentation terminated with the reduced sediment supply from land, switching over to carbonate sedimentation of upper part of Krol Formation.