Record of Cretaceous Biota from Shell Limestone (Nilkanth Formation), Mussoorie Syncline, Lesser Himalaya, India

The Shell Limestone (Nilkanth Formation) of the Mussoorie Syncline, Lesser Himalaya, Uttaranchal, India has yielded varied biota ie bryozoa, echinoid radiole, hydrozoa, foraminifers, green algae and several casts of bivalve genera Presence of Ceriocava nilkanthiSingh, 1980, a bryozoan recorded earlier from the Coraline Limestone of the Bagh Beds (Cretaceous) occurs in the Shell Limestone suggests Cretaceous age for the Nilkanth Formation.

Sandy oolitic limestone with abundant rounded bioclasts of forammifers and dasycladacean green algae indicate a shallow high energy marine environment for this formation. The Nilkanth Formation is unconformably overlain by bioturbated olive greenish grey ferruginous shale of the (?) Subathu Formation of Eocene age.