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Facies characteristics and depositional environments of the middle Eocene (Lutetian) Harudi Formation, Kachchh, Western India

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Abstract

The 8.5 m thick, 1.4 km long and 0.35 km wide, ESE–WNW oriented cliff section (N 23°31′32″ E 68°41′00″) exposed across Harudi–Baranda road is extensively studied for its facies characteristics and based on that depositional environments of the middle Eocene (Lutetian) Harudi Formation are deciphered in the present study. Two cycles of grey mudstone alongwith nodular limestone–coquina limestone-gypsiferous mudstone facies in the lower part of the succession suggest sedimentation in coastal quiet-water lagoonal to tidal flat environments, while glauconitic shale, bioclastic packstone and gypsiferous foraminiferal packstone facies in the upper part suggest sedimentation on middle- to inner-shelf and tidal flat depositional environments. In all, three shallowing upward cycles have been identified in the studied outcrops and based on that lagoonal-middle shelf-inner shelf-tidal flat depositional environments are suggested for the middle Eocene Harudi Formation.

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Acknowledgements

Authors are thankful to the Head, Department of Geology for providing working facilities. VKS is thankful to the Director, IIT-BHU for allowing him to carry out mineralogical, morphological and elemental investigations on Rigaku SmartLab XRD and ZEISS EVO 18 Research SEM machines respectively housed at the Central Instrumentation Facility Centre of the campus. VKS is grateful to the CSIR, New Delhi for the financial assistance in the form of Senior Research Fellowship {Grant No. 09/013(0548)/2014-EMR-I}. The help provided by Mr. P. K. Singh in the fieldwork is acknowledged. The critical comments by the journal reviewers helped in improving both quality and presentation of this paper.

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  1. Centre of Advanced Study in Geology, Institute of Science, B.H.U., Varanasi, 221005, India

    V. K. Srivastava, B. P. Singh & S. Kanhaiya

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  1. V. K. Srivastava
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  2. B. P. Singh
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Correspondence to B. P. Singh.

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Srivastava, V.K., Singh, B.P. & Kanhaiya, S. Facies characteristics and depositional environments of the middle Eocene (Lutetian) Harudi Formation, Kachchh, Western India. Carbonates Evaporites 34, 373–388 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13146-017-0398-6

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