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Palynology and clay mineralogy of the Deccan volcanic associated sediments of Saurashtra, Gujarat: Age and paleoenvironments

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Abstract

The intertrappean sediments associated with Deccan Continental Flood Basalt (DCFB) sequence at Ninama in Saurashtra, Gujarat yielded palynoassemblage comprising at least 12 genera and 14 species including Paleocene taxa such as Intrareticulites brevis, Neocouperipollis spp., Striacolporites striatus, Retitricolpites crassimarginatus and Rhombipollis sp. The lava flows of Saurashtra represent the northwestern most DCFB sequence in India. It is considered that the Saurashtra lava flows represent the earliest volcanic activity in the Late Cretaceous of the Reunion Mantle Plume on the northward migrating Indian Plate. The present finding of the Paleocene palynoflora from Ninama sediments indicate Paleocene age for the associated lava flows occurring above the intertrappean bed which suggests that the Saurashtra plateau witnessed eruption of Deccan lava flows even during Paleocene. The clay mineral investigation of the Ninama sediments which are carbonate dominated shows dominance of low charge smectite (LCS) along with the presence of mica and vermiculite. Based on the clay mineral assemblage it is interpreted that arid climatic conditions prevailed during the sedimentation. The smectite dominance recorded within these sediments is in agreement with global record of smectite peak close to the Maastrichtian–Paleocene transition and climatic aridity.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to the reviewers and the editor for critical but constructive comments that helped to revise an earlier version of the manuscript. BS is thankful to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi (Grant No. 24/297/08–EMR–II) and SAP–DRS–I for financial assistance. They are also thankful to Head, PG Department of Geology, Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University, Nagpur for providing working facility. The authors are thankful to the Director General, Geological Survey of India for technical co–operation and permission to publish the paper. The findings have been made under a joint collaborative programme under MOU involving GSI, Central Region, Nagpur and RTM Nagpur University.

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  1. Department of Geology, Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University, Nagpur, 440 001, India

    BANDANA SAMANT & DEEPALI THAKRE

  2. Geological Survey of India, Northern Region, Aliganj, Lucknow, 226 007, India

    D M MOHABEY

  3. Department of Geology, University of Delhi, Delhi, 110 007, India

    P SRIVASTAVA

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SAMANT, B., MOHABEY, D.M., SRIVASTAVA, P. et al. Palynology and clay mineralogy of the Deccan volcanic associated sediments of Saurashtra, Gujarat: Age and paleoenvironments. J Earth Syst Sci 123, 219–232 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-013-0390-z

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