1994-95 - Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany

BSIP
To reconstruct marine pathways, palaeoecology and
palaeoenvironment during the deposition of the Permian sedim£nts
in Siang District
Permian sediments, coal, carbonaceous shale, micaceous shales exposed in Ghish
and Lish River sections in the Darjeeling District were analysed. One sample from Ghish
River yielded palynofossils. The preservation, however, is poor.
Samples from Devonian and Permian sediments collected from Sethi Khola and
Rigka Nala, Bhutan sent by GSI were processed. Coal balls fTom Sethi Khola )ielded very
poorly preserved palynofossils. Study of these fossils is continued.
Suresh C. Srivastava & AP. Bhattacharyya
Two papers were finalized in collaboration with Wadia Institute of Himalayan
Geology, Dehradun : "The nature of contact between Gondwana sediments and basement
metamorphic rocks in Arunachal Himalaya" and "Organic petrology ofTtparn coals (Arunachal
Himalaya), their nature, composition, rank and depositional envirorunenC'.
Anand-Prakash
[with T. Singh, WIHG]
Programme 5.4 Palynological history of the Tertiary sediments of Jammu
area
Objective
To study palynofossils from the Palaeocene- Miocene sediments
To carry out palynozonation, age determination and correlation
of the assemblage
To develop in/ormation on phytogeography and understanding
of the orogeny of Himalaya
Several rich palynofloral associations have been studied from two measured stratigraphic
sections of the Subathu succession (Eocene) in the Kalakot area. Ferruginous shales,
dark grey shales, carbonaceous shales, coal seams and pyrite concretions are the common
lithological features encountered in the Subathu Formation. The palynofloral assemblage
consists of a variety of dinocysts, spore-pollen grains, fungal and algal remains. Three
distinct palynological assemblage zones have been recognised, viz., Honwtryblillnl sp.
Assemblage Zone, Cordosphaeridium sp. Assemblage Zone and Thalassiplwra sp. Assemblage
Zone. These assemblage zones eOlrelate with those established in the Kalka-Simla
and Banethi-Bagthan areas of Himachal Pradesh. Palaeoecological and palaeoenvironmental
analyses of the recorded palynoflora demonstrate that the dinocysts/spore-pollen ratios
run in inverse proportion [rom the base to the top of succession. Palynofloral composition
dominated by dinocysts confirms a shallow marine environment o[ deposition for the
Subathu Formation.
Samir Sarkar
Programme 5.5
104
Palynostratigraphy of the Tertiary sediments of Kargil
Basin, Ladakh Himalaya