JOURNAL GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF INDIA

Vol.76, September 2010, pp.251-266

Stratigraphic Correlation between Different Gondwana

Basins of India
G. MUKHOPADHYAY, S. K. MUKHOPADHYAY, MANAS ROYCHOWDHURY and P. K. PARUI
Geological Survey of India, Coal Wing, DK-6, Sector-II, Salt Lake, Kolkata - 700 091
Email: gautam1948@rediffmail.com; swapanmukhy@gmail.com; manasmdyukh@gmail.com
Abstract. Gondwana Basins of India occur within the suture zones of Precambrian cratonic blocks of Peninsular India
along some linear belts. More than 99% of the total coal resource of the country is present within these basins. The
basins are demarcated by boundary faults having graben or half-graben geometry.
These basins preserve a thick sedimentary pile deposited over nearly 200 million years from latest Carboniferous to
Lower Cretaceous. However, due to lack of well-constrained data, age of most of the formations is assigned tentatively.
This has resulted in diversified views on both intra- and inter-basinal stratigraphic correlation particularly in case of
Upper Gondwana formations.
It is well recognised that there are distinct spatial and temporal similarities in lithological, faunal and floral distribution
in different Gondwana Basins of southern continents, including India, that were once part of supercontinent Gondwanaland.
To address the problems of Indian Gondwana stratigraphy, during the present study, some unique events, also recognised
in other parts of Gondwanaland, like marine flooding surfaces, large scale tectonic events or major change in depositional
environment have been used as a tool for temporal correlation within the Gondwana Basins of India. Many of these
events have been dated from different basins elsewhere. Considering these major events as time planes the total time
span of deposition in Gondwana Basins has been classified into seven time slots. Recognition of these time planes helps
in interbasinal correlation of different formations in Indian Gondwana basins and assigning the age, wherever available.
This approach also helps in better understanding of basinal history. Unless otherwise mentioned, the time scale proposed
by International Commission on Stratigraphy (2004) has been followed in this paper.
Keywords: Indian Gondwana Basins, Stratigraphy, Global events, Depositional history.
INTRODUCTION

Gondwana Basins of India account for nearly 99% of

coal resource of the country. The basins occur along major
river valleys either as discrete bodies or are unified by postPermian strata and are named after the Rivers Damodar,
Son, Mahanadi, Godavari etc or the linear hill ranges like
Satpura and Rajmahal. Upto five km thick strata, deposited
over 200 million years, from Upper Carboniferous to Lower
Cretaceous, are preserved in these basins and are clubbed
into Gondwana Supergroup. Upper Cretaceous LametaBagh beds and Deccan Trap have not been included within
Gondwana Supergroup since by that time India was
completely separated from the rest of Gondwanaland and
moved far towards north. Gondwana Supergroup is subdivided into Permo-carboniferous Lower Gondwana Group,
characterized by Gangomopteris-Glossopteris flora and
Mesozoic Upper Gondwana Group containing Dicroidium
Lepidopteris-Ptylophylum flora. The coal seams are found
only in the lower group within Karharbari and Barakar

Formations of Lower Permian and Raniganj Formation and

its equivalents of Upper Permian age. Barakar Formation is
the major storehouse of coal in all the basins having more
than 90% of total resource of the country. Karharbari and
Raniganj Formations present only in a few basins.
Depositional pattern in individual basins shows wide
variation. The succession is dominated by arenaceous facies
in majority of the basins and formational contacts are blurred
due to absence of marker bed and close similarity of
lithocharacter. In many basins only Barakar Formation was
earlier distinguished separately from the post-Talchir strata,
that too only because of its coal content, while the overlying
lithopacks, deposited over unusually long time period, were
often clubbed under a single name like Pali (in Son Valley),
Kamthi (in Mahanadi, Wardha, Godavari) etc. Lack of wellconstrained age data, long range of available plant fossils
pose serious constraints not only in interbasinal stratigraphic
correlation but often created varying opinion about the
stratigraphy of a particular basin. One glaring example is

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252

G. MUKHOPADHYAY AND OTHERS

Damodar-Koel
valley

Rajmahal

Mahanadi

Son
Bansa bed

Lower

Satpura

Godavari

Jabalpur

Chikiala/
Gangapur

Bagra

Middle

Kota
Lower

Dubrajpur

Bandhavgarh
Parsora

Upper
SupraPanchet

Dharmaram
Maleri

Tiki

Bhimaram

Permian

Denwa
Kamthi
Lower

Upper
Lower

Panchet

Kamthi

Triassic

Middle

Panchmarhi

Pali

Yerrapalli
Upper
Kamthi

Barakar

Barakar

Barakar

Barakar

Barakar

Middle
Kamthi
Lower
Kamthi
Barren
Measures
?
?
Barakar

Talchir

Talchir

Talchir

Talchir

Talchir

Talchir

Raniganj

Raniganj

Raniganj

Bijuri

Barren
Measures

Barren
Measures

Barren
Measures

Motur

Maleri Group

Jurassic

Upper

Barakar Kamthi Group

Cretaceous

Table 1. Existing scheme of correlation of Gondwana Formations

Late Carboniferous

Upper Kamthi of Godavari Valley. The existing correlation

scheme of different formations is shown in Table 1.
This paper addresses the problems by detailed analysis
of subsurface data and recognising the imprints of certain
events in different Gondwana basins of India that can be
correlated with Gondwanide events whose absolute age is
often available. This helps in assigning the age of various
formations in different basins more accurately as well as
understanding the geological history of the Gondwana
Basins of India.
GEOLOGICAL SETUP

The Gondwana Basins of Peninsular India occur along

four major linear belts namely (1) Trans-Indian basin belt
that include ENE-WSW trending Satpura and Son Valley
Basins and E-W to WNW-ESE trending Damodar-Koel
Valley Basins (2) NNW-SSE trending Wardha-PranhitaGodavari Valley Basin belt, (3) NW-SE trending Mahanadi
Valley Basin belt that swerves to WNW-ESE direction in
southernmost Talcher coalfield and (4) NNW-SSE trending
Purnea-Rajmahal-Galsi basin belt. The Gondwana Basins

of Bangladesh are often considered to be part of this fourth

belt with easternmost exposure of Gondwana sediments at
Singrimari in Meghalaya (Fig.1).
In addition, in the eastern part of Extra-Peninsular India
some isolated outcrops of Lower Gondwana Group occur
as thrusted sheets overriding the Neogene-Quaternary
sediments extending from Arunachal Pradesh in the east to
central Nepal in the west. Presence of Gondwana sediments
have also been established in boreholes drilled in the offshore
Bay of Bengal along the extension of Godavari and
Mahanadi Rivers.
Apart from these traditional coal-bearing Gondwana
Basins, sediments identical to the non-coal bearing basal
part of Lower Gondwana Group of rocks are present in
Jaisalmer Basin of Rajasthan, Salt Range in Punjab
(Pakistan), along the Palaeo-Tethyan margin (stretching from
Kashmir to Garhwal Himalaya) and along East Coast (in
Palar and as a number of detached outliers). Besides, the
Mesozoic basins of Kachchh and Eastern Pericratonic basins
have temporally overlapping relation with Gondwana
Basins. Although these basins are not generally included in
the traditional Gondwana Basins, their geological history
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STRATIGRAPHIC CORRELATION BETWEEN DIFFERENT GONDWANA BASINS OF INDIA

253

Extrapeninsular basins
Jaisalmer
Bundelkhand Craton

Damodar-Koel

Singrimari
Rajmahal

Kachchha

Son

Satpura

ah
a

W
a rd
ha

Bastar
Craton

Singhbhum
Craton
na
di

Athgarh

-P r
an
o
a-G
hit

Dharwar Craton

da
va
ri

Palar

Fig.1 Distribution of Gondwana

basin belts
of India along
palaeosutures
between cratons
Fig.1. Distribution
of Gondwana
basin
belts of India.

throws important light in the evolutionary history of

Gondwana geology of India. Special emphasis needs to be
given to Salt Range in Punjab (Pakistan), because it started
receiving sediments almost at the same time as Gondwana
Basins of Peninsular India after a long post-Cambrian hiatus
and being at the margin of Tethys, the fossiliferous
succession gives a very good idea about the sea level changes
with time along Indian plate boundary during the deposition
of Gondwana succession in interior basins.
All the traditional Gondwana Basins of India show
graben or half-graben geometry. Various theories have been
proposed to explain the origin of Gondwana Basins of India
that mainly revolved around the timing and role of boundary
JOUR.GEOL.SOC.INDIA, VOL.76, SEPT. 2010

faults in basin evolution i.e. whether the boundary faults

are intrinsic where sedimentation continued pari-pasu with
tectonism or the faults are much later phenomenon that
preserve part of much larger original basins. A number of
workers believed that the Gondwana Basins, initiated in
glacially modified basement depressions, were of much
larger dimension and might be a single master basin. The
remnants are now preserved due to faulting at a much later
stage, variously suggested as Middle Triassic, Jurassic,
Cretaceous or even younger, along the present day basin
boundary (Gee, 1932; Pascoe, 1968; Ahmed and Ahmed,
1977, Veevers and Tiwari, 1995). According to proponents
of rift basin model, the subsidence was tectonically

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G. MUKHOPADHYAY AND OTHERS

controlled from very beginning and faults were

contemporaneous but spread over a great period of time
(Fox, 1934).
Indian shield is a mosaic of a number of Archaean
cratonic blocks (Radhakrishna and Naqvi, 1986). All the
present day Gondwana Basins are situated within the suture
zone between these cratonic blocks (Fig.1). A number of
crustal scale shear zones are present within these belts. The
strong parallelism between the faults and the shear zones
within basement leads to the idea of reactivation of
Precambrian weak zones during Phanerozoic crustal
distension resulting in basin formation (Chatterjee and
Ghosh, 1970; Mitra, 1994; Biswas, 1999; Acharyya and Roy,
2000). The basins are also conceived to have formed initially
as Sag-type basins that were later on (post-Barakar)
converted into rift basins or pull-apart type basins (Biswas
et al. 1993; Biswas, 1999). A detailed study of the Indian
basins reveals that the sedimentation in Gondwana Basins
of India evolved through a complex interplay of faulting,
changes in sea level and climate. The basinal geometry was
modified by tectonic movement during different periods
which can often be correlated with Gondwanide events.
GLOBAL SETUP AND TIME EVENTS

India along with the continents of southern hemisphere

was part of supercontinent Gondwanaland (Suess, 1885),
that existed as a single landmass since Cambrian till its
eventual break up in phases during Jurassic-Lower
Cretaceous. India, Madagascar, Western and Northern
Australia, East Antarctica formed East Gondwana while
Africa and South America were part of West Gondwana.
These two were sutured along Neo-Proterozoic mobile belt
of Arabia - Nubia - Ethiopia - Kenya - Mozambique
(Hoffman, 1991; Unrug, 1996).
No pre-Gondwana sedimentary record is preserved in
the entire interior part of Gondwanaland since unification.
During this time, sedimentation took place only in the
southern Palaeo-Pacific margin and northern Tethyan
margin. Gondwanaland collided with Laurasia during
Carboniferous between 330 and 320 Ma to form Pangea
and Ice sheets developed on the highlands (Veevers, 2004).
Initial sedimentation in all the basins of Gondwanaland
took place due to melting of glaciers. Multiple deglaciation
sequence has been recognised in many basins. The earliest
radiometric age, measured from juvenile magmatic zircon
associated with interglacial marine mudstone of Dwyka
Group from Kalahari Basin, Africa is 302 3 Ma (Bangert
et al. 1999). Veevers (2006) has considered 302 Ma
(Gzhelian) as the time of inception of Gondwana Basins.

Deglaciation caused rise in sea level and seawater inundated

the basins deep inside the Gondwanaland, which is
manifested by the occurrence of Eurydesma and other marine
fauna all over the Gondwanaland countries during Early
Sakmarian at around 290 + 4 Ma (Bangert et al. 1999). Top
of time slot I has been chosen at 290 Ma which corresponds
to top of Talchir Formation in India. Time slot I thus ranges
from around 302 Ma (Gzhelian Stage, topmost series of
Pennsylvanian Series of Carboniferous) to 290 Ma (Early
Sakmarian Stage, Lower part of Cisuralian Series of
Permian) during which this early glacial or glacially
influenced sedimentation took place.
Following the Sakmarian marine transgression, near
shore environment prevailed in many basins in the interior
parts of the Gondwanaland with the advent of fluvial
environment in the marginal part of the basins under
periglacial climate (Collinson, 1996; Chakraborty et al.
2003; Eyles et al. 2003). The Lower part of Barakar
Formation or the Karharbari Formation in India can be
equated with these deposits.
Visser and Praekelt (1996) proposed that far field stress
generated due to oblique subduction of Panthalassan plate
is the causative factor for opening of Zambezian-type rift
basins in the interior part of Gondwanaland. A major phase
of basin opening is thought to have been operative at 2782
Ma, the second tectonic paroxysm of Cape Fold Belt of
South Africa (Halbich et al. 1983), with the opening of Natal
Trough as well as the rift system along East African Rift
Valley. This period is correlatable with the major coal
forming epoch almost over the entire Gondwanaland under
a warmer condition. In India, the major coal bearing part of
Barakar Formation was deposited.
The Top of Time Slot II is fixed at 271 Ma in topmost
Kungurian, at the Cisuralian-Guadalupian boundary, when
another Marine transgression started affecting marginal lowlying areas in Gondwanaland. Sibumasu (South and North
China-Burma-Malaya-Sumatra) and Qiangtang separated
from Gondwanaland along the Indo-Australian margin with
the opening of Neo-Tethys (Metcalfe, 1996). In the western
part of the Gondwanaland transgression took place under
an arid to semiarid condition as in Oman, Madagascar,
Tanzania and further north in Africa, Amazon Basin, South
America (Kreuser, 1996). In Madagascar, Productus bearing
Vahitola limestone was deposited at the top of Sakoa Group
(Wopfner, 1993). The increasing aridity might have been
resulted due to the volcanism in Tethyan margin and South
America and rotation of western part of Gondwanaland
towards equator (Acharyya, 2000). However, humid climate
prevailed in eastern and southern part of Gondwanaland. In
India, Ironstone-shale bearing Barren Measures in eastern
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STRATIGRAPHIC CORRELATION BETWEEN DIFFERENT GONDWANA BASINS OF INDIA

part (Damodar Valley and southern part of Mahanadi Valley)

and red clay dominated Motur Formation in western part
(Satpura, Wardha and northern part of Godavari Valley)
were deposited in peripheral basins respectively while the
basins, in the interior part, received sand-dominated fluvial
sediments during this period.
Guadalupian-Lopingian boundary at around 260 Ma is
characterised by global regression (Gradstein et al. 2004).
Coal forming period that ushered in Late Permian in southern
and eastern part of Gondwanaland viz. India (coal bearing
sediments of Raniganj Formation and its equivalents),
Australia, Antarctica and South Africa is likely to coincide
with this regressive phase. This regressive phase is associated
with renewed rifting. In Madagascar, Sakamena Group
deposited during this time with an unconformity with the
underlying Sakoa Group (McElhinny, 1977).
End of Permian is one of the five major extinction events
in earth history. The sea level regressed to a large extent.
Nearly 80% of marine genera perished. The Glossopteris
and other peat-forming plants faded out during this global
extinction (Retallack et al. 1996). Coal formation completely
ceased. The sharp fall in 13C at the very end of the Permian
is correlated with decrease in productivity and burial of
organic carbon (Faure et al. 1996). Siberian flood basalt
erupted at 250 Ma that continued into Early Triassic. Time
Slot III ranges from 271 Ma (Kungurian) to 251 Ma (P-T
boundary). In India, Barren Measures (Ironstone shale),
Motur Formations were deposited during the early part
followed by Raniganj, Bijori, Lower Kamthi Formations
during the latter part of this time slot.
Globally Triassic is dominated by a progressive
transgression that began in latest Permian and peaks in
Anisian-Ladinian boundary (Gradstein et al. 2004). The
advent of Triassic is marked by marine limestone-shale
deposit in Madagascar (Sakamena II) and Salt Range
(Ceratite bed). By early Triassic, the arid climate of western
Gondwanaland extended over the eastern part marked by
the deposition of red bed all over Gondwanaland.
Major deformation took place in the foreland basins
along southern Panthalassan margin of Gondwanaland
during Ladinian (233 Ma) which Veevers (2004) termed as
Gondwanide II followed by Pangean Extension II during
which renewed rifting was associated with partial return of
coal forming environment as observed in Australia, South
Africa, Antarctica. However, the effect of these events are
not that much well-recognisable in the northern basins of
Gondwanaland during this time. In most of the Indian basins
sedimentation continued uninterrupted upto Early Norian.
Time Slot IV covers the period from P-T boundary (251Ma)
to Early Norian. In India, arkosic to subarkosic sandstone JOUR.GEOL.SOC.INDIA, VOL.76, SEPT. 2010

255

red clay bearing Panchet Formation in Damodar Valley

Basins, Pali-Tiki Formation in Son Valley Basins, Lower
Panchmarhi-Denwa in Satpura Basin, Lower Kamthi in
Mahanadi Valley, Middle Kamthi and Yerapalli-BhimaramMaleri members of Maleri Formation (Ramana Murty, 1996)
in Godavari Valley Basin were deposited during this period.
The latter part of Upper Triassic is dominated by a
regression with mass extinction and very poor sedimentary
record in Late Norian and Rhaetian (Hallam, 1996). Pangea
remained a single landmass. In the western Australia, end
Triassic is marked by faulting and deep erosion of strata
(Veevers, 2006). Triassic-Jurassic boundary witnessed the
maximum outpouring of basalt in geological history in
Central Atlantic igneous province at around 200 Ma (Hames
et al. 2000). The time slot V which starts at Late Norian
continued, as discussed later, upto Early Jurassic
Pliensbachian. This is followed by the resumption of
sedimentation with distinctly different character under
renewed tectonic movement. Time slot V, the period of
mostly nondeposition with concomitant erosion and tilting
has been tentatively assigned an age from Late Norian to
Pliensbachian. In the northern part of Godavari Valley
fossiliferous red clays (gypsum bearing, Yadgiri and Rao,
1988) of Dharmaram Member of Maleri Formation were
deposited during this time slot. As discussed later, lower
part of Bagra Formation in Satpura Basin may be the only
other example. Unlike the overlying quartzarenitic
sandstone, feldspar continues to be a constituent of the
sediments deposited during this time (Yadgiri and Rao, 1988,
Dutta and Laha, 1977).
During Lower Jurassic, thick quartzarenitic coarsegrained sandstone was deposited in many basins associated
with renewed rifting in the interior part of Gondwanaland
as in western Australia, Madagascar and India. Tholeiitic
basalt erupted in southern part of Africa, Antarctica and
Australia between 184-179 Ma (Veevers, 2006). Deposition
in inland basins coincides with Pangean breakup through
opening of the rift oceans that started at Oxfordian, Upper
Jurassic (around 160 Ma). Africa and South America started
splitting from the Gondwanaland. These deposits are mostly
unfossiliferous, particularly at the lower part, and the
available plant fossils have very long range. The span of
Time Slot VI is taken to be Pliensbachian (Lower Jurassic)
to Oxfordian (Upper Jurassic) (~185-160 Ma). In India,
Suprapanchet in Damodar Valley, Dubrajpur in Rajmahal,
Upper part of Kamthi in Mahanadi Valley, Mahadeva,
Parsora, Bandhavgarh in Son Valley, Upper part of
Panchmarhi and Upper part of Bagra (?) in Satpura, Upper
Kamthi and Kota in Godavari Valley were likely to be
deposited during this time.

256

G. MUKHOPADHYAY AND OTHERS

Upper Jurassic deposits are rare in Gondwanaland

interior. Release of stress due to break up of Pangea
might be the reason of lack of subsidence in the rift basins
resulting in non-deposition. A prominent unconformity is
present at the top of the deposits of time slot VI.
However, the marginal basins, with open marine connection,
continued receiving sediment. The western pericratonic
basins of India (Kachchh in Gujarat and Jaisalmir-BikanerNagaur in Rajasthan) opened up during the breaking up of
East and West Gondwanaland. No time slot is named for
this period since it represents complete nondeposition in
peninsular basins.
Sedimentation in Peninsular India resumed, albeit in a
limited scale in peninsular basins, during Early Cretaceous
Aptian Stage and is the beginning of Time Slot VII. Tholeiitic
basalt erupted in India, in the form of Rajmahal Trap and
related volcanics, western Australia and Antarctica over a
protracted period of time. India got separated from
Antarctica and Australia, with the opening of Indian Ocean,
in the east and Madagascar from west and continued its
northward journey marking the end of Gondwana
sedimentation at the end of Albian. The top of time slot VII
is selected at 105 Ma during Albian based on the youngest
age of Rajmahal Trap related volcanism. Jabalpur, Bansa
Bed, Gangapur/Chikiala, Umia plant bed, deposits within
the pericratonic basins along East Coast, Infra-Rajmahal bed
in Rajmahal Master basin were deposited during this period.
STRATIGRAPHIC CORRELATION IN INDIAN
GONDWANA BASINS CORRESPONDING TO
TIME SLOTS

The Gondwana Basins of Peninsular India preserve thick

succession of unmetamorphosed coal bearing predominantly
siliciclastic sediments, Gondwana Supergroup, deposited
under a wide range of depositional environment from glacial,
glaciofluvial, glaciomarine, fluvial, lacustrine to shallow
marine over a prolonged period. More than 5 km thick
sediment is present in Godavari, Satpura, Son Valley Basins.
From rank study of coal seams of Jharia coalfield in Damodar
Valley (Bardhan and Ghosh, 1999), an equal amount of
thickness of sediment was assumed, a substantial part of
which has been thought to be removed during subsequent
erosion. As already mentioned, barring the basal Talchir and
coal bearing Barakar Formation, overlying Permian and a
major part of Triassic or even younger strata has often been
clubbed into single formation earlier like Pali in Son Valley
and Kamthi in Wardha-Pranhita-Godavari Valley Basin belt
and Mahanadi Valley Basin belt. In last few decades, with
the available surface and subsurface data, these broad units

have been subdivided and separate horizons, equivalent to

Barren Measures and Raniganj Formation of Damodar
Valley Basins, have been clearly distinguished in all the
major basins. However, the problem still persists with the
classification of post-Permian strata. Most of these
formations could not be assigned any specific age due to
lack of precise palaeontological or radiometric age data.
Palynological age data, though available and often used as
an additional tool in this paper, is yet to be well established.
As a result, the interbasinal correlation of different
formations poses serious constraints. Hence an attempt has
been made here to distinguish correlatable stratigraphic
horizons in different basins in the light of above-mentioned
seven time slots (Table 2). In absence of well accepted formal
name, the subdivisions proposed here for the broad units
are, designated by using informal prefix such as Lower,
Middle, Upper before the widely used names.
Time Slot I : Gzhelian (Upper Carboniferous) to Early
Sakmarian (Cisuralian - Lower Permian) (302-290 Ma)

The glacially influenced deposit which is ubiquitous at

the base in all the Indian Gondwana Basins are named as
Talchir Formation in peninsular part and by various names
like Bap bed, Boulder bed etc. along Tethyan margin. It
comprises diamictite, conglomerate, sandstone, shale,
rhythmically alternating shale and sandstone with or without
dropstones and thin marl bands.
The deposition of Talchir Formation is considered to
have started during Upper Carboniferous, similar to the other
parts of Gondwanaland (Pascoe, 1968). Absence of
characteristic Upper Carboniferous fossils or palynoflora
within peninsular basins leads some workers to consider
the whole of Talchir Formation as of Permian age (Tiwari,
1996; Vijaya, 1996). However, palaeontological samples
were collected mostly from upper part and the lower part
yielded no fossil record (Sen, 1995). Talchir Formation
attains more than 500 m thickness in many basins (Raniganj,
Godavari, GSI exploration data). Multiple deglaciation
sequences, similar in number to the southern marginal basins
of Gondwanaland where undoubted Upper Carboniferous
age has been established, are reported from a number of
Indian basins (Casshyap and Qidwai, 1974; De, 1979). India
was at much Lower latitude than these basins. It is expected
that the effect of deglaciation should be simultaneous if not
earlier in Gondwana Basins of India. Hence an Upper
Carboniferous age of initiation of Gondwana Basins of India
is a distinct possibility.
Undisputed glacial imprint is present at the basal part of
the succession everywhere (Pascoe, 1968). The nature of
sediment and associated sedimentary structures clearly
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257

Table 2. Correlation of Gondwana formations based on present scheme

Damodar- Rajmahal
Koel
105Ma

Albian

Time Slot
VII

Rajmahal
Trap
InfraRajmahal

Aptian

Cretaceous

118Ma

Southern
Mahanadi

Son

Bansa bed

Satpura

Jabalpur

Godavari
Chikiala/
Gangapur

Lower

Upper
Oxfordian
Time Slot
VI

Jurassic

160Ma

Lower

184Ma

200Ma

Kota /

Middle

Time Slot
V

Bandhavgarh Up. Panchmarhi

Suprapanchet Dubrajpur Up. Kamthi
/Parsora
/ Up. Bagra

Lr. Bagra

Rhaetian

210Ma

Triassic

Upper

Middle

Tiki

Carnian

Denwa

Yerapalli/

271Ma
Time Slot
II

290Ma
299Ma
302Ma

Time Slot
I

Permian

Time Slot
III

Lower

Panchet

Lr. Kamthi

Lopingian

Raniganj

Raniganj

Guadalupian

Barren
Measures

Barren
Measures

Cisuralian

251Ma

Carboniferous

Kungurian
Artinskian
Sakmarian
Asselian
Gzhelian

Pali
Raniganj
Barren
Measures

Up. Barakar Up. Barakar Up. Barakar Up. Barakar

Lr. Barakar/ Lr. Barakar Lr. Barakar Lr. Barakar
Karharbari
Talchir

indicate marine influence in the upper part of the succession

(Chakraborty, 1993; Mukhopadhyay and Bhattacharya,
1996, Ghosh et al. 2004). Marine fossils dominated by
Eurydesma and other Pelecypods, Brachiopods, Bryozoans,
foraminifera has been recorded from the top of Talchir and
equivalent formation from many basins like Umaria,
Manendragarh, Daltonganj, Satpura and Rajasthan within
peninsular India and all along the Tethyan margin (Reed,
1939; Ghosh, 1954; Mishra et al. 1961; Dutt, 1965; Dutt
and Shah, 1969; Dickins and Shah, 1977; Ranga Rao et al.
1977; Ghosh, 2003). Sporadic occurrence of various types
of marine fossils are also reported from Raniganj, Bokaro,
Rajmahal, Jharia, Ramgarh, Godavari, Athgarh, Palar Basins
(Venkatachala and Rawat, 1973; Tewari et al. 1981; Rawat
and Jain, 1985; Ghosh et al. 1987; Tewari, et al., 1987;
Banerjee and DRozario, 1988; Chaudhuri and Mondal,
1989; Pal et al. 1994). The top of Talchir Formation, thus
can reasonably be correlated with Gondwanide transgressive
JOUR.GEOL.SOC.INDIA, VOL.76, SEPT. 2010

Maleri
Bhimaram

Ladinian
Anisian

278Ma

Dharmaram

Norian

Time Slot
IV

260Ma

Up. Kamthi

Pliensbachian

Talchir

Talchir

Talchir

Lr. Panchmarhi Middle Kamthi

Bijuri
Motur

Lr. Kamthi
Barren
Measures

Up. Barakar

Up. Barakar

Lr. Barakar

Lr. Barakar

Talchir

Talchir

Nondeposition/Erosion

event, i.e. time plane 1 and can be assigned Early Sakmarian

age (290 Ma).
The fossil assemblage of Daltonganj, Manendragarh are
rich in Eurydesma fauna similar to Eastern Himalaya while
that of Umaria and Salt Range are rich in Productus which
lead Shastry and Shah (1964) to visualise two marine fronts,
one from the east and other from the west. Marine incursion
from northern Tethyan margin has also been envisaged
(Veevers and Tiwari, 1995; Ravi Shanker et al. 1996). Ghosh
(2003) proposed a single marine front from east. However,
considering the wide occurrence of marine imprints in almost
all the basins, particularly the marine occurrences in Palar
Basin as well as in Damodar Valley Basins and southern
part of Mahanadi Valley, it is difficult to explain all the
marine occurrences by incursion either from east or north
only. It is more likely that a major trough existed in between
India and Australia-Antarctica, like the Malagasy trough
separating India-Madagascar and Africa (Wopfner, 1991),

258

G. MUKHOPADHYAY AND OTHERS

Arabia

Tethys

Africa

Ma
da

g as
c ar

India

Australia

Antarctica

Fig.2. Likely pathways for Permian marine incursions

which had intermittent connection with the Tethys. During

high stands, seawater entered into the inland basins from
the main Tethys in the north as well as from the eastern and
western tongues of Tethys (Fig. 2).
Time Slot II : early Sakmarian to Kungurian (CisuralianGuadalupian boundary Lower and Middle Permian) (290271 Ma)

Following early Sakmarian high stand, the transgressive

phase continued for a prolonged period with a reduced
level. Predominantly finer clastic dominated, well sorted
sediment of Lower part of Barakar Formation was deposited
in deeper part of most of the basins. The slow rate of
sedimentation is evidenced by intense bioturbation (Dutt
and Mukhopadhyay, 2001). Near marine environment is
reported from Son Valley Basins, Daltonganj, North
Karanpura basin (De 1979; Dutt and Mukhopadhyay, 2001).
Tidal effect has been demonstrated in Satpura Basin (Ghosh
et al. 2004). The thickness of these deposits is fairly constant
ranging from 150 to 200 m in most of the basins. Fluvial
condition prevailed in smaller basins and marginal part of
larger basins with the deposition of coarse clastics with coal
that has often been designated as Karharbari Formation (Raja
Rao, 1987). Coal seams associated with Karharbari
Formation are present in the small subsidiary basins like

Giridih, Daltonganj, Deogarh group of coalfields, lying north

of the main Damodar Valley Basins, Talcher, North
Karanpura, Bisrampur coalfields and proximal part of some
larger basins of Damodar Valley and Mahanadi Valley.
Marine environment still prevailed in areas close to Tethyan
margin as exemplified by the occurrence of Eurydesma in
equivalent Badhaura Formation, overlying Bap bed in
Rajasthan (Ranga Rao et al. 1977). A general review of
Damodar-Koel Valley Basins reveal that the basinal
morphology is identical during the deposition of Talchir
Formation and Lower Barakar/Karharbari and their
disposition is unrelated with the present day boundary
fault. Besides lithological distinctiveness, this zone also
has a distinctive floral and palynological character
(Gondwanidium, Buriadia flora and Palynozone II of Tiwari,
1996) quite similar to underlying shaly Talchir Formation
but distinctly different from overlying coal bearing fluvial
Barakar Formation. In many basins, Karharbari Formation
is overlain by a thick oligomictic quartz pebble conglomerate
similar to that reported from the top of fluviatile Fairchild
Formation in Transantarctic mountain, Antarctica where they
have been considered to represent a temporary pause in
sedimentation (Collinson, 1996). Major basin forming
tectonic movement post-dates this period.
With retreat of the sea, fluvial environment spreads over
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STRATIGRAPHIC CORRELATION BETWEEN DIFFERENT GONDWANA BASINS OF INDIA

the entire span of Indian peninsula. The boundary faults came

into existence by reactivation of preexisting shear zones
within basement in response to large-scale tectonic
movement rendering the present day shape of the basins.
Basinal area enlarged, most conspicuous in Damodar Valley.
The initial Sag basins now become tectonically controlled.
This change over may be correlatable with the 2782 Ma
(Artinskian) paroxysm of Cape Fold Belt. Individual basins
in different belts opened up, as proposed by Chakraborty et
al. (2003), either as pull-apart basins or as purely rift basin
depending upon the orientation of the pre-existing fracture
system under a northeastward bulk extension. Subsidence
and deposition took place only in those peninsular basins
which were affected by these faults. Some northwest trending
troughs in off shore Bay of Bengal continue to receive
sediments during Permo-Triassic period (Chandra et al.
1996). Deposition ceased in many basins due to lack of
tectonic subsidence. The basins of Rajasthan, Palar and other
troughs along east coast and many outliers beyond the
present day basin margin preserve only Talchir and/or basal
Barakar/Karharbari Formation.
The early sediment during syn-rift stage is mostly arkosic
sandstone with thick inertinite rich coal in all the basins.
Protected peat swamps, developed in distal flood plains or
slow subsiding lacustrine environment, has been proposed
for the deposition of coal seams within Barakar Formation
(Jowett, 1925; Pascoe, 1968; Casshyap, 1970; Casshyap and
Tiwari, 1984, 1987). In the relatively smaller basins, like
those of Damodar Valley, split nature of the seams near the
peripheral part is accounted for by the oscillating nature of
the fluvial front along the periphery of the coal swamp.
Tranquil conditions, however, prevailed in the basin centre
where thick coal seams devoid of sandy interbeds could
form. The ash content also decreases towards the centre of
the basins. Two major coal-forming phases can be recognised
within the Barakar Formation (Laskar, 1977). The first one
is present just above the Karharbari/Lower Barakar
sediments and represents the thickest seam in all the
coalfields of India. Synsedimentary faults, subbasinal
structures, fault-controlled character of the seams are quite
evident from subsurface data. The second phase of thick
coal development within Barakar Formation is restricted
only in the eastern part of Peninsular India. There is a distinct
increase of finer clastics with degeneration of coal seams
from these seams onward within the Barakar Formation in
eastern Indian basins.
Time Slot III Kungurian to P-T boundary (Guadalupian and
Lopingian - Middle and Upper Permian) (271-251 Ma)

In Extra Peninsular India the middle Permian marine

JOUR.GEOL.SOC.INDIA, VOL.76, SEPT. 2010

259

transgression is well documented by the deposition of Amb

bed of Lower Productus limestone in Salt Range and eastern
frontal basins of Himalaya. This event has been assigned
271 Ma age (Gradstein et al. 2004). Similar Productus
bearing Vahitola limestone was also deposited in
Madagascar simultaneously. The effect of this transgressive
event is manifested by the deposition of thick clay dominated
sequence in the basins of Damodar-Koel Valley extending
upto Ramkola-Tatapani in Son-Valley, in Talchir and IbRaigarh Basin in Mahanadi Valley in eastern India and
Satpura, Wardha, Kamptee and northern part of Godavari
Valley Basin in western part of India. In the eastern
basins the succession is represented by Barren Measures
that is characterized by grey to black coloured shale with
ironstone bands/nodules, conformably overlies the Barakar
Formation. While in the western India the equivalent Motur
Formation is represented by Red-green mottled clay with
calcretes that was deposited, probably after a break in
sedimentation, over the Barakar Formation (Fox, 1931).
Marine influence can be recognised by the presence of
Bryozoa (Raniganj Basin), Foraminifera (Satpura Basin),
high content of P2O5 (up to 30% in Ib and Mand-Raigarh,
West Bokaro, South Karanpura Basins), chamosite
(Northern part of Godavari Valley), preponderance of wave
generated structures, including Hummockey cross
stratification and extensive burrowing dominated by
Skolithos and Cruziana ichnofacies (Bose and Sengupta,
1993; Sengupta et al. 1996; Dutt and Mukhopadhyay, 2001).
Connection with Tethys was established through the same
pathways as Early Sakmarian (Fig.2). However, in major
part of Son Valley, southern part of Godavari Valley and in
the northern part of Mahanadi Valley, which were probably
located at higher altitudes, the Barren Measures is mostly
arenaceous.
Raniganj Formation and its equivalents, deposited during
successive regression, overlies the Barren Measures/Motur.
A coarsening upward motif is recognised in Raniganj
Formation from many basins. Analysis of sub-surface data
points towards a tectonic movement at the base of Raniganj
Formation in many basins. Boundary faults got reactivated
as evidenced by the occurrence of Raniganj Formation
immediately above basement along the southern faulted
margin in some basins like Raniganj, Jharia, Ib etc. Coal
forming environment reappeared, however, economic coal
deposits are present only in Raniganj, Jharia and Singrauli
Basin. It can be correlated with similar coal-bearing
formations associated with Late Permian regression in
Australia, Antarctica or South Africa. The basal part is a
heterolithic unit followed upward by sandstone which is
often calcareous towards the top. In Salt Range a temporary

260

G. MUKHOPADHYAY AND OTHERS

regression is marked by the occurrence of Glossopteris

bearing carbonaceous shale-sandstone horizon within
Wargal that has been assigned 260 Ma age (Pascoe, 1968;
Gradstein et al. 2004). Accordingly Barren MeasuresRaniganj transition may be assigned around 260 Ma i.e.
Guadallupian-Lopingian boundary. Depositional
environment was more anoxic than the underlying
Karharbari or Barakar Formation. Glossopteris flora, which
was the main source of vegetal matter for the Permian coals,
reached its acme in development during the deposition of
Raniganj and its equivalent formation.
Raniganj Formation is likely to end well within Permian.
A disconformity marked by Palaeosol and profuse
calcretisation at the top of Raniganj and equivalent
formations has been recognised, particularly at the proximal
part of many basins. Gee (1932) has proposed a
disconformable relation between Raniganj and overlying
Panchet Formation in Raniganj Basin. Palaeosl horizons
have been reported from many coalfields at the contact
between Raniganj Formation and overlying Triassic
deposits. Bijori Formation in Satpura Basin has been
assigned an age of Early Tatarian based on fossil evidence
leaving a small window at the top of Permian. The
depositional mode also shows sudden change from finer
facies of Raniganj Formation to coarse clastic dominated
Early Triassic deposits in most of the basins except Godavari
Valley and Damodar Valley. The Permo-Triassic hiatus has
been recognised in Salt Range also. Although no lithological
break is apparent between the Permian Productus limestone
and Triassic ceratite bed but a disconformity has been
advocated by Gee based on distinctly different fossil
assemblage (Pascoe, 1968). The Otoceras woodwardi
bearing basal part of Triassic section in Salt Range
(Greisbach, 1880) represents the base of Triassic at 251 Ma
(Gradstein et al., 2004).
Time Slot IV P-T boundary to Early Norian (251-~210 Ma)

The advent of Triassic is marked by arid climate in

most of the basins. Coarse clastic dominated quartzofeldspathic sandstone with lenses of conglomerate and thin
persistent variegated to red mudstone/siltstone were
deposited in some basins like Mahanadi (lower part of
Kamthi Formation), Satpura (lower part of Panchmarhi
Formation) and Son (Pali Formation). In Satpura and
Son Valley the sandstone grades into clay dominated
Denwa and Tiki Formation respectively by Middle Triassic.
However, in Godavari Valley (Middle Kamthi/Maleri
Formation) and in Damodar Valley (Panchet Formation)
clay-rich sediments were deposited from the beginning of
Triassic. Warm to hot climate with low seasonal rainfall and

annual deficit in water budget as indicated by presence of

peloids has been suggested for the clay rich upper part of
Triassic deposits (Sarkar, 1988). Although fossils are rare
within the coarse grained sandstone but the clayey formations
contain abundant fossils. Presence of Lystosaurus and
other fossils (Panchet Formation in Raniganj Basin and
Mangli bed in Wardha Basin), typical Triassic flora, Estherid
(Ghosh and Shah, 1977; Datta and Ghosh, 2001) indicate
that the sedimentation started almost at the dawn of Triassic.
The beginning of Triassic witness the arrival of new set of
mioflora forms like Densisporites, Lundbladispora,
Playfordiaspora, Lunatisporites, Klausipollenites,
Alisporites and Falcisporites which is followed by non
taeniate dissacates (Ghosh et al. 1996). The fossil
assemblage of Panchet, Tiki, Denwa and Maleri Formation
(excluding Dharmaram Member) indicate that the
sedimentation in all the basins stopped by Early Norian
(Chatterjee and Roychowdhury, 1974; Kutty et al. 1987;
Kutty and Sengupta, 1989; Bandopadhyay, 1999;
Bandopadhyay and Sengupta, 1999).
The Middle Triassic Gondwanide II event (Veevers,
2004) is not manifested in any basin. The only deposit in
Indian basins that has been correlated with the Pangean
Extension II event of Veever (2004) is the Bhimaram
Member of Maleri Formation in Godavari Valley which
laterally grades into Maleri clay (Ramana Murty, 1996).
Time Slot V: Late Norian to Pliensbachian (Lower Jurassic)

In almost all the peninsular basins of India there is a

pronounced Post-Early Norian hiatus. This hiatus is marked
by deep erosion, faulting, tilting of strata and complete
change of depositional milieu and the break between the
underlying and younger deposits of Lower Jurassic age is
the most easily recognizable break in sedimentation within
Gondwana Basins of India. Sedimentation continued only
in part of Godavari Valley Basin in the form of Dharmaram
Member upto Early Jurassic under a very arid condition
(Yadgiri and Rao, 1988). Although there is no appreciable
break in sedimentation, but no faunal member of the Maleri
have been found in the Dharmaram Member. Two faunal
assemblages have been found within Dharmaram. The lower
part is of late Norian age (Kutty and Sengupta, 1989) while
upper horizon marks the onset of Jurassic (Yadgiri and Rao,
1988). Analysis of fault pattern indicate a break between
Maleri and Kota Formations (King, 1988; Veveers and
Tewari, 1995).
One of the most problematic horizon in Gondwana
stratigraphy is Bagra Formation in Satpura Basin. Bagra
Formation comprises essentially of conglomerate, variegated
shale and frequent bands of limestone and dolomite. The
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STRATIGRAPHIC CORRELATION BETWEEN DIFFERENT GONDWANA BASINS OF INDIA

conglomerate contains clasts of banded jasper, sandstone,

vein quartz, black chert, green phyllite, epidote granite, pink
quartzite and pink feldspar (Dutta and Laha, 1977). Along
the northern margin of the basin the formation directly
overlies the metamorphic rocks while in the south it grades
to clay of the upper part of Denwa Formation (Raja Rao,
1983). The Denwa ends up with a thick red mudstone and
the Bagra starts with another red mudstone and both coalesce
to form a very thick red mudstone unit (Dutta and Laha,
1977) which led many workers to club them together
(Crookshank, 1936, Peter and Shing, 2001). No Fossil record
has so far been recovered from this formation to fix its age.
The contact between Bagra Formation and overlying
Jabalpur Formation is an unconformity. Based on the
occurrence of clasts of northern source area it has been
considered to be deposited after a regional reversal of
palaeoslope and hence assigned an Upper Jurassic to Early
Cretaceous age. However, considering the presence of
feldspar (Dutta and Laha, 1977) and comparing with
Godavari Basin it is tempting to consider the lower clay
dominated part of Bagra Formation as equivalent to
Dharmaram Member of Maleri Formation and the upper
part with the younger Early Jurassic deposits. A break is
also evident along the Tethyan margin during this time slot
(Pascoe, 1968).
Time Slot VI: Pliensbachian to Oxfordian (185-160 Ma)

The hill forming sandstones in all the basin belts occur

as capping over the earlier formations and are likely to be
deposited during Early Jurassic. Very coarse to coarsegrained sandstone, conglomerates and the pebbly sandstone
lenses constitute about 85% of this sequence (Casshyap and
Tewari, 1984). Clay, mostly red and white, occur as clasts
and thin lenses within the sandstone. The sandstone is almost
devoid of feldspar and show large scale cross stratification.
A low angle unconformity at the base is characteristically
present in all the basins and the nature of the deposit is
identical. These rocks, barring their quartzarenitic
composition, are quite similar to the underlying Early
Triassic sandstone-dominated deposits. The close similarity
between these deposits and the Early Triassic sandstone
poses major problem in Upper Gondwana stratigraphy of
India. However, a closer scrutiny of lithology and contact
relation with underlying lithounit can help in distinguishing
the two. The quartzofeldspathic lower part of Panchmarhi
Formation conformably overlies Bijori Formation and shows
gradational contact with overlying Denwa Formation that
continues upto Early Norian. In contrast, the quartzarenitic
upper part of Panchmarhi Formation which is separated from
the underlying quartzofeldspathic lower part with a thick
JOUR.GEOL.SOC.INDIA, VOL.76, SEPT. 2010

261

quartz pebble conglomerate bed, as exposed in the

Panchmarhi-Dhupgarh road section, always rests
unconformably over the Bijori Formation wherever, the two
are in contact (Crookshank, 1936). Few thin marl bands are
present within Upper part of Panchmarhi Formation as
exposed at the top of Dhupgarh hill. Kamthi Formation in
Mahanadi Valley can be classified into two parts. The lower
part is coarse-grained feldspathic sandstone with greenish
white shale and the upper part is cross-bedded ferruginous
quartzarenitic sandstone with bands of variegated shale
containing plant fossils. An Upper Triassic age has been
assigned based on plant fossils all of which extends well
into Early Jurassic (Chakraborty, 1989; Chakraborti and
Chakraborty, 2001). The fossil assemblage of Parsora/
Bandhavgarh/Hartala also indicates Early Jurassic age (Sukh
Dev, 1987; Kundu et al. 1993; Tarafdar et al. 1993). Similarly
Upper Kamthi Formation in Godavari Valley not only
unconformably lies over the Early Triassic Middle Kamthi
and all other older formations, but also been reported to
overlie Maleri Formation at places (Dutta, 1996). Early
Jurassic plant fossils have been reported from this horizon
from the southern part of the basin which led to considering
the upper part as Kota Formation (Lakshminarayan and
Kutumba Rao, 1988). Subsurface data also clubs the Upper
Kamthi with lower part of Kota Formation (Raiverman,
1986). Fossil is almost absent. The only fossil bearing strata
is present in the upper part of Kota Formation which
indicates that the sedimentation continued upto Middle
Jurassic (Govindan, 1974; Yadgiri and Rao, 1988). The plant
fossils of Dubrajpur Formation also supports Jurassic age
(Ball, 1877; Sah and Shah, 1974; Sengupta, 1988). No
meaningful fossil record has yet been found within
Suprapanchet. Considering the close similarity of lithology
and structural set up it is quite logical to consider that the
deposits represent a new depositional environment, distinctly
different from the underlying Gondwana deposits. The fossil
assemblage of Dharmaram Member of Maleri Formation,
that underlies the deposits of Time Slot VI (i.e. Kota
Formation in Godavari Valley) has an Early Jurassic affinity.
The palaenological samples collected from Kota Formation
gives a Pliensbachian age (Vijaya, 2000). In western
Australia, almost identical sediments were deposited during
Early Jurassic and continued upto Middle Jurassic.
Considering the above facts an Early Jurassic age may be
assigned for initiation of these deposits in all the basins of
India under renewed rifting. The upper limit of this time
slot may be fixed at Middle Jurassic based on the age of
fossil within Kota Formation (Bandopadhyay, 1999).
Opening of Kachchha Basin in Gujarat and Bikaner-NagaurJaisalmer Basins in Rajasthan with marine sediments and

262

G. MUKHOPADHYAY AND OTHERS

the closing of the Inland basins took place almost at the

same time. Deposition in most of the Gondwana Basins in
India stopped after this time slot except in some isolated
pockets where Lower Cretaceous sediments were deposited
after a long break.

India as henceforth Indian plate got detached from the

rest of Gondwanaland and moved northward as a separate
plate.

Time Slot VII: Aptian-Albian (Lower Cretaceous)

(125-105 Ma)

The Gondwana Basins of India represent about 200

Million years of geological record of Peninsular India. The
basins originally evolved as sag basins but later on switched
over to fault controlled basins in response to large-scale
tectonic movements many of which are pan-Gondwanaland
events.
The predominantly siliciclastic sediments in these
basins are mostly deposited under continental set up.
However, marine influence can be visualised in Early
Permian and Middle Permian strata of Gondwana Basins
of India.
Gondwana deposits are scattered in a number of basins.
Various nomenclatures have been proposed in different
basins. Due to close similarity of lithology and poor exposure
level, the contact relation between different formations is
blurred in most cases. Fossils are restricted only in few
horizons and well-constrained fossils are extremely rare.
No radiometric age data is available for any of the horizons.
No volcanism, that is characteristic of most of the rift basins,
is present in Gondwana Basins of India during the entire
period of sedimentation except Rajmahal Trap in eastern
basins, that marks the end of Gondwana Supergroup
and occurs at the top. The present approach, thus took
cognisance of the surface and subsurface data accrued
from different basins and well-dated events in other parts
of Gondwanaland, particularly those that affect the
surrounding areas of India. Such type of combined
approach, incorporating the essence of various schemes,
provide important tool in classifying the Gondwana
succession in different basins into some time slots and
help in resolving long standing controversies in both
intra- and inter-basinal correlation.
Initial sedimentation in Gondwana Basins of India took
place during latest Carboniferous in sag type basins over
the Precambrian basement through multiple deglaciation.
Widespread transgression inundated almost all the basins
during Early Sakmarian at around 290 Ma as evidenced by
marine fossils at the top of Talchir Formation. Tethyan
marine front entered into the interior area from north, east
and west. Near marine condition prevailed during the
deposition of Lower part of Barakar Formation in the deeper
part of many basins. However, coal bearing Karharbari
Formation was deposited in small subsidiary basins of
Damodar Valley or in the marginal part of the larger basins

These sediments were deposited over the deposits of

time slot VI after a break in sedimentation and include
Jabalpur Formation in Satpura Basin, Bansa bed in Son
Valley, Gangapur/Chikiala bed in Godavari Valley,
Infratrappean bed in Rajmahal master basin. Age of these
inland deposits has variously been assigned Late Jurassic to
Lower Cretaceous. Sedimentation continued in the western
pericratonic basin and started afresh in the eastern
pericratonic basins. The fossil record from the coastal basins
as well as palynological data has assigned Early Cretaceous
age (Aptian-Albian) to these deposits. Thin coal bands/
carbonaceous shale developed in Bhuj Formation in
Kachchh, Jabalpur, Chikiala and Infratrappean bed of
Rajmahal master basin after a long break since Permian.
These basins were possibly opened up in response to the
stress that ultimately led to separation of Australia and
Antarctica from India.
This phase of sedimentation is followed by an extensive
eruption of basic magma with a maximum thickness of
around 600 m in the eastern part of India known as Rajmahal
Trap that covers the Gondwana sediments of Damodar
Valley and Rajmahal master basin and extends in the
Bengal Basin. Volcanic flows in Meghalaya, better known
as Sylhet Trap, are considered to be equivalent. Subsurface
data confirm the extension of Rajmahal Trap in the
Surma Basin. According to the latest absolute dating,
Rajmahal Trap erupted between 115-118 Ma (Bakshi,
1986), approximately at the same age as Bunbury basalts in
Western Australia and is considered to be related to the rifting
of India from Australia and Antarctica (Storey, 1995).
Besides these extrusive magmatism, a large number of
lamprophyre dykes and sills are found to be restricted within
the Gondwana Basins of Damodar Valley Basins. It is
interesting to note that the lamprophyric intrusives are
restricted mostly in Permian sediments, rarely intrudes
Panchet Formation of Triassic age but nowhere they intrude
within the Suprapanchet or equivalent formations. However,
K-Ar age of these lamprophyres ranges from 105 to 121
Ma and are believed to be true crystallisation age which
correlates them with Rajmahal Trap (Sarkar et al. 1980).
The upper boundary of time slot VII is fixed at 105 Ma
(Albian). This marks the end of Gondwana sediments in

SUMMARY

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STRATIGRAPHIC CORRELATION BETWEEN DIFFERENT GONDWANA BASINS OF INDIA

where fluvial condition was established. Coal seams

associated with Karharbari Formation or Lower part of
Barakar Formation are generally low ash, inertinite rich and
have small lateral continuity. This deposits represents around
12 Million years i.e. upto 278 Ma.
During the subsequent regressive phase coal bearing
part of Barakar Formation was deposited in a tectonically
active environment. The thickest coal seam in all the basins
has some striking similarity both in their stratigraphic
disposition as well as petrographic make up and can be
considered to have deposited more or less at the same time
under similar tectono-sedimentary environment. In many
basins of eastern India another thick coal seam developed
within Barakar Formation that marks a distinct change in
coal character as well as nature of associated sediments.
This can be assigned 271 Ma age. The clay dominated
upper part of Barakar Formation and overlying Barren
Measures in Damodar Valley, southern Mahanadi Valley
were deposited subsequently. This thick upper coal is absent
in most other basins and a temporary break in sedimentation
is evident.
Coal forming environment reappeared in the succeeding
regressive phase during the deposition of Raniganj and
equivalent formations. Although major coal deposits are
found only in Raniganj, Jharia and Singrauli coalfields but
thin coal seams/bands are present in almost all the coalfields.
The formational contact between Barren measures
Raniganj can roughly be assigned 260 Ma.
Large scale extinction occurred across the plant and
animal kingdom all over the earth during latest Permian with
temporary cessation of sedimentation in most of the
Gondwana Basins of India.
Advent of Triassic at 251 Ma ushered renewed
sedimentation under an arid environment in all the basins

263

of India. New species appeared that could sustain the arid

condition.
Sedimentation in most of the Indian Gondwana Basins
came to a halt within Early Norian except in Godavari Basin
(and probably also in Satpura Basin). This is followed by a
period of nondeposition, basinal tilting, erosion and major
faulting. A distinctly different depositional milieu was
established during Early Jurassic around Plensbachian when
the nature of sediments changed completely. During Middle
Jurassic new basins opened up along the western margin of
Peninsular India at around 160 Ma. India along with other
constituents of eastern Gondwana started separating from
western Gondwana.
The last phase of sedimentation took place in some
isolated areas within the Gondwana Basins during Early
Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian). Pericratonic basins along the
eastern coast opened up. Extrusion of tholeiitic lava took
place in the form of Rajmahal Trap and Lamprophyre dykes/
sills were emplaced within Gondwana Basins in the eastern
part of India. India got separated from Antarctica and
Australia marking the end of the history of Indian Gondwana
Basins.
Acknowledgement: The authors are grateful to the
Director General, Geological Survey of India for kindly
permitting to present the paper in the national symposium
organized by Geological Society of India at Trivandrum.
Sincere thanks are due to Dr. D.I. Cole, Council for
Geoscience, South Africa and a number of scientists of Coal
Wing, GSI for extending their scientific wisdom through
interactions, both in field and across the table. Authors are
thankful to the anonymous reviewer of this journal for his
useful comments and suggestions. The views expressed in
this paper are of the authors and not necessarily of GSI.

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(Received: 24 April 2009; Revised form accepted: 9 June 2010)

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