Observations on the Post-Triassic Gondwana sequence of India

Abstract

The post-Triassic Gondwana sequence of India is one of the well developed in the Gondwanaland. Its flora has been helpful in establishing the stratigraphy of thick continental deposits of this period. The sedimentary sequences containing this flora are developed in widely scattered Gondwana basins of the Peninsula namely, the Rajmahal hills, Bihar; Satpura and South Rewa Gondwana basins, Madhya Pradesh; Pranhita-Godavari basin of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra; East Coast and Gujarat. In the light of the recent studies the stratigraphic position of the floral assemblages has been reviewed in the paper.

The flora is known to continue without any break throughout the Jurassic and the Lower Cretaceous. The lower age limit of the floral sequence commences in Lower Jurassic and as such the views expressed by Spath (1933) and Arkell (1956) suggesting the absence of entire Jurassic continental deposits of India is no more tenable.

The flora associated with Lower Cretaceous marine fauna on the East Coast indicates the range of the Jurassic floral elements into the Lower Cretaceous rather than suggesting any palaeontological contradiction between the faunal and floral evidences as thought earlier.