Stratigraphic implication of 'Late Gondwana' floras in the East Coast

Abstract

The Cauvery, Palar, Krishna-Godavari and Mahanadi basins in the East Coast of India include coeval, paralic, lagoonal and deltaic Mesozoic (‘Late Gondwana’) deposits distributed in detached outcrops. The ‘Ptilophyllum Flora’ characterizing these sediments was earlier considered Jurassic in age. Considerable floristic and stratigraphic data have accrued necessitating a relook on earlier age assignments and stratigraphic placements. Biostratigraphic evidences considered in toto suggest an Early Cretaceous age to the flora found in these sediments. Sedimentation of these sediments is attributed to rifting of the Indian Plate coupled with a reactivation phase. It is recommended that the term ‘Gondwana’ should either be recircumscribed to include marine coastal sediments or discontinued in favor of the usage of chronostratigraphic terminology.