Cretaceous Stratigraphy and Palaeoenvironments

Contents: Preface. Regional Geology and Stratigraphy: 1. Cretaceous stratigraphy of India: a review/D.S.N. Raju and P.K. Mishra, Geoscience Research Group, India. 2. Freshwater biota, stratigraphic correlation of late cretaceous of China/Chen Pei-Ji, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, China. 3. Late cretaceous dinosaurian habitats of Western Canada and Central Asia - A comparison from a geological standpoint/T. Jerzykiewicz, Geological Survey of Canada, Canada. 4. Nature and tectonic significance of cretaceous sediments in the Japanese Islands/Hakuyu Okada, Kyushu University, Japan. 5. A synthesis of the cretaceous system of Pakistan/Shamim Ahmad Sheikh and Shahid Naseem, University of Karachi, Pakistan. 6. Late jurassic-early cretaceous lingshi formation, Bhutan Himalaya/O.N. Bhargava and S.K. Tangri, India. 7. The evolution of marine cretaceous basins of India : calibration with nannofossil zones/Syed A. Jafar, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, India. 8. Late cretaceous fossils from Madagascar and their implications for biogeographic relationships with the Indian subcontinent/David W. Krause, University at Stony Brook, USA and Joseph H. Hartman, University of North Dakota, USA. Cretaceous Stratigraphy and Palaeontology of South India: 9. Cretaceous stratigraphy and planktonic foraminiferal zonation of Cauvery basin, South India/A. Govindan, C.N. Ravindran and M.K. Rangaraju, ONGC Ltd., India. 10. Applinocrinus ramaraoi, a new species of microcrinoid from the Ariyalur group (late cretaceous) of South India/S.P. Jain, Chandigarh and U.B. Mallikarjuna, Bangalore University, India. 11. Chronostratigraphic subdivision of pre-Aptian (pre-Uttaturian) marine sediments in the Krishna-Godavari basin, India/Bijai Prasad, Arun Kumar and D.S.N. Raju, Geological Laboratories, India. 12. Chronostratigraphic subdivision of Uttatur of Blanford, 1862/V. Narayanan, Regional Geological Lab.; and D.S.N. Raju, Palaeontology Lab., India. 13. Uttatur group redefined/Ranjit K. Banerji, C.S. Malini and Darwin Singh, Indian Institute of Technology and S. Ramasamy, University of Madras, India. Boundry Problems and Palaeoenvironmental Changes: 14. Geochemical study of the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary oceanic anoxic event in the Northwestern Pacific Forearc basin - an example from the cretaceous Yezo supergroup, Hokkaido, Japan/Zenya Arai and Hiromichi Hirano, Waseda University, Japan. 15. Calcareous nannofossils at the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary event in the Ganuza section, Northern Spain/Marcos A. Lamolda and Amalia Gorostidi, Campus de Lejona, Spain. 16. New palynological data from the Deccan intertrappean beds: implications for the latest record of dinosaurs and synchronous initiation of volcanic activity in India/A. Sahni, T. Prakash and R.Y. Singh, Panjab University; B.S. Venkatachala, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology; R.K. Kar, A. Rajanikanth, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany and G.V.R. Prasad, University of Jammu, India. 17. Palaeoenvironmental set-up and age of basin floor just prior to the spread of Deccan volcanism in the Krishna-Godavari basin, India/D.S.N. Raju, B.C. Jaiprakash and Arun Kumar, KDM Institute of Petroleum Exploration, India. 18. Maastrichtian non-marine ostracodes from peninsular India : palaeobiogeographic and age implications/S.B. Bhatia, Panjab University; G.V.R. Prasad, Jammu University and R.S. Rana, Garhwal University, India. 19. Iridium anomaly in Anjar intertrappean beds and the K/T boundary/Sunil Bajpai, University of Roorkee, India. 20. Late cretaceous eggshells from the Deccan volcano-sedimentary sequences of Central India/S. Srinivasan, Bangalore University, India. 21. Palaeoenvironment of the late cretaceous mammal-bearing intertrappean beds of Naskal, Andhra Pradesh, India/G.V.R. Prasad and C.K. Khajuria, University of Jammu, India. 22. Depositional environment of Lameta formation (late cretaceous) of Nand-Dongargaon Inland basin, Maharashtra: the fossil and lithological evidences/D.M. Mohabey, Geological Survey of India, India. 23. Depositional systems and their bearing on the ore grade mineralisation in the cretaceous domiasiat uranium deposit, West Khasi hills district, Meghalaya/Eric D'Cruz, S.K. Mathur, A.S. Sachan, D.B. Sen and K.K. Dwivedy, Atomic Minerals Division, India. 24. The cretaceous vegetation and climate of Asia: some insights/Robert A. Spicer and Peter McAllister Rees, The Open University, Britain and Alexei B. Herman, Geological Institute, Russia.

From the editor's note: "The present collection of papers falls into three broad overlapping categories. The first set includes articles on the regional cretaceous geology and biostratigraphy of India, China, Japan, Pakistan, Bhutan, Madagascar, Central Asia and North America. The tectonic control of sedimentation and basin evolution are the main themes of these papers highlighting biostratigraphic correlation and faunal affinities. In the first contribution, Raju and Mishra give an overview of the evolution of the major non-marine and marine cretaceous basins of the Himalayan and peninsular Indian regions. Chen Pei-ji synthesizes data from various cretaceous basins of China highlighting the major fossil finds of biostratigraphic importance. Jerzykiewics presents a comparative account of the contrasting depositional environments of the dinosaur-bearing sediments of Mongolia and Canada. Okada focusses on the tectonic control of cretaceous sedimentation in the Japanese islands, while Sheikh and Naseem briefly outline the major cretaceous basins of Pakistan. Bhargava and Tangri present data on a Gondwanaland peripheral coastline from the jurassic-cretaceous transition sequence in Bhutan. Jafar discusses the evolution of marine cretaceous basins of India in relation to palaeoceanography and nannofossil zonation. Krause and Hartman offer interesting insights into the relatively little known cretaceous vertebrate fauna of Madagascar and their relationships to younger late cretaceous fauna from India.

"The second category includes papers on the cretaceous of peninsular India with special reference to the Cauvery basin, a subject that was dear to the heart of Professor Rama Rao and in which he made his major research contributions. The papers included here represent various shades of opinion (some in conflict with each other) on stratigraphic classification, correlation and nomenclature. This diversity of thought is perhaps symptomatic of the need for further integrated work so that a uniform code of nomenclature can be developed for all to use. Oil exploration and exploitation strategies are now concentrated in this sector and it is essential that the geodynamic evolution of these basins is better known and understood. Govindan and others provide an update on the planktonic foraminiferal biozonation of the Cauvery basin. Jain and Mallikarjuna report the interesting find of microcrinoids from the Ariyalur group while, Prasad and others contribute data on the chronostratigraphic zonation of the pre-Aptian marine sediments of the Krishna-Godavari basin. Narayanan and Raju and Banerji and others in separate articles examine the problems in redefining the sub-divisions of the Uttatur, proposed by Blanford.

"The third category includes papers on boundary problems, focussing on palaeo-environmental changes across transition zones. The first two papers discuss various aspects of the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary; the first by Arai and Hirano lays emphasis on the anoxic event while, in the second Lamolda and Gorostidi discuss the importance of calcareous nannofossils in demarcating the C/T boundary. Sahni and others attempt to delineate the latest record of dinosaurs in India on the basis of stratigraphic and palynological data. Raju and others use subsurface data to document the palaeo-enviromental set up of the basin floor before the initiation of the Deccan basaltic activity in the Krishna-Godavari basin. Bhatia and others document the presence of non-marine Maastrichtian ostracodes from various localities of Deccan volcano-sedimentary sequences of peninsular India. Bajpai discusses the significance of the iridium anomaly in the Anjar intertrappeans of Kachchh, first observed by Bhandari and co-workers at the Physical Research Laboratory at Ahmedabad. Srinivasan describes various types of dinosaurian eggshells from new and old localities in central India while, Prasad and Khajuria present interesting details based on sedimentological and taphonomical factors to reconstruct palaeoenvironments of the mammal-bearing Naskal inter-trappeans. Mohabey distinguishes four facies related fossil assemblages from the Lameta formation of the Nand-Dongargaon region. D'Cruz and others describe the control of cretaceous non-marine sedimentation on uranium mineralization in Meghalaya. Spicer highlights cretaceous palaeoclimatic reconstructions based on models that he and his co-workers have developed."