Omprakash S. Sarate^1*, S. A. Kalkar²  and S. D. Bhute²

¹Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, 53, University Road, Lucknow-226 007, India ²Department of Botany, Institute of Science, Nagpur-440 001, India

*E-mail: ossarate@yahoo.co.in

Abstract

The present palynological study has been carried out on the sub-surface sediments of Wardha valley coalfield, intersected in Bore-hole No. BK-149, drilled at Kesurli village, in the vicinity of Bhadrawati area, Chandrapur District, Maharashtra State, India. The palynoflora contains dominant striated disaccates genus Striatopodocarpites in association with Faunipollenites. However, in sample No. 3 (257.89m) Faunipollenites dominates over Striatopodocarpites. Existence of monosaccates Striamonosaccites along with Parasaccites in lower frequency is recorded from younger horizons of this Bore-hole. Other stratigraphically significant palynomorphs of the assemblage includes Verticipollenites, Scherungipollenites, Tiwariasporis, Inaperturopollenites, Cyclogranisporites, Crescentipollenites, Klausipollenites, Ibisporites, Falcisporites, Weylandites and Playfordiaspora. This assemblage has shown closer affiliation with Late Permian palynoflora reported from Raniganj/Bijori Formations of different Gondwana basins of India, e.g., Wardha valley coalfield, Maharashtra, Godavari valley, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Satpura, Son-Mahanadi and Singrauli coalfields, Madhya Pradesh, Auranga coalfield, Jharkhand, Damodar and Raniganj coalfields, West Bengal and Talcher coalfield, Odisha. The present palynological study has provided supporting evidence for the deposition of sediments of Late Permian age in Bhadrawati area of Wardha valley coalfield. It has also been inferred that the Lower Gondwana deposition in the region initiated with cold climate that changed to warm and humid conditions at later stages.

Keywords: Late Permian palynoflora, Kesruli, Chandrapur District, Wardha valley coalfield, Maharashtra, Central India