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(Jurassic), Pranhita-Godavari Valley (A.P.), India CONTINENTAL MICROFAUNA FROM KOTA FORMATION (JURASSIC), PRANHITA-GODAVARI VALLEY (A.P.), INDIA A THESIS Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in EARTH SCIENCES By BRIJESH KUMAR DEPARTMENT OF EARTH SCIENCES UNIVERSITY OF ROORKEE ROORKEE-247 667 (INDIA) JANUARY, 2001 CANDIDATE'S DECLARATION I hereby, certify that the work which is being presented in this thesis entitled CONTINENTAL MICROFAUNA FROM KOTA FORMATION (JURASSIC), PRANHITA-GODAVARI VALLEY (A.P.), INDIA" in fulfillment of the requirement of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, submitted in the Department of Earth Sciences of the University, is an authentic record of my own work carried out during the period from July, 1998 to January, 2001 under the supervision ofDr. Sunil Bajpai. The matter embodied in this thesis has not been submitted by me for the award of any other degree. BRIJESH KUMAR This is to certify that the above statement made by the candidate is correct to the best of my knowledge. /t^_^ d^y/J—- Dr. Sunil Bajpai Assistant Professor Department of Earth Sciences University ofRoorkee Roorkee-247 667 Date: 3y//>^/ Uttranchaljndia The Ph.D. viva-voce examination of Mr. Brijesh Kumar, Research Scholar has been held on %.:.Z/.:..£<%?. I Signature ofSupervisor Signature ofH.O.D. Signature ofExternal Examiner ABSTRACT Continental Jurassic sediments are of global significance from the standpoint of vertebrate paleontology, particularly because of their importance in understanding the evolutionary history of early mammals. However, our knowledge of continental vertebrates ofJurassic age in the Gondwanaland continents, still remains inadequate. This is particularly true in the case of Jurassic mammals which at present are mainly documented from the Laurasian continents. The Kota Formation, which is an integral part ofthe upper Gondwana sequence in the Pranhita-Godavari valley in the south Indian State of Andhra Pradesh, provides an excellent opportunity to document a Jurassic terrestrial ecosystem from India. The Kota Formation, which is largely a fluvio-lacustrine sequence has long been known to yield fish and reptilian faunas. However, microvertebrates from the Kota Formation continue to be poorly known and the present investigation was undertaken to fill this major gap, with special emphasis on micromammals. During the three field seasons between 1998-2000, the microbiota was recovered mainly by screenwashing techniques. The five investigated sections which form part of the Godavari subbasin of the Pranhita-Godavari valley, are exposed near Paikasigudem, Kadamba, Metpalli, Manganpalli (District Adilabad) and Kota (District Chandrapur). Microvertebrates recovered during the present investigation comprise over 3500 identifiable elements of fish, rhynchocephalians, lizards, crocodiles, sauropods, ornithischians, theropods and mammals. These elements include isolated teeth, fragmentary dentaries, maxillae, premaxillae, scales, dermal denticles and phalanges. Associated fauna includes ostracods and trace fossils. The vertebrate assemblage comprises 25 genera and 25 species. Fish constitute the most dominant group with 8 genera and 8 species representing holosteans and elasmobranchs. The semonotids are the most common fish. Among the reptiles, theropods and ornithischians are recorded for the first time from this formation. Theropods are known mainly by isolated teeth grouped into 4 morphotypes and ornithischians into two. These finds clearly indicate that the dinosaur fauna was much more diverse than hitherto believed. Another important group in the collection are the rhynchocephalians (sphenodontids) which are known by 2 taxa. Crocodiles and lizards are each represented by a single taxon. Significantly, the acrodont iguanid lizards reported in this work form the first record from the Kota Formation and also the oldest record of this group anywhere in the world. Mammals are the most important component of the presently described Kota vertebrate assemblage. They are represented by 2 orders, Docodonta and Triconodonta. The present docodont material forms the first Gondwanan occurrence of this group. Their discovery from the Indian subcontinent suggests aPangean distribution for this group in the Jurassic. Triconodonts form the most diversified group among the Kota mammals, represented by Dyskritodon indicus sp. nov., Paikasigudodon yadagirii nov. comb., Indotherium pranhitai and Triconodonta indet. Invertebrate fauna is represented by a single ostracod genus with two species. Ichno fossils include Planolites and Monocraterion. Significantly, the new data suggest, based on mammals, that an Upper Jurassic- Lower Cretaceous age is more likely for the Kota Formation than the traditionally held Lower Jurassic (=Liassic) age. The mammalian data is also indicative of a land-locked position for India in the Jurassic, in agreement with geophysical models. Further, the Kota community, overall, represents an admixture ofaquatic, semi-aquatic, terrestrial and aerial elements that thrived in and around a shallow freshwater lake. in Acknowledgement The work embraced in this thesis was carried out in the supervision of Dr. Sunil Bajpai, Assistant Professor, Department ofEarth Sciences, University ofRoorkee, and it has been a great opportunity for me to work with him. I further wish to place on record a deep sense ofindebtedness and gratitude for going through the manuscript critically and giving valuable suggestions, which has immensely improved the quality of the present work. I am greatly indebted to Dr. S.S. Srivastava, Professor, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Roorkee, for his help in many ways. I thank Dr. A.K. Awasthi, Professor and Head, Department of Earth Sciences for extending all necessary laboratory and infrastructural facilities. I also thank Dr. S.K. Upadhyay, Professor and Former Head, under whose headship the present work was started. I am thankful to all the faculty members of the department for their help at various occasions, especially Drs. R.M. Manickavasagam, D.K. Mukhopadhyay. I thank Professor R. Chander, Department ofEarth Sciences, University of Roorkee for various encouraging discussions. I would also like to thank all the non-teaching members for their unstinting support at all stages of thiswork. I am highly thankful to Prof. G.V.R. Prasad, University ofJammu, for providing access to his microvertebrate collections from the KotaFormation, for allowing me to use some of his own collection in the present study and for his generous loan of literature. Discussion with Prof. Prasad proved greatly helpful in improving this thesis. I thank Dr. Kailash Chandra, Director, U.S.I.C, University of Roorkee, for allowing me to usethe Scanning Electron Microscope. I thank Drs. C. S. Sudan, Reader and Umesh K. Sharma, R. A., Department of Geology, University ofJammu, Jammu, for their help in identification oftrace fossils. I also thank Dr. B.N Tiwari (WIHG, Dehradun) for helping me in several ways. I am also thankful to Dr. Vijaya (BSIP, Lucknow) for sharing her palynological data with me. I am also thankful to Dr. P. J. Currei, Royal Tyrell Museum of Paleontology, Alberta, Canada, for his expert comments on the theropod dental remains and sending relevant literature from his personal collection. I am thankful to scores of scientists who have sent me the required literatures. I express my heartfelt gratitude to my friends, especially Mr. Premanand Mishra Drs. J. Sahoo, J. Devaraju, Sk.R. Basir, R.S. Sambyal, Anil K. Sharma, Chanchal Kumar and Mr. Rajeev Kumar and R.K. Singal for their constant help and encouragement during the course ofthis work. Iam highly indebted to Mr. Syed Latif and Sk. Baba, the chowkidars (caretakers) of the P.W.D inspection bunglows at Rebbena and Chinnur (Andhra Pradesh), who made my stay in the field comfortable. I dedicate this work to my maternal grandmother (Hasanti Devi) who was constant source of inspiration for me. I wish she could have lived longer to see me complete this work. Last but not least, Iam thankful to my parents, sisters Neelam and Shilpa brother Narinder and the nieces Tanisha, Sonia &Mannu, Sonu, my maternal uncles and Aunt and also my friend Meenu for standing by me and encouraging me to complete the work VI CONTENTS ± Page No. ABSTRACT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v CONTENTS vii LIST OF FIGURES xii LIST OF TABLES xii Chapter 1 : INTRODUCTION 1 Chapter 2 : PREVIOUS WORK 13 2.1 Geology 13 2.2 Paleontology 19 2.2.1 Fish and Reptiles 19 2.2.2 Mammals 21 2.2.3 Invertebrates 22 2.2.3.1 Ostracods 22 2.2.3.2 Estheriids 23 2.2.3.3 Insects 23 2.2.4 Flora 23 2.2.5 Stromatolites 25 2.2.6 Trace Fossils 25 Chapter 3 : GEOLOGY AND STRATIGRAPHY 27 3.1 Introduction 27 3.2 Pranhita-Godavari Valley 30 3.2.1 Precambrian Basement Complex 31 3.2.2 Pakhal Group 32 3.2.3 Sullavai Group 33 3.2.4 Talchir Formation 34 3.2.5 Barakar Formation 36 3.2.6 Barren Measures 36 3.2.7 Kamthi Formation 37 3.2.8 Yerrapalli Foramtion 39 3.2.9 Bhimaram Sandstone 40 3.2.10 Maleri Formation 41 3.2.11 Dharmaram Formation 42 3.2.12 Kota Formation 43 3.2.13 Gangapur Formation 49 3.2.14 Deccan Traps 50 3.3 Geology ofMeasured Sections 50 3.3.1 Paikasigudem Section 50 3.3.2 Metpalli Section 52 3.3.3 Kadamba Section 52 3.3.4 Manganpalli Section 53 3.3.5 Kota Section 54 Chapter - 4:SYSTEMATIC PALEONTOLOGY 75 Faunal List 75 Pisces 75 Lepidotes deccanensis 78 Paradapedium egertoni 78 Tetragonolepis oldhami 82 Semionotidae indet.1 83 Semionotidae indet.2 84 Semionotidae indet.3 85 Lissodus indicus nov. comb. 87 Elasmobranchii indet. 90 Reptiles 91 Rhynchocephalian 91 Gen. et sp. indet. "A" 92 Gen et sp. indet. "B" 95 Lizards „„ Gen et sp. indet. no Crocodiles 100 ?Teleosauridae 100 Dinosaurs 101 Sauropoda indet. 101 Ornithischia Type A 103 Ornithischia Type A 107 Theropoda"A" 108 Theropoda"B" 110 Theropoda "C" 112 Theropoda"D" 113 Mammals 113 Deniseodon godavariensis gen. et sp. nov. 115 Gondtherium dattai gen.
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