Burdigalian to Early Serravallian Diatom Biostratigraphy from Havelock Island, Northern Indian Ocean

Abstract

In the Ritchie’s Archipelago of the Andaman group of islands (Northern Indian Ocean), Havelock Island is the largest one. The present study on diatoms has been carried out on three outcrops of Havelock Island situated in Kalapathar, South Point and Laccam Point localities. Samples collected from the three Neogene outcrops yielded poor to moderately preserved diatom valves. Two lithological units are exposed in this island, i.e., Inglis and Long formations. The diatoms have been recovered from the Inglis Formation and the diatom assemblages are represented by the marker diatom species, viz., Actinocyclus ingens, Annellus californicus, Araniscus lewisianus, Cestodiscus peplum, Craspedodiscus coscinodiscus, Denticulopsis simonsenii, and Rossiella paleacea that indicate the age as Burdigalian to early Serravallian.