Charophytes from the Cretaceous–Palaeogene transition in the Jhilmili intertrappean beds of Central India

Abstract

The Jhilmili intertrappean beds (Chhindwara District, Madhya Pradesh) of Central India are studied from a palaeoenvironmental, palaeoecological, and palaeobiogeographical perspective using fossil charophytes. These beds have yielded a diverse charophyte assemblage, consisting of Platychara perlata, Platychara raoi, Platychara sahnii, Peckichara cf. varians, Nemegtichara cf. grambasti, and Chara sp. 1. These charophytes were recovered from a 60 cm thick clayey and nodular limestone unit that is underlain by claystone and overlain by laminated claystones deposited on fluvial floodplains. This charophyte assemblage suggests a Late Cretaceous–Early Danian age, which agrees with the previous dating carried out using freshwater to brackish water ostracods and planktic foraminifera found in the same beds, together with dasycladalean and halimedacean chlorophytes. The Jhilmili intertrappean charophyte assemblage resembles those found in other infra‐and intertrappean sections of western, central, and southern India. The charophyte assemblage indicates that during the Cretaceous–Palaeogene timespan the Indian subcontinent mainly experienced interchange with Laurasia (China, Europe, and North America) but also with Gondwana (North Africa and South America). In the opposite sense, Laurasian species might have dispersed to India by means of a sweepstakes route across the Kohistan–Dras volcanic arcs.