Abstract
Rhythmic sandstone-mudstone-coal succession of the Barakar Formation (early Permian) manifests a transition from lower braided-fluvial to upper tide-wave influenced, estuarine setting. Monospecific assemblage of marine trace fossil Chondrites isp. in contemporaneous claystone beds in the upper Barakar succession from two Gondwana basins (namely, the Raniganj Basin and the Talchir Basin) in eastern peninsular India signifies predominant marine incursion during end early Permian. Monospecific Chondrites ichnoassemblage in different sedimentary horizons in geographically wide apart (~400 km) areas demarcates multiple short-spanned phases of anoxia in eastern India. Such anoxia is interpreted as intermittent falls in oxygen level in an overall decreasing atmospheric oxygenation within the late Paleozoic global oxygen-carbon dioxide fluctuations.
Highlights
Trace fossils provide signatures of animal responses to various ecological controls, including salinity and its fluctuations, sedimentation rate, oxygenation, availability of food, and temperature
Low oxygen concentration leads to substantial reduction in the size of the trace fossils and their diversity [2], accompanied by dominance of deposit-feeding burrows that maintain an open conduit to the sediment-water interface [3]
The present paper reports the occurrence of Chondrites isp. from the sedimentary successions of the early Permian Barakar Formation, exposed along the Kudaposi Nala section in the Talchir Basin and the Khudia Nala section in the Raniganj Basin, eastern peninsular India
Summary
Trace fossils provide signatures of animal responses to various ecological controls, including salinity and its fluctuations, sedimentation rate, oxygenation, availability of food, and temperature. In shallower marginal marine conditions, atmospheric oxygen content regionally controls the availability of oxygen near the sediment-water interface. From the sedimentary successions of the early Permian Barakar Formation (in lower Gondwana Supergroup), exposed along the Kudaposi Nala section in the Talchir Basin and the Khudia Nala section in the Raniganj Basin, eastern peninsular India. Geographic distance between these two areas is ∼400 km. This paper describes the occurrence of different ichnospecies of Chondrites from two widely apart Gondwana basins and correlates that with the fluctuations of atmospheric oxygen level during the late Paleozoic period
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