Occurrence of Unusual Unarmored, Unlithified Fossil Mud Balls in Plio-Pleistocene Lacustrine Sediments, Kashmir, India

Abstract

AbstractDespite documentation of fossil armored mud balls in the geological record, no fossil unarmored mud balls have been previously reported. Here, we report for the first time the occurrence of fossil unarmored mud balls at two locations from 2.6 Ma lacustrine sediments in the Kashmir basin, India. The two locations are stratigraphically equivalent. At location A, brown mud balls of various shapes and sizes occur with large rounded and angular blocks of brown and gray mud in a random manner, indicating that they were formed quickly by short transport and by the slumping of lake beach cliff, triggered by an earthquake. This conclusion is supported by the presence of slump folds within this mud ball unit. The external morphology and internal structure of these mud balls suggest their growth by rolling over the muddy lake beach in a unidirectional transport by strong tidal waves. The mud balls at location B are gray in color and smaller in size than those at location A. Location B mud balls show high sph...