Palynological studies on a late Palaeozoic-Mesozoic Tethyan sequence in the Niti area of the Central Himalaya, Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract

The results of a palynological study in eight sections from the Tethyan sequence in the Niti area are reported. The output of plant microfossils is generally poor because of adverse preservational factors. Still qualitative determinations could be made for the Late Permian, the Early Triassic and the Late Jurassic sequences. The palynological compositions, thus identified, have been correlated with well-established fauna in this sequence. The palynoflora bears similarity with that of peninsular India, as described from the Damodar, Rajmahal and Kutch basins, with other regions in eastern Gondwana, and to a limited extent with the Middle East. On the basis of comparisons with the Tethyan sequence in the Niti area, the age of the non-marine Permian-Triassic sequence on the Indian Peninsula has been evaluated; thus the Raniganj Formation is ascertained to be of Late Permian age and the Lower Panchet Formation of Induan (earliest Triassic) age.