Sedimentology of a Mid-Late Ordovician carbonate mud-mound complex from the Katmandu nappe in Central Nepal

Abstract

This sedimentological study of the Godavari quarry is the first relating to the Palaeozoic Tethyan sedimentary rocks of the Katmandu nappe (Central Nepal). Sedimentological analyses led to the identification of six microfacies belonging to a large carbonate mud-mound complex, which can be divided into mound, flank and off-mound main depositional settings. Identification of two dasycladaceans ( Dasyporell a cf. silurica ( Stolley, 1893) and Vermiporella sp.) in the mound facies gives a Mid-Late Ordovician age to this newly discovered Godavari carbonate mud-mound, which makes this mound one of the oldest ever described in the Asian continent. The mound microfacies are characterized by a high micritic content, the presence of stromatactis and the prevalence of red coloured sediments (the red pigmentation probably being related to organic precipitation of iron). The flank microfacies are characterized by a higher crinoid and argillaceous content and the presence of bio- and lithoclasts concentrated in argillaceous lenses. Finally, the off-mound microfacies show very few bioclasts and a high argillaceous content. Palaeoenvionmental interpretation of microfacies, in terms of bathymetry, leads us to infer that the Godavari mud-mound started to grow in a deep environment setting below the photic and wave action zones and that it evolved to occupy a location below the fair weather wave base. Cementation of cavities within the mound facies underlines a typical transition from a marine to a burial diagenetic environment characterized by: (1) a radiaxial non luminescent feroan calcite cement (marine) showing a bright orange luminescent band in its middle part; (2) a bright zoned orange fringe of automorphic feroan calcite (meteoric phreatic); (3) a dull orange xenomorphic feroan calcite cement in the centre of cavities (burial) and (4) a saddle dolomite within the centre of larger cavities. The faunal assemblage (diversity and relative proportion) of the Godavari mound facies is dominated by crinoids and ostracods, which makes this carbonate mud-mound comparable to the Meiklejohn Peak mounds (Nevada).