Tectonically driven late Paleocene (57.9–54.7 Ma) transgression and climatically forced latest middle Eocene (41.3–38.0 Ma) regression on the Indian subcontinent

Abstract

Cenozoic era was the turning point in the geological history of the Indian subcontinent when India experienced maximum isolation before it collided with Asia and there occurred a great mountain building activity shaping the Himalaya. In the Cenozoic era, the sedimentation commenced in the late Paleocene (∼57.9Ma) in the pericratonic basins of the western India as well as the foreland basins of the Himalaya that marks the beginning of a major transgression on the Indian subcontinent. Till now, it is not sure whether this transgression was forced by tectonics or climate. We have interpreted that the primary driver for this transgression was the tectonics that marks the beginning of the India–Asia convergence. A major regression of similar magnitude occurred during latest middle Eocene (41.3–38.0Ma) that corresponds to global sea-level fall. This regression is global and can be identified even in the Cenozoic basins developed within the African plate. It is interpreted that this regression was driven by the global cooling during latest middle Eocene/late Eocene possibly associated with the nucleation of the Antarctica ice-sheets coupled with the uplift of the Himalaya.