UPPER PENNSYLVANIAN AGE OF THE LOWER TALCHIR FORMATION IN THE WARDHA BASIN, CENTRAL INDIA, BASED ON GUIDE PALYNOMORPHS PRESENT IN RADIOMETRICALLY- DATED PALYNOZONATIONS IN SOUTH AMERICA, AFRICA, AND AUSTRALIA

KAVALI, P.; SILVESTRI, LEONARDO JOSÉ; ROY, A; DI PASQUO, MERCEDES; GURUMURTHY, G. P.

Congreso; 3rd. Palaeontological Virtual Congress; 2021

The age of the Talchir Formation corresponding to the lower part of theGondwana (Permo?Carboniferous) Sequence in India is revised in the light ofpalynostratigraphic data associated with radiometric dating generated inGondwana. New data was generated from seven samples of the Talchir Formationobtained from Well 131, located in the Penganga area of ​​Wardha ValleyCoalfield (Maharashtra State, central India). Two assemblages were demarcatedbased on the stratigraphic distribution of 63 species of spores (23 taxa),pollen grains (36 taxa), and phytoplankton. Palynoassociation I (PI)recognized in the two basal samples yielded few Punctatisporites spores and monosaccate pollen grains.Palynoassociation II (PII) is demarcated in the overlying three samplescharacterized by spores and pollen grains that are more diversified andabundant than in the other two samples. Several taxa (Concavissimisporitesgrumulus, Converrucosisporitesconfluens, Cyclogranisporitesgondwanensis, Verrucosisporitesandersonii, Latusipollenites quadrisaccatus, Marsupipollenites striatus, Pakhapites fusus, Striatoabieites multistriatus, Vittatina subsaccata, V. vittifera) are sharedwith palynozones radiometrically constrained to the latest Pennsylvanian?earlyCisuralian in Argentina, Brazil, Africa, and Australia. Therefore, we propose aKasimovian to Ghezelian?Asselian age for the PI and PII associations of theTalchir Formation and a correlation with the Potonieisporites neglectus and Plicatipollenitesgondwanensis Zones of Tiwari & Tripathi, respectively. This approachsignificantly improves the stratigraphic correlations of the Indian palynozonesin Gondwana.