Bandana Samant

Central University of Punjab | UCP

With the simultaneous growth in interest from the mycological community to discover fungal species and classify them, there is also an important need to assemble all taxonomic information onto common platforms. Fungal classification is facing a rapidly evolving landscape and organizing genera into an appropriate taxonomic hierarchy is central to be...

The present study records the earliest occurrence of a madtsoiid snake from the intertrappean sediments associated with the chronostratigraphically constrained lava piles of the oldest Deccan trap eruptions in India. The intertrappean sedimentary beds of the Malwa Group occur at multiple stratigraphic levels in the two low-ermost formations between...

This book highlights the importance of palynology in understanding floral biodiversity ,paleoclimate and depositional environments in deep time and recent sediments. It includes contributions from renowned Indian palynologists who work on the applied aspects of palynology. The book focuses on the significance of palynology in solving various geolog...

The Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) infratrappean (Lameta Formation) and the Upper Cretaceous-early Paleocene intertrappean sedimentary beds associated with Deccan volcanic flows are windows to understand floral biodiversity, age, and paleoclimate during Deccan volcanic activity. Palynological studies of these geographically separated sedimentary...

Palynology includes a wide range of organic walled microfossils, including spores, pollen, dinoflagellates, chitinozoa, fungal spores, acritarchs, etc. In this chapter, we discuss the use of palynological studies in the fields of petroleum and coal exploration. As palynomorphs are well known for being extremely resilient to the forces of nature (an...

Precambrian biota, which primarily includes bacteria, prokaryotes, protists, algal-stromatolites, organic- walled microfossils (micro and macrofossils) and trace fossils, plays a significant role in understanding early life as well as their diversification on the Earth. In addition, they are also used in biostratigraphy, to understand the depositio...

ABSTRACT—Small-bodied theropod dinosaurs are rare on southern landmasses but have been known from India for a century. Excavations by Charles Matley and rgansankar Bhattacharji in uppermost Cretaceous sediments at Bara Simla, central India in 1917–1919 recovered small theropod vertebral and limb elements originally interpreted as coelurosaurians an...

The eruptive history of the Malwa Plateau Subprovince of the Deccan Traps is addressed by dating 21 lavas spanning the exposed stratigraphic extent, using the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar method applied to plagioclase separates. Major, minor, and trace element geochemistry was determined for each of the dated lavas and four additional ones. Dating results indicate th...

The Global Consortium for the Classification of Fungi and fungus-like taxa is an international initiative of more than 550 mycologists to develop an electronic structure for the classification of these organisms. The members of the Consortium originate from 55 countries/regions worldwide, from a wide range of disciplines, and include senior, mid-ca...

A palynological study of the uppermost Cretaceous–lowermost Paleocene sequences of the Deccan volcanic province in the Mandla Lobe of central India was carried out to understand floral diversity, palaeoecology and palaeoclimate during Deccan volcanic activity (67.4–62.5 Ma). The study involved 17 intertrappean sedimentary beds at 13 stratigraphical...

A new fossil occurrence of freshwater sponges (Porifera: Demospongiae) is reported from the Deccan volcanic associated Naskal intertrappean locality, deposited in an interval of

An Upper Cretaceous paleolake near Jamsavli in the Mandla Lobe of central India has provided a unique opportunity to understand paleoecological conditions during Deccan volcanism. The sedimentary deposits of this paleolake are dominated by freshwater aquatic and semiaquatic flora, such as algae Pediastrum, Lecaniella, dinocysts (Pierceites deccanen...

The first Cretaceous mammals described from India were recovered from the Naskal locality, on the southeastern edge of the Deccan Traps Volcanic Province (DTVP), where it is preserved between two basalt flows. Because the DTVP eruptions spanned the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary (KPB), it is often unknown whether trap-associated fossil sites are lat...

Palynological study of eleven intertrappean beds at ten stratigraphic levels in Betul district, Madhya Pradesh provided new insight into biota, age and depositional environment of Satpura Group. Study indicates presence of monospecific assemblage of dinoflagellate cyst Pierceites deccanensis at Hiradehi intertrappean at lower stratigraphic level. D...

PREMISE: Early Eocene ambers of the Cambay lignite in Gujarat, India, are well known for their diverse insect fauna and dispersed pollen, but the included flowers have received limited attention. The fossil record of Apocynaceae is relatively poor, and the distinctive floral characters of this family have not been recognized in the fossil record be...

New fossil freshwater sponges are recorded from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) intertrappean lacustrine sediments of Malwa Group associated with Deccan Volcanic Province in Central India. The micro-palaeontological analysis of diagnostic spicular morphotraits supports the ascription of these fossils to the order Spongillida. The description o...

The first Cretaceous mammals described from India were recovered from the Naskal locality, located near the village of Naskal in the state of Telangana. The Naskal locality is located on the eastern edge of the Deccan Traps Volcanic Province (DTVP), where it is preserved between two basalt flows. Naskal and similarly preserved sites are “intertrapp...

Weathering of feldspars plays an important role in soil formation especially for increasing soil fertility for food production. The geological processes such as tectonism, volcanism, glaciation, denudation, and deposition are responsible for the formation of soil and fertile farmlands. Feldspar group minerals play a substantial role in the overall...

Geology deals with the Earth and the process associated with it. It helps in understanding how events of the past have changed the Earth gradually and how these processes and events would gradually develop in the future. Other branches of basic sciences such as physics, chemistry, and life sciences have assisted geology in understanding 4.5 billion...

The Deccan Continental Flood Basalt (DCFB) sequence of India includes the volcanic flows of the Deccan Traps and the intertrappean sedimentary lacustrine deposits that lie in between the flows. The well-preserved arcellinidan taxon Centropyxis aculeata and associated diatoms on their tests are described for the first time in India from palaeolake s...

ABSTRACT The Deccan Continental Flood Basalt (DCFB) sequence of India includes the volcanic flows of the Deccan Traps and the intertrappean sedimentary lacustrine deposits that lie in between the flows. The well-preserved arcellinidan taxon Centropyxis aculeata and associated diatoms on their tests are described for the first time in India from pal...

In this paper thermoluminescence (TL) characterization of fossils of sauropod dinosaur bone, dinosaur eggshells and associated sediments are recorded for the first time. The fossil bone was collected from the Bagwanya intertrappean sediments in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh. TL was recorded followed by ⁶⁰Co gamma rays exposure at different doses....

Palynological study of intertrappean sediments of Mahurzari in Nagpur district, Maharashtra, a known megaflora rich locality, has indicated presence of diverse pollen and spore assemblage. The palynoassemblage includes six genera and six species of pteridophytes dominated by Cyathidites and Lygodiumsporites and four genera and four species of angio...

Large igneous provinces (LIPs) have been temporally correlated to mass extinctions throughout the Phanerozoic, including the emplacement of the Deccan Volcanic Province (DVP; 66.3–65.6 Ma) in western and central India, which has been invoked as either a cause or exacerbating factor in the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction. However, relatively...

The present study describes for the first time thermoluminescence (TL) characterization of turtle shell. A fossil shell was collected from the Dongargaon area in the Chandrapur district of Maharashtra, India. TL was recorded and a comparative study of TL for the above material was performed to understand the special TL characteristics of the shell....

Understanding the flora preserved in the Late Cretaceous–Early Paleocene Deccan volcanic associated sediments is significant as it gives insight into the floral composition during Deccan volcanic activity. This time interval is also associated with extinction and evolution of many angiosperm families on the Indian subcontinent. The record of palyno...

Types of Biota during the time of Maastrichtian, Upper Cretaceous (Lameta and Intertrappean Sediments) and Diet of Sauropod Dinosaurs in Central India.

Presence of charcoal in intertrappean lake sediments associated with the Malwa Group of the Deccan trap, India is recorded. The finding provides the first evidence of palaeofire in the Indian late Cretaceous. Though previous studies have shown the presence of carbonaceous clays and coal bands in the Deccan volcanic associated sediments, the presenc...

Presence of charcoal in intertrappean lake sediments associated with the Malwa Group of the Deccan trap, India is recorded. The finding provides the first evidence of palaeofire in the Indian late Cretaceous. Though previous studies have shown the presence of carbonaceous clays and coal bands in the Deccan vol- canic associated sediments, the prese...

The Late Cretaceous-Early Paleocene Deccan volcanic province covers an area of about 500,000 km2 in western, central, and southern India. The intertrappean sediments associated with Deccan volcanic flows are exposed in the fringes of the Deccan volcanic flows. The study of these sediments is significant for understanding impact of volcanic activity...

During the Cretaceous and Paleogene, the Indian subcontinent was isolated as it migrated north from the east coast of Africa to collide with Asia. As it passed over the Reunion hotspot in the late Maastrichtian–early Danian, a series of lava flows extruded, known as the Deccan Traps. Also during this interval, there was a major mass-extinction even...

Micofloral study of Lameta sediments and associated sauropod coprolites in the Nand-Dongargaon basin in Maharashtra was conducted to understand the diet and habitat of sauropods. The study revealed the presence of pollen, spores, algal and fungal remains, well-preserved cuticles of Poaceae, and testate amoebae. Vegetation during Lameta included tal...

Micofloral study of Lameta sediments and associated sauropod coprolites in the Nand-Dongargaon basin in Maharashtra was conducted to understand the diet and habitat of sauropods. The study revealed the presence of pollen, spores, algal and fungal remains, well-preserved cuticles of Poaceae, and testate amoebae. Vegetation during Lameta included tal...

The Deccan volcanic associated sediments are designated as the infratrappean (Lameta Formation) occurring just below the earliest volcanic flow in the basin and the intertrappean deposited between the flows during the break in the volcanic activity. The sediments forming the Lameta Formation are deposited in different inland basins including the Sa...

The Late Cretaceous Lameta Formation covers an area of approximately 5000 km2 in the state of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. The sediments of this formation were deposited in six inland basins namely (i) Nand-Dongargaon (N-D); (ii) Jabalpur; (iii) Sagar; (iv) Ambikapur-Amarkantak; (v) Balasinor-Jhabua and (vi) Salbardi-Belkher (Mohabey, 1...

This article presents the result of a first ever study on quantitative estimation of landward migration of sea water in Kutch during Early Eocene time using remote sensing and palynofossils. We report that the sea water was transgressed upto 16 kms inside the land, during Early Eocene (~49 million years ago), in the Kutch region, Gujarat, India. Th...

Fungal remains are recorded from the marine green shales of the Early Eocene Naredi cliff section, Kutch, Gujarat, India. The following genera have been documented: Phragmothyrites eocaenica, Monoporisporites konenigio, Microthyriaceous germlings, Multicellaesporites sp. and other fungal remains. The fungal remains suggest that the warm humid tropi...

Petrography and palynofossils of green shale of Lower Gypseous Shale Member of Naredi Formation have been studied and the results of such study are presented in this paper. The green shale contains well-rounded to ovoid, light to dark green glauconite, along with fine-grained material as matrix observed in thin sections. The green shale contains pr...

This paper presents the multidisciplinary evidences of a condensed stratigraphic section in the Naredi cliff, of the Early Eocene Naredi Formation, in onshore part of the Kutch Basin. The presence of glauconite and Ca-apatite minerals, predominantly fine grained sediment, and reducing environmental condition during the deposition of glauconite bear...

Palynological studies of Deccan volcanic associated sediments of the Sahyadri Group of Nand-Dongargaon basin of Maharashtra, Amarkantak Group of Chhindwara and unclassified Deccan Trap sequences of Saurashtra show the presence of Aquilapollenites pollen. The overall data on this genus from the Indian Late Cretaceous-Early Paleocene indicates that t...

Recent studies indicate that the bulk (80%) of Deccan trap eruptions occurred over a relatively short time interval in magnetic polarity C29r, whereas multi-proxy studies from central and southeastern India place the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K/Pg) mass extinction near the end of this main phase of Deccan volcanism suggesting a cause-and-effect relatio...

Palynological studies of the late Maastrichtian infratrappean and intertrappean sedimentary beds from various stratigraphic levels in the Deccan continental fl ood basalt of the Nand-Dongargaon Basin in central India show that infratrappean sediments (Maastrichtian C30n-C29r) are characterized by gymnosperm (Araucariacites, Classopollis, Cycadopite...

The late Paleocene - Early Eocene boundary (56Ma) is marked by the warmest climate period of the Cenozoic, known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). Most notably, the culprit behind it was a massive injection of heattrapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and oceans, comparable in volume to what our persistent burning of fossil fu...

Late Cretaceous Lameta Formation of Nand-Dongargaon basin of Maharashtra occupies an area of about 700 km sq. in Nagpur and Chandrapur districts. The sediments are believed to be deposited in fluvio-lacustrine environment in semiarid-arid climate with strong seasonality (Mohabey and Udhoji, 1996; Mohabey et al., 1993). The study area of Pisdura lie...

The intertrappean sediments associated with Deccan Continental Flood Basalt (DCFB) sequence at Ninama in Saurashtra, Gujarat yielded palynoassemblage comprising at least 12 genera and 14 species including Paleocene taxa such as Intrareticulites brevis, Neocouperipollis spp., Striacolporites striatus, Retitricolpites crassimarginatus and Rhombipolli...

Palynological investigations of Deccan volcanic- associated intertrappean deposits of the Late Cretaceous - Early Paleocene of central and western India were carried out. The study shows the presence of abundant triprojectate pollen grains, particularly Aquilapollenites Rouse 1957, Jiangsupollis Song 1980 in Song et al. 1980 and Farabeipollis Nandi...

Abstract : Late Cretaceous-Early Paleogene sediments associated with Deccan Continental Flood Basalt (DCFB) sequences of central and western India record the timing of the introduction and extinction of Late Cretaceous dinosaurs in India based on magnetostratigraphy and magnetic susceptibility stratigraphy. Current taxonomy indicates that only two...

Late Cretaceous-Early Paleogene sediments associated with Deccan Continental Flood Basalt (DCFB) sequences of central and western India record the timing of the introduction and extinction of Late Cretaceous dinosaurs in India based on magnetostratigraphy and magnetic susceptibility stratigraphy. Current taxonomy indicates that only two genera of t...

Late Cretaceous-Early Paleogene sediments associated with Deccan Continental Flood Basalt (DCFB) sequences of central and western India record the timing of the introduction and extinction of Late Cretaceous dinosaurs in India based on magnetostratigraphy and magnetic susceptibility stratigraphy. Current taxonomy indicates that only two genera of t...

Palynological studies of Deccan volcanic associated sediments of the Sahyadri Group of Nand-Dongargaon basin of Maharashtra, Amarkantak Group of Chhindwara and unclassified Deccan Trap sequences of Saurashtra show the presence of Aquilapollenites pollen. The overall data on this genus from the Indian Late Cretaceous-Early Paleocene indicates that t...

Diverse micro and macrofossils are recorded from the coprolites collected from the late Cretaceous Lameta sediments of Pisdura in Chandrapur District, Maharashtra. These coprolites (dung mass) have been attributed to titanosaurid sauropods. The microflora mostly constitutes fungal, algal (Botryococcus, Oedogonium) and bacterial remains associated w...

The Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, 55.5Ma) is globally related with the extinction of deep benthic foraminifera, the diversification of both plancktic foraminifera and mammals. In India, the tempo and timing of mammals dispersion, their association with the PETM or EECO (Early Eocene Climatic Optimum) and the India- Asia collision remain u...

Rice and its relatives are a focal point in agricultural and evolutionary science, but a paucity of fossils has obscured their deep-time history. Previously described cuticles with silica bodies (phytoliths) from the Late Cretaceous period (67-65 Ma) of India indicate that, by the latest Cretaceous, the grass family (Poaceae) consisted of members o...

In their Review “The Chicxulub Asteroid impact and mass extinction at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary” (5 March, p. [1214][1]), P. Schulte et al. analyzed the 30-year-old controversy over the cause of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction and concluded that the original theory of 1980 was right:

et al. 1 Supplementary Figure S1. Cladogram for the Poaceae. Based on the combined Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of molecular and morphological data using MrBayes. Posterior probability values are shown on nodes. Also illustrated are the placements of the seven fossil calibrations used in the BEAST analyses (letters a – g), the three alternative p...

et al. 1 Supplementary Figure S1. Cladogram for the Poaceae. Based on the combined Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of molecular and morphological data using MrBayes. Posterior probability values are shown on nodes. Also illustrated are the placements of the seven fossil calibrations used in the BEAST analyses (letters a – g), the three alternative p...

The sedimentary beds associated with Deccan Continental Flood Basalt (DCFB) sequences exposed in the volcanic subprovinces of Jabalpur-Mandla-Chhindwara (JMC) regions of Madhya Pradesh and Nand-Dongargaon (N-D) basin and the adjoining areas to the west in Yeotmal-Nanded in Maharashtra were studied for their palynofloral analysis. The sediments were...

A diversified palynoassemblage has been recorded from the Singpur intertrappean of Chhindwara District, Madhya Pradesh, that has earlier yielded megafloral remains. The section is strategic as it is located between the Chhindwara-Mandla-Jabalpur (CMJ) sector to the north and Nand-Dongargaon (ND) basin to the south, that have so far produced a major...