Coal Seam Correlation of an Indian Gondw

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Coal seam correlation of an Indian Gondwana coaleld: A palaeobotanical perspective

A.K. Srivastava ⁎, Deepa Agnihotri

Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow 226007, India

a b s t r a c ta r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:

Received 31 December 2011

Received in revised form 13 June 2012

Accepted 23 June 2012

Available online 1 July 2012

Keywords:

Gondwana

Palaeobotany

Glossopteris ora

Permian

India

Coal in India mainly belongs to Gondwana coalelds of Damodar-Koel, Son-Mahanadi, Wardha-Godavari,

Narmada and Satpura Basins. The associated carbonaceous shales and sandstones exposed in these coalelds

contain a variety of plant fossil assemblages of Glossopteris ora. The name of the ora is derived from the

dominant presence of Glossopteris —

leaves having a tongue shape, entire margin, distinct midrib and reticulatevenation pattern. Apart from the leaves of Glossopteris, the ora is known by related leaf types, variety of male–

female fructications, seeds, sporangia and spore-pollen of the Glossopterid group of plants. The fossils of other

groups of plants viz., Bryophytes, Lycophytes,Pteridophytes, Coniferophytes, and Ginkgophytes are alsodiscovered

in association with the ora. The coal bearing sequence of the Indian Gondwana coalelds is subdivided into a

number of geological formations of the Permian Period i.e. Talchir, Karharbari, Barakar, Barren Measures, and

Raniganj.

Each formation contains characteristic plant fossil assemblages. The coal is being exploited from the workable coal

seams of the Karharbari, Barakar and Raniganj formations.

The palaeobotanical investigation of plant fossils recovered from four different coal seams of Pench, Kanhan and

Pathakhera coalelds of the Satpura Gondwana Basin, of central India, indicates the presence of different types of

assemblages in different coal seams. Theora of Lower Barakar coal seams demonstrates the frequent occurrence

of Gangamopteris, Noeggerathiopsis, Buriadia, Botrychiopsis, various types of fructication Ottokaria, Arberia, seeds,

and leaves of Glossopteris. In distinction the assemblage of the upper Barakar seams show the homogeneity of

ora, with dominance of Glossopteris-species and different types of glossoptrid leaves e. g. Rhabdotaenia,

Maheshwariphyllum, fructication Plumsteadia, Partha, Scutum and fertile and sterile fronds of Neomariopteris.

Present study for the rst time demonstrates the usefulness of plant fossil data in the correlation of coal seamsin the Gondwana coalelds of India.

The oristic analysisof the Raniganj Coaleld of eastern India alsoshows the evidence of specic distributions of

plant fossils in different coal seams of Early Permian Barakar Formation.

© 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Coal occurs in different layers in intermittent sequences of carbonifer-

ous shale or sandstone.

The exposed layer of coal within a particular rock sequence is recog-

nized as the coal seams and its limit and extension varies from place to

place (Van Kravelen, 1961). The number andnature of thecoalseams de-

pend on the source material, sedimentological and palaeogeographical

characteristics of the coaleld. In comparison to coal of the northern

hemisphere, which belongs to the Carboniferous Period and formed

from autochthonous mode of deposition, Gondwana coal occurs in dif-

ferent coal bearing sequences of the Permian Period and is derived

from drifted plant material deposited in basins or valleys i.e. the coal is

allochthonous in nature (Krishnan, 1982; Navale, 1974, 1976, 1978).

Coals of the Angarian Realm (Siberia) are mostly Permian and the plant

material is both auto and allochthonous. The coal bearing sequences

are known by the Karharbari, Barakar and Raniganj formations of the

Lower Gondwana System and each formation is known by its typical

plant fossil assemblages (Srivastava, 1997).

Coal seams in different coalelds are formed depending upon the

source material and coalication process (Casshyap, 1979). Sudden

inux of sediments or retrieval of vegetal matter in the formation of

coal seams result in coal seams that are split which are dif cult to corre-

late the coal seams. In order to resolve the problem, Sahni (1940)

suggested the use of palaeobotanical knowledge to correlate coal

seams in Indian Gondwana coalelds. Following this idea, Bharadwaj

(1971) and others (Bharadwaj and Prakash, 1972; Bharadwaj and

Salujha, 1964; Bharadwaj and Srivastava, 1973; Bharadwaj and Tiwari,

1977) comprehensively studied the spore–pollen assemblages for the

correlation of coal seams in different coalelds of India. However, the

distribution of plant mega fossils have not yet been characterized to

identify or correlate thedifferentcoal seams, mainly because it is dif cult

to get fossils from a single seam coal mines. In view of this fact, we

International Journal of Coal Geology 113 (2013) 88–96

⁎ Corresponding author at: Intergral University, Kursi Road, Lucknow-226026, India.

Tel.: +91 522 2740008/2738305; fax: +91 522 2740485/2740098.

E-mail addresses: [email protected],

[email protected] (A.K. Srivastava).

0166-5162/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.coal.2012.06.009

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investigated the Pench, Kanhan and Pathakhera coalelds of the Satpura

Gondwana Basin in central India. Each coaleld contains 3 to 4 coal

seams, and coal is being exploited from single seam open cast or under-

ground mines. Fortunately, the underlying and overlying carbonaceous

shale samples of the colliery have yielded well preserved plant fossils.

The study of plant fossil assemblages from different seams of the Barakar

Formation of the Raniganj coaleld (Srivastava, 1992) has demonstrated

that palaeobotanical data can be used to correlate the different coal

seams.Plant fossil samples were collected from a single seam coal mines

with the help of coal geologists of Western Coalelds Limited, a subsid-

iary of Coal India Limited. A large number of fossils (around 1000 in

number) were recovered from open cast and underground mines of

the Pench, Kanhan and Pathakhera coalelds of the Satpura Gondwana

Basin. This discovery suggests the explicit distribution of fossils in dif-

ferent coal seams of the Barakar Formation belonging to Early Permian

sequence of Gondwana System because of the fact that each coal seam

in all likeness is derived from individualistic association of plant

material.

The distribution of plant fossils in Lower Gondwana sediments

indicates thatthe earliest elements of Glossopteris

ora appear sudden-ly in the early Early Permian sequence of Talchir Formation represented

by the species of Gangmopteris-Noeggerathiopsis, with few records of

Paranocladus, Arberia and seeds. The Gangamopteris-Noeggerathiopsis

Fig. 1. A. Shows the distribution of different Gondwana basins in Peninsular India. (after Ghosh et al., 2004). B. Outline of geological map of Satpura Gondwana Basin that shows the

locations of the different coalelds i.e. Pench, Kanhan and Patahkhera. (after Ghosh et al., 2004).

89 A.K. Srivastava, D. Agnihotri / International Journal of Coal Geology 113 (2013) 88–96


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complex diversied with the addition of Glossopteris-species during

late-early part of Early Permian Karharbari Formation. During this

period ora also shows the distinct presence of Botrychiopsis, Buriadia,

Euryphyllum and Rubidgea. Recently, these elements have been

reported from the ora of Lower Barakar Formation (Singh et al., 2006a,

2006b; Srivastava, 1996). The ora of Early Permian Barakar Formation

characteristically demonstrates the continuation of Karharbari oral

elements at lower stage but during Early Permian stage of upper

Barakar most of earlier forms disappear and the dominance of

Glossopteris-species alongwithNeomariopteris andLelstotheca is noticed

Fig. 2. Generalized lithostratigraphy of Gondwana successions in Satpura Basin.


http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_5/image%20of%20Fig.%E0%B2%80


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in the assemblage. The early Late Permian sequence of Barren Measures

Formation shows the steady decline of genera and species mainly attrib-

uteddue to severe aridityas the formation containsthe redbedsequence.

The presence of lycopsid genus, Cyclodendron is typical of the ora,

together with the species of Glossopteris. The Late Permian Raniganj

Formation represents the zenith of Glossopteris ora represented

by number of genera and species of Glossopterid leaves, fructications

and pteridophytes (Lele, 1976; Maheshwari, 1976; Srivastava, 1996,

1997). The end phase of PermianPeriod i.e. Bijori, Kamthiand Pachhwara

formations demonstrates the declining stage of Glossopteris ora before

its extinction in early or middle part of Triassic Formation (Srivastava

and Agnihotri, 2010). The evolutionary pattern of dominant group

of plant Glossopterid indicates that the glossopterid leaves and

fructications have dichotomous mode of developmental pattern.

The leaves are classied under reticulate and non reticulate types

and both the forms evolved successively with alteration and mod-

ication at different stratigraphic levels. Similarly glossopterid fructi-

cations recognized as two types e.g. multiovulate and branched type,

Fig. 3. Detailed geological maps of different coalelds of Satpura Gondwana Basin showing the fossil site. (after Singh and Shukla, 2004). A. Pench Valley Coaleld. B. Kanhan Valley

Coaleld. C. Pathakhera Coaleld.




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signify the evolutionary pattern through reduction of ovule and

ovule bearing organ at different stratigraphic levels (Srivastava,

1986, 2004).

2. Material and method: Satpura Gondwana Basin

The east–west aligned Satpura Gondwana Basin is located in the

heart of the Indian peninsula along the southern ank of the Narmada

Valley (Fig. 1A). This rhomb shaped master Gondwana Basin is delin-

eated in the north by the Son-Narmada fractured zone, which denes

a major geo-fracture in the peninsular craton (Chakraborty and

Ghosh, 2008). It is 200 km long and 60 km wide. The basin covers

an area of 12000 km2 and is situated between 22° 06′ N-22° 28′

latitude and 77° 48′–79° 00′ longitude (Fig. 1B). It extends south

of Narmada plains of Hoshangabad and includes the hilly region of

southern Hoshangabad, northern Chhindwara and north-eastern

Betul (Raja Rao, 1983). Satpura Gondwana Basin is unique amongst

all of the Indian Gondwana basins because it has the largest range

stratigraphically spanning from Permian to Cretaceous (Crookshank,

1936). There are three major coalelds within the basin: the Pench,Kanhan and Pathakhera. The Barakar formation represents the coal

bearing horizon in the basin.

Gondwana sediments of the Satpura Basin are estimated to have a

thickness of more than 5000 m. There are number of stratigraphic

units which are found only in this Basin, including the Motur, Bijori,

Almod, Denwa and Bagra formations. TheMotur and Bijori formations

have been correlated with the Lower Gondwana sequences of the

Barren Measures and Raniganj formations of the Damodar Basin,

whereas, beds of thePachmarhi,Denwa andBagrabelong to Late Triassic

and Jurassic. Early Triassic beds of the Middle Gondwana are absent in

Satpura Gondwana basin. The Jabalpur sequence is assigned to the

Lower Cretaceous and represents the Upper Gondwana (Srivastava and

Agnihotri, 2009). Precambrian basement rocks are overlain unconform-

ably by the Talchir, Barakar, Motur and Bijori sediments, and the contact

between Bijori and Pachmarhi formations marks the boundary between

the Lower and Upper Gondwana subdivisions (Srivastava and Agnihotri,

2009). Ghosh et al. (2001) have proposed a stratigraphic succession in

Satpura Gondwana Basin (Fig. 2).

3. Coalelds of the Satpura Gondwana Basin

On the basis of the occurrence of coal, the Satpura Gondwana Basin

is divided into four coalelds: ThePench Valley Coaleld, Kanhan Valley

Coaleld, and Pathakhera Coaleld.

3.1. Pench Valley Coal eld

The Pench Valley Coaleld is named after the river Pench, covers the

southern portion of the Satpura Gondwana Basin in the Chhindwara

district of Madhya Pradesh between longitude 78°38′–79°0′ and lati-

tude 22°09′–22°24′ (Figs. 1B, 3A). It extends over the length of about

32 km from Sukri in the west and Haranbhata in the east. Talchir,

Barakar, Motur and Bijori formations of the Lower Gondwana group

and the Jabalpur Formation of the Upper Gondwana group followedby the Deccan Traps, are exposed in Pench Valley.

Talchir is the lowest member of the group (Fig. 2), which uncon-

formably overlies the Archean rocks, and is exposed along the southern

portion of the Barakar Formation which occurs in a long strip trending

east–west, but exposures of Barakar Formation are generally met only

in the sections of river tributaries.

The Barakar coal measures are exposed in narrow disconnected

patches. Barakar rocks are comprised of medium to coarse-grained

sandstone, carbonaceous shale and coal seams in the Pench Valley.

The Barakar and Talchir boundary is faulted. The coal measures of

Pench Valley have a regional northerly dip of 5°–15°. The Pench Valley

region has a maximum covering of the Barakars by the Deccan Traps.

Motur rocks occupy the 3/4th part of the coaleld, and consist of

yellowish sandstone and mottled clay beds. They are devoid of any

Fig. 3 (continued).



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coal seam. Motur is followed by the rocks of the Jabalpur stage and

Deccan Trap rocks (Chandra, 1971).

In the coaleld, the coal seams occur in a thick sequence (250 m)

of Barakar sediments. There are four coal-seams in a sequence of

50–80 m, are numbered from I (top) to IV (bottom). Only seam no I

(top) has the mineable thickness (3.5–6.5 m) throughout the area.

The rest of the seams are thin, discontinuous, occur in patches and

have a workable thickness only in the eastern part of the Coaleld.

The coal seams have the tendency to split (Singh and Shukla, 2004).The beds of Bijori are exposed in Denwa river section and near the

villages Tamia and Bijori (Srivastava and Agnihotri, 2010).

3.2. Kanhan Valley Coal eld

The Kanhan Valley Coaleld is situated between latitude 22°11′–

22°12′ and longitude 78°25′–78°40′. The coaleld named after the

river Kanhan, area stretches for about 25 km from the western end

of the Pench Valley to the Tandsi area in the west ( Fig. 3B). Geologi-

cally, the Kanhan Valley Coaleld is similar to the Pench Valley Coal-

eld. Archean rocks are underlain by the Talchir Formation, which is

followed by the coal bearing Barakar Formation and Motur Formation

of the Lower Gondwana. Motur is overlain by rocks of the Jabalpur

stage and Deccan Traps. In this area, the beds strike east–west and

usually dip towards the north with dips varying from 5°-12°. Local

variations in the dip direction have also been noted. These variations

are due to the tilting of faulted blocks as recorded in Pench area. A

network of strike faults and oblique faults constitutes the mainstructural

features (Raja Rao, 1983).

Only three coal seams have been identied in this coaleld, of

which only the youngest seam (Top seam) is well developed, which

is 1.2–4.8 m thick. In the Tandsi area, seam III has a workable thick-

ness and is being mined at present. In the Mohan area seam, III and

seam II are under production. Towards the western side (Tandsi

area), seam III has been affected by magmatic activity, particularly

towards the south (Raja Rao, 1983).

3.3. Pathakhera Coal eld

Pathakhera Coaleld is also known as Tawa Valley Coaleld, after

the river Tawa. Pathakhera Coaleld is the western-most extension

of Pench-Kanhan-Tawa Valley coalelds and is situated in Betul dis-

trict of Madhya Pradesh between 22°06′: 78°10′ (Fig. 3C). The meta-

morphics and Talchir Formation are exposed in the south-western

and south-eastern parts of the coalelds. Barakar Formation occupies

the central part of the coaleld and covers an area of 42 km2. On the

basis of lithological assemblage the Barakar Formation is divided into

three sub-divisions. The upper part of the formation, which is about

100–110 m thick, is composed of medium to coarse-grained sand-

stone with occasional shale bands. The middle part is about 120 m

thick and consists of sandstone, shale and their intercalations and

the coal seams. The lower part of the Formation is about 250 m

thick and is composed of ne-grained garnetiferous sandstone with

Fig. 4. Lithocolumn of different coalelds of Satpura Gondwana Basin showing different coal seams. A. Pench Valley Coaleld. B. Kanhan Valley Coaleld. C. Pathakhera Coaleld.




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few thin shale and coal bands. The thicker coal horizons of the coal-

eld are conned in the middle section of about 120 m of the forma-

tion. The Motur occupies the major part of the coaleld in the north,

and is predominantly arenaceous in nature, consisting of medium to

coarse-grained sandstone with greenish clay bands. The upper part

of the Motur formation, however, contains pink and chocolate colored

clay beds. The presence of dolerite dykes in Pathakhera coaleld has

been established on the basis of both surfaces (exposures along

Tawa river) as well as underground workings (Raja Rao, 1983).In the Pathakhera Coaleld, the seams occur at depths of 25–100 m.

Four major coal seams are found in the coaleld. The seams are the IA

Seam, Bagdona Seam, Lower Workable Seam and Upper Workable

Seam, in ascending order. The younger two seams, i.e. the Lower Work-

able Seam and Upper Workable Seam are by far the most consistent.

The Bagdona Seam is generally workable in the central and eastern

parts of the coaleld and is generally unworkable in the southern and

western parts of the coaleld. The lower most seam, i.e. IA Seam, is

mostly unworkable in the central part of the coaleld, but has attained

workable thickness in the western and eastern part of the coaleld.

4. Plant fossil assemblages vis a vis coal seams distribution

There are four coal-seams in Pench Valley coaleld in a sequence of 50–80 m, numbered as I (top) to IV (bottom) ( Fig. 4A). Only seam no I

(top) has a workable thickness (3.5–6.5 m) throughout the area. The

rest of the seams are thin, discontinuous, occur in patches and have a

workable thickness only in the eastern part of the Coaleld. The coal

seams have the tendency to split in the eastern part of the coaleld

(Singh and Shukla, 2004).

Theplant fossils from Pench Valley Coaleld are collected from the

following open cast projects (ocp) and underground mines (u/g):

(Table 1)

New Sethia ocp Seam I–III

Shivpuri ocp Seam II–III

Vishnupuri u/g Seam II–III

Chhinda ocp Seam II–III

Ganpati u/g Seam IV

Thisgora u/g Seam IV

Mathani u/g Seam IV

Naheria u/g Seam IV

The ora of the Pench Valley Coaleld is known by the species of

Cyclodendron (1 sp.), Phyllotheca (1 sp.), Botrychiopsis (1 sp.),

Neomariopteris (1 sp.), Euryphyllum (1 sp.), Gangamopteris (16 spp.),

Glossopteris (18 spp.), Rhabdotaenia (2 spp.), Arberia (1 sp.), Ottokaria

Table 1

Details of coal seams of different coalelds of Satpura Gondwana Basin.

Coaleld Strata

Pench valley (after Raja Rao, 1983) Seam I

Inter-burdenSeam II

Inter-burden

Seam III

Inter-burden

Seam IV

Kanhan Valley (after Raja Rao, 1983) Seam III (top)

Inter-burden

Seam II (middle)

Inter-burden

Seam I (bottom)

Pathakhera Coaleld (after Raja Rao, 1983) Upper workable seam

Inter-burden

Lower workable seam

Inter-burden

Bagdona seam

Inter-burden

Seam IA

Table 2

List of plant fossils collected from different Coalelds of Satpura Gondwana Basin.

Name of genera/species Pench

Valley

Coaleld

Kanhan

Valley

Coaleld

Pathakhera

Coaleld

Genus Cyclodendron Krausel 1928

Cyclodendron leslii Krausel 1928 + +

Genus Lelstotheca Maheshwari 1972

Lelstotheca striatus Maheshwari and

Srivastava 1986

+

Genus Phyllotheca Brongniart 1828

Phyllotheca indica Bunbury 1861 + +

Genus Botrychiopsis (Feistmantel)

Archangelsky and Arronoda 1971

Botrychiopsis valida (Feistmantel) Archangelsky

and Arronoda 1971

+

Genus Neomariopteris Maithy 1974

Neomariopteris hugesii Maithy 1974 +

Genus Euryphyllum Feistmantel 1879

Euryphyllum elongatum Srivastava 1992 +

Genus Gangamopteris McCoy 1860

Gangamopteris angustifolia, McCoy 1861 + + +

Gangamopteris buriadica, Feistmantel 1879 + +

Gangamopteris sp cf. G. clarkeana,

Feistmantel 1890.

+ + +

Gangamopteris cyclopteroides, Feistmantel 1876 + + +

Gangamopteris brosa, Maithy 1965 +Gangamopteris gondwanensis, Maithy 1965 +

Gangamopteris intermedia, Maithy 1965 + + +

Gangamopteris karharbariensis, Maithy 1965 + +

Gangamopteris kashmirensis, Seward 1905 +

Gangamopteris major , Feistmantel 1879 + + +

Gangamopteris mucronata, Maithy 1965 + +

Gangamopteris obliqua, McCoy 1861 + + +

Gangamopteris rajaensis Srivastava 1992 + +

Gangamopteris s pathulata, Feistmental 1882 +

Gangamopteris satpuraensis Srivastava &

Agnihotri 2010

+

Gangamopteris sethiaensis Srivastava &

Agnihotri 2010

+ + +

Gangamopteris sp. + +

Genus Glossopteris Brongniart 1828

Glossopteris angusta Pant and Gupta 1971 + +

Glossopteris angustifolia Brongniart 1828 + + +

Glossopteris arberi Srivastava 1956 +Glossopteris browniana, Brongniart 1828 + +

Glossopteris churiensis Srivastava 1978 +

Glossopteris communis Feistmental 1879 + + +

Glossopteris decipiens Feistmantel 1879 + +

Glossopteris erehwonensis Gee 1989 +

Glossopteris feistmantelii Rigby 1964 +

Glossopteris brosa Pant 1958 +

Glossopteris gigas Pant and Singh 1971 + + +

Glossopteris indica Schimper 1869 + + +

Glossopteris karanpurensis Kulkarni 1971 + +

Glossopteris longicaulis Feistmental 1879 +

Glossopteris nimishea Chandra and Surange 1979 +

Glossopteris sp. cf G. nakkarea Chandra and

Surange 1979

+

Glossopteris sp. cf G. saksenae Chandra and

Surange 1979

+

Glossopteris stricta Bunbury 1861 + +Glossopteris subtilis Pant and Gupta 1971 + +

Glossopteris tenuifolia Pant and Gupta 1968 + +

Glossopteris varia Pant and Gupta 1968 + +

Glossopteris zeilleri Pant and Gupta 1968 +

Genus Rhabdotaenia Pant 1958

Rhabdotaenia danaeoides (Royle) Pant 1958 +

Rhabdotaenia pantii Srivastava andAgnihotri 2010 +

Genus Arberia White 1908

Arberia surangei Chandra and Srivastava 1981 +

Genus Ottokaria Zeiller 1902

Ottokaria biharensis Srivastava 1977 +

Ottokaria sp. +

Genus Arberiella Pant and Nautiyal 1960

Arberiella like sporangium Pantand Nautiyal1960 +

Genus Pantolepis Srivastava and Agnihotri 2012



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(2 spp.), Arberiella (1 sp.), Vertebraria (1 sp.), scale leaves of Pantolepis

(1 sp.), Surangelepis (1 sp.), Utkaliolepis (1 sp.), Cheirophyllum (1 sp.),

Cordaites (1sp.), Noeggerathiopsis (3 spp.), Buriadia (1 sp.), seeds of Cordaicarpus (4 spp.), and Samaropsis (6 spp.) (Table 2).

The top seam (No I) is quite thin and exposed only on the top part

of Sethia mine, whereas, the number II and III seams are exposed in

the open cast mine of Sethia, Shivpuri, Chhinda and underground

mines of Vishnupuri, Ganpati and Pench River section. The lower

seam IV is distributed in underground mines of Thisgora, Mathani and

Naheria.

The topmost seam (No. I) is exposed only in the Sethia mine, which

contains a typical assemblage of Cyclodendron, Neomariopteris and

Rhabdotaenia in association with the leaves of Gangamopteris and

Glossopteris. In contrast, theora of the no. II seams is dominated by spe-

cies of Gangamopteris and Glossopteris, and lower seams show the pres-

ence of glossopterid leaves, fructication, scale leaves, Noeggerathiopsis,

Buriadia, seeds of Cordaicarpus and Samaropsis. Similar assemblages

have also been recovered from lower seams exposed in the following

mines: Shivpuri (Nos. II–III), Thisgora (No. IV), Mathani (No. IV),

Naheria (No. IV), Vishnupuri (II–III), Chhinda (II), Ganpati (Nos. II–III).

The assemblages are comparable to the Early Permian ora of

Karharbari Formation.

Only three coal seams have been identied in Kanhan Valley coal-

eld, of which only the youngest seam (top seam) is well developed

(Fig. 4B).

Plant fossils have been collected from following collieries of KanhanValley Coaleld:

Ambara ocp Top and bottom seam

Ghorawari incline Bottom seam

Ghorawari ocp Bottom seam

Ghorawari 16/17 ocp Top and bottom seam

Ghorawari 6A, 6B ocp Bottom seam

Damua ocp Middle seam

Datla ocp Bottom seam

Rakhikhol incline Top seam

Rakhikhol Bansi Patch Top seam

Tandsi u/g Top seam

The ora of Kanhan Valley Coaleld is known by the presence of

Cyclodendron (1 sp.), Lelstotheca (1 sp.), Phyllotheca (1 sp. ),

Gangamopteris (9 spp.), Glossopteris ( 15 spp.), Scale leaves Penchiolepis

(2spp.), Surangelepis (1 sp.), Noeggerarthiopsis (2 spp.), Buriadia (1 sp.),

seeds of Carpolithus (2 spp.), Cordaicarpus ( 4 spp.) and Samaropsis

(5 spp.) (Table 2).

There are only three coal seams in the area and they are numbered

in ascending order from I to III, and are locally known as the Top, Middle

and Bottom seams (Table 1). The comparison of the assemblages indi-

cates that they aresimilar to theora oflower seams of the Pench Valley

Coaleld belonging to coal seams III–IV.

In Pathakhera Coaleld, the seams occur at the depths of 25–100 m.

Four majorcoalseams arefound in the coaleld. The seams are IA Seam,

Bagdona Seam, Lower Workable Seam and Upper Workable Seam in as-

cending order (Fig. 4C).

Fossils are collected from the following collieries:

Tawa mine-1 Lower Workable seam

Tawa mine-2 Lower Workable seam

Pathakhera mine-1 Lower Workable seam

Pathakhera mine-2 Lower Workable seam

Shobhapur min Upper Workable seam

Satpura mine-2 Upper Workable seam

Sarni mine Upper Workable seam

Chattarpur mine-1 Lower Workable seam

Chattarpur mine-1 Lower Workable seam

The ora consists of Gangamopteris (11 spp.), Glossopteris (5 spp.),

Noeggerathiopsis (1 sp.), scale leaves Penchiolepis (1 sp.), Pantolepis

(1 sp.), Utkaliolepis (1 sp.), and seeds of Carpolithus (2 spp.), Cordaicarpus

(3 spp.) and Samaropsis (4 spp.) are collected (Table 2). In comparison to

Pench and Kanhan coalelds, the number of genera and species are less,but the fossils are very characteristically distributed. Floristically, the as-

semblage represented by the leaves of Gangamopteris, Glossopteris,

Noeggerathiopsis and seeds, are similar to the ora of lower coal seams

of Pench and Kanhan coalelds.

5. Floristic correlation of lower and upper coal seams

The plant fossils recovered from Lower Barakar coal seams of

Pench, Kanhan and Pathakhera coalelds (Table 2) show the pres-

ence of different species of Cyclodendron, Lelstotheca, Phyllotheca,

Botrychiopsis, Neomariopteris, Euryphyllum, Gangamopteris, Glossopteris,

Rhabdotaenia, Arberia, Ottokaria, Arberiella, Pantolepis, Penchiolepis,

Surangelepis, Utkaliolepis, Cheirophyllum, Cordaites, Noeggerathiopsis,

Table 2 (continued)

Name of genera/species Pench

Valley

Coaleld

Kanhan

Valley

Coaleld

Pathakhera

Coaleld

Pantolepis indica Srivastava and Agnihotri 2012 + +

Genus Penchiolepis Srivastavaand Agnihotri 2012

Penchiolepis gondwanensis Srivastava and

Agnihotri 2012

+

Penchiolepis indica Srivastava and Agnihotri 2012 + +

Genus Surangelepis Srivastava and Agnihotri 2012

Surangelepis ambarai Srivastava and Agnihotri

2012

+

Surangelepis elongatus Srivastava and

Agnihotri 2012

+

Genus Utkaliolepis Tiwari, Deeba and Chauhan

2009

Utkaliolepis indica Tiwari, Deeba and Chauhan

2009

+ +

Genus Cheirophyllum Pant and Singh 1978

Cheirophyllum sp. cf. C. lacerata (Feistmantel)

Pant and Singh 1978

+

Genus Cordaites Unger 1850

Cordaites sp. +

Genus Noeggerathiopsis Feistmantel 1876

Noeggerathiopsis elongata, Anderson and

Anderson 1985

+ +

Noeggerathiopsis hislopii, Bunbury 1861 + + +

Noeggerathiopsis spathulata (Dana) Maithy 1965 +Genus Buriadia heterophylla Seward and Sahni

1920

Buriadia heterophylla Seward and Sahni 1920 + +

Genus Alatocarpus Lele 1969

A. indicus Lele 1969

Genus Carpolithus Sternberg 1925

Carpolithus circularis Walkom 1935 + +

Carpolithus striatus Walkom 1935 + +

Genus Cordaicarpus Geinitz 1848

Cordaicarpus gigas sp. nov. +

Cordaicarpus sp. cf C. karharbarense Maithy 1965 + + +

Cordaicarpus minutus sp. nov. + + +

Cordaicarpus ovatus Walkom 1935 +

Cordaicarpus zeilleri Maithy 1965 + + +

Genus Samaropsis Goppert 1864

Samaropsis dolianitii Millan 1977 + +

Samaropsis feistmantelii Maithy 1965 + +Samaropsis ganjrensis Saxena 1956 + + +

Samaropsis gigas De Souza and Iannuzzi 2007 +

Samaropsis goraiensis Singh and Lele 1956 + + +

Samaropsis milleri Seward 1917 + +

Samaropsis rugata Bernardes- De- Oliviera et al.

2007

+ +

Genus Vertebraria Royle 1933

Vertebraria indica Royle 1933 + + +

Equisetalean axes + + +

Simple axes + + +



9/9

Buriadia, Alatocarpus, carpolithus, Cordaicarpus, Samaropsis and

Vertebraria.

It has been observed that the assemblage represented by Buriadia,

Noeggerathiopsis, Gangamopteris and Botrychiopsis in lower seams

(III–IV) of the Satpura Gondwana Basin is similar to the lower Barakar

plant fossils of SouthKaranpura(Kulkarni, 1971), South RewaGondwana

Basin (Chandra and Srivastava, 1982), Auranga (Srivastava, 1977;

Srivastava and Tewari 1996), Srivastava (1992) and Ib–River Coaleld

(Singh et al., 2006b). The comparative stratigraphical distribution of fos-sils suggests a similarity to the underlyingora of the Karharbari Forma-

tion of Giridih (Maithy, 1965), Daltonganj (Maithy, 1969) and South

Rewa Gondwana Basin (Chandra and Srivastava, 1982; Chandra and

Srivastava, 1991).

The ora of Upper Barakar coal seams (II–III) recovered from the

Sethia mine shows the presence of typical elements of its own i.e.

Cyclodendron and Rhabdotaenia in association with the fossils of the

Karaharbari Formation i.e. Noeggerathiopsis, Buriadia, Gangamopteris,

Glossopteris and seeds. The distribution of Cyclodendron and Rhabdotaenia

in different Lower Gondwana formations suggests that they are normally

associatedwiththeora of the Barren Measures and Raniganj formations

(Pant, 1958; Pant and Verma, 1963; Surange, 1975), but their presence in

the older horizon of Satpura Gondwana Basin suggests their early

ancestry in the Lower Gondwana ora of India.

The presence of Phyllotheca and Lelstotheca in association with the

typical plant fossils of Karharbari Formation is similar to the ora of

Lower Barakar Formation of the Raniganj Coaleld (Srivastava, 1992)

and such assemblages are also known from the Ib‐River Basin (Singh et

al., 2006a), Nand Coaleld, Wardha Basin (Singh et al., 2005). However,

the presence of sterile and fertile axes of Cyclodendron, pinnule of

Neomariopteris and glossopterid leaf of Rhabdotaenia in the top most

seam of the Sethia mine, makes the ora distinct from other coalelds

of the Satpura Gondwana Basin. Such variation in the ora is correlated

with the apparent change in Glossopteris ora from lower to upper

seams.

The distribution of plant fossils in a number of collieries of Pench,

Kanhan and Pathakhera coalelds of Satpura Gondwana Basin having

lower and upper coal seams of Early Permian Barakar Formationdem-

onstrates that plant fossils have distinct prototypes in lower andupper coal seams and it is possible to identify and correlate different

coal seams in the Gondwana coalelds of India on the basis of plant

fossil allocation.

Acknowledgment

We thank Dr. N. C. Mehrotra, Director, Birbal Sahni Institute of

Palaeobotany, Lucknow for his kind permission to attend and to present

paper in the TSOP meeting, Halifax, Canada. One of the authors (DA)

thank The Society for Organic Petrology (TSOP) and organizers for pro-

viding the student travel award and all logistic facilities to attend the

28th Annual meeting of TSOP, Halifax (NS), Canada. We express

our sincere thanks to Dr. P.K. Mukhopadhaya (Muki) and Mike Averyfor their help and cooperation. We also thank the editor, guest editors

of the journal and reviewers for their valuable suggestions.

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