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Open access e-Journal Earth Science India, Vol. 3 (III), July, 2010, pp. 146-153 http://www.earthscienceindia.info/; eISSN: 0974 – 8350
146
A Thecamoebian Assemblage from the Manjir Formation
(Early Permian) of Northwest Himalaya, India
A. Farooqui 1, A. Kumar2*, N. Jha2, A.C. Pande3 and D.D. Bhattacharya3 1Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road Lucknow, India
2Center for Petroleum and Minerals, Research Institute, King Fahd University of
Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31262, Saudi Arabia 3Geological Survey of India, Lucknow, India
*Email: [email protected]
Abstract
A fairly well preserved and diverse assemblage of thecamoebians is reported
here from the palynological preparations of the Early Permian Manjir Formation. This
Formation is in the Chamba Basin of the northwestern Himalaya in Himanchal Pradesh, India. It has been assigned an Early Permian age on the basis of characteristic
palynomorphs (Pande et al., 2004). This study documents for the first time an Early Permian thecamoebian assemblage from the Himalayan region. Morphologically these
forms are comparable to the extant thecamoebian genera like Centropyxis, Arcella, Difflugia, Cyclopyxis, Cucurbitella, Amphitrema, Lagenodifflugia and Lesquereusia. This find supports the current hypothesis of minimal evolution in thecamoebian lineages through geologic time.
Key Words: Thecamoebians, Early Permian, Manjir Formation, northwestern Himalaya
Introduction
Arcellaceans characterize a special group of testate protists (agglutinated or
autogenous) that belong to the Subphylum Sarcodina (Medioli and Scott, 1988). These
have a sac/cap like test, with a simple aperture known as pseudostome through which
extrudes pseudopods of the amoeba dwelling inside it (Medioli et al., 1999). Most of the
known fossil thecamoebians are agglutinated by calcareous or siliceous grains and/or
diatom frustules (Medioli et al., 1990a). They occur in a variety of freshwater habitats
(Medioli and Scott, 1983, 1988) and also in marginally brackish environments (Charman
et al., 2000; Patterson and Kumar, 2002). They are known from lake sediments from
tropics to the Arctic region (see references in Patterson and Kumar, 2002; Boudreau et al., 2005), peat bogs (Woodland et al., 1998; Charman et al., 2000) and salt marshes
(Charman et al., 2002; Roe et al., 2002).
Published thecamoebian studies are mainly from the lakes and bogs in Europe
and North America. There are relatively fewer thecamoebian studies from the tropical
regions (Hoogenraad and Groot, 1940, 1946; van Oye, 1949; Dalby et al. 2000, and Sudzuki, 1979; Farooqui and Gaur, 2007). Some of the earliest thecamoebian studies from India include brackish water lakes and ponds of nineteenth century Mumbai, India
(Carter, 1856, 1864). Roe and Patterson (2006) studied environmental control on the
distribution of thecamoebians in small ponds and lakes of Barbados. Patterson and
Kumar (2000, 2002) provide comprehensive reviews of environmental and
paleoecological utility of lacustrine thecamoebians in higher latitudes. According to Roe
and Patterson (2006), “thecamoebian species can be correlated to a variety of
environmental and climatic parameters, including metal and organic pollutant
contamination, substrate type, salinity, levels of organics, oxygen concentration, water
temperatures, water table fluctuations, humification, changes in intertidal flooding and
land use change”.
A Thecamoebian Assemblage from the Manjir Formation: Farooqui et al.
Pre-Quaternary Occurrences of Thecamoebians
Distribution of fossil thecamoebian families from Neoproterozoic through Pliocene
is patchy with wide gaps in the fossil record (Medioli et al., 1990a and b, van Hengstum
et al., 2007, Kumar, submitted). The oldest thecamoebians are described as Vase Shape
Microfossils (VSMs) from the Neoproterozoic rocks of Grand Canyon, Arizona by Porter
and Knoll (2000), Porter et al. (2003), and Smith et al. (2008). There are isolated reports of thecamoebians from Carboniferous Period (Vasicek and Ruzica 1957;
Wightman et al., 1994) Mesozoic and Cenozoic Eras (Bradley, 1931; Frenquelli, 1933;
Schoborn, 1999; Schmidt et al., 2004; van Hengstum, 2007, Bassi et al. 2008).
Recently, Kumar (submitted) compiled a list of pre-Quaternary thecamoebian
occurrences from all over the world. Despite a long geological history, thecamoebian
lineages have shown minimal evolution through geological time and demonstrate close
resemblance to their Holocene forms (van Hengstum et al., 2007).
Thecamoebians in Palynological Preparations
Since thecamoebian tests could be secreted (autogenous) and are proteinaceous,
they are acid resistant and have been reported in the palynological preparations by
Kumar and Patterson (2002), Farooqui and Gaur (2007). Srivastava and Bhattacharya
(1998) reported an assemblage of Early Permian palynomorphs from faunal coal balls of
Arunachal Pradesh, northeastern Himalaya, India. A specimen referred to as “?Chitinozoa like vesicle” (Plate 1, Fig. 11) is most likely a specimen of Difflugia. Likewise, Pande et al. (2004) published a palynomorph assemblage from Manjir Formation (Early Permian)
from Himachal Pradesh in north India. They too report an “unidentified specimen” (Plate
2, Fig. 6) which is a well preserved specimen of Centropyxis. There are significant opportunities for discovering thecamoebian assemblages from the Phanerozoic sediments
all over the world that may occur in the palynological preparations. The present paper
also deals with Permian thecamoebians observed in the palynological preparations.
Fig. 1: Location map of Khundi-Maral-Raula Section, Chamba District, Himanchal
Pradesh, India.
Open access e-Journal Earth Science India, Vol. 3 (III), July, 2010, pp. 146-153 http://www.earthscienceindia.info/; eISSN: 0974 – 8350
148
Stratigraphy and Age of the Manjir Formation
The Chamba Basin (Himachal Pradesh) represents the Tethyan realm of
northwest Himalaya and the Manjir Formation is a major stratigraphic unit of this Basin.
Most early work on the geology of this region considered Manjir Formation to be of Upper
Proterozoic age on the basis of lithology (Rattan, 1973). Later, well preserved and
stratigraphically significant palynomorphs comprising chiefly monosaccates (Parasaccites and Plicatipollenites), non-striate disaccates Scheuringipollenites, Platysaccus and striate disaccates (Striatopodocarpites, Faunipollenites and Striatites) were reported in
abundance giving a definite Early Permian age to the Manjir Formation (Pande et al., 2004).
The present study is based on the samples that were collected along the Bhalsu-
Sunu Kothi-Khundi Maral Section along the Siul River (Fig.1). The detailed
lithostratigraphy is given in Table-1. Lithologically the rocks of Manjir Formation are
foliated and moderately metamorphosed and are represented by heterogeneous, poorly
sorted pebbly beds separated by non-pebbly horizons. Samples for the present study
were taken from the dark grey to black shale/slate separating the pebbly horizons.
Table-1- Lithostratigraphy of the Manjir Formation along Khundi Maral- Raula Section
(Siul river), Chamba District, Himanchal Pradesh, India.
SAMPLE
NUMBER
(Fig.1)
FORMATION LITHOLOGY THICKNESS
(m)
CHAMBA Fine grained, greyish green quartzite and phyllite Not measured
Pebbly Unit
P-1
Foliated calcareous, matrix-supported pebbly
slate/phyllite and quartzite with sparsely distributed
granules of transluscent quartz vein in lower part
715
1to 5
M
A
N
J
I
R
F
O
R
M
A
T
I
O
N
Non-pebbly zone
NP-1
Grey, bluish grey, non-calcareous, slate and phyllite
with subordinate siltstone and black shale with
occasional limonisation
417
Pebbly Unit
P-2
Grey, bluish grey, calcareous, matrix-supported
phyllite/slate and greenish quartzite, medium and small
pebble clasts of quartzite, shale and dolomite/dolomitic
limestone, stretched clasts conspicuous
315
6-10
Non-pebbly Unit
NP-2
Black, grayish black,non-calcareous bleached and
limonitised pyritiferous shale/ slate and siltstone with
minor pockets of dolomite/dolomitic limestone
356
Pebbly Unit
P-3
Foliated calcareous, bluish grey matrix- supported
pebbly slate/ phyllite, clasts often have sericitic
envelope ranging in size from granular to medium
pebble, clasts include quartzite, shale and carbonate
157
11-12
Non-Pebbly Unit
NP-3
Non-pebbly, non-calcareous, grayish black slate and
phyllite with occasional siltstone bands
428
Pebbly Unit
P-4
Foliated calcareous, matrix- supported, bluish grey
pebbly horizon, matrix dominantly arenaceous, clasts of
quartzite, shale and carbonate range from granular to
small-pebble size.
341
SALOONI Black pyritised shale, carbonaceous shale, minor
siltstone bands
Not measured
A Thecamoebian Assemblage from the Manjir Formation: Farooqui et al.
Plate-1: Light Microscopic photomicrographs recovered from Early Permian Khundi-
Maral-Raula Section, Chamba District, Himanchal Pradesh.
1. D.pyriformis; 2. Difflugia oblonga; 3. Difflugia species; 4. D. urceolata; 5. Difflugia gramen; 6. D. protaeiformis; 7. Lagenodifflugia ; 8. Cucurbitella; 9. Lesquereusia; 10. Amphitrema flavum ; 11. Cyclopyxis kahlii; 12. Trigonopyxis arcula.
Open access e-Journal Earth Science India, Vol. 3 (III), July, 2010, pp. 146-153 http://www.earthscienceindia.info/; eISSN: 0974 – 8350
150
Plate-2: Light Microscopic photomicrographs recovered from Early Permian Khundi-
Maral-Raula Section, Chamba District, Himanchal Pradesh.
1. Arcella discoides; 2. A. arenaria; 3. A.megastoma; 4. A.gibbosa; 5. A. artocrea; 6. A. discoides; 7. Centropyxis aculeata ‘aculeata’ ; 8. C.aculeata ‘spinosa’; 9. C. hirsuta; 10 &11. C. arcelloides; 12 C. aerophila
A Thecamoebian Assemblage from the Manjir Formation: Farooqui et al.
Material and Methods
Testate amoebae were isolated from the slate/shale after treatment with
hydrochloric acid (HCl) generally used for isolating palynomorphs from hard sediments.
After washing the acid, the samples were obtained as a residue in 600 mesh (>15 µ),
mounted in glycerol, and slides were scanned for thecamoebians under high power light
microscope (Olympus BX-52). The identifications are based on Medioli and Scott (1983),
Kumar and Dalby (1998) and Beyens and Meisterfeld (2001). The Manjir formation
constitutes three Non-pebbly units separated by pebbly units. The non-pebbly units (NP-
1 to 3) yielded thecamoebians and the Early Permian palynomarkers. Five samples each
from NP-1, NP-2 and 2 samples from NP-3 were studied. The total count of these in 10 g
samples are given in Fig.2.
Results and Discussion
The three non-pebbly units NP-1, NP-2 and NP-3 yielded following
thecamoebians. Some of the forms are illustrated in photo plates-1 and 2.
NP-1
Low counts (< 10 specimens) of Amphitrema flavum, Trinema/Corythion, Difflugia ovata, D. gramen, D. protaeformis, Cyclopyxis kahlii, Arcella artocrea and A. discoides.
NP-2
The overall thecamoebian count is relatively higher in this unit (10-20 specimens). Both
quantitative and qualitative abundance of thecamoebians were recorded. The main forms
identified are Centropyxis aculeata, Arcella artocrea and D. protaeiformis. Other species
of Difflugia and Arcella also occur.
NP-3
Most common forms are Cyclopyxis kahlii and Amphitrema flavum. Centropyxids,
Cucurbitella and Difflugia also occur.
Oldest geological record of thecamoebians goes back to Neoproterozoic (Porter
and Knoll (2000); Porter et al. (2003); Smith et al. (2008) and Cambrian (Scott et al. 2003). Their records are very few and scattered between Neoproterozoic and Tertiary
(van Hengstum et al., 2007). Although thecamoebians are well known from Quaternary–
Holocene lacustrine environments and peat bogs especially from Europe and North
America, the present report on the early Permian thecamoebian assemblage from the
Manjir Formation of Himalaya is very significant in filling the information gap on
Proterozoic records of thecamoebians. A detailed work is in progress.
Acknowledgements: A. Farooqui and N. Jha thank the Director, Birbal Sahni Institute of
Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India, A. Kumar thanks King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals,
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and A.C. Pande and D. D. Bhattacharya thank the DDG, Northern Region, Geological Survey of India, Lucknow for permission to publish this paper. We are grateful to Drs.
Prabhat Kumar, Zoology Department, University of Lucknow, Lucknow and David Scott, Dalhousie University, Canada for their valuable suggestions.
Open access e-Journal Earth Science India, Vol. 3 (III), July, 2010, pp. 146-153 http://www.earthscienceindia.info/; eISSN: 0974 – 8350
152
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