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Evidence of the Permian marginal marine sedimentation recorded in sub-surface drill cores, Lower Gondwana successions, southern India

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Abstract

Evidence of marine influences within the Permian Barakar Formation of the Pranhita–Godavari (P–G) Basin and its age equivalent, the Kommugudem Formation of the Krishna–Godavari (K–G) Basin, are previously investigated from the outcrop studies. The present work carefully documents the signatures of tidal and wave influences from the Early Permian rocks, solely based on excellently preserved subsurface drill core samples from both the basins. Tidalites, represented by laterally accreted tidal bundles, tidal rhythmites, tidal beddings, oppositely directed strata bundles, and double mud drapes, are preserved within the sandstone–mudstone heterolithic rocks, signifying deposition predominantly in an upper subtidal–intertidal setting. Association of wave-generated structures with the tidalites are indicative of open marine waves, interacting with the tides in the upper subtidal to intertidal region. Records of such tidal and wave processes unambiguously point to the significant marine influence within the continental setup during the Lower Gondwana sedimentation in both the P–G and the K–G basins during the Early Permian time, which indicates a regional encroachment of the sea onto the land.

Research highlights

  1. i)

    A unique approach to study the tidal and wave signatures within the Early Permian sediments from the Pranhita–Godavari Basin and the Krishna–Godavari Basin using subsurface drill core samples.

  2. ii)

    The presence of tidal features such as tidal bundles, tidal rhythmites, tidal beddings, with occurrence of the spring–neap tidal cyclicity within the thinly bedded sandstone–mudstone heterolithic rocks signify sedimentation in upper subtidal-intertidal settings.

  3. iii)

    The intercalation of tidal deposits with combined flow and wave-generated structures indicates an open tidal flat setting.

  4. iv)

    Such features unambiguously point to the presence of marine influence within the continental riftogenic basins during the Early Permian time.

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Acknowledgements

Authors express their gratefulness to the HoI, KDMIPE, ONGC, Dehradun, for allowing to study the core samples at the ONGC Rajahmundry office, and for providing permission to publish this work. The authors are thankful to the KDMIPE, ONGC for providing financial support in the form of ONGC-PAN IIT Research Project to B Bhattacharya. Generous support by Mr Pradeep Durgey, Ms Malini Chakraborty and Mr Abhinav Kumar of RGL, Rajahmundry, ONGC during the study of the core samples in their laboratory is sincerely acknowledged. The authors acknowledge the constructive reviews by two anonymous reviewers, which have helped to improve the clarity of the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, 247 667, India

    Abhirup Saha & Biplab Bhattacharya

  2. KDMIPE, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd., Dehradun, 248 195, India

    Snehasis Chakrabarty

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  1. Abhirup Saha
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Contributions

Abhirup Saha: Visualization, investigation, systematic descriptions, interpretations, simulation of data, writing and preparing the manuscript, reviewing the manuscript; Snehasis Chakrabarty: Simulation of data, reviewing and editing; Biplab Bhattacharya: Conceptualization, visualization, investigation, simulation of data, validation, writing, reviewing and editing.

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Correspondence to Biplab Bhattacharya.

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Communicated by Santanu Banerjee

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Saha, A., Chakrabarty, S. & Bhattacharya, B. Evidence of the Permian marginal marine sedimentation recorded in sub-surface drill cores, Lower Gondwana successions, southern India. J Earth Syst Sci 131, 134 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-022-01866-5

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