Charophytes from Deccanintertrappean beds of peninsular India: implications for age and correlation of Deccan volcanics

Abstract

A taxonomically diverse charophyte assemblage from the Deccan intertrappean beds around Gurmatkal (District Gulbarga, Karnataka), and a corresponding assemblage from another intertrappean locality over 1500 Km to the north (Kora, District Kachchh, Gujarat), are described. The Gurmatkal assemblage comprises 8 genera and 10 species, whereas the Kachchh charophytes are assigned to 4 species. Several of the Gurmatkal taxa are common to other Deccan intertrappean localities of peninsular India. The assemblage includes cosmopolitan species such as Platychara perlata and P. compressa whose presence is consistent with a Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) age indicated unambiguously by associated ostracodes. Earlier age assignments (Upper Eocene-Oligocene) need to be discounted. Apparently there are no biostratigraphically resolvable temporal differences between the Gurmatkal intertrappean beds and those outcropping along the northwestern and eastern fringes of the Deccan volcanics.