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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
a b s t r a c t
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 reticulate
venation 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 also discovered
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. The ora 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 seams
in the Gondwana coalelds of India.
The oristic analysis of the Raniganj Coaleld of eastern India also shows 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 carboniferous shale or sandstone.
The exposed layer of coal within a particular rock sequence is recognized as the coal seams and its limit and extension varies from place to
place (Van Kravelen, 1961). The number and nature of the coal seams depend 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 different 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).
Corresponding author at: Intergral University, Kursi Road, Lucknow-226026, India.
Tel.: +91 522 2740008/2738305; fax: +91 522 2740485/2740098.
E-mail addresses: ashwini_bsip@yahoo.com,
srivastava019@gmail.com (A.K. Srivastava).
0166-5162/$ see front matter 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.coal.2012.06.009
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 difcult to correlate 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 sporepollen 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 the different coal seams, mainly because it is difcult
to get fossils from a single seam coal mines. In view of this fact, we
A.K. Srivastava, D. Agnihotri / International Journal of Coal Geology 113 (2013) 8896
89
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).
90
A.K. Srivastava, D. Agnihotri / International Journal of Coal Geology 113 (2013) 8896
A.K. Srivastava, D. Agnihotri / International Journal of Coal Geology 113 (2013) 8896
91
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.
92
A.K. Srivastava, D. Agnihotri / International Journal of Coal Geology 113 (2013) 8896
Fig. 3 (continued).
A.K. Srivastava, D. Agnihotri / International Journal of Coal Geology 113 (2013) 8896
93
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
5080 m, are numbered from I (top) to IV (bottom). Only seam no I
(top) has the mineable thickness (3.56.5 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).
network of strike faults and oblique faults constitutes the main structural
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 1.24.8 m thick. In the Tandsi area, seam III has a workable thickness 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).
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.
94
A.K. Srivastava, D. Agnihotri / International Journal of Coal Geology 113 (2013) 8896
few thin shale and coal bands. The thicker coal horizons of the coaleld are conned in the middle section of about 120 m of the formation. 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 25100 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 Workable 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.
Seam IIII
Seam IIIII
Seam IIIII
Seam IIIII
Seam IV
Seam IV
Seam IV
Seam IV
Strata
Seam I
Inter-burden
Seam II
Inter-burden
Seam III
Inter-burden
Seam IV
Seam III (top)
Inter-burden
Seam II (middle)
Inter-burden
Seam I (bottom)
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
Kanhan Pathakhera
Pench
Coaleld
Valley
Valley
Coaleld Coaleld
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
A.K. Srivastava, D. Agnihotri / International Journal of Coal Geology 113 (2013) 8896
Table 2 (continued)
Name of genera/species
Pench
Kanhan Pathakhera
Valley
Valley
Coaleld
Coaleld Coaleld
+
+
+
95
have also been recovered from lower seams exposed in the following
mines: Shivpuri (Nos. IIIII), Thisgora (No. IV), Mathani (No. IV),
Naheria (No. IV), Vishnupuri (IIIII), Chhinda (II), Ganpati (Nos. IIIII).
The assemblages are comparable to the Early Permian ora of
Karharbari Formation.
Only three coal seams have been identied in Kanhan Valley coaleld, of which only the youngest seam (top seam) is well developed
(Fig. 4B).
Plant fossils have been collected from following collieries of Kanhan
Valley Coaleld:
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Ambara ocp
Ghorawari incline
Ghorawari ocp
Ghorawari 16/17 ocp
Ghorawari 6A, 6B ocp
Damua ocp
Datla ocp
Rakhikhol incline
Rakhikhol Bansi Patch
Tandsi u/g
Tawa mine-1
Tawa mine-2
Pathakhera mine-1
Pathakhera mine-2
Shobhapur min
Satpura mine-2
Sarni mine
Chattarpur mine-1
Chattarpur mine-1
96
A.K. Srivastava, D. Agnihotri / International Journal of Coal Geology 113 (2013) 8896
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 providing 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 Avery
for their help and cooperation. We also thank the editor, guest editors
of the journal and reviewers for their valuable suggestions.
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