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Abstract
Botryococcus, an important member of the planktonic algae, occurs in freshwater pools, lakes and occasionally in brackish-water lagoons, with wide distribution in tropical and temperate climate zones throughout the world. It is recognised as an oil-producing alga that is found in rock records from the Precambrian onwards. Here, this alga was retrieved from two different lignite mines of Rajasthan and Gujarat (western India), of early Eocene age. Apart from discussing its structural details, alterations in structures and preservation biases, this alga was used to reconstruct the depositional environment of the region based on its morphological and taphonomical characteristics. The images under transmitted light, fluorescence and scanning electron microscopy display aggregates of the irregular colonies, spherical to oval in shape, with cups arranged in definite patterns. The taphonomic characteristics of a large number of these algae indicate their autochthonous origin and in situ burial conditions. The dissolution of their outer layers suggests early diagenetic processes and loss of integrity due to microbial activity in the later phases of their burial in these sediments. The environment in the early Eocene has been reconstructed on the basis of the present findings, along with earlier recorded palynofacies from the region.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the Director, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow, for providing infrastructure facilities and permission (BSIP/RDCC/02/2015-16) to publish this work. They are also thankful to the General Managers of the Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation, Ahmedabad, and the Venugopal Saturaman Lignite Mine (VSLP), Kolayat (Bikaner), for their permission to collect the sediment samples. They gratefully acknowledge the support rendered by Prof. R.A. Spicer and Mrs Teresa Spicer of the United Kingdom during the field work. The authors express their gratitude to Prof. James B. Riding and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive suggestions.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Madhav Kumar
Dr Madhav Kumar is Scientist ‘F’ at the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow (India). He has 35 years of research experience with specialisation in palynology, morphotaxonomy, palynofacies, palynostratigraphy and determination of palaeoenvironment of the surface and subsurface late Mesozoic - Cenozoic sedimentary successions of northeastern, northwestern and central basins of India.
Priyanka Monga
Miss Priyanka Monga completed her MSc in Botany at the Punjab University, Chandigarh. She worked as a Birbal Sahni Research Scholar during April 2012– March 2016 at the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow. She has submitted her thesis for the award of PhD on the topic ‘Palynostratigraphy, palynofacies and depositional environments of the early Tertiary sediments of Cambay Basin, Gujarat, India’.
Anumeha Shukla
Dr Anumeha Shukla obtained her PhD degree in Botany from the University of Lucknow, Lucknow in 2011. She worked as a Birbal Sahni Research Scholar (BSRS) and Birbal Sahni Research Associate (BSRA) at the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow while carrying out research for her PhD and thereafter. Presently, she has been working as Scientist ‘C’ at the same place. Her research is focused on plant diversity through the Cenozoic of western India based on plant megaremains. She is also interested in palaeoclimate reconstruction qualitatively as well as quantitatively.
R.C. Mehrotra
R. C. Mehrotra obtained his PhD degree on the Deccan intertrappean flora of India from Lucknow University in 1986. He is Scientist ‘F’ in the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow. At present, he has been working on the Cenozoic megaflora of western and northeast India. He has been working on the CLAMP (Climate Leaf Analysis Multivariate Program) and CA (Coexistence Analysis) for quantitative estimation of palaeoclimate.
