An Early Permian Glossopteris flora from the Umrer Coalfield, Wardha Basin, Maharashtra, India

Abstract

Tewari, R., Pandita, S.K., Agnihotri, D., Pillai, S.S.K. & Bernardes-De-Oliveira, M.E.C., September 2012. An Early Permian Glossopteris flora from the Umrer Coalfield, Wardha Basin, Maharashtra, India. Alcheringa 36, 359–376. ISSN 0311-5518.

A rich and well-preserved Glossopteris-dominated plant fossil assemblage is described from the Barakar Formation of the Makardhokra and Umrer open-cast projects, Umrer Coalfield, Nagpur District, Wardha Basin, Maharashtra, India. The assemblage includes equisetalean axes, cordaitalean leaves (Noeggerathiopsis hislopii), Gangamopteris clarkeana and diverse Glossopteris leaves and a fertile organ assigned to Scutum sp. cf. S. leslii. The flora, although similar to that of the Barakar Formation of the Damodar Basin complex (the reference basin system with respect to the qualitative and quantitative distribution of Indian Permian plant taxa), exhibits unique characteristics and is Artinskian to Kungurian in age. Besides supplementing knowledge of the broader Wardha Basin flora, this is the first systematic documentation of the Glossopteris flora from the Barakar Formation of this basin.

Key words:

• GlossopterisFlora
• Barakar Formation
• Early Permian
• Umrer Coalfield
• Wardha Basin
• India

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr Naresh C. Mehrotra, Director, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany (BSIP), Lucknow, India, for extending the necessary facilities to carry out this research work, and to Dr Nilay Govind Srivastava Technical Assistant-D, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, for help in the preparation of figures. One of the authors (RT) is thankful to Dr Alok K. Raina, Superintending Geologist, Western Coalfileds Limited, Nagpur, for providing field data, to Mr A.K. Singh, Deputy General Manager of Umrer Area, for cooperation extended during collection of fossils, and to Dr Nagaraj, Retired Mining Geologist, Indian Bureau of Mines, Nagpur, for help during the field excursion. The authors also thank Dr Stephen McLoughlin and two anonymous reviewers, for critically reading the manuscript and providing constructive suggestions.