Microbiota from the Late Cretaceous-Early Palaeocene Boundary Transition in the Deccan Intertrappean Beds of Central India: Systematics and Palaeoecological, Palaeoenvironmental and Palaeobiogeographical Implications

This book describes the microbiota of the intertrappean beds in the Chhindwara District, Madhya Pradesh, India. In this work, special emphasis is placed on the microbiota from the Late Cretaceous-Early Palaeocene transition of the central Narmada River region. Recently, the intertrappean beds of the Eastern Deccan Volcanic Province (one of the subprovinces of the Deccan Volcanic Province) have received considerable attention, which resulted in the addition of some significant biotic assemblages to the existing record from the Dindori-Chhindwara area of the province. The biotic assemblages include charophytes, ostracods, foraminiferans, fishes, frogs, lizards, turtles, crocodiles, and mammals. In spite of the recent discoveries, the known fossil record of the Late Cretaceous-Early Palaeocene biota of India is not sufficient and thus does not permit us to speculate on the possible impact of environmental changes triggered by the Deccan volcanic lava flows on the contemporary biota and toprecisely document their palaeoecologic, palaeoenvironmental and palaeobiogeographic implications. The recent biotic reports from the intertrappean beds exposed in the Chhindwara region of the Eastern Deccan Volcanic Province clearly indicate that these beds have a vast potential in terms of fossil content, which could reveal new and dissimilar biotic remains when compared to the Western Deccan Volcanic Province.
The record of diverse accumulations of freshwater charophytes, brackish to freshwater ostracods, and planktic foraminiferal and fish assemblages from the intertrappean beds of Jhilmili and adjacent areas of Early Danian (P1a) age and lying just north of Chhindwara town and in the heart of peninsular India has intriguing implications for defining the age limits of the basaltic flows. The occurrence of non-marine taxa, for example, algae, molluscs, and vertebrates, associated with brackish water ostracods in the nearby Singpur and Mohgaon Kalan localities of the Chhindwara region, has also raised concerns about the sedimentary environments of these intertrappean beds. The new finds (presented in this book) prove useful for the better understanding of the palaeoecology and palaeoenvironment of the biota and also throw light on various paleobiogeographic models proposed for the northward drifting Indian plate. The microbiotic assemblages of the intertrappean beds of the eastern Deccan volcanic province at District Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh are documented in this book. The microbiota of the central Narmada River region, the charophytes, ostracods, planktic foraminifera, and fishes, receive special attention in this study.

Prof. (Dr.) Ashu Khosla, received a M.Sc. in 1991 and Ph.D. in Geology from Panjab University in January, 1997 and later undertook a postdoctorate from Montpellier University, France in 1997-1998 on Indian and European dinosaur eggs and their palaeobiogeographical implications. Presently he is a Professor and Director/Head in the Department of Geology, Panjab University, Chandigarh. His research specializations are in Palaeontology (Micropaleontology, Vertebrate Paleontology, Palaeobotany, Paleobiogeography, Paleoecology, Paleoenvironments, Stratigraphy and Biostratigraphy). He has teaching experience of more than 25 years at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels in the following areas: Paleontology and Stratigraphy. His work has been acknowledged worldwide by palaeontologists and palaeobiogeographers, as it covers diverse issues such as evolution, diversity and biogeography of vertebrates and microbiota associated with the Cretaceous fragmentation and drift of theIndian plate. He has handled many international collaborative programmes and collaborated with many organizations i.e., Laboratoire de Paléontologie, ISEM, cc 064, Université Montpellier II, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier, France; Museum of Paleontology, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA; Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton NJ 08544, USA; Geology Discipline Group, School of Sciences, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi; Department of Geology, Lucknow University, Lucknow; Department of Geological Sciences and Museum of Natural History, University of Colorado, UCB 265, Boulder, CO 80309, USA; Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente (CONICET-INIBIOMA), Quintral 1250, 8400 San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina; New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA etc. He has to his credit several exciting fossil discoveries from the Late Cretaceous of India. Prof. Khosla's perseverance and commitment led to the first classification of Indian dinosaur eggs and their comparison with eggs from Europe and South America, the discovery of the Cretaceous-Palaeogene boundary (central India), discoveries of the biota from dinosaur coprolites, and discoveries of Cenomanian-Turonian and Maastrichtian theropod dinosaur skeletal material, exotic mammals, ostracods, charophytes, and planktic foraminiferans from Upper Cretaceous rocks. He has published several research papers in peer-reviewed national/international journals, apart from a few in press, in high impact factor journals, including two papers in Science and other journals, for instance. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Global and Planetary Change, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology, Geological Journal, Cretaceous Research, Historical Biology, Acta Geologica Polonica, etc. He has already successfully completed six research projects funded by the Department of Science and Technology (Government of India), New Delhi. He has published two important books. First on the global Cretaceous (Cretaceous Period: Biotic Diversity and Biogeography). The volume was published in the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin in 2016 and the second on the Indian Late Cretaceous dinosaur eggs of peninsular India in October, 2020 (Springer Nature, Switzerland).

Dr. Omkar Verma is an Assistant Professor of Geology at the Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi, India. He received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Geology from the University of Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India. He is the recipient of a Senior Research Fellowship and Research Associateship of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi. He also completed a research project funded by the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India, New Delhi. He led several expeditions to the Cretaceous (145 to 66 million years ago) deposits of western, central, southern and southeastern India in search of small vertebrates that had lived in the shadow of dinosaurs. He has published more than 27 research articles in peer-reviewed national and international journals. He is the life member of the Geological Society of India, Indian Science Congress Association, Palaeontological Society of India, Indian Geological Congress and Gondwana Geological Society. His research focuses on palaeobiodiversity, biotic evolution, palaeobiogeography, palaeoecology and palaeoclimate with reference to the northward drift of the Indian plate.

Mr. Sachin Kania did his masters at Kurukshetra University, Harayan, India. Presently, he has submitted a PhD. in the Department of Geology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India. His research interest includes micropalaeontology, the Cretaceous-Palaeogene boundary, palaeoecology and palaeobiogeography.

Dr. Spencer G. Lucas is a stratigrapher and palaeontologist who has been Curator of Geology and Palaeontology at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science (Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA) since 1988. He received his B.A. degree from the University of New Mexico (1976) and M.S. (1979) and Ph.D. (1984) degrees from Yale University. His research has focused on biostratigraphic problems of the late Palaeozoic, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic. He is a paleontologist with a specialization in the study of vertebrate fossils and continental deposits, particularly in New Mexico. He has extensive field experience in the western United States as well as northern Mexico, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Kazakstan, Nicaragua, Soviet Georgia and the People's Republic of China. Lucas has published more than 1000 scientific articles and co-edited 14 books and is the author of three dinosaur books. He has been on the editorial boards ofIchnos, Geological Society of America Bulletin, New Mexico Geology, New Mexico Geological Society Guidebook, Journal of Palaeogeography and Revista Geologica de America Central, among others. In 1991, he founded the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin and is its Chief Editor. He has conducted extensive research on Cretaceous rocks and fossils in North America and Asia and has 27 years of museum experience and five years of teaching experience at the university level. Lucas has raised approximately $1,000,000,000 in grants and contracts. He has been awarded Clay Minerals Society, Pioneer in Clay Science Lecture Award in 2007; Elected Honorary Member, New Mexico Geological Society in 1994; 1989 Coelophysis Society Research Award, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in 1989 and Philip M. Orville Prize for outstanding graduate student research ingeology, Yale University in 1982. He is an honorary member of the New Mexico Geological Society and life member of the New Mexico Academy of Science.