MICROPALEONTOLOGY AND ITS APPLICATIONS

The Editors Dr. P. K. Kathal, Professor, Department of Applied Geology, Dr. Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya, Sagar, M.P., an alumnous of the same University with vast academic and administrative experiences as the former Head, Department of Applied Geology, Director, Centre of Advance Study in Geology, Dean, Engineering Faculty, Dean Research & Development, an awardee of Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellowship (1999 and 2003) and DFG Fellowship (under DAAD Programme, Germany) in 2007 to carry out advanced research in Micropaleontology at Akita University, Japan; Kumamoto University, Japan and Tubingen University, Tubingen, Germany, respectively; Member of International UNESCO Programme on the Ediacaran (Vendian) Puzzle from 2011 to 2016; and responsible for developing a field of research on comparison of Recent Foraminifera from the Indian and Japanese coasts. He has chaired sessions in international research events held at Canada (2000), Austria (2002) and India (2013, 2014 and 2015). Having obtained M. Tech. (Applied Geology), and Ph. D. (Recent Foraminifera, Micropaleontology) he is in the field of teaching and research in Micropaleontology for over 35 years with 65 research contributions in research journals of national and international repute along with the credit of bringing out the first two text books in Micropaleontology from India. He is Associate Editor of the Journal of Foraminiferal Research, USA. Dr. Rajiv Nigam, Retd. Deputy Director and Head of Geological Oceanography and Marine Archaeology, National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa is currently working there as a Consultant. An alumnous of Lucknow University, Lucknow he obtained his M. Phil, Ph. D. and D. Sc. degrees from Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh and NORAD Diploma in Marine Micropaleontology from Oslo University, Norway. He joined the NIO as Scientist in 1978 and superannuated from there in 2016. He not only made significant contributions in the field of Marine Geology (Micropaleontology) but also established the first 'Laboratory for Culture Studies on Foraminifera' in India at NIO. He guided 12 Ph. D. theses and published over 135 papers in research journals of National and International repute. Recipient of the ‘CSIR-Young Scientist Award’, ‘Krishnan Gold Medal’, ‘National Mineral Award’, ‘M. R. Sahni Lecture Award’ and ‘Prof. S. N. Bhalla Gold Medal’ of the Palaeontological Society of India and ‘H. N. Siddiquie Lecture Award’ of the Indian Geophysical Union. He has authored a book on Indian Monsoon, which received a cash prize award of Rs 50000/- by the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India. Dr. Abu Talib, Professor and Head, Department of Geology, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Aligarh obtained his M. Sc. and Ph. D. degrees from AMU and joined the Department of Geology, AMU as Lecturer in 1986. His teaching and research interests include Petroleum Geology, Palaeontology and Micropalaeontology with 30 years of research and teaching experience. He has supervised 5 Ph. D. theses and several M. Phil theses and contributed over 35 papers in national and international research journals and has completed three research projects sponsored by UGC, DST and a petroleum company. He is a Life Member, Palaeontological Society of India, Lucknow; Indian Society for Earth, Planetary and Environmental Sciences, New Delhi; and remained an elected Member, Executive Council, Palaeontological Society of India, Lucknow in 2014-15.

MICROPALEONTOLOGY AND ITS APPLICATIONS A Festschrift for Septuagenarian Scholar Professor Satyendra Nath Bhalla Editors Professor Pradeep K. Kathal Department of Applied Geology Dr. Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya (A Central University) Sagar, 470 003 M.P., India

Dr. Rajiv Nigam Retd. Deputy Director, Geological Oceanography National Institute of Oceanography Dona Paula, Goa-403004, India

Professor Abu Talib Head, Department of Geology Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh 202 001, U.P., India

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Contents

Foreword v Preface xi Professor Satyendra Nath Bhalla - a legendary micropaleontologist xiii Contributors xvii

1 Micropalaeontology and Palaeoecology of the Kallankuruchchi Limestone Formation, Cauvery Basin, S. E. India

– M. B. Hart and M. P. Watkinson 1-13

2 Dynamics of Larger Benthic Foraminiferal Populations in the Upper FloridaKeys Reef Tract, USA: Comparisons with other Coral Reef Bioindicators

– Elizabeth Fisher Moses, Pamela Hallock and John E. Fauth 15-39

3 Microbialites and Salt Lakes of Western Australia– Salient Features, Threats and Conservation Issues

– Jacob John, Veronica S. Campagna and Fiona E. Taukulis 41-57

4 δ18O of Larger Benthic Foraminifera: Temperature Calibration for ShallowMarine Tropical-Subtropical Carbonates

– P. K. Saraswati, Asmita Singh, K. Rogers, Prasanta Sanyal,Kanchan Pande and Kenji Iwao

59-70

5 Integrated Benthic Foraminiferal and Ammonite Biostratigraphy of Middle to Late Jurassic Sediments of Keera Dome, Kachchh, Western India

– Abu Talib, Sreepat Jain and Roohi Irshad 71-81

6 Bloom of Zygnematalean Algae found from the Gechang Sandstone, SpitiValley in the Tethys Himalaya, India

– G.K. Singh, V. A. Krassilov, N.C. Mehrotra, Neerja Jha and N.L. Chhabra

83-87

viii Micropaleontology and its Applications

7 An Overview on the Comparative Morphology of the Recent BenthicForaminifera from the East Coast of India and the part of the southern EastCoast of Japan, Warm-water Indo-Pacific Province

– P. K. Kathal and V. K. Singh 89-106

9 Late Cretaceous Pelagic Red Shales in the Cauvery Basin, Southeast India, ItsBiostratigraphy and Paleoceanographic Implications

– Abiraman Govindan 107-118

9 Foraminiferal Palaeoecology and Depositional Environment of Middle to LateJurassic Sequence, Kaiya Dome, Kutch, India

– Abu Talib, K. N. Gaur, Y. P. Singh and Shabana Anjum 119-133

10 An Overview of Ostracoda Studies from the Freshwater, Marginal Marine andMarine Ecosystems of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Coasts of India

– S. M. Hussain 135-162

11 Siliceous Microfossils of the Neogene Sediments from Northern Indian Ocean – Arindam Chakraborty and Amit K. Ghosh 163-189

12 Foraminifera from Middle Jurassic Sediments of Jara Dome, Kachhch, Gujarat- Age and Palaeoecologic Implications

– S. M. Wasim, Y.P. Singh, Ainul H. Ansari and Megha Prakasan 191-210

13 Preliminary Study of Microstructure and Taphonomy of Dinosaur Eggs andNests of the Upper Cretaceous Lameta Formation near Padlya, Lower Narmada Valley, India

– Harsha Dhiman, Vishal Verma and G. V. R. Prasad 211-232

14 Study of Pliocene Radiolaria from Kerguelen Plateau Site 738B(Sections 2H4 to 2H5): Distribution and Systematics

– G. K Sharma and Deepti 233-248

15 A Comparative Study of Foraminifera and its Ecological Significance betweenArasalar and Thirumalairajanar Estuaries in Karaikal, East coast of India

– M. Suresh Gandhi, M. Manjima, P. Jesma, R. Tharun and N. Rajeshwara Rao

249-264

16 Foraminifera as Bio-Indicators of Pollution: A Review of Research over the Last Decade

– Thejasino Suokhrie, R. Saraswat and R. Nigam 265-284

Contents ix

17 Coralline Algae from the Kopili Formation (Late Eocene), Jaintia Hills,Meghalaya, India

– S. Kishore, A. K. Jauhri, A. P. Singh, R.P. Tiwari and S. K. Singh 285-300

18 The Significance of Spinosity in Foraminifera – A New Perspective – N. Rajeshwara Rao and S. M. Hussain 301-309

19 Experimental Studies on Benthic Foraminifera: an Update on the Changing Trends and Challenges over the Past Decade

– Sujata R. Kurtarkar, V. N. Linshy, Amrita Kaithwar,Rajeev Saraswat and Rajiv Nigam

311-330

20 Potential Applicability of Benthic Foraminiferal Microhabitats in DecipheringOcean- Bottom Oxygenation History of the Eastern Arabian Sea

– S. R. Bharti, K. Verma and A. D. Singh 331-342

Preface

This volume, titled “Micropaleontology and its Applications” contains invited papers from eminent scholars of academic and research institutions from across the world on the diverse groups of microfossils, like - Foraminifera, Ostracoda, Radiolaria, Pollen and Spores, Algae/Coralline Algae, Diatoms, Microbialites and Microstructures of Dinosaur Eggs.

Ever since Micropaleontology developed into a new era of applied discipline in the 1960’-70’s this area of research has generated exponential explosion of literature! The prevailing text-books therefore required extensive revision to reveal the current state of research on applied micropaleontology. New research journals have appeared covering applied micropaleontology or to even the ecological parameters of microorganisms as the living representatives of the fossilized microorganisms thereafter. This has lead to an accent on publication on the thematic multi-authored volumes. The present volume, also an outcome of the ‘cutting edge research’ in the field of Mircopaleontology, is being dedicated to our esteem teacher Professor Satyendra Nath Bhalla, former Chairman, Department of Geology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh and a legendary figure in the field of Micropaleontology.

We are thankful to Prof. A. K. Gupta, Director, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), Dehra Dun for scripting the ‘Foreword’ of the book and the referees of the research papers who painstakingly reviewed the papers promptly. We also acknowledge indebtedness to Professor M. B. Hart, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Plymouth University, Plymouth, United Kingdom; Professor Pamela Hallock, College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, USA; Professor Jacob Jhon, Department of Environmental Biology, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia; and Prof. Michal Kucera, Bremen University, Bremen, Germany for their timely and learned suggestions in improving the contents. Authors thanks Professor K.L. Srivastava, Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur for support.

xii Micropaleontology and its Applications

We thank all the contributors to this book for their time and efforts in preparing their papers, We are indebted to Head, Department of Applied Geology, for providing infrastructure facilities, Professor J. K. Mishra Department of Library and Information Science, and Dr. Jemini Khateek, Woman Scientist (UGC), Mr. Navneet Ranjan and Miss Paishnee Patel Research Scholars, Department of Applied Geology, Dr. Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya, Sagar for their help in different ways.

Last but not the least, we thank Shri Tanay Sharma, Managing Director, Scientific Publishers (India), Jodhpur and New Delhi for taking personal interest in publishing this volume with the sense of meeting the dead-line.

Professor P. K. Kathal

Dr. Rajiv Nigam Professor Abu Talib

15th March 2017

Professor Satyendra Nath Bhalla – a legendary micropaleontologist

Professor Satyendra Nath Bhalla was born on 1st July, 1940 at Basti, Uttar Pradesh, India. His mother, Mrs. Vaishno Devi, was a home maker and father, Shri B. N. Bhalla was Superintendent of Police. His father was a very religious person and known as ‘Maharaj Jee’ to his disciples who still gathered on makar sankranti day every year at his Samadhi at Kanpur. Prof. Bhalla inherited disciplined and poised life-style of his father.

He had his early education at Calvin Taluqedars College in Lucknow and obtained his B.Sc. and M.Sc. (Geology) degrees from Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. He joined the Department of Geology of Punjab University, Chandigarh, to pursue research in Micropaleontology, under the supervision of the famous Indian micropaleontologist Professor S. B. Bhatia. He often mentioned that the other person who had inspired him was Prof. M. R. Sahni.

Prof. Bhalla was awarded his Ph. D. in 1964 and he joined, as Lecturer in the Department of Geology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. He established the Micropaleontology Lab in the Department and started pioneering research on Jurassic foraminifera of Kutch and within a few years the Micropaleontology Lab was elevated as a leading research centre on Recent Foraminifera from the Indian Coasts as well as Jurassic foraminiferal research in India. During his academic career as a Professor (1987 to 2002), the Department of Geology got fresh impetus in academic and research endeavors under his Chairmanship from 1990-94.

Prof. Bhalla has a distinguished research career of more than half a century! His main research focused on the taxonomy and

xiv Micropaleontology and its Applications

distribution of Recent and Jurassic foraminifera of India but he also applied microfossils for dating, palaeoenvironmental analysis, palaeogeographic interpretation, pollution studies, and petroleum exploration. During his research career, he worked on other groups of microfossils, viz., shark teeth and ostracods as well as stratigraphic studies. He was the first to carry out pioneering work on the east coast of Gondwana and to predict the possibility of finding oil and gas in on-shore as well as off-shore areas of Andhra Pradesh, eastern India, as far back as 1970, which was confirmed by the Oil and Natural Gas Commission, Government of India, during their drilling operations in this region in 1982. He was invited by the Elsevier Science Publishers, Holland, in 1983 to contribute Chapter 10 (India) for the book, ‘‘Phanerozoic Geology of the World: II. The Mesozoic”. Prof. Bhalla published 105 research papers and supervised six Ph. D. and several M. Phil. theses.

He was invited by several institutions of different countries, including the British Council, London on Visitorship in 1971 and 1975 for doing advanced research on foraminifera and marine environment; Royal Society, London, to carry out higher research and discuss problems of mutual research interest with colleagues in the U. K. in 1994; German Academic Exchange Service, Bonn, in 1972, 1975, 1995 and 1997 for advance research on marine microfossils in Germany; the Museum d'Historie Naturelle, Geneva, Switzerland, in 1985 to do advanced research on Jurassic foraminifera; and the Japan Society for Promotion of Science in 1987 to deliver lectures at different Universities and Institutes in Japan and to do higher research on Recent benthic foraminifera of the Pacific Ocean. In addition, he visited and carried out research in the U.K., Germany, France, Holland, Switzerland, U.S.A., Canada, Japan, Al-Ain (UAE), Kuwait, Muscat, Nepal.

Prof. Bhalla has a long association with micropaleontology movement in India, i.e. Indian Colloquium on Micropaleontology and Stratigraphy (ICMS). In 1976, he successfully convened the ‘V-ICMS’ at the Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. He was the President of the ‘XVII-ICMS’ at Ujjain. He was felicitated at the ‘XVI-ICMS’ at Goa, 1998 and in 2005 at Lucknow for significant contributions in the field of Micropaleontology and Stratigraphy and received the 'Lifetime Achievement Award' at the ‘XXII-ICMS’ held at Tiruchirapalli in 2009. The Government of India appointed him as Chairman of the Research Advisory Council, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow in 2011.

Professor Satendra Nath Bhalla – An appreciation xv

In recognition of his contribution to the field of micropalaeontology, the Palaeontological Society of India, Lucknow constituted a National Award, the ‘Prof. S. N. Bhalla Gold Medal in Micropalaeontology’ in 2003. The award, in the form of a citation and a medal, is given once every two years for outstanding contributions to Micropalaeontology.

He retired from the Aligarh Muslim University in 2002 from the service but kept his interest alive in the subject and to date he is actively participating in conferences, writing research papers and counseling and advising research scholars on various problems of micropalaeontology.

His passion, devotion and suggestions in the field of Micropaleontology in general, and taxonomy in particular, are unparalleled! He is a meticulous researcher and excellent teacher besides, being an innovative thinker with modesty and concern for others. He is a soft spoken person with high moral and social values and a valued and trusted friend, philosopher and guide to his associates.

By joining hands with all the contributors and reviewers to this book, we wish him all the best for the future. It is indeed a matter of pride for all his research students to be associated with Prof. Bhalla not only in the field of Micropaleontology but also in the various pursuits of life. We feel honoured to dedicate this book- ‘Micropaleontology and its Aapplication’ to the subject discipline builder Prof. S. N. Bhalla.

Pradeep K. Kathal

Rajiv Nigam Abu Talib

Contributors

Abbas, S. M. Senior Geologists, KDMIP, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, Dehradun, India

Anjum, Shabana Irshad Palaeontology Lab, K.D.M. Institute of Petroleum Exploration, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, Dehradun, India

Ansari, Ainul H. Department of Geology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India

Bharti, S. R. Centre of Advanced Study in Geology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India

Campagna, S. Department of Environmental Biology, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, W. Australia

Chakraborty, Arindam Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow, India

Chhabra, N. L. University of Lucknow, Lucknow, India

Deepti Department of Geology, Kumaun University, Nainital, India

Dhiman, Harsha Department of Geology, Centre for Advanced Studies in Geology, University of Delhi, Delhi, India

Fauth, John E. Department of Biology, University of Central Florida, Orlando, USA

Gandhi, M. Suresh Department of Geology, University of Madras, Chennai, India

Gaur, K. N. Former Head, Department of Geology, D. S. College, Aligarh, India

Ghosh, Amit Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow, India

Govindan, Abiraman Asian Biostratigraphy Services, Chennai, India

Hallock, Pamela College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, FL, USA

Hart, M. B. Earth & Environmental Science, School of Geography, Plymouth University, Plymouth, UK

Hussain, S. M. Department of Geology, University of Madras, Chennai, India

xviii Micropaleontology and its Applications

Irshad, Roohi Department of Geology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India

Iwao, Kenji Akajima Marine Science Laboratory, Zamami-son, Okinawa, Japan

Jain, Sreepat Department of Applied Geology, Adama Science & Technology, University, Adama, Ethiopia

Jauhri, A. K. (Deceased) Department of Geology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow, India

Jeshma, P. Department of Geology, University of Madras, Chennai, India

Jha, Neerja Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow, India

John, Jacob Department of Environmentology Curtin University of Technology Perth, W. Australia

Kaithwar, Amrata Micropaleontology Lab, CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, India

Kathal, P. K. Department of Applied Geology, Dr. Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya, Sagar, India

Kishore, S. Department of Botany, University of Lucknow, Lucknow, India

Krassilov, Valentin A. Paleontological Institute, Profsoyuznaya, Moscow, Russia and The Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, Israel (Deceased)

Kurtarkar, Sujata R. Micropaleontology Lab, CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, India

Linshy, V. N. 408, Technocrats Apartments, Gurgaon, India

Manjima, M. Department of Geology, University of Madras, Chennai, India

Mehrotra, Naresh Chandra Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow, India

Moses, Elizabeth Fisher Science, Engineering and Technology Division, Howard Community College, Columbia, USA and College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, Petersburg, USA

Nigam, Rajiv Micropaleontology Lab, CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, India

Pande, Kanchan Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, India

Prakasan, Megha Department of Geology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India

Prasad, G. V. R. Department of Geology, Centre for Advanced Studies, University of Delhi, Delhi, India

Contributors xix

Rao, N. Rajeshwara Department of Applied Geology, University of Madras, Chennai, India

Rogers, Karyne National Isotope Centre, GNS Science, Lower Hutt, New Zealand

Sanyal, Prasanta Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Kolkata, India

Saraswat, R. Micropaleontology Lab, CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, India

Saraswati, Pratul Kumar Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Mumbai, India

Sharma, G. K. Department of Geology, Kumaun University, Nainital, India

Singh, A. D. Centre of Advanced Study in Geology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India

Singh, A. P. Department of Geology, Mizoram University, Aizwal, India

Singh, Asmita Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, India

Singh, Gaurav Kumar Department of Applied Geology, Dr. Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya, Sagar, India

Singh, S. K. Department of Botany, Charak Institute of Education, Lucknow, India

Singh, V. K. Department of Geology, National Institute of Technology (NIT), Raipur, India

Singh, Y. P. Department of Geology, D. S. College, Aligarh, India

Sujata, R. Micropaleontology Lab, CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, India

Sukhrie, Thejasino Micropaleontology Lab, CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, India

Talib, Abu Department of Geology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India

Taukulis, Fiona E. Department of Environmental Biology, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, W. Australia

Tharun, R. Department of Geology, University of Madras, Chennai, India

Tiwari, R. P. Department of Geology, Mizoram University, Aizwal, India (Present position: Vice Chancellor, Dr. Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya, Sagar, India)

xx Micropaleontology and its Applications

Verma, K. Paleontology Division I CHQ, Geological Survey of India, Kolkata India

Verma, Vishal Bakaner, Dhar, M. P., India

Veronica, S. Campagna Department of Environmental Biology, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, W. Australia

Wasim, S. M.

Department of Geology, D. S. College, Aligarh, India

Watkinson, M. P. Earth & Environmental Science, School of Geography, Plymouth University, Plymouth, UK