Mixed marine,brackish water and non-marine microfaunal association in the Inter-trappean beds (Early Palaeocene) of Jhilmili,Chhindwara district,Madhya Pradesh

Except for the east coast of Andhra Pradesh, the Deccan Inter-trappean sedimentary beds of Peninsular India have been long known to yield non-marine microfauna, mainly ostracods. These have been extensively described from different localities of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan states. Occurrence of mixed microfaunal association of marine, brackish water and non-marine foraminifers and ostracods is being recorded from these beds from Jhilmili, Chhindwara district, Madhya Pradesh. It comprises at least two or more planktonic foraminifer species, and one brackish water and 17 non-marine ostracod species. The brackish water ostracod, Neocyprideis raoi (Jain, 1978) has been previously recorded in great profusion from the Inter-trappean beds of Duddukuru, West Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh, which have been assigned Early Palaeocene age (Khosla and Nagori, 2002). Presence of molt stages of the bulk of non-marine and brackish water ostracods in the Inter-trappean beds of Jhilmili is suggestive that they were inhabitants of low mesohaline inland pool/lake. The planktonic foraminifers were carried to this pool/lake by a marine transgression probably from the east coast of India through the Trans Deccan Straits.