Occurrence of spore tetrads in the Pali sediments of South Rewa Basin, India and their climatic inference

Abstract

A group of spore tetrads with variable ornamentations have been recorded during the palynological analysis of subsurface Upper Pali sediments (Early to Middle Triassic), Sohagpur Coalfield, Madhya Pradesh, India. These tetrads are assignable to the form genera-Lundbladispora, Densoisporites, Lapposisporites and Verrucosisporites. It has been observed that these spores were regularly released in unseparated tetrads indicative of failure to complete the normal processes of spore development. This may be due to the anomaly in the temperature responsible for the non-dissolution of the callose wall which holds these spores in the form of tetrads. Occurrence of spore tetrads in certain group of plant community is a positive evidence which suggests that chronic environmental mutagenesis has taken place all over the world during the end Permian ecological crisis.