Reappraisal of the Microflora from the Jabalpur series of India with remarks of the age of the beds

Abstract

The present paper deals with the sporological analysis (miospore genera) of coals from the neighbourhood of Sehora and Hathnapur in the Jabalpur Series of India which are exposed as the youngest Gondwana strata in the Mahadeo hills of Madhya Pradesh. The assemblage consists of 32 miospore genera, of which the saccate constituent are invariably non-striated. The occurrence of striated and some of the non-striated bisaccates, as reported by Dev (1961), from the Sher river assemblage near Sehora is not confirmed. A comparison of the present assemblage (non Dev, 1.c.) with some of those known from comparable horizons from India and abroad has been briefly given. On sporological grounds, it has been inferred that the Jabalpur Series as represented near Sehora and Hathnapur can be successfully distinguished from the Umia beds in Cutch and the Rajmahal Hills in Bihar. The botanical relationship of the dispersed spores with that of the megaflora has been indicated, wherever possible. The reinvestigated mioflora consists of many additional miospore genera some of which viz. Aequitriradites, Rouseisporites, Foveotriletes, Crybelosporites, Coohsonites and Contignisporites glebulentus in conjunction with the megafossil record of Onchyiopsis and Weichselia strengthen the belief that the Jabalpur Series may conform to Lower Cretaceous age.