Palaeoenvironments during holocene time in Bengal basin, India as reflected by palynostratigraphy

Abstract

This study incorporates the results of pollen analyses of one profile each from Kolara, Barrackpore, Namkhana and Chaltiya in the Bengal Basin. The pollen diagrams have been translated in terms of past vegetation and on the basis of changes in the plant communities, the biostratigraphical zonation could be possible. The palaeotemperatures, subsidence and/or submergence of forest between 7,000-5,000 years b.p. have been concluded. Radiocarbon dating has revealed that the process of peatification in the basin took place between 5,000-2,000 years b.p. The lithostratigraphic evidences have further revealed that the maximum peatification took place in the west and east of Calcutta. The peat beds had begun to reduce towards north and south of Calcutta and ultimately disappeared in the extreme north and south, indicating the environs being not conducive for peatification.