Annual Report 2011-2012 - Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany

EBIRBAL SAHNI INSTITUT
Annual Report 2011-2012
1946
OF PALAEOBOTANY
of the flowers had dried off. Besides, surface samples
and samples collected from sedimentary profiles during
earlier visits are being macerated for the release of
palynomorphs and qualitative and quantitative studies of
the same are continuing. Permo-Carboniferous sediments
were also macerated but were found to be devoid of
palynomorphs.
Ratan Kar & P.S. Ranhotra
Diatoms have been recovered from the lake
samples of Schirmacher Oasis, which are being further
studied to understand the impact of environmental factors.
This will help to detect changes (if any) in the pristine
Antarctic ecosystem.
Vartika Singh
Project 13.2:
Gondwana floristics of Wardha-Godavari Basin, India and Trans- Antarctic Mountain,
Antarctica: Evolution, biostratigraphy, palaeoecological signatures and
palaeophytogeographical implications
Revised the manuscript on ‘An Early Permian
Glossopteris Flora from the Umrer Coalfield, Wardha
Basin, Maharashtra, India’ for the journal Alcheringa. The
assemblage is represented by the orders Equisetales,
Glossopteridales and Cordaitales, and comprises
Gangamopteris clarkeana, 15 species of the genus
Glossopteris, viz. G. arberi, G. browniana, G.
communis, G. conspicua, G. damudica, G. indica, G.
intermedia, G. longicaulis, G. recurva, G. searsolensis,
G. spathulata, G. stenoneura, G. syaldiensis, G.
tenuifolia, Glossopteris sp., the fructification Scutum
sp.cf. S. leslium, a number of leaves belonging to the
genus Noeggerathiopsis i.e. N. hislopii and branched
and unbranched equisetalean axes. The flora though,
largely comparable with that of the Barakar Formation
of the Damodar Basin, with respect to the qualitative and
quantitative distribution of the Lower Gondwana elements,
exhibits a character of its own and is Artinskian to
Kungurian in age. Besides supplementing the knowledge
of the flora of the Wardha Basin, this is the first systematic
documentation of the Glossopteris flora from the Barakar
Formation of the area. (jointly with SK Pandita &
Bernardes-de-Oliveira).
Rajni Tewari, Deepa Agnihotri & S.S.K. Pillai
Revised the manuscript on ‘Gymnospermous seeds
from the Barakar Formation of Umrer Coalfield, Wardha
Basin, Maharashtra’. Platyspermic and radiospermic
gymnospermous seeds are documented from the top seam
of the Barakar Formation, Makardhokra Open Cast
Project of the coalfield. A variety of seed types including
Cordaicarpus sp., Cordaicarpus zeilleri, Samaropsis
feistmantelii, Samaropsis sp., Rotundocarpus ovatus
and a new species, namely Rotundocarpus mucronatus
are systematically described. The seeds are largely
comparable with those described from the Karharbari
Formation of the Damodar Basin. This is the first
record of these seeds from the coalfield. (jointly with
SK Pandita).
Rajni Tewari, N.C. Mehrotra, S.S.K. Pillai &
Deepa Agnihotri
Finalized detailed systematic description of floral
elements of Dicroidium from the Triassic sediments of
Lashly Formation, Allan Hills, Central Transantarctic
Mountains, Antarctica. The plant taxa comprise
Phyllotheca greisbacchi, Phyllotheca sp., equisetalean
axes, calamitalean axes, nodal diaphragms, Dicroidium
odontopteroides, D. fremouvensis, D. dutoitii,
Umkomasia macleani –Pteruchus sp. and Heidiphyllum
elongatum. The megafossil assemblage has been
compared globally. Phyllotheca griesbachii, Phyllotheca
sp., Dicroidium fremouvensis, Umkomasia macleani
and Pteruchus sp. are the first record from the Allan
Hills. (jointly with Sankar Chatterjee).
Rajni Tewari
Review of spores-pollen assemblages in
Chintalapudi sub-basin and compilation of data have been
carried out. Raniganj palynoflora shows dominance of
striate disaccates, viz. Striatopodocarpites,
Faunipollenites, and significant presence of
Crescentipollenites, Guttulapollenites and rare
occurrence of stratigraphically significant taxa, viz.
Falcisporites, Klausipollenites, Lundbladispora,
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