TITLE:
Petrography and Provenance of Early Triassic Pachmarhi Formation Sandstones, Satpura Gondwana Basin, Madhya Pradesh, Central India
AUTHORS:
Abdullah Khan, Anis , Shahnawaz
KEYWORDS:
Petrography; Provenance; Pachmarhi Formation; Satpura Basin; Madhya Pradesh
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Geology,
Vol.3 No.2,
April
26,
2013
ABSTRACT: The Pachmarhi, Denwa and Bagra Formations
comprise of terrigenous sediments predominantly constitute the Mesozoic
Gondwana sequence in Satpura basin of Madhya Pradesh, central India. The
Pachmarhi Formation sandstones were studied with a view to understand the
nature of the Satpura basin in relation to provenance and tectonic setting.
Twenty representative samples of sandstone from Pachmarhi were examined for
detrital mineralogy, petrofacies and tectonic implications. These sandstones
are medium to coarse grained, moderately to moderately well sorted, subangular
to subrounded and of moderate sphericity and composed of several varieties of
quartz, feldspar, rock fragments, mica and a suite of heavy minerals.
Petrographically, the Pachmarhi sandstones are quartzarenite and subarkose. The
petrofacies studies reflect derivation of the sediments from continental block
provenance and stable cratonic to fault-bounded basement uplift tectonic
setting. The study suggests that the Precambrian granitoids occurring in the
southern margin of the Satpura basin contributed sediments during Pachmarhi
sedimentation.