MICROPALEONTOLOGY

AND ITS APPLICATIONS

The Editors

Dr. P. K. Kathal, Professor, Department of Applied Geology, Dr. Harisingh Gour

Vishwavidyalaya, Sagar, M.P., an alumnous of the same University with vast academic and
administrative experiences as the former Head, Department of Applied Geology, Director,
Centre of Advance Study in Geology, Dean, Engineering Faculty, Dean Research &
Development, an awardee of Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellowship (1999
and 2003) and DFG Fellowship (under DAAD Programme, Germany) in 2007 to carry out
advanced research in Micropaleontology at Akita University, Japan; Kumamoto University,
Japan and Tubingen University, Tubingen, Germany, respectively; Member of International
UNESCO Programme on the Ediacaran (Vendian) Puzzle from 2011 to 2016; and responsible
for developing a field of research on comparison of Recent Foraminifera from the Indian and
Japanese coasts. He has chaired sessions in international research events held at Canada
(2000), Austria (2002) and India (2013, 2014 and 2015). Having obtained M. Tech. (Applied
Geology), and Ph. D. (Recent Foraminifera, Micropaleontology) he is in the field of teaching
and research in Micropaleontology for over 35 years with 65 research contributions in
research journals of national and international repute along with the credit of bringing out
the first two text books in Micropaleontology from India.
He is Associate Editor of the Journal of Foraminiferal Research, USA.
Dr. Rajiv Nigam, Retd. Deputy Director and Head of Geological Oceanography and Marine
Archaeology, National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa is currently working there as a
Consultant. An alumnous of Lucknow University, Lucknow he obtained his M. Phil, Ph. D.
and D. Sc. degrees from Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh and NORAD Diploma in Marine
Micropaleontology from Oslo University, Norway. He joined the NIO as Scientist in 1978 and
superannuated from there in 2016. He not only made significant contributions in the field of
Marine Geology (Micropaleontology) but also established the first 'Laboratory for Culture
Studies on Foraminifera' in India at NIO. He guided 12 Ph. D. theses and published over 135
papers in research journals of National and International repute. Recipient of the ‘CSIR-
Young Scientist Award’, ‘Krishnan Gold Medal’, ‘National Mineral Award’, ‘M. R. Sahni
Lecture Award’ and ‘Prof. S. N. Bhalla Gold Medal’ of the Palaeontological Society of India
and ‘H. N. Siddiquie Lecture Award’ of the Indian Geophysical Union. He has authored a
book on Indian Monsoon, which received a cash prize award of Rs 50000/- by the Ministry of
Earth Sciences, Government of India.
Dr. Abu Talib, Professor and Head, Department of Geology, Aligarh Muslim University
(AMU), Aligarh obtained his M. Sc. and Ph. D. degrees from AMU and joined the
Department of Geology, AMU as Lecturer in 1986. His teaching and research interests
include Petroleum Geology, Palaeontology and Micropalaeontology with 30 years of research
and teaching experience. He has supervised 5 Ph. D. theses and several M. Phil theses and
contributed over 35 papers in national and international research journals and has
completed three research projects sponsored by UGC, DST and a petroleum company. He is a
Life Member, Palaeontological Society of India, Lucknow; Indian Society for Earth, Planetary
and Environmental Sciences, New Delhi; and remained an elected Member, Executive
Council, Palaeontological Society of India, Lucknow in 2014-15.
MICROPALEONTOLOGY
AND ITS APPLICATIONS
A Festschrift for Septuagenarian Scholar
Professor Satyendra Nath Bhalla

Editors
Professor Pradeep K. Kathal
Department of Applied Geology
Dr. Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya
(A Central University)
Sagar, 470 003 M.P., India
Dr. Rajiv Nigam
Retd. Deputy Director,
Geological Oceanography
National Institute of Oceanography
Dona Paula, Goa-403004, India
Professor Abu Talib
Head, Department of Geology
Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh 202 001, U.P., India
Published by
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Contents

Foreword v
Preface xi
Professor Satyendra Nath Bhalla - a legendary micropaleontologist xiii
Contributors xvii

1 Micropalaeontology and Palaeoecology of the Kallankuruchchi Limestone

Formation, Cauvery Basin, S. E. India
– M. B. Hart and M. P. Watkinson 1-13

2 Dynamics of Larger Benthic Foraminiferal Populations in the Upper Florida

Keys Reef Tract, USA: Comparisons with other Coral Reef Bioindicators
– Elizabeth Fisher Moses, Pamela Hallock and John E. Fauth 15-39

3 Microbialites and Salt Lakes of Western Australia– Salient Features, Threats

and Conservation Issues
– Jacob John, Veronica S. Campagna and Fiona E. Taukulis 41-57

4 δ18O of Larger Benthic Foraminifera: Temperature Calibration for Shallow

Marine Tropical-Subtropical Carbonates
– P. K. Saraswati, Asmita Singh, K. Rogers, Prasanta Sanyal, 59-70
Kanchan Pande and Kenji Iwao

5 Integrated Benthic Foraminiferal and Ammonite Biostratigraphy of Middle to

Late Jurassic Sediments of Keera Dome, Kachchh, Western India
– Abu Talib, Sreepat Jain and Roohi Irshad 71-81

6 Bloom of Zygnematalean Algae found from the Gechang Sandstone, Spiti

Valley in the Tethys Himalaya, India
– G.K. Singh, V. A. Krassilov, N.C. Mehrotra, 83-87
Neerja Jha and N.L. Chhabra
viii Micropaleontology and its Applications

7 An Overview on the Comparative Morphology of the Recent Benthic

Foraminifera from the East Coast of India and the part of the southern East
Coast of Japan, Warm-water Indo-Pacific Province
– P. K. Kathal and V. K. Singh 89-106

9 Late Cretaceous Pelagic Red Shales in the Cauvery Basin, Southeast India, Its
Biostratigraphy and Paleoceanographic Implications
– Abiraman Govindan 107-118

9 Foraminiferal Palaeoecology and Depositional Environment of Middle to Late

Jurassic Sequence, Kaiya Dome, Kutch, India
– Abu Talib, K. N. Gaur, Y. P. Singh and Shabana Anjum 119-133

10 An Overview of Ostracoda Studies from the Freshwater, Marginal Marine and

Marine Ecosystems of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Coasts of India
– S. M. Hussain 135-162

11 Siliceous Microfossils of the Neogene Sediments from Northern Indian Ocean

– Arindam Chakraborty and Amit K. Ghosh 163-189

12 Foraminifera from Middle Jurassic Sediments of Jara Dome, Kachhch,

Gujarat- Age and Palaeoecologic Implications
– S. M. Wasim, Y.P. Singh, Ainul H. Ansari and Megha Prakasan 191-210

13 Preliminary Study of Microstructure and Taphonomy of Dinosaur Eggs and

Nests of the Upper Cretaceous Lameta Formation near Padlya, Lower
Narmada Valley, India
– Harsha Dhiman, Vishal Verma and G. V. R. Prasad 211-232

14 Study of Pliocene Radiolaria from Kerguelen Plateau Site 738B

(Sections 2H4 to 2H5): Distribution and Systematics
– G. K Sharma and Deepti 233-248

15 A Comparative Study of Foraminifera and its Ecological Significance between

Arasalar and Thirumalairajanar Estuaries in Karaikal, East coast of India
– M. Suresh Gandhi, M. Manjima, P. Jesma, R. Tharun and 249-264
N. Rajeshwara Rao

16 Foraminifera as Bio-Indicators of Pollution: A Review of Research over the

Last Decade
– Thejasino Suokhrie, R. Saraswat and R. Nigam 265-284
Contents ix

17 Coralline Algae from the Kopili Formation (Late Eocene), Jaintia Hills,
Meghalaya, India
– S. Kishore, A. K. Jauhri, A. P. Singh, R.P. Tiwari and S. K. Singh 285-300

18 The Significance of Spinosity in Foraminifera – A New Perspective

– N. Rajeshwara Rao and S. M. Hussain 301-309

19 Experimental Studies on Benthic Foraminifera: an Update on the Changing

Trends and Challenges over the Past Decade
– Sujata R. Kurtarkar, V. N. Linshy, Amrita Kaithwar, 311-330
Rajeev Saraswat and Rajiv Nigam

20 Potential Applicability of Benthic Foraminiferal Microhabitats in Deciphering

Ocean- Bottom Oxygenation History of the Eastern Arabian Sea
– S. R. Bharti, K. Verma and A. D. Singh 331-342
Preface

This volume, titled “Micropaleontology and its Applications”

contains invited papers from eminent scholars of academic and
research institutions from across the world on the diverse groups of
microfossils, like - Foraminifera, Ostracoda, Radiolaria, Pollen and
Spores, Algae/Coralline Algae, Diatoms, Microbialites and
Microstructures of Dinosaur Eggs.
Ever since Micropaleontology developed into a new era of applied
discipline in the 1960’-70’s this area of research has generated
exponential explosion of literature! The prevailing text-books therefore
required extensive revision to reveal the current state of research on
applied micropaleontology. New research journals have appeared
covering applied micropaleontology or to even the ecological
parameters of microorganisms as the living representatives of the
fossilized microorganisms thereafter. This has lead to an accent on
publication on the thematic multi-authored volumes. The present
volume, also an outcome of the ‘cutting edge research’ in the field of
Mircopaleontology, is being dedicated to our esteem teacher Professor
Satyendra Nath Bhalla, former Chairman, Department of Geology,
Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh and a legendary figure in the field
of Micropaleontology.
We are thankful to Prof. A. K. Gupta, Director, Wadia Institute of
Himalayan Geology (WIHG), Dehra Dun for scripting the ‘Foreword’ of
the book and the referees of the research papers who painstakingly
reviewed the papers promptly. We also acknowledge indebtedness to
Professor M. B. Hart, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Plymouth
University, Plymouth, United Kingdom; Professor Pamela Hallock,
College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, USA; Professor
Jacob Jhon, Department of Environmental Biology, Curtin University
of Technology, Perth, Australia; and Prof. Michal Kucera, Bremen
University, Bremen, Germany for their timely and learned
suggestions in improving the contents. Authors thanks Professor K.L.
Srivastava, Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur for support.
xii Micropaleontology and its Applications

We thank all the contributors to this book for their time and
efforts in preparing their papers, We are indebted to Head,
Department of Applied Geology, for providing infrastructure facilities,
Professor J. K. Mishra Department of Library and Information
Science, and Dr. Jemini Khateek, Woman Scientist (UGC), Mr.
Navneet Ranjan and Miss Paishnee Patel Research Scholars,
Department of Applied Geology, Dr. Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya,
Sagar for their help in different ways.
Last but not the least, we thank Shri Tanay Sharma, Managing
Director, Scientific Publishers (India), Jodhpur and New Delhi for
taking personal interest in publishing this volume with the sense of
meeting the dead-line.

Professor P. K. Kathal
Dr. Rajiv Nigam
Professor Abu Talib
15th March 2017
Professor Satyendra Nath Bhalla
– a legendary micropaleontologist

Professor Satyendra Nath Bhalla was born on 1st July, 1940 at

Basti, Uttar Pradesh, India. His mother, Mrs. Vaishno Devi, was a
home maker and father, Shri B. N. Bhalla was Superintendent of
Police. His father was a very religious person and known as ‘Maharaj
Jee’ to his disciples who still gathered on makar sankranti day every
year at his Samadhi at Kanpur. Prof. Bhalla inherited disciplined and
poised life-style of his father.
He had his early education at Calvin Taluqedars College in
Lucknow and obtained his B.Sc. and M.Sc. (Geology) degrees from
Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. He joined the Department of
Geology of Punjab University, Chandigarh, to pursue research in
Micropaleontology, under the supervision of the famous Indian
micropaleontologist Professor S. B. Bhatia. He often mentioned that
the other person who had inspired him was Prof. M. R. Sahni.
Prof. Bhalla was awarded his Ph. D. in 1964 and he joined, as
Lecturer in the Department of Geology, Aligarh Muslim University,
Aligarh. He established the Micropaleontology Lab in the Department
and started pioneering research on Jurassic foraminifera of Kutch and
within a few years the Micropaleontology Lab was elevated as a
leading research centre on Recent Foraminifera from the Indian
Coasts as well as Jurassic foraminiferal research in India. During his
academic career as a Professor (1987 to 2002), the Department of
Geology got fresh impetus in academic and research endeavors under
his Chairmanship from 1990-94.
Prof. Bhalla has a distinguished research career of more than half
a century! His main research focused on the taxonomy and
xiv Micropaleontology and its Applications

distribution of Recent and Jurassic foraminifera of India but he also

applied microfossils for dating, palaeoenvironmental analysis,
palaeogeographic interpretation, pollution studies, and petroleum
exploration. During his research career, he worked on other groups of
microfossils, viz., shark teeth and ostracods as well as stratigraphic
studies. He was the first to carry out pioneering work on the east coast
of Gondwana and to predict the possibility of finding oil and gas in on-
shore as well as off-shore areas of Andhra Pradesh, eastern India, as
far back as 1970, which was confirmed by the Oil and Natural Gas
Commission, Government of India, during their drilling operations in
this region in 1982. He was invited by the Elsevier Science Publishers,
Holland, in 1983 to contribute Chapter 10 (India) for the book,
‘‘Phanerozoic Geology of the World: II. The Mesozoic”. Prof. Bhalla
published 105 research papers and supervised six Ph. D. and several
M. Phil. theses.
He was invited by several institutions of different countries,
including the British Council, London on Visitorship in 1971 and 1975
for doing advanced research on foraminifera and marine environment;
Royal Society, London, to carry out higher research and discuss
problems of mutual research interest with colleagues in the U. K. in
1994; German Academic Exchange Service, Bonn, in 1972, 1975, 1995
and 1997 for advance research on marine microfossils in Germany; the
Museum d'Historie Naturelle, Geneva, Switzerland, in 1985 to do
advanced research on Jurassic foraminifera; and the Japan Society for
Promotion of Science in 1987 to deliver lectures at different
Universities and Institutes in Japan and to do higher research on
Recent benthic foraminifera of the Pacific Ocean. In addition, he
visited and carried out research in the U.K., Germany, France,
Holland, Switzerland, U.S.A., Canada, Japan, Al-Ain (UAE), Kuwait,
Muscat, Nepal.
Prof. Bhalla has a long association with micropaleontology
movement in India, i.e. Indian Colloquium on Micropaleontology and
Stratigraphy (ICMS). In 1976, he successfully convened the ‘V-ICMS’
at the Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. He was the President of
the ‘XVII-ICMS’ at Ujjain. He was felicitated at the ‘XVI-ICMS’ at
Goa, 1998 and in 2005 at Lucknow for significant contributions in the
field of Micropaleontology and Stratigraphy and received the 'Lifetime
Achievement Award' at the ‘XXII-ICMS’ held at Tiruchirapalli in
2009. The Government of India appointed him as Chairman of the
Research Advisory Council, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany,
Lucknow in 2011.
Professor Satendra Nath Bhalla – An appreciation xv

In recognition of his contribution to the field of

micropalaeontology, the Palaeontological Society of India, Lucknow
constituted a National Award, the ‘Prof. S. N. Bhalla Gold Medal in
Micropalaeontology’ in 2003. The award, in the form of a citation and
a medal, is given once every two years for outstanding contributions to
Micropalaeontology.
He retired from the Aligarh Muslim University in 2002 from the
service but kept his interest alive in the subject and to date he is
actively participating in conferences, writing research papers and
counseling and advising research scholars on various problems of
micropalaeontology.
His passion, devotion and suggestions in the field of
Micropaleontology in general, and taxonomy in particular, are
unparalleled! He is a meticulous researcher and excellent teacher
besides, being an innovative thinker with modesty and concern for
others. He is a soft spoken person with high moral and social values
and a valued and trusted friend, philosopher and guide to his
associates.
By joining hands with all the contributors and reviewers to this
book, we wish him all the best for the future. It is indeed a matter of
pride for all his research students to be associated with Prof. Bhalla
not only in the field of Micropaleontology but also in the various
pursuits of life. We feel honoured to dedicate this book-
‘Micropaleontology and its Aapplication’ to the subject discipline
builder Prof. S. N. Bhalla.

Pradeep K. Kathal
Rajiv Nigam
Abu Talib
Contributors

Abbas, S. M. Fauth, John E.

Senior Geologists, Department of Biology,
KDMIP, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, University of Central Florida,
Dehradun, India Orlando, USA
Anjum, Shabana Irshad
Gandhi, M. Suresh
Palaeontology Lab, K.D.M. Institute of
Department of Geology,
Petroleum Exploration,
University of Madras,
Oil & Natural Gas Corporation,
Chennai, India
Dehradun, India
Ansari, Ainul H. Gaur, K. N.
Department of Geology, Former Head,
Aligarh Muslim University, Department of Geology,
Aligarh, India D. S. College, Aligarh, India
Bharti, S. R. Ghosh, Amit
Centre of Advanced Study in Geology, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences,
Banaras Hindu University, Lucknow, India
Varanasi, India
Govindan, Abiraman
Campagna, S. Asian Biostratigraphy Services,
Department of Environmental Biology, Chennai, India
Curtin University of Technology,
Perth, W. Australia Hallock, Pamela
Chakraborty, Arindam College of Marine Science,
Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, University of South Florida,
Lucknow, India St. Petersburg,
FL, USA
Chhabra, N. L.
University of Lucknow, Hart, M. B.
Lucknow, India Earth & Environmental Science,
Deepti School of Geography,
Department of Geology, Plymouth University,
Kumaun University, Nainital, India Plymouth, UK
Dhiman, Harsha Hussain, S. M.
Department of Geology, Department of Geology,
Centre for Advanced Studies in Geology, University of Madras,
University of Delhi, Delhi, India Chennai, India
xviii Micropaleontology and its Applications

Irshad, Roohi Krassilov, Valentin A.

Department of Geology, Paleontological Institute,
Aligarh Muslim University, Profsoyuznaya, Moscow, Russia and
Aligarh, India The Institute of Evolution,
University of Haifa,
Iwao, Kenji Israel (Deceased)
Akajima Marine Science Laboratory,
Zamami-son, Kurtarkar, Sujata R.
Okinawa, Japan Micropaleontology Lab,
CSIR-National Institute of
Jain, Sreepat Oceanography, Goa, India
Department of Applied Geology,
Adama Science & Technology, Linshy, V. N.
University, 408, Technocrats Apartments,
Adama, Ethiopia Gurgaon, India
Manjima, M.
Jauhri, A. K. (Deceased)
Department of Geology,
Department of Geology,
University of Madras,
University of Lucknow,
Chennai, India
Lucknow, India
Mehrotra, Naresh Chandra
Jeshma, P. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences,
Department of Geology, Lucknow, India
University of Madras,
Chennai, India Moses, Elizabeth Fisher
Science, Engineering and Technology
Jha, Neerja Division, Howard Community College,
Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Columbia, USA and College of Marine
Lucknow, India Science, University of South Florida,
Petersburg, USA
John, Jacob
Department of Environmentology Nigam, Rajiv
Curtin University of Technology Micropaleontology Lab,
Perth, W. Australia CSIR-National Institute of
Oceanography, Goa, India
Kaithwar, Amrata
Pande, Kanchan
Micropaleontology Lab,
Department of Earth Sciences,
CSIR-National Institute of
Indian Institute of Technology,
Oceanography,
Mumbai, India
Goa, India
Prakasan, Megha
Kathal, P. K. Department of Geology,
Department of Applied Geology, Aligarh Muslim University,
Dr. Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya, Aligarh, India
Sagar, India
Prasad, G. V. R.
Kishore, S. Department of Geology,
Department of Botany, Centre for Advanced Studies,
University of Lucknow, University of Delhi,
Lucknow, India Delhi, India
Contributors xix

Rao, N. Rajeshwara Singh, S. K.

Department of Applied Geology, Department of Botany,
University of Madras, Charak Institute of Education,
Chennai, India Lucknow, India
Rogers, Karyne Singh, V. K.
National Isotope Centre, Department of Geology,
GNS Science, National Institute of Technology (NIT),
Lower Hutt, New Zealand Raipur, India
Sanyal, Prasanta
Singh, Y. P.
Department of Earth Sciences,
Department of Geology,
Indian Institute of Science Education
D. S. College,
and Research (IISER),
Aligarh, India
Kolkata, India
Saraswat, R. Sujata, R.
Micropaleontology Lab, Micropaleontology Lab,
CSIR-National Institute of CSIR-National Institute of
Oceanography, Oceanography,
Goa, India Goa, India
Saraswati, Pratul Kumar Sukhrie, Thejasino
Department of Earth Sciences, Micropaleontology Lab,
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, CSIR-National Institute of
Mumbai, India Oceanography,
Goa, India
Sharma, G. K.
Department of Geology, Talib, Abu
Kumaun University, Department of Geology,
Nainital, India Aligarh Muslim University,
Singh, A. D. Aligarh, India
Centre of Advanced Study in Geology,
Taukulis, Fiona E.
Banaras Hindu University,
Department of Environmental Biology,
Varanasi, India
Curtin University of Technology,
Singh, A. P. Perth, W. Australia
Department of Geology,
Mizoram University, Tharun, R.
Aizwal, India Department of Geology,
University of Madras,
Singh, Asmita Chennai, India
Department of Earth Sciences,
Indian Institute of Technology, Tiwari, R. P.
Mumbai, India Department of Geology,
Mizoram University,
Singh, Gaurav Kumar Aizwal, India
Department of Applied Geology, (Present position: Vice Chancellor,
Dr. Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya, Dr. Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya,
Sagar, India Sagar, India)
xx Micropaleontology and its Applications

Verma, K.
Paleontology Division I CHQ,
Wasim, S. M.
Geological Survey of India, Department of Geology,
Kolkata India D. S. College, Aligarh, India
Verma, Vishal Watkinson, M. P.
Bakaner, Earth & Environmental Science,
Dhar, M. P., India
School of Geography,
Veronica, S. Campagna Plymouth University,
Department of Environmental Biology, Plymouth, UK
Curtin University of Technology,
Perth, W. Australia