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Occurrence of helically coiled microfossil Obruchevella in the Owk Shale of the Kurnool Group and its significance

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The present study reports occurrence of helically coiled microfossil Obruchevella Reitlinger from the Owk Shale of the Kurnool Group from the peninsular India. The age of the Kurnool Group is poorly constrained due to the absence of direct radiometric dating and meager palaeobiological data. Occurrence of Obruchevella is considered as a typical Vendian marker genus recorded mostly from close to the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary successions. Hence, the present assemblage is important to ascertain the age of the basin. In the Owk Shale, four species of Obruchevella, viz., O. delicata, O. parva, O. minor and O. valdaica are recorded as organic walled microfossils. Among them O. valdaica is the largest in terms of size parameters. On the global scale, the recovered species occur in the Late Neoproterozoic to Early Cambrian sediments. Therefore, the occurrence of microfossil Obruchevella in the Owk Shale and known burrow structures in the Narji Limestone suggest Ediacaran age close to the Cambrian for the Kurnool Basin and challenges the recently assigned Mesoproterozoic age of the basin.

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  1. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53 University Road, Lucknow, 226 007, Uttar Pradesh, India

    MUKUND SHARMA & YOGMAYA SHUKLA

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SHARMA, M., SHUKLA, Y. Occurrence of helically coiled microfossil Obruchevella in the Owk Shale of the Kurnool Group and its significance. J Earth Syst Sci 121, 755–768 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-012-0182-x

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