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Ganmachidam Formation
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Ganmachidam Fm base reconstruction

Ganmachidam Fm

Period: 
Carboniferous, Permian

Age Interval: 
Late Carboniferous-Early Permian


Province: 
NW Himalaya Zanskar-Spiti

Type Locality and Naming

Name derived from Meadow. Type section is near Losar village in Spiti. [Original Publication: Srikantia, S.V., 1981. The lithostratigraphy, sedimentation and structure of Proterozoic–Phanerozoic formations of Spiti basin in the higher Himalaya of Himachal Pradesh, India. In: Sinha, A.K. (Ed.), Contemporary Geoscientific Researches in India (a commemorative volume in honor of S.P. Nautiyal). Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun, pp. 31–48.]

Synonyms: Permian Conglomerate (Hayden, 1904)

[Figure: Zanskar-Spiti-Kumaun region location (provided by Om Bhargava)]


Lithology and Thickness

Coarse-grained sandstone. Coarse gritty sandstone and conglomerate; 400-700m thick. Lenticular, mainly moderately well to poorly sorted conglomerate having mostly pebble size clasts, occassionally cobble of grey, red, white quartzite, grey dolomite, siltstone, shale. Matrix percentage varies from 20% to 40% repeated at different levels. Sandstone and rarely pebbly shale in basal part.


Lithology Pattern: 
Coarse-grained sandstone


Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

Gradational contact with underlying Po Fm.

Upper contact

Sharp / Gradational contact with the overlying Gechang Fm (Kuling Gr).

Regional extent

Zanskar-Spiti and Himachal Pradesh to Kumaun-Garhwal region of Northwest Tethyan Himalaya. Equivalent conglomerate known in Kashmir.

[Figure: Paleozoic successions of Himalayas West-to-East (after Bhargava, 2008)]


GeoJSON

{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[{"type":"Feature","geometry":{"type":"Polygon","coordinates":[[[80.2,30.1],[78.5,31.4],[78,32.8],[77.6,34.6],[76,35.6],[74.4,36.3],[73.1,36.2],[73.1,35.7],[74.4,34.8],[75.6,34.5],[76.4,33.7],[76.9,32.7],[77.3,31.5],[78.3,30.3],[79.4,29.7],[80.1,29.4],[80.3,30.1]]]}}]}

Fossils

No record.


Age 

Stratigraphic age Late Carboniferous (put schematically at base-Moscovian for graphic purposes) -Early Permian (Asselian)

Age Span: 

    Beginning stage: 
Moscovian

    Fraction up in beginning stage: 
0.0

    Beginning date (Ma): 
315.15

    Ending stage: 
Asselian

    Fraction up in the ending stage: 
0.5

    Ending date (Ma):  
296.21

Depositional setting

The Ganmachidam Formation corresponds to a sequence of coarsening upward sediments corresponding to a distal fluvial deposits or a littoral delta (Bhargava and Bassi, 1998; Steck, 2003), also regarded as glacial.


Depositional pattern:  


Additional Information


Compiler:  

O.N. Bhargava & Birendra Singh.