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Giumal Formation
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Giumal Fm base reconstruction

Giumal Fm

Period: 
Cretaceous

Age Interval: 
Late Valanginian-Albian


Province: 
NW Himalaya Zanskar-Spiti

Type Locality and Naming

Named after Giumal village in Spiti. [Original Publication: Stoliczka, F. 1865. Geological section across the Himalayan mountain range from Wangtu Bridge on the river Sutlej to Sungdeo with an account of formations in Spiti accompanied by a revision of all known fossils from that district. Memoirs of Geological Survey of India, 5: 153p]

Synonyms: Guimal Sandstone.

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


Lithology and Thickness

Sandstone. Comprises successions of grey to creamish sandstone, separated by decimeter-thick oolitic interbeds. 300-400 m in Giumal village, Spiti;

[Figure 1: Field photograph showing the outcrop of the Giumal Sandstone in Spiti near the village Giumal (photo loaned by R.S. Chaubey)]


Lithology Pattern: 
Sandstone


Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

Gradational contact with the underlying Spiti Fm.

Upper contact

Sharp contact with the overlying Chikkim Fm.

Regional extent

Zanskar-Spiti and Himachal Pradesh to Kumaun-Garhwal region of Northwest Tethyan Himalaya


GeoJSON

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Fossils

Planktonic foraminifera resembling Hedbergella delrioensis (in black shale). Holostephanus (Astieria) aff. atherstoni, Stephanoceras sp., Perisphinctes sp., Cardium gieumalense, Pseudomonotis superstes and Gryphaea aff. baylei bivalves; belemnites.


Age 

Late Valanginian-Albian

Age Span: 

    Beginning stage: 
Valanginian

    Fraction up in beginning stage: 
0.5

    Beginning date (Ma): 
135.15

    Ending stage: 
Albian

    Fraction up in the ending stage: 
1.0

    Ending date (Ma):  
100.50

Depositional setting

The Giumal sandstone reflects the multiple progradation of clastic detritus brought by deltaic systems onto a shelf influenced by storm-wave action or tidal currents (Bhargava and Bassi, 1998; Gaetani et al., 1986).


Depositional pattern:  


Additional Information


Compiler:  

O.N. Bhargava & Birendra Singh.