Home Multi-Country Search About Admin Login
Cenozoic
Mesozoic
Paleozoic
Neoproterozoic
Mesoproterozoic
Paleoproterozoic

Search by
Select Region(s) to search
Hold Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or Command (Mac) to select multiple
Kovilkalappal Formation
Click to display on map of the Ancient World at:
Kovilkalappal Fm base reconstruction

Kovilkalappal Fm

Period: 
Paleogene

Age Interval: 
Middle-Late Eocene (late Paleogene); Subsurface – south-central Cauvery Basin


Province: 
E.India Cauvery Basin

Type Locality and Naming

SUBSURFACE: The type section is located at exploratory well Kovilkalappal-A (depth interval: 750-470 m), on the Mannargudi ridge in the Nagapattinam subbasin. The hypostratotype is in the well Attikadai-A (depth interval: 860-560 m). It was named after the Kovilkalappal town by ONGC team guided by Venkatarengan et al.(1993) and distributed as Document-VII by KDMIPE, ONGC, Dehradun (1993).

[Figure 1: Type-section Map of Subsurface Formations]


Lithology and Thickness

Shallow-marine marl. Dominantly argillaceous unit with significant presence of limestone with bands of sandstone. Limestone is light gray to light yellow, moderately hard, compact and fossiliferous. Clay is green, soft, washable and calcareous. Sandstone is colorless, grains medium to coarse, subangular to subrounded, calcareous with presence of pyrite. Its thickness varies from 280-300 m. Part of Narimanam Gr.

[Figure 2: Generalized Stratigraphy and Petroleum System of Cauvery Basin (from dghindia.gov.in)]

[Figure 3: Generalized Stratigraphy of Cauvery Basin (Provided by A. Nallapa Reddy & R. Nagendra)]


Lithology Pattern: 
Shallow-marine marl


Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

Conformable with the Niravi Fm.

Upper contact

Conformable with the Shiyali Fm / Vanjiyur Fm.

Regional extent

This formation occurs in Nagapattinam and Tanjore subbasins.


GeoJSON

{"type":"Feature","geometry":{"type":"MultiPolygon","coordinates":[[[[79.35,10.32],[78.39,8.98],[79.03,8.99],[79.95,9.95],[79.87,10.26],[79.35,10.32]]]]}}

Fossils

Pellatispira madaraszi, Pellatispira sp., Asterocyclina sp., Baculogypsina tetrahedra, Nummulites chavnnesi, N. acutus, N. striatus, Assilina sp., Fascioltes sp., and Lockhartia sp.


Age 

Middle to Late Eocene. [Note: If "conformable with Nirava Fm, which has Globigerina angulisuturalis, then would be late Oligocene, not Eocene – so that is used for lith-column in graphics:]

Age Span: 

    Beginning stage: 
Lutetian

    Fraction up in beginning stage: 
0.0

    Beginning date (Ma): 
48.07

    Ending stage: 
Priabonian

    Fraction up in the ending stage: 
0.9

    Ending date (Ma):  
34.29

Depositional setting

Occurs along Prograding shelf edge within inner neritic.


Depositional pattern:  


Additional Information


Compiler:  

A. Nallapa Reddy & R. Nagendra