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
Pondaung Formation
Click to display on map of the Ancient World at:
Pondaung Fm base reconstruction

Pondaung Fm

Period: 
Paleogene

Age Interval: 
Middle Eocene


Province: 
Myanmar Central Basins

Type Locality and Naming

Chindwin Basin, Named on accounts of its typical development in the Pondaung Range. In Minbu-Salin Basin, Gangaw area. [Original Publication: Barber, A. J., Khin Zaw & Crow, M. J. (eds) 2017. Myanmar: Geology, Resources and Tectonics. Geological Society, London, Memoirs, 48, 219–260]

[Figure: Map showing location of sub-basins of the Central Myanmar Basin (after Myint Thein and M. Maung 2017)]


Lithology and Thickness

Coarse-grained sandstone. Mainly sandstones, grey-green, moderately hard-bedded, fine- to coarse-grained, locally carbonaceous and intercalated with thick mottled clay beds in the middle part and a thick gritty bed at the base. Near the base, the shale bands increase in number and streaks of carbonaceous matter developed and form a gradual passage into the clay series. Thickness is 2700 m. In Minbu-Salin Basin and Pyay Embayment, it is Sandstone. The Pondaung Fm consists of three members: Upper Sandstone Member, light yellow to light grey, hard, bedded, fine to medium grained, with lithic clasts mainly of quartz, fairly rounded and well sorted; Middle Clay Member, dark brown to yellow, weathered to mottled clay, laminated to massive, carbonaceous bands with leaf imprints; and Lower Sandstone Member grey to grey-brown, hard, bedded to thickly bedded, composed of quartz, feldspar, mica and lithic clasts, set in an argillaceous silty matrix.

[Figure: Stratigraphic succession of the Chindwin Basin (after Than Htut, 2017)]


Lithology Pattern: 
Sandstone


Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

Conformable with Tabyin Fm

Upper contact

Conformable with Yaw Fm in Chindwin Basin, Unconformable with Yaw Fm in Minbu-Salin Basin and Pyay Embayment.

Regional extent

This Fm is developed in Chindwin Basin, Minbu-Salin Basin and Pyay Embayment. In contrast to the older formations, the Pondaung Fm has a wide distribution and consequently is more important. The Pondaung Fm is the main Fm which builds the Nwemataung Range in north Minbu, the Yeyodaung and Duwantaung on the border of Minbu and Pakokku and the Pondaung and Ponnyataung ranges of Pakokku and lower Chindwin.

[Figure: a) Composite stratigraphic correlation of Myanmar Central Basins (after Than et al., 2017)]


GeoJSON

{"type":"Feature","geometry":{"type":"MultiPolygon","coordinates":[[[[97.36,26.84],[95.62,26.11],[94.83,24.64],[94.19,22.39],[94.3,20.38],[95.11,17.51],[96.41,17.81],[95.95,20.52],[95.51,22.18],[96.28,24.52],[96.96,24.26],[97.82,25.42],[97.36,26.84]]]]}}

Fossils

Contains fossils including primate remains of the genera Amphipithecus and Pondaungia sp., and the hippopotamus-like Anthracotheriidae in Minbu-Salin Basin and Pyay Embayment.


Age 

Middle Eocene

Age Span: 

    Beginning stage: 
Lutetian

    Fraction up in beginning stage: 
0.0

    Beginning date (Ma): 
48.07

    Ending stage: 
Bartonian

    Fraction up in the ending stage: 
1.0

    Ending date (Ma):  
37.71

Depositional setting

Deposited under deltaic and floodplain conditions in Chindwin Basin, deposited in a littoral to estuarine environment in Minbu-Salin Basin and Pyay Embayment.


Depositional pattern:  


Additional Information


Compiler:  

Than Htut, Kapesa Lokho, D.S.N.Raju and Ravi Misra (Than Htut, Myanmar petroleum systems, including the offshore area, Chapter 11 in Barber, A. J., Khin Zaw & Crow, M. J. (eds) 2017. Myanmar: Geology, Resources and Tectonics. Geological Society, London, Memoirs, 48, 219–260)