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Taitung Formation
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Taitung Fm base reconstruction

Taitung Fm

Period: 
Jurassic, Cretaceous

Age Interval: 
Kimmeridgian through Valanginian?


Province: 
Nepal Lesser Himalaya

Type Locality and Naming

Tansen and lower Kali Gandaki region


Lithology and Thickness

Basal "Charchare Conglomerate" bed of 13 to 20 m thick that has two fining-upward sequences; and mainly consists of rounded volcanic rocks derived from the Aulis volcanic episode. "Trachytic to basaltic lava flows, called the Aulis volcanics, are associated with the Lower Member of the Taltung Formation. In the Tansen area, there are mainly three such lava flows. One of them rests directly on the Charchare Conglomerate." … " The main portion of the Lower Member is represented by a number of fining-upwards fluvial cycles, each commencing with conglomerate, followed by sandstone, and ending in siltstone. There are about eight such cycles, each of which varies in thickness from 7 to 20 m. … Upper Member contains fining-upwards rhythmic cycles of sandstone and shale, where each sequence is from 8 to 20 m thick."


Lithology Pattern: 
Coarse-grained sandstone


Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

Major hiatus (entire Middle Permian through Middle Jurassic is absent) onto the Sisne Fm (which includes glacial-derived sediments). Basal conglomerate bed.

Upper contact

Major hiatus (entire Cretaceous absent) at a scoured contact to the overlying Amile Fm.

Regional extent


GeoJSON

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Fossils

"Upper Gondwana (Jurassic–Cretaceous) plant fossils abound in several siltstone beds as well as thin silty horizons within conglomerates. The plant fossils include Ptilophyllum cf. P. cutchense, Pterophyllum sp., Cladophlebis indica, and Elatocladus tenerrimus. Some large (40 cm in

diameter and 60 cm long) silicified trunks are also encountered in some of the conglomerate beds.


Age 


Age Span: 

    Beginning stage: 
Kimmeridgian

    Fraction up in beginning stage: 
0.0

    Beginning date (Ma): 
154.78

    Ending stage: 
Valanginian

    Fraction up in the ending stage: 
1.0

    Ending date (Ma):  
132.60

Depositional setting

Fluvial


Depositional pattern:  


Additional Information


Compiler:  

Descriptions from Megh Raj Dhital (2015, Geology of Nepal: Regional Perspective of the Classic Collided Orogen, Springer Publ., 499 pp.). Age spans estimated from correlation diagrams in Martin, A.J. (2017, "A review of Himalayan stratigraphy, magmatism, and structure", Gondwana Research, 49: 42-80; http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2017.04.031), but these are often controversial.