XXV Indian Colloquium of Micropalaeontology and Stratigraphy-2015

Paleoceanographic study during the Holocene over

off Saurashtra, NE Arabian Sea
1
Syed Azharuddin , Pawan 1
Govil , A.D. 2
Singh , Ravi Mishra 3

1. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53-University Road, Lucknow, India.

2. Department of Geology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India.
3. National Centre of Antarctic and Oceanic Research, Vasco-da-Gama, Goa, India. Email: [email protected]

INTRODUCTION CONCLUSIONS
• Planktonic foraminifera have long been recognised as
potential proxy to be used for paleoceanographic studies. • Early Holocene period was marked low sea level which may document
that the conditions were cold and dry upto 8 Ka B.P.
• Despite, widespread concern, limited attempts were made
to quantify the paleoclimatic variations from the off • After 8Ka B.P. the conditions became hot and humid which led to
Saurashtra in eastern Arabian sea by using a multi-proxy increase in sea level.
approach. • CaCO3 percentage results suggest that during early holocene there
• In the northern India ocean, the surface circulation is was enough of CaCO3 available still the planktonic foraminifera
controlled by seasonal monsoon wind system, with a strong abundance is less, that means the sea level was very low which
and humid SW monsoon during summer (June – September) prohibited the plankonic foraminifera growth.
and a moderate and dry NE monsoon during winter • The presence of abundant CaCO3 in the form of pallet and hard mass
(December to February). suggest neotectonic activity during early holocene , possibly due to the
• Previous works include plankton and bacterial count Core SK 240/485 was collected during Sagarkanya presence of fifty fathom carbonate block.
(Madhupratap et al., 1996), geomorphologic studies (Rao cruise from the continental margin of eastern
Arabian sea off Saurashtra region (Lat 21016’ N • Paleoproductivity was increased from 8 ka BP to recent as the
and Wagle 1997), organic carbon (Babu et al., 1999), 210Pbxs ,
137Cs and 14C (Somayajulu et al., 1999), foraminiferal isotopes Long 68055.99’ E) at a water depth of 88m. abundance of planktonic and benthic foraminifera were high.
(Sarkar et al., 2000), Corg, CaCO3 and C/N (Bhushan et al., • On the basis of foraminiferal abundance 3 productivity zones are
• The ages were converted to calendar year BP (1950) after applying appropriate reservoir
2001), Temperature and salinity data (Balachandran et al., identified viz. Zone -3 is oligotrophic, Zone-2 is Eutrophic while Zone-
correction using calibration program (Calib Rev 7.0.4) after Stuiver and Reimer,1993.
2008), foraminiferal isotopes (Gupta et al., 2011), mudflat 1 is identified as Mesotrophic.
(Banerji et al., 2015) and references therein) . • Foraminiferal recovery from sediments was done by wet sieving method using >63 m CaCO3 CaCO3
sieve . Pallets Hard Mass
• Our core location belongs to Clastic sedimentation zone of
west coast of India as identified in previous works (Rao and • Pre sieving treatment was done with 10ml 10% sodium hexa-meta-phosphate (NaPO3)6
Wagle, 1997), having 1-4% organic carbon content and 5ml of 10% hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) solutions.
(Paropkari, 1979) as well as carbonate content of about 8-10
• The sieved remnant was oven dried and sieved using >150, >250 and >350 m sieves. REFERENCES
% which rarely exceed 20% (Rao and Wagle, 1997).
• >150 and >250 m fractions were used for foraminiferal picking and abundance count. • Babu et al., 1999. Marine Geology, 162, 91-103.
• Major part of the outer shelf from off Saurashtra coast is
occupied by a unique carbonate platform called as fifty • Banerji et al., 2015. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 111, 428-439.
fathom flat between 80-90 water depth during 10.4 - 8.3 Ka
BP (Rao and Wagle, 1997). • Balachandran et al., 2008. Journal of Marine Systems, 73, 76-86.

• It consist of aragonitic sand sediments which predominantly RESULTS • Bhushan et al., 2001. Marine Geology., 178, 95-113.
comprise oolites and palletoid non-skeletal grains (Rao and • The rate of sedimentation observed for top 62cm is 38.4 cm/Ka which decreased to 34.7 • Gupta et al., 2011. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology,
Wagle, 1997) . cm/Ka to next date interval i.e. 114cm and further decreased to 20.5 cm/Ka B.P. Palaeoecology, 301, 75–85.
• NE Arabian Sea sustains a high biological productivity due to towards 172 cm depth. The sedimentation rate again increased to 30.6 cm/Ka from 172
cm to 250 cm and further increased to 32.6 cm/Ka towards core bottom . • Madhupratap et al., 1996. Letters to Nature. 384, 549-552.
the entrainment of nutrients in the euphotic layer by winter
cooling driven surface convection (Madhupratap et al., • The sub-centennial scale resolution between ~50-100 years per sample is established • Paropkari A. L., Indian J. Mar. Sci., 1979, 8, 127-129.
1996). in the core. • Rao and Wagle., 1997. Current Science 73(4), 330-350.
• The seasonal variation of primary productivity over Arabian • Rostek et al., 1996. Deep Sea Research II, 44(6-7), 1461-1480.
sea is the function of Indian Ocean monsoon (Rostek et al.,
1996). • Sarkar et al., 2000. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 177, 209-218.
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METHOD
• Samples were obtained from the ORV core repository at
National Centre of Antarctic and Ocean Research(NCAOR),
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Headland Sada, Vasco-da-Gama,Goa, India.
The authors are thankful to the Director, Birbal Sahni Institute of
• The core is 340 cm long sub sampled at 2 cm interval to
Palaeobotany, Lucknow for his kind support in providing facilities to carry
obtain a high temporal resolution.
out this research work. The authors are also thankful to organisers of the
• Four sediment samples including core top and bottom were ICMS for allowing us to present the work here .This work is funded by
dated using C14 accelerated mass spectrometry (AMS) Department of Science and Technology, Government of India fast track
technique at Radiocarbon Laboratory, Institute of Physics, project no. SR/FTP/ES-53/2013.
Centre for Science and Education, Konarskiego, Gliwice,
Poland.