Occurrence of Lithothamnion in the South Indian Cretaceous

Abstract

IN continuation of my note regarding the occurrence of Lithothamnion in certain Cretaceous rocks of the Trichinopoly area,¹ I write to state that I have further been able to recognise similar, or even identical, algae in a limestone from the Cretaceous of the Pondicherry area. Some sections of this limestone reveal these algæ in such abundance that there is little or no hesitation in calling the rock an algal limestone. The discovery of these algæ in the rocks of the Pondicherry area must be considered as doubly interesting; first because it will now enable us to extend the statement made about the occurrence and importance of these algae in the Trichinopoly area as being true of the whole South Indian Cretaceous, and secondly as revealing a new field for providing further material for detailed palaeontological investigations of the South Indian Cretaceous algæ in general. The stratigraphical position of this algal limestone of the Pondicherry area, and the general facies of its associated fossils, suggest an age corresponding to the lower Ariyalurs (Senonian) of the Trichinopoly area; and hence we may reasonably conclude that, in this Pondicherry limestone, we have an occurrence of Lithothamnion even older than that which has been discovered in the Trichinopoly area.