Abstract: Palynological studies of Deccan volcanic associated sediments of the Sahyadri Group of Nand-Dongargaon basin of Maharashtra, Amarkantak Group of Chhindwara and unclassified Deccan Trap sequences of Saurashtra show the presence of Aquilapollenites pollen. The overall data on this genus from the Indian Late Cretaceous-Early Paleocene indicates that the genus was widely distributed during the Late Cretaceous. A notable decline in abundance in the Early Paleocene may be related to the climatic and environmental changes brought about by the Deccan volcanism.

Abstract: Late Cretaceous-Early Paleogene sediments associated with Deccan Continental Flood Basalt (DCFB) sequences of central and western India record the timing of the introduction and extinction of Late Cretaceous dinosaurs in India based on magnetostratigraphy and magnetic susceptibility stratigraphy. Current taxonomy indicates that only two genera of titanosaurs (e.g., Isisaurus and Jainosaurus ), at least four species of large-bodied abelisauridae theropods (e.g., Rajasaurus narmadensis, Rahiolisaurus gujaratensis, Indosuchus matleyi and Indosaurus raptorius ) and a small-bodied theropod Laevisuchus inhabited India during the Maastrichtian. Their stratigraphic and geographic distribution suggests that these dinosaurs were dominated by titanosauriforme and abelisauridae that first appeared before the advent of Deccan volcanism in the magnetochron C30n and were well established with the acme of breeding and nesting during C30n to maastrichtian C29r. Their decline in diversity and abundance coincides with initiation of DCFB eruptions when most of the early taxa were terminated and only a few titanosauriforme sauropods survived becoming extinct at about 350 kyr before the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary (KPB). Dinosaur extinction in India is thus directly tied to Deccan volcanism with no evidence of an asteroid impact.

Abstract Flow-by-flow palaeomagnetic measurements of 37 lava flows in the 900 m-thick, isolated lava pile around Mandla in the eastern Deccan Volcanic Province (DVP) reveals multiple magnetic polarity events: implying C29n–C28r–C28n magnetostratigraphy. Magnetic polarity results when traced out from section to section, maintaining the order of superposition, show juxtaposition of lava packages with distinct characters near Deori (e.g. flows 1–4 abated against flows 5–14) and the Dindori areas. At Dindori and towards its south, the distinct lava packages (e.g. flows 15–27 and flows 28–37) are juxtaposed along the course of Narmada river. It is explained by the presence of four normal post-Deccan faults in the Nagapahar, Kundam–Deori, Dindori and Badargarh–Amarkantak sectors: thus, signifying structural complexity with vertical shifts or offset of 150–300 m. Magnetic chron reversals in conjunction with field and chemical data support these findings. Further, these lavas are compositionally akin to Bushe, Poladpur, Ambenali and Mahableshwar Formational lavas, and follow the same stratigraphic order as in the Western Ghats. Alternating field (AFD) and thermal demagnetizations (THD) isolate the normal mean direction of the Mandla lobe: D =344.5° and I =−30°, where D and I are the mean declination and inclination of the each lava flow (α 95 =8.2; K =72.6; N =17, where α 95 is the half-angle of the cone of 95% confidence about the mean direction, K is the precision parameter and N is the number of flows). The Virtual Geomagnetic Pole (VGP) position determined for these lavas, when compared with the Deccan Super Pole, indicates concordance with the main Deccan volcanic province, thus assigning a shorter period of eruption close to the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary (K/PB) for the eastern and western Deccan Traps.