Plant Fossils from the East Coast Gondwana Beds of Tamil Nadu with a Note on their Age

A recent search for plant fossils from the East Coast Gondwana sediments of Tamil Nadu has revealed a number of new occurrences. They include Taeniopteris cf. lata, Sphenopteris sp., from the Terani beds from Terani, Tiruchirapally district and Pterophyllum sp., Ptilophyllum acutifolium, Cladophlebis indica, Gingkoites cf. rajmahalensis, Actinopteris sp., from the Sivaganga formations of Ramnad district.

The age of the East Coast Gondwana is reviewed in the light of the recent K-Ar dating of the Rajmahal traps assigning an Aptian age to the lower part of the Rajmahal traps. There is no contradiction in the ages assignable to the coastal Gondwana on the basis of plant and animal fossils.