Some Contributions to the Lower Gondwana Stratigraphy of the Lpranhita-Godavari Valley, Deccan, India

The "Infra-Kamthi" Formation is described from the central part of Pranhita-Godavari valley as an essentially sandstone rich horizon with subordinate amount of red mudstone in the lower part and highly ferruginous shale (ironstones) in the upper part of the rock succession. This formation is renamed here as Kundaram Formation, after the village Kundaram in its type area. The northwestern part of the valley has yielded the only known Late Permian reptilian fauna so far found in India.

The lithologs reveal a distinct lateral variation of the formation from the sand-dominant central Pranhita-Godavari to red mudstone rich horizon of the northwest. Ironstones are absent. Sheet sand bodies form composite complexes in the lower part of the rock succession followed upward by thick red mudstone units with small lenses of channel-fill sandstone. This package of sediments were probably deposited by anastomosing river channels.