Deccan Continental Flood Basalt Eruption Terminated Indian Dinosaurs before the Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary

Abstract

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.

Full text

Deccan Continental Flood Basalt Eruption Terminated
Indian Dinosaurs before the Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary
DHANANJAY M. MOHABEY1 and BANDANA SAMANT2
1Geological Survey of India, Nagpur - 440 001
2Department of Geology, RTM Nagpur University, Nagpur - 440 001
E-mail: dinomohabey@yahoo.com, bandanabhu@gmail.com
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.
Key Words: Late Cretaceous, Indian Dinosaurs, Extinction, Deccan basalts.
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF INDIA SPECIAL PUBLICATION
No. 1, 2013, pp.260-267
INTRODUCTION
Late Cretaceous dinosaur fossil are found in the Lameta
Formation underlying the Deccan Traps and intertrappean beds
at different stratigraphic levels in the Deccan Continental Flood
Basalt (DCFB) sequence. The history of Indian dinosaurs from
their first appearance to their extinction is recorded in these
sediments. Dinosaur remains from the Lameta and intertrappean
sediments from geographically separated DCFB sequences of
central and western India were studied. These studies were
supplemented with time-series analysis of the associated
sediments applying magnetostratigraphy and Milankovitch
st ra tigraphy to es ti ma te th e ag e o f ap pe ar ance an d
disappearance of dinosaurs from different stratigraphic levels.
The first dinosaur fossil from the Indian subcontinent
was discovered by W.H. Sleeman in 1828 from the Lameta
sediments of Jabalpur (Sleeman, 1844). This fossil was
eventually described as the first discovery of a Titanosaur
worldwide and established as holotype Titanosaurus indicus
in 1877 (Lydekker, 1877). Subsequent finds of Indian dinosaurs
skeletal remains have mostly come from the Lameta
Formation of Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, Pisdura and
Dongargaon in Chandrapur District in Maharashtra and Rahioli
in Kheda District Gujarat (Lydekker, 1877, 1879; Matley 1921,
1924; Von Huene and Matley 1933; Chakravarthi, 1934;
Dwivedi et al., 1982; Mohabey 1983, 1984,1987, 2011; Mathur
and Pant, 1986; Mathur and Srivastava, 1987; Jain and
Bandyopadhyay, 1997; Wilson et al., 2003; Mohabey and
Udhoji, 2000; Hansen et al., 2005). In comparison, reports of
dinosaur remains from intertrappean sediments are few. The
important in situ dinosaur bearing intertrappean localities
include Anjar and Dayapar in Kutch, Gujarat (Ghevariya, 1988;
Bhandari et al., 1995; Bajpai and Prasad, 2000) and Ranipur
in Madhya Pradesh (Sahni and Tripathi, 1990). Occurrences
of isolated dinosaur bones in intertrappean sediments have been
reported from Takli and Rama in Nagpur District, Maharashtra
and Asifabad in Andhra Pradesh (Lydekker, 1879; Prasad and
Khajuria, 1995; Mohabey, 2000; Hansen et al., 2005). The
marine influen ced din osaur bearing sedimen ts of the
Kallankurichi and Kallamedu formations in Ariyalur District
of Tamil Nadu are not associated with DCFB (Kohring et al.,
1996; Yadagiri and Govindan, 1998).
GEOL. SOC. INDIA, SPEC. PUBL. No. 1, 2013

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STRATIGRAPHY OF LATE CRETACEOUS
DINOSAUR – BEARING SEDIMENTS
Dinosaurs in Late Cretaceous sediments of India are
associated with the DCFB sequences, which are presently
considered to span from 69 to 63 Ma (Sheth et al., 2001)
straddling the Creta ceous-Paleogene boundar y (KPB).
However, the placement of the KPB within the DCFB
sequences has remained uncertain. The DCFB sequences
classified as Sahyadri, Amarkantak, Satpura and Malwa groups
occur in geographically separated areas. The DCFB sequences
of Kutch and Saurashtra in Gujarat are still unclassified. Based
on the chemostratigraphy, volcanostratigraphy and palyno-
stratigraphy, attempts have been made recently to establish a
spatio-temporal relationship of the different DCFB sequences
(Jay and Widdowson, 2008; Samant and Mohabey, 2009).
Knowledge of the stratigraphic resolution and duration
of the sedimentary beds associated with the DCFB sequences
remained almost non-existent until the recent time series
analysis by Hansen et al., (2001, 2005) in different volcanic
sectors in India, including the marine shore-line and shelf
sediments at Rajahmundry in the south. The latter represents
the marine sedimentary series associated with the DCFB, which
was identified as spanning the KPB transition based on the
presence of earliest Danian (zone P1a) planktic foraminifers
above the Deccan Traps (Keller et al., 2008). No dinosaur
remains are so far known from the sediments of the Godavari
basin (Rajahmundry area). Recently, Keller et al., (2011)
established the correlation between the exposed lava flows in
Rajahmundry and the subsurface lava flows and intertrappean
sediments from the Krishna-Godavari (K-G) Basin drilled by
ONGC. They identified the KPgB based on lower Danian zone
P1a planktic foraminiferal assemblage in the intertrappean
sediments between the megaflows of phase-2 at the end of
Maastrichtian and phase-3 in the early Danian.
Recent work by Keller and co-workers (Keller et al.,
2009) has resulted in identifying the KPgB transition within
an earliest Paleocene marine incursion based on the presence
of basal Danian zone P1a planktic foraminifers and associated
brackish water ostracods in the intertrappean sediments of
Jhilmili in Chhindwara District of Madhya Pradesh in central
India. This finding is vital and significant because it has
provided the first strong age control for the DCFB associated
sediments of the Amarkantak Group. Below the Jhilmili beds
the sediments of Amarkantak Group are dinosaur bearing at
certain stratigraphic levels in C30n as recorded at the
Mohagaon Kalan Well Section (Kar and Srinivasan, 1998;
Samant and Mohabey, 2009) and C29r at Ranipur (Sahni and
Tripathi, 1990; Hansen et al., 2005).
It is now known that sediment deposition associated with
DCFB was initiated during magnetochron C30n and continued
well after the KPB into the Paleocene (Hansen et al., 2005;
Keller et al., 2008, 2009). The reports of in situ dinosaur
remains are mostly from: i) Lameta sediments of Bara Simla,
Chota Simla and Chui Hills (Von Huene and Matley, 1933;
Mohabey, 2001) and intertrappean beds of Ranipur in Jabalpur
District (Sahni and Tripathi, 1990; Mathur and Sharma, 1990);
ii) Lameta sediments of Kheda and Panchamahals districts
(Mohabey, 2001a) and intertrappean sediments of Anjar and
Dayapar in Kutch District, Gujarat (Ghevariya, 1988); and iii)
La meta sed im en ts Pisdura and Dongarg ao n (Nand-
Dongargaon basin) in Chandrapur District of Maharashtra
(Mohabey et al., 1993) (Fig. 1). Dinosaur eggshells associated
with Maastrichtian palynoflora have also been described from
the intertrappean beds of Mohgaon Kalan Well Section
(MKWS) in the Chhindwara (Kar and Srinivasan, 1998;
Samant and Mohabey, 2009) and Ranipur in Jabalpur area
(Sahni and Tripathi, 1990; Mathur and Sharma, 1990) in
Madhya Pradesh.
LATE CRETACEOUS DINOSAUR DIVERSITY
AND AGE CONSTRAINTS
Beginning with the discovery of the first dinosaur bones
in 1828 almost all the Indian Late Cretaceous collection of
dinosaur remains has come from the Lameta Formation of
Jabalpur, Pisdura-Dongargaon and Kheda (Figs. 1, 2). The
specimens collected from the Jabalpur area have provided a
majority of the Indian specimens. Von Huene and Matley
(1933) described at least twenty dinosaur species representing
five titanosauriforme, thirteen theropods and two ornithopods
from these localities. However, the revised taxonomy considers
a majority of the genera and species (that were not associated
or incomplete) as either nomen dubia or invalid including
Titanosaurus indicus and T. blandfordi (Wilson et al., 2003a,b,
2009; Novas et al., 2004, 2010; Carrano et al., 2010). Presently,
amongst the sauropods only two titanosauriforme genera (viz.
Isisaurus and Jainosaurus), and for the theropods four large-
bodied abelisauridae theropods (viz. Rajasaurus narmadensis,
Ra hiolisaurus guja ra te nsis, Indosuchus ma tleyi and
Indosaurus raptorius) and a small-bodied theropod, Noasaurid
Laevisuchus, are considered valid. No ornithopods are now
considered to have existed in the Late Cretaceous on the Indian
subcontinent. Of the smaller theropod specimens, which are
historically described as Composuchus solus, Laevisuchus
indicus,Jubbulp oria tennuis and ot her und etermined
coelurosaurid, only Laevisuchus indicus is considered valid
having affinity to Masiakasaurus knopfleri from Madagascar.
The duration of sedimentation, age and the stratigraphic
placement and correlation of Late Cretaceous dinosaur bearing

262 D.M. MOHABEY AND BANDANA SAMANT
GEOL. SOC. INDIA, SPEC. PUBL. No. 1, 2013
beds are constrained by magnetostratigraphy, Milankovitch
stratigraphy and stable organic carbon isotope studies by
Hansen et al., (2001, 2005). Seventeen sections of the DCFB
associated sediments were analyzed. Of these, nine sections
(Fig. 1, 2) containing dinosaur fossils (bones and/or nests and
eggs) are the focus for establishing the stratigraphic history of
Indian Late Cretaceous dinosaurs. The evidence of the earliest
Late Cretaceous dinosaurs in India consists of a single
reworked titanosaur egg (Megaloolithus, Kohring et al., 1996)
in Upper Campanian-Lower Maastrichtian marine sediments
of the Kallankurichi Formation at Ariyalur (Govindan et al.,
1998).
Sediments of the Lameta Formation at Jabalpur are of
special importance because the early discoveries of dinosaur
skeletons of various affinities were reported from Bara Simla
Hill and Chota Simla (Sleeman, 1844; Von Huene and Matley,
1933) and excavated in the 1930s. Vandamme and Courtillot
Fig.1. Map showing location of sections of Late Cretaceous dinosaur bearing sedimentary beds taken-up for study. The sediments are associated
with Deccan Continental Flood Basalt Sequences in western and central India and are described as sediments of the Lameta Formation
occurring below the Deccan basalts and as intertrappean beds occurring between the Deccan lava flows at different stratigraphic levels.
(1992) identified the lower part of the Lameta Formation at
Chui Hill as C29r and referred the upper part of the profile to
C29n. However, Hansen et al., (2005) demonstrated that the
whole Lameta series and the capping basalt at Chui Hill are
part of C29r (Fig. 2). They also demonstrated that the organic
carbon isotopes at Chui Hill across Cycle-Zero of the
susceptibility curve has corresponding anomalies with the KTB
section at El Kef, Tunisia and North Horn Formation, U.S.A.
The latest dinosaurs in the Jabalpur section appear as nests at
the level estimated around 350 kyr before the KPB (Fig. 2).
The nest at Lameta ghat occurs within the Lower Limestone
at this level. A couple of reworked incomplete and fragmented
eggs, possibly derived from the Lower Limestone, are found
in MNB on northern bank of Narmada River near Sivni Tola.
In the Gaur River at Ranipur the intertrappean lake sediments
(ca. 3 m thick) are exposed with laminated green shales
containing Maastrichtian palynoflora and associated dinosaur

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GEOL. SOC. INDIA, SPEC. PUBL. No. 1, 2013
Fig. 2. Sections showing different late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) dinosaurs bearing sedimentary beds at different stratigraphic levels and their
correlation based on magneto-stratigraphy and magnetic susceptibility based on the study by Hansen et al., 2005. Only associated bones
of dinosaurs and their nests, eggs and eggshell debris has been considered as indicating the presence of dinosaurs during the sedimentation.
The period of active sedimentation in the various profiles in India is the pattern of magnetic susceptibility as recorded from North Horn
Formation, Utah, USA after Hansen et al 1996. Note level of appearance and disappearance of Maastrichtian dinosaurs in relation to K-
Pg Boundary. The numbers for the sections corresponds to the localities shown in Figure 1. (Magnetostratigraphy modified after Hansen
et al., 2005). Note that the presence of last dinosaurs in India occur at level around 350 kyr prior to KPB.

264 D.M. MOHABEY AND BANDANA SAMANT
GEOL. SOC. INDIA, SPEC. PUBL. No. 1, 2013
(sauropod) pelvis and limb-bones (Sahni and Tripathi, 1990)
overlain by fossiliferous limestone and capping basalts of
the Amarkantak Group. The DCFB se qu ence of the
Amarkantak Group in Chhindwara-Jabalpur-Mandla sector
comprises over 500 m thick lava pile of at least 34 flows.
In Gujarat, western India, the Lameta sediments of
Kheda, which were deposited in C30n, have produced the
largest number of dinosaur skeletal remains and nesting sites
of titanosaurid and abelisaurid dinosaurs in India. The C30n
sediments of Kheda have yielded a unique specimen of a snake,
Sanajeh indicus, predating upon a sauropod hatchling
(Mohabey, 1987; Wilson et al., 2010). A t Anjar th e
intertrappean sediments with an associated partial skeleton of
a titanosauriforme dinosaur (Ghevariya, 1988, Mohabey, 2001)
were deposited during C29r (Hansen et al., 2001). The
sediments are interpreted as belonging to the early part of C29r.
The associated skeleton of titanosaur (Isisaurus?) suggests an
age older than 350 kyr below the KPB (Hansen et al., 2001,
2005) (Fig. 2).
In Bagh valley in the lower reaches of Narmada in Jhabua
and Dhar Districts in Madhya Pradesh, a large number of
sauropod nesting sites within the sandstones of the Lameta
Formation have been found. However, no dinosaur bones are
so far recorded from the Lameta of the Bagh valley. Recently,
one of us (DMM) located dorsal vertebrae, parts of illia and
pelvis and limb-bones of titanosauriforme affinity in the
intertrappean sedime nts associated with Maa strichtian
palynomorphs in a well section at Ukala. Weathered and
fragmented dinosaur bones were also found in the intertrappean
bed at the same stratigraphic level of the adjoining locality at
Nimpura in the Dhar District.
The dinosaur bearing sediments in Bagh valley, north of
Narmada are associated with the Malwa Group of DCFB. The
Malwa Group has more than 38 lava flows constituting a total
thickness of over 618 m. The intertrappean beds are found at
6 stratigraphic levels in the basal part of the Mandleshwar and
Kalisindh formations. The upper formations are devoid of any
intertrappean sedimentary beds. The dinosaur bearing
intertrappean bed at Ukala is in the third intertrappean in
stratigraphic order and is found at 333 m RL in the uppermost
part of the Mandleshwar Formation. The intertrappean
sediments at the lower stratigraphic level in the river section
at Bharadpura has yielded a rich Maastrichtian palynomorph
assemblage, including Aquilapollenites bengalensis and
Gabonisporis vigouraxii (Samant and Mohabey, unpublished
data).
In the Nand-Dongargaon basin at the Dongargaon Hill
section the Lameta sediments are associated with the dinosaur
bones and partially articulated skeleton of the associated bones
of Titanosaurus colberti (= Isisaurus colberti, Jain and
Bandyopadhyay, 1997; Wilson and Upchurch, 2003). The
bones were excavated from the green clays overlying the lake
sediments at Dongargaon Hill from the lower series of the
sediments deposited in C30n. The pattern of magnetic
susceptibility allows placement of Isisaurus around 500 kyr
prior to the KPB. The overlying sandstone at Pavna, Kholdoda
and Umred (Mohabey, 2001a) with sauropod eggs and nest
sites are deposits of C29r. The red clays at Pisdura that have
yielded skeletal remains of titanosaurid sauropods over the
last 150 years are deposits of C29r. The titansaurids described
from Pisdura include the earliest described Titanosaurus
blandfordi, T. indicus and Laplatosaurus madagascariensis
(Hislop, 1860; Hughes, 1877; Lydekker, 1879; Von Huene and
Matley, 1933) which are presently considered nomen dubia
(Wilson and Upchurch., 2003). The Pisdura red clays have
also produced plant bearing coprolites of sauropod (Mohabey,
2001b) and skeletal of chelonia (Pelomedusoid) turtles and a
madtsoia snake (Mohabey et al., 2011).
DISCUSSION
The stratigraphic record of earliest Late Cretaceous
dinosaurs in India is a single sauropod egg collected from the
Late Campanian-Early Maastrichtian marine sediments of
Ariyalur. However, the reworked nature of the egg and absence
of any dinosaur bones in the sediments presently do not permit
deriving any useful information in context to its stratigraphy
and phylogeny. The emerging evidence from the Late
Cretaceous of India and Pakistan suggests that the earliest
titanosauriforme-abelisaurid dinosaurs on the subcontinent
were first introduced during C30n of the Maastrichtian before
the eruption of the DCFB. These were the titanosauriforme
sauropods Isisaurus colberti as recorded from the N-D basin
and the large-bodied abelisurid theropod s Rajasaurus
narmadensis and Rahiolisaurus gujaratensis from Kheda,
Gujarat. There first appearance is registered at the stratigraphic
level ca. 500 kyr before the KPB in the Maastrichtian. Both
sauropods and theropods were well established with acme of
their breeding and nesting as witnessed by a large number of
their nest sites and eggs in Lameta sediments of C30n. Presence
of Isisaurus has also become known from the Late Cretaceous
Pab Formation of Baluchistan in Pakistan (Wilson et al., 2005)
and shows that the species was well dispersed in India during
the Maastrichtian. During the C29r of Maastrichtian the
abelisaurids were represented by Indosaurus matleyi and
Indosuchus raptorius and for the first time small theropods
noasaurid Laevisuchus indicus were introduced as recorded
from Jabalpur. A small noasaurid theropod jaw has been recently
collected from the C29r Lameta sediments of Pisdura in the N-
D basin associated with vertebrae of Madtsoia pisdurensis

DECCAN CONTINENTAL FLOOD BASALT ERUPTION 265
GEOL. SOC. INDIA, SPEC. PUBL. No. 1, 2013
(Mohabey et al., 2011), pelomedusoid turtles and titano-
sauriforme bones and coprolites. The C29r Pisdura sediments
are covered by basaltic flows of reverse magnetic polarity.
It is suggested that the DCFB eruption during the
Maastrichtian C29r close to the KPB is responsible for the
termination of Indian dinosaurs. Possibly the initiation of local
volcanic activity and arrival of the first flows played a major
role and created hostile conditions due to atmospheric
deterioration as a direct result of Deccan eruptions and possibly
habitat destruction due to direct contact with lava fronts and
volcanic surges. The strategy for the struggling dinosaurs for
survival could be in fleeing to safer areas away from the active
volcanic field having rapid succession of eruptions and where
the local fissure eruptions were dominating. All but one or
two dinosaur species of titanosauriforme perished. These
survivors were also finally terminated with increasing volcanic
activity. The remains of the survivors are found in the sediments
associated in the basal part of the DCFB sequence as recorded
at Anjar and Ranipur in the sediments of Maastrichtian C29r.
The last dinosaurs are recorded at least 350 kyr below the
KPB closing the history of India’s Late Cretaceous dinosaurs
after a brief rein that may have lasted no more that 150 kyr
(500-350 kyr). Their demise well before the KPB appears
closely linked to the DCFB eruptions. The extinction of
dinosaurs in the Indian subcontinent thus appears unrelated to
the extra-terrestrial impact.
Acknowledgements : The authors extend their sincere
thanks to the Deputy Director General, Geological Survey of
India, Nagpur, for permitting to publish this paper. Discussions
and the joint work on the Indian Cretaceous sections under
MoU involving Prof. H.J. Hansen, Denmark and GSI has
contributed to the scope and objective of the paper. Discussion
with J.A. Wilson and Gerta Keller from time to time has helped
in the preparation of the manuscript. Thanks to the reviewers
for useful suggestions which improvised the manuscript. BS
is thankful to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research,
New Delhi (Grant no. 24/297/08-EMR-II) for financial
assistance and to the Head, PG Department of Geology, RTM
Nagpur University, Nagpur for providing working facilities.
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