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‘Reptinted from ‘Tas Quaarinty JounxaL Grotoorcat, Mouso & Meanruncicat Society oF TXDiA Vol. $i, No. 1 Mateh 1979, Puges 4a PLEISTOCENE SEDIMENTS OF TRIPURA? Sun Dasourra Galopea! Surrey of Inala. Apareta-7O9N0 Abstract ‘The post-Tipam sediments of Tripura form a prt of the fuvial wedimentation in the Bengal Basin during the Pleistocene and curly Revwnt times deposited from the Gangt-Feahmupstrae ‘Moyo HvEr ep\Tem, The sediments ure developed = terraces along the present-lay rer valleys, sometimes. forminy campinys ver small Tiga Lillocks, The pout-Tipam formations, aygregate tihlekness 5 to 40 meters, cousist af unconsolidated Introduction ‘The youngest geologic formation of Tripura is the post-Tipam, Dupi Tila formar tion of Pleistocene age, which is of Muviatile origin, In this paper the sedimentary features of these sediments are bricily discussed along with a note on the other Pleistovene Quiviatile sediments of the Benes! Basi ond adjacent eens Fieistocene Geology of the Bengal Basin Pleistonene. sediments occur ae elewated Jandmasses in the form of terraces in Gifferent parts of the Bengal Basin (Fig. 1) Four main outcrops of Pleistocene diuvinl sediments and a few smaller ouiliers are Known from this area. The westorn-most ‘ovterop borders the Raimakal hills extend ing from east of Midnapur in the south to northwest of Murshidsbad in the north. sediments comprised of sand, ait and clay and Benerally overlies the Tipag rocks unconforensbly The wppst part af the suevesion is oxidiced 10 brownish sity sand, and he lower part is charsc- terised by ceosscbedded white sandlenser a claysiockets, Curieat direction oblained on sand Jeatea Indkates conformity with the present busin Hope and current stern supgests deposition of sediments fn 9 mandering iver system. The easier one borders the Tate Testiary folded belt of Tripura, ‘These deposits cous jn an sreuate pattern covering the western, northwestern and northern borders af Tris pura extending further northeast into the Cochar valley of Assam, The other two major Pleistocene outerops are the Ba and the Madhupur Jungle within the Bengal Basin. ‘The Baring fanidmass occurs between the fiver Ganges: nd Brahmeputea ond the Madhupor Jungle lies between the Brahe ‘maputra and the Meghna. Smaller outctops fe knows from the Lalisai ills aad Sylhet bills of Bangladesh Neotectonic activity in this _segion, pasticulaely thet of the Borind and Madha- pur Jungle, has been discussed by Morgan and McIntyre (1959). The sediments are traversed “by a number of faults mostly ‘vending NWSE. These uplifted land- 1 Published Witt the klod permission of the Director General, G.I. end before the Society on September 23, 1978. 2 suurr DASOUPEA rl ‘masses, occurring in the form of terraces, origmated possibly due to the slow subs dence of the Bengal deita with compensatory inland uph The general cherater of the sediments are brownish-red highly oxidized unconso- lidated sand, it and clay with ferreginows and calcareous concretions. These sediments were deposited fram the Ganges—Brahine- utra—Meghna river system duting the Plcis- tocene and early Recent period. Geology of The Area ‘The Tripura hills comprise of shales and sandstones, belonging to the Summa and ‘Tipam Ssries of Mic-Pliocene age, thrown jato, N-Strending folds with s series of anticline: and synclines whose axes form an areconvex towards the west. ‘Towards the north the folds plunge below the Pleistocene and Recent sediments of the Sylhet basin, (von. SE ES) pretsrocenes [ED leryaokerrcne ‘The Surma Series, consisting of Bhuban and Boka Bil stage, and the overlying Tipam Seties represent an uninterrupted sequence of Tate Tertiary sediments. Post-Tipam ‘unconformity is not widely developed and is encountered in a few sections. Fluvial sediments of Pleistocene and Recent age are developed im the synclinal valleys. These post-Tipam sediments ate probably time equivalent with the Dupi Tila formation of Assam. However, hereafter these deposits will be referred to as the ‘post-Tipam’ forma tion. ‘Occurrence of the Post-Tipams Following the arcuate pattern of the ‘older rocks, the post-Tipam sediment fringes the western and northem border of Tripura (Fig. 2.).passing into the Cachar valley of Assam. These sediments are alsa developed in the Comilla and Sylhet districts of Bangla- Joes no. 1] desh, bordeting Tripura in its west and nonth. Fige. ‘The sediments mostly occur as patches within the synolinal valleys overlying the older rocks. Except near Sonamura where thoy have been found to overlap the Baka UUSTOCENN sHOIMENTS OF rRIFURA a3 ‘Bil rocks, generally the post-Tipam overlies ‘the Tipam rocks unconformably, The sedi- ments are developed along. the present day river valleys, nd terrace physiogruphy. of the deposits is prominent where human activity Is less, Tkalso occurs as cappings ‘ever small Tipam hillocks. ‘Sedimentary Features ‘The thickness of the post Trpam forma- tion, varies from 5 to 50m and consists of unconsolidated sediments comprising of sand, silt and clay, Sandstone fragments, calcareous cancretions, moderately rounded quartz Pebbles, ferruginous clay nodules and frage ments of fossil wood are the other detrital The upper part of the sedimentary column shows intense ferrugination with a brownish- red colour. Lenses and pockets of white sand and clay are cominon and particularly the later are encircled bya thin band of iron oxide, The upper part boing more oxidized is apparently deyoid of sedimentary siruc- tures but a close observation shows a “uf, adhokishorpw Current potern from Relotseene Copostie Inthe Gut veiey: 4 sunT pascUETA fining upward sequence from sand to silty lay. Small-seale oross-bedding characterizes the sandy lenses, and slump structures: ate present along the sand/silt contact. Quartz, feldspar, muscovite, biotite, chforite and some minerals are present in the sandy Tenses, Organic matter is only limited to the profile. ‘Current pattern from Pleistocene deposits in tne khowai valley. Fig 4 [vou 5t Céost stratification i aboidant in the sundy horizon, Thickness of individual cross-bedded unit varies from 10 to 40cm and the forescts dip fiom Sto 20°. Foreset azimuths were measured ftom individval ‘outerops. and the eurrent pattern obtained is plotted separately for exposures in the Gumti and Khowai volleys ( Figs 3.4). Stratigraphy of the post-Tipam forma- tion is simple and a few sections are discussed below. Sonwrura (Fig $a). The lowermost ‘unit expased sboxe the road level is prey plastic clay overlain by 4 1.5m thick cross bedded sand that passes upward to a ferre- ‘einons silty sand, ‘The sandy unit is greyish white in colour with quartz, feldspar, aiea ‘and thagnetite, Small flat clay pebbles are are oriented along the foreset of the cross beds. Fossil wood fragments and quartz, are distributed througout the section. Phulluenarl (Fig, Sb) The post-Tipim ‘unconformity is Well developed in this section. Above the Tipam sandstone the conglomerate horizon is with quartz pebble, shake fragment and fossil wood with coarse sand that shows eross-bedding. This is overlain bya muicaceous silty clay and. sub- sequently by a 2.5m thick-sand, fresh and white in colour, ‘The topmost part of the fection is brownish-red silty sand, Tibrubart (Fig, Sc). At Tibeubari the Tipam sandstone is overlain useonformably (angular) by white sand that shows eross- bedding. The sandy unit is lensoid end in section has a dimension of 25m x35 m, ‘The upper 4.5m is ferriginous brownish red silty sand, Ghanlaniora (Fig. Sa). White clay is exposed in the road level above whieh is wo. 1] sand horizon 1.5 m thick that grades upward toa brownish red silty sand, ‘Conclusion ‘The post-Tipam sediments of Tripara were deposited from the rivers that were in Ferraginous| silty sone Fg 5 Muansrocese sens OF murvRA a5 existence during the Pleistocene period, The sediments crop out along the present day river valleys and actually are older {erruces of the present rivers, The sund-lenscs axe probably the channel deposits of the main river of its tributaries, the elay-lonses Strotigrophic sections of Post Tipam sediments. 46 sur pascUrTN being the subchannel deposits, and the silty-sand horizon was deposited trom high- discharge flood-waters, Curent pattern obtained from these sediments is also indicative of deposition from a meandering river, ‘The rivers originating fram the hills of Tripura drain cither to north or west ‘and join the Meghna viver or its tribuearies in Comilla or Sylhet districts of Bangladesh. ‘The post-Tipam sediments are very thin in ‘Tripura and become thicker in Bangladesh, Lyon, St in its downsireash’ dinestion, such as in the Lalmai and Sylhet hills. Neotectonic activity in this region could not however be appre- ciated fram field work. Future study of acrial photographs will probably bring out the stractares. . ‘Acknowledgements ‘The author is thankful to Mrs Kalyon Sackar and Mr- Hibitesh Bhattachary! logiste, for their co-operation during the field work. Goo- Reference Daceupta, 5. ond Bhattacharya, 1975. Geological mapping of paris of the Kiewal, Hon nnd Lahr valleys, West Tripura : Unpub Report Geol, Surv, Hada for 1974-75. Morais, J. P- and Metntgee, W, G , 1959, Quater, ‘niwy Geology of the Beepal Basin, Fast Pakistan snl Eels + Bull, Geol, Sac, Amer 3.70, p, 319392, Sotkar, K. and’ Dasgupta, $1974, Geological ‘upping and related studies on geomorpholo: lel and favisl protests Io. the Gum basin, Tripura z Unpub. Report Geol Surv, India for 1973-74 Explanation of Figures Fig. 1. Goological sketch map of Benes! Rasin and ‘dacont areas showing the distribution of ple» istogone sediments (After Morgan and Mein tore, 1359). Fig 2 Geolosical map of Tripura showine Aisirebation of Pllstocene sediments. Fig, 4. Current pattern from pleistaceoe deposits fn the Guest walle: Fig. Coisent pattern from Plelstacene deposits initie Khowai valley. Fig. £ Stratignaphie sections of post-Tipam sedi« ents

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