Quaternary Alluvial Stratigraphical Development in a Desert Setting: A Case Study from the Luni River Basin, Thar Desert of Western India
- Michael D. Blum6,
- Susan B. Marriott7,
- Suzanne F. Leclair8
Published Online: 17 MAR 2009
DOI: 10.1002/9781444304350.ch19
Copyright © 2005 International Association of Sedimentologists
Book Title
Fluvial Sedimentology VII
Additional Information
How to Cite
Jain, M., Tandon, S. K., Singhvi, A. K., Mishra, S. and Bhatt, S. C. (2009) Quaternary Alluvial Stratigraphical Development in a Desert Setting: A Case Study from the Luni River Basin, Thar Desert of Western India, in Fluvial Sedimentology VII (eds M. D. Blum, S. B. Marriott and S. F. Leclair), Blackwell Publishing Ltd., Oxford, UK. doi: 10.1002/9781444304350.ch19
Editor Information
- 6
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
- 7
School of Geography and Environmental Management, University of the West of England, Bristol BS16 1QY, UK
- 8
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Tulane University, Dimwiddie Hall, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA
Publication History
- Published Online: 17 MAR 2009
- Published Print: 15 FEB 2005
Book Series:
Book Series Editors:
- Ian Jarvis
Series Editor Information
School of Earth Sciences and Geography, Centre for Earth and Environmental Science Research, Kingston University, Penrhyn Road, Kingston-upon-Thames KT1 2EE, UK
ISBN Information
Print ISBN: 9781405126519
Online ISBN: 9781444304350
- Summary
- Chapter
Keywords:
- alluvial stratigraphy - thar desert;
- quaternary alluvial stratigraphical development in desert setting;
- River Luni and its tributaries - constituting major drainage system in Thar Desert;
- field successions;
- Type-1 succession - dominated by multistoreyed sheets of sandy gravel;
- multistoreyed gravel sheets (MGS);
- horizontally bedded fine to very fine sands with interbedded calcrete gravel lenses;
- luminescence geochronology;
- optically stimulated luminescence (OSL)
Summary
This study describes the stratigraphical development of the Quaternary alluvial deposits in the Luni basin, Thar Desert of India. On the basis of mode of occurrence, lithofacies assemblages and overall alluvial motif, alluvial deposits have been differentiated into an older Type-1 and a younger Type-2 succession, with chronological control provided by optically stimulated luminescence dating. The Type-1 succession is composed of thick multistoreyed gravel–sand sheets and overbank heterolithic facies deposited in a subsiding basin by braided streams. Quartz in sediments of the Type-1 succession was in charge saturation, which implies a minimum age of 200 ka. It is argued that the Type-1 sequence was deposited during the Pliocene. The Type-2 succession consists of a diverse array of lithofacies assemblages that represents fluvial and aeolian depositional environments, which change in their relative importance through time. Optical ages from the Type-2 succession indicate deposition during the late Pleistocene and Holocene (oxygen isotope stages 5–1). The Type-2 succession indicates that high-amplitude climatic shifts during the last glacial cycle played a major role in determining the fluvial behaviour and resultant alluvial stratigraphy.