Radiation of Flora in the Early Triassic Succeeding the End Permian Crisis: Evidences from the Gondwana Supergroup of Peninsular India

Understanding the recovery of life and its radiation after the Permian–Triassic mass extinction event (PTME) that took place around 252.28 ± 0.08 Ma is a fascinating aspect of Earth science studies. In this backdrop, we have undertaken a study of the floral diversity based on plant macrofossils and megaspores from the late Permian and early Triassic sediments of the Gondwana Supergroup from Peninsular India. The early Triassic in Peninsular India is represented by the Panchet Formation that overlies the Raniganj Formation (late Permian). The outcrops of late Permian (Raniganj Formation) and early Triassic (Panchet Formation) sediments in the Tatapani-Ramkola Coalfield in Chhattisgarh State are exposed along the major rivers and their tributaries that drain the coalfield. The present work has been carried out on a Permian–Triassic section, exposed at a stream cutting (Iria Nala), in the northern part of Tatapani-Ramkola Coalfield. The macrofloral assemblage of the Raniganj Formation (late Permian) from the base of the outcrop is represented by Schizoneura gondwanensis, Glossopteris sp. and Vertebraria sp., whereas the overlying Panchet Formation (early Triassic) yielded a moderately preserved macrofloral assemblage represented by Paracalamites sp., Dicroidium hughesii, D. zuberi, Desmiophyllum sp., Glossopteris angustifolia, G. communis, G. indica and scale leaf of glossopterids. In addition, a megaspore assemblage hitherto unknown from the early Triassic of Tatapani-Ramkola Coalfield is recorded herein that is represented by nine species belonging to seven genera, out of which one species is new.