Epeiric Sea Formation on Neoproterozoic Supercontinent Break-up: A Distinctive Signature in Coastal Storm Bed Amalgamation

Literature review underlines uncertainty in the configuration of the Neoproterozoic supercontinent, (with Rodinia and Palaeopangaea reconstructions enjoying wide support), that stems primarily from inadequate palaeomagnetic data. Nonetheless, breakup of this supercontinent at ca. 0.65 Ga was conducive for epeiric sea formation globally. In the Vindhyan basin, India, a carbonate depositing sea developed over a fluvial-aeolian plain, at approximately 0.6 Ga. The top part of the Vindhyan Supergroup, the Upper Bhander Sandstone, was, however, able to prograde because of a decline in the rate of relative sea level rise. Within this general setting, temporal increases in this rate caused storm deposition at the coastline, largely in a supralittoral setting. Bizarre amalgamation of these storm beds without erosion likely owes its origin to severe curtailment of the velocity of the downwelling flow on the very gentle, muddy coastal slopes, and is thought to be a hallmark of deposition in an open epeiric setting. The storm domination in the Bhander embayment shelf is compatible with the Palaeopangaea supercontinental configuration.