Himalayan Geology, Vol. 21 (1& 2), 2000, pp. 31-38, Printed in India

Environment of Deposition of the Rajpur Formation, Jammu Himalaya

D.S. ANDOTRA AND B.P. SINGH
Department of Geology, University of Jammu, Jammu 180 006, India

The Late Palaeocene-Middle Eocene Rajpur Formation occurring within the parautochthonous zone of the northwestern Himalaya is exposed near Mandi town in the Poonch District of Jammu and Kashmir. It consists of conglomeratic limestone and black shale in the lower part, and grey-green shale followed by gypsiferous yellow and purple shale in the upper part. The depositional environment of the Rajpur Formation is interpreted on the basis of sedimentological features supplemented with stable isotope data. It is concluded that the Rajpur Formation was deposited on a regressive coast, where channels migrated along a barrier during its progradation and lagoons were filled with mud during subsidence in the basin.