Mesozoic rocks of kutch were deposited in rift basins that developed during the Late Triassic (Rhaetian). The basin was filled with syn-rift Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous sediments and post-rift Late Paleocene to Pliocene and Quarternary sediments. The Mesozoic marine sediments show characters of siliclastic ramp, carbonate ramp, storm dominated shallow shelf carbonates, and fine grained siliciclastic of mid-shelf.
The marine sequence are exposed in three sub-parallel linear ridges. The Jurassic sequence of rocks are subdivided into four formations as Patcham, Chari, Katrol and Umia. The sequence is overlain by Bhuj formation that is made up of mainly fresh water sediments of fluvio-deltaic environment that are interconnected with marine beds. The whole succession is overlain unconformably by Deccan Trap and Tertiary marine sequences. The Mesozoic rocks contain sills and dikes of basic igneous rocks that are genetically related with the overly Deccan Traps.
Age | Series | Beds |
Aptian – Albian | Umia | Marine sandstone Bhuj beds Ukra beds Barren sandstone and shales Trigonia beds Ammonite beds |
Oxfordian – Tithonian | Katrol | Up. Katrol sandstone Mid. Katrol sandstone Lo. Katrol shale Belemnite Marls of Jurum Kantkote sandstone |
Callovian – Oxfordian | Chari or Habo | Dhosa Oolite Atheleta beds Anceps beds Rehmani beds Macrocephalus beds |
Bathovian – Callovian | Patcham | Coral Beds Shelly Limestone Kaur bet bed |
The Umia formation is overlain by the umia plant beds. The plant fossils show a great relationship with those reported from the Jabalpur Formation of the Upper Gondwana Group. Occurrence of Dinosaurian remains are reported from here. The bioturbated sediments of the Bhuj Formation have preserved ichnofacies, skolithos, such as Planolites and Thalassinoids.