Chronology of Late Pleistocene environmental changes in the lower Mahi basin, western India

Sediments exposed in the lower Mahi basin at the southern fringe of the Tha r Desert, Rajasthan, India, provide evidence of three distinct depositional environments, namely marine, aeolian and fluvial. These have been used to reconstruct Late Pleistocene environmental and tectonic history of the regi on. Infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) chronology of the fluvial and a eolian lithe-units provides evidence of two major fluvial aggradation phase s in the region corresponding to Oxygen Isotopic Stages 5 and 3. The basal marine clay is inferred to represent the last interglacial stage and its pr esent elevation at +20 m a.s.l. is attributed to post-depositional tectonis m. Comparison of fluvial records from other regions indicates interhemisphe rically documented wetter phases during Oxygen Isotope Stages 5 and 3. Copy right (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.