Facies characteristics and depositional environments of the middle Eocene (Lutetian) Harudi Formation, Kachchh, Western India

The 8.5 m thick, 1.4 km long and 0.35 km wide, ESE–WNW oriented cliff section (N 23°31′32″ E 68°41′00″) exposed across Harudi–Baranda road is extensively studied for its facies characteristics and based on that depositional environments of the middle Eocene (Lutetian) Harudi Formation are deciphered in the present study. Two cycles of grey mudstone alongwith nodular limestone–coquina limestone-gypsiferous mudstone facies in the lower part of the succession suggest sedimentation in coastal quiet-water lagoonal to tidal flat environments, while glauconitic shale, bioclastic packstone and gypsiferous foraminiferal packstone facies in the upper part suggest sedimentation on middle- to inner-shelf and tidal flat depositional environments. In all, three shallowing upward cycles have been identified in the studied outcrops and based on that lagoonal-middle shelf-inner shelf-tidal flat depositional environments are suggested for the middle Eocene Harudi Formation.