Upper Cretaceous and Early Paleogene Smaller Calcareous Benthic Foraminifera from Cauvery Basin, Southeast India

Smaller calcareous benthic foraminiferal fauna consists of 198 species with observed stratigraphic ranges from upper Cretaceous to early Paleogene are documented from Cauvery Basin. One species has been described as new species. This compilation is based on well cutting samples of 17 exploratory wells from sub-surface litho units Kamalapuram Formation of early Eocene — Paleocene age and the underlying Porto Nova and Nannilam Formation of Maestrichtian — Campanian age. Several representatives of Nodosariids, Gyroidinoidids and Gavelinellids were found with extended stratigraphic ranges crossing K/T boundary. Nearly 40 benthic species became extinct at the end of Paleocene as reported among deep sea benthics elsewhere. The record of high diversity of benthic species, moderately high percentage of planktic forms associated with several of deep water organic walled agglutinated benthic species indicates sediments at this time interval are deep water shelf and slope deposits in the basin.