Journal of Palaeosciences最新文献

{"title":"Cretaceous mammals of India–Stratigraphic distribution, diversity and intercontinental affinities","authors":"Guntupalli V.R. Prasad, O. Verma, A. Sahni, A. Khosla","doi":"10.54991/jop.2021.14","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54991/jop.2021.14","url":null,"abstract":"Extensive research carried out on the Cretaceous deposits of Laurasia has revealed an overwhelming presence of eutherian, metatherian and multituberculate groups of mammals in the Cretaceous ecosystems of Northern Hemisphere continents. In contrast, the relatively poorly documented fossil record of Cretaceous mammals from Gondwanan continents is represented by gondwanatherians, dryolestoids, and a few multituberculates and haramiyidans. Until now, no undoubted eutherian mammals have been reported from the Cretaceous strata of the southern continents except for India. In this context, Indian Cretaceous mammals assume great significance for understanding the origin and evolution of these mammals in Gondwana. Currently, the Cretaceous mammals of India include three groups, viz., eutherians, gondwanatherians, and haramiyidans. These three mammalian groups were recovered primarily from the Upper Cretaceous Deccan infra–and inter–trappean beds of peninsular India exposed near Bacharam, Naskal and Rangapur (Telengana), Upparhatti (Karnataka) and Kisalpuri (Madhya Pradesh) villages. Eutheria is by far the most diverse clade comprising three named genera (Deccanolestes, Sahnitherium, Kharmerungulatum) and one unnamed taxon (Eutheria incertae sedis). The gondwanatherians are known by Bharattherium bonapartei and Sudamericidae gen. et sp. indet. The third mammalian group, a possible haramiyidan, is represented by a solitary species Avashishta bacharamensis. Overall, the Cretaceous mammal fauna of India presents a complex biogeographic history with eutherians of Laurasian affinity, pan–Gondwanan gondwanatherians and a possible late surviving haramiyidan. Numerically abundant and speciose Deccanolestes, identified as an adapisoriculid, has been interpreted to have had originated in northward drifting Indian Plate in the Late Cretaceous and dispersed out of India into Africa and Europe over island arc systems (Oman–Kohistan–Dras) and the Ladakh magmatic arc at or near the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary. A similar dispersal mode has also been visualized for Kharmerungulatum and Eutheria incertae sedis of Laurasian affinities. ","PeriodicalId":383463,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Palaeosciences","volume":"22 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133244073","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Study of slope instability on the Bhaderwah–Bani Highway, Jammu and Kashmir, India","authors":"I. Farooq, G. Bhat, S. Pandita, R. Sangra, Arjun Singh, Gulzar Hussain, Y. Singh, Ahsan-ul-Haq","doi":"10.54991/jop.2019.42","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54991/jop.2019.42","url":null,"abstract":"Northwest Himalaya has witnessed lot of mass movements during the Quaternary period which have led to palaeoenvironmental degradation and deposition of erratic size sediments. These sediments have developed as fossil slides along the mountain slopes. In last few decades, the frequency of landslides has increased due to various factors such as complex geology, geotechnical properties of the rocks and anthropogenic activities. The investigation of rock slopes require geo–engineering evaluation to assess the instability of critical slopes leading to landslides particularly in the Himalayan region, where rocks are highly folded, faulted, jointed and weathered. In the present study, a total of 15 rock slopes have been selected for rapid assessment of instability condition using rock mass rating basic (RMRb), slope mass rating (SMR) and kinematics analysis techniques along Bhaderwah–Bani Highway in Jammu and Kashmir. Field surveys were conducted regarding required input data collection followed by laboratory works. The results of RMRb show two classes of rock mass, i.e., Class II–Good (86.58%) and Class III–Fair (13.42%). The SMR index classify rock slopes into different stability class results, which infers completely unstable (L4 and L14), unstable (L1, L2, L3, L8, L9, L11, L12 and L13), partially stable (L5, L6 and L7) and stable (L10 and L15) categories. The final output of kinematic analysis verify different modes of structurally controlled slope failures i.e., planar (30.72%), wedge (57.6%) and toppling (11.52%), representing all 15 sites in the study area.","PeriodicalId":383463,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Palaeosciences","volume":"29 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126089480","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Plant macroremains from Sarethi: An Early Historic site in Saryu region of Ganga Plain, Uttar Pradesh","authors":"A. K. Pokharia, P. Singh, N. Mishra, Anoop Kumar, U. Singh, A. Srivastava, Anjali Trivedi, H. Patel, D. K. Shukla, Chandra Bhushan Gupta, Md. Afroz","doi":"10.54991/jop.2019.39","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54991/jop.2019.39","url":null,"abstract":"The paper highlights additional data on the carbonized remains of crop plants, weeds and wild taxa recovered from excavations at Sarethi, a multicultural site in district Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh. The field–crops are represented by the grains and seeds of Oryza sativa (rice), Hordeum vulgare (barley), Triticum aestivum (bread wheat), T. sphaerococcum (dwarf wheat), Pisum arvense (field pea), Lens culinaris (lentil), Lathyrus sativus (grass pea), Vigna sp. (green/black gram), Macrotyloma uniflorum (horse gram), Linum usitatissimum (linseed), and Gossypium arboreum/herbaceum (cotton) dating back to 200 BCE–700 CE. In addition, few weeds and wild taxa denotative of cultivated fields and surrounding vegetation have also been recorded in the assemblage. The plant remains have been discussed and compared with the information on plant based subsistence economy from other sites in the region.","PeriodicalId":383463,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Palaeosciences","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121696320","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ordovician land plants and fungi from Douglas Dam, Tennessee","authors":"G. Retallack","doi":"10.54991/jop.2019.43","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54991/jop.2019.43","url":null,"abstract":"Ordovician land plants have long been suspected from indirect evidence of fossil spores, plant fragments, carbon isotopic studies, and paleosols, but now can be visualized from plant compressions in a Middle Ordovician (Darriwilian or 460 Ma) sinkhole at Douglas Dam, Tennessee, U. S. A. Five bryophyte clades and two fungal clades are represented: hornwort (Casterlorum crispum, new form genus and species), liverwort (Cestites mirabilis Caster & Brooks), balloonwort (Janegraya sibylla, new form genus and species), peat moss (Dollyphyton boucotii, new form genus and species), harsh moss (Edwardsiphyton ovatum, new form genus and species), endomycorrhiza (Palaeoglomus strotheri, new species) and lichen (Prototaxites honeggeri, new species). The Douglas Dam Lagerstätte is a benchmark assemblage of early plants and fungi on land. Ordovician plant diversity now supports the idea that life on land had increased terrestrial weathering to induce the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event in the sea and latest Ordovician (Hirnantian) glaciation.","PeriodicalId":383463,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Palaeosciences","volume":"18 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123088900","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Pollen-spore assemblages of the Navarro Group (Maastrichtian) of Texas, USA: biostratigraphical and palaeoecological significance","authors":"Arun Kumar","doi":"10.54991/jop.2019.41","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54991/jop.2019.41","url":null,"abstract":"Diverse assemblages of spore–pollen floras are present in all formations in the Navarro Group (Maastrichtian) in outcrops of the Austin Section and the subsurface Frio Section. The stratigraphic ranges and relative abundance of spore, pollen, dinoflagellate cysts and acritarchs were used to establish four biozones (A, B, C and D). Biozone A corresponds to the undifferentiated Neylandville Marl–Nacatoch Sand Formation; Biozone B corresponds to the Corsicana Marl Formation; Biozone C corresponds to the lower half of the Kemp Clay Formation; and Biozone D corresponds to the upper half of the Kemp Clay Formation. Biozonal boundaries do not always correspond to formation boundaries. Biozones A, B, C and D of the Austin section are correlated with the subsurface Frio section. The zonal boundaries based on spore–pollen distribution in the Austin and the Frio sections correlate well with the timelines established in these two sections based on dinoflagellate cysts and acritarchs. All Navarro Group formations except the Olmos were deposited in marine environments ranging from intertidal to outer shelf. Olmos Formation sediments were deposited in a range of coastal terrestrial environments with occasional minor influences of the sea. Three transgressive phases (T1, T2 and T3) separated by four regressive phases (R1, R2, R3 and R4) are recognized. During the Maastrichtian the floral composition in Texas changed from predominantly pteridophytic and bryophytic in the early Maastrichtian to predominantly angiospermous flora in the middle and late Maastrichtian. Tropical to subtropical climates prevailed in Texas throughout the Maastrichtian but highland regions such as Llano Uplift and nearby Marathon and Arbuckle Mountains were cooler regions with a temperate to sub–temperate climate. The upper part of the Navarro Group records a gradual cooling trend suggested by the dominance of temperate angiosperm pollen taxa.","PeriodicalId":383463,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Palaeosciences","volume":"68 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121484869","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Study on modern vegetation distribution in Sevan Tal area, Raebareli District, Uttar Pradesh","authors":"Anjali Trivedi, A. Saxena, Mohan Singh Chauhan","doi":"10.54991/jop.2019.40","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54991/jop.2019.40","url":null,"abstract":"Pollen analysis of ten surface sediment samples from Sevan Tal, Raebareli District (U.P.) reveals a good assemblage of arboreals (trees & shrubs) comprising Holoptelea integrifolia, Acacia nilotica, Syzygium cumini, Madhuca indica and Shorea robusta, etc. However, plant diversity in forest groves has been observed in eastern and southern fringes but are less diversified in northern and western flanks due to arable and heathland, respectively in the area. Together with av. 4% shrubs, the trees constitute av. 23.3% arboreal pollen. Even then, in general, the reduced frequencies of the trees could be ascribed to their low pollen productivity since they portray a strong tendency of entomophily. Among the non–arboreals, Poaceae with av. 35% pollen subdues the other herbaceous elements. The substantially increased frequencies of cultural taxa, viz. Cerealia, Chenopodiaceae/ Amaranthaceae (Cheno/Am), Artemisia, Cannabis sativa and Brassicaceae, more particularly on the northern and western flanks, truly reflect the intensive agriculture practice in the region. The consistent presence of marshy taxa such as Cyperaceae coupled with Polygonum plebeium, P. serrulatum and Liliaceae suggests the intermittent wetlands in the proximity of the lake. In all, the representation of the non–arboreals corresponds closely with their factual occurrence in the ground flora, constituting the largest chunk of av. 75% pollen. The frequent record of Potamogeton together with Lemna, Typha, etc. denotes the existence of the lakes around the sampling provenance. This comparative database on pollen vis–à–vis vegetation relationship serves as modern analogue for the appropriate assessment of the pollen sequence from the sediment deposit in terms of past vegetation and climate change in the Central Ganga Plain. Moreover, the representation of the arboreals, particularly trees, in the spectra symbolizes the prevailing climatic condition in the study area.","PeriodicalId":383463,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Palaeosciences","volume":"69 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122136758","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Miocene flora from the Siwalik of Arjun Khola area, Nepal and its palaeoclimatic and phytogeographic implications","authors":"M. Prasad, S. Gautam, Nupur Bhowmik, Sanjeev Kumar, S. Singh","doi":"10.54991/jop.2019.37","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54991/jop.2019.37","url":null,"abstract":"An extensive study on the plant fossils (leaf and fruit impressions/compressions) collected from the Miocene of Siwalik sediments, Arjun Khola area, western Nepal has been carried out. It revealed the existence of a variety of angiosperm plant taxa represented by 43 genera and 47 species belonging to 24 families. Of these, 34 species are reported for the first time from the studied area. Quite a number of fossils out of the entire lot, were described much prior to the present study from other represented by the Siwalik localities. Most of the leaf and fruit specimens are assignable to families of dicots but a single fossil leaf Clinogyne Salisb. has been assigned to the monocot family Marantaceae. The families which are highly represented in the assemblage are Fabaceae, Sapindaceae, Dipterocarpaceae and Annonaceae. Fabaceae which appeared in Upper Paleocene became a major component of the evergreen forest during middle Miocene. A majority of the families are generally represented by leaf forms but Sindora Miq. and Butea Roxb. ex Willd. of the Fabaceae and Terminalia L. of the Combretaceae are represented by fruits. Most of the fossil leaves in the assemblage showed large to medium size with drip tips, entire margins and apparent greater venation density. All the above characters collectively indicated the existence of tropical to sub–tropical type of vegetation during the Miocene all along the Himalayan foot hills of Nepal. Out of the identified specimens, the majority (more than 69%) resembled modern taxa, distributed in the tropical evergreen forests of different geographical regions of the world and recovery of similar looking fossil elements from the Arjun Khola area, indicated existence of similar forest types in and around the area at the time of Siwalik sedimentation. In contrast, the present day vegetation in and around the area is quite different from the past as it includes elements that generally constitute plants of dry deciduous forests. A number of plants migrated from south–east Asia to India via Myanmar and vice–versa. Consequently, many taxa, especially members of Dipterocarpaceae and Fabaceae, existing in south–east Asia in the Paleogene appeared on the Indian subcontinent and Nepal in the Neogene. Phytogeographical data also suggests that taxa flourishing in the Himalayan foot–hills during Siwalik sedimentation have migrated elsewhere in modern times possibly towards south and southeast in search of favourable conditions for luxuriant growth.Present day distribution of all the recovered species from the Siwalik Foreland Basins of Arjun Khola area shows that they are found today in the tropical forests of North–east India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Malaysia where favourable climatic conditions exist and only little amount of taxa are found to grow presently in the Himalayan foothills. Thus, it may infer that a fair change in floral composition has taken since the Miocene. The nearest living relative (NLR) method of palaeoclimate c","PeriodicalId":383463,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Palaeosciences","volume":"35 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127880553","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"River flow reconstruction of the Lohit River Basin, North-east India based on tree-rings of Pinus merkusii (Merkus pine)","authors":"Santosh K. Shah, Rohini Singh, Nivedita Mehrotra, Lamgisang Thomte","doi":"10.54991/jop.2019.38","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54991/jop.2019.38","url":null,"abstract":"Dendrochronological analysis of Pinus merkusii (Merkus pine) collected from Mishmi Hills, Arunachal Pradesh, North–east India shows its potential to provide continuous and long–term information about changes in river flow of Lohit River Basin (LRB). A 170 years (1830–1999 C.E.) long regional tree-ring width chronology of Merkus pine was prepared using 80 tree cores. Based on the correlation analysis between tree-ring chronology and river discharge data, the river flow was reconstructed for the month of May from 1846 to 1999 C.E. The reconstruction showed long term low and high flow periods along with extreme drought and pluvial years. Past river flow reconstruction for hydro–climatic variability in this southwest monsoon-dominated region of North–east India requires further notice. Longer tree–ring records along with wider spatio-temporal network of discharge data from Arunachal Pradesh will help to develop better records of river flow reconstructions of the region.","PeriodicalId":383463,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Palaeosciences","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121822598","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evidence of wildfire based on microscopic charcoal, spores and pollen grains from Early Cretaceous sediments of South Rewa and Kachchh basins, India","authors":"Madhav Kumar","doi":"10.54991/jop.2018.55","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54991/jop.2018.55","url":null,"abstract":"Early Cretaceous sedimentary successions in South Rewa and Kachchh basins of India comprising well–preserved macro–and microscopic biota, are considered to be significant late Gondwanan Lagerstätte of this epoch. Several sedimentary successions of the Bansa Formation in South Rewa and Bhuj Formation in Kachchh basins also contain abundant charcoalified plant fragments and thermally altered spores and pollen grains, indicating effect of fire on the vegetation during the deposition of sediments. Light and scanning electron microscopic images of the fire affected plant remains exhibiting less to severe morphologic distortions, viz. rupturing, shrinkage, curling and perforations due to stress and weight loss. The changes observed in their colour from pale yellow to brown, dark brown and black are most conspicuous and primarily related to the high temperature effect before their burial in the sediments. Botanical affinity of these thermally altered and unaltered spores, pollen grains, charcoalified and non–charcoalified woody fragments indicates their derivation from the vegetation constituted mainly by Pinales, Cycadales, Bennettitales, Ginkgoales, tree ferns and other herbaceous pteridophytes. Record of the charcoalified plant fossils from various sedimentary successions of both the basins provides evidence of the wildfire phenomenon during the Late Gondwanic regimes in India.","PeriodicalId":383463,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Palaeosciences","volume":"10 2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116932096","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Barringtonia Forster & Forster (Lecythidaceae) leaf from the late Oligocene of Assam, India","authors":"G. Srivastava, R. Mehrotra","doi":"10.54991/jop.2018.54","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54991/jop.2018.54","url":null,"abstract":"Northeast India is considered as corridor for the plant migration from India to Southeast Asia and vice–versa after the collision of Indian Plate with the Eurasian Plate. The fossil record of the family Lecythidaceae is very sparse globally. We report a fossil leaf of Barringtonia (Lecythidaceae) from the late Oligocene sediments of Assam, India. The modern distribution and fossil records of the genus indicate its origin in Gondwana derived continents. After collision and complete suturing of the Indian and Eurasian plates the genus most likely migrated from India to Southeast Asia.","PeriodicalId":383463,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Palaeosciences","volume":"208 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124678083","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}