Miocene Wood Assemblage from the Saurashtra Basin, Gujarat and Its Climatic Significance

The plant fossil record of Bhavnagar is poorly documented despite its importance in understanding the evolution of Asian monsoonal ecosystems through time. Three genera of the families Fabaceae and Combretaceae are described from the Gaj Formation of Saurashtra Basin, Gujarat. The sediments of this...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the Geological Society of India 2023-04, Vol.99 (4), p.509-514
Main Authors: Shukla, Anumeha, Chandra, Kajal, Shukla, Samiksha, Mehrotra, R. C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Climatic conditions
Combretaceae
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Fabaceae
Fossils
Geology
Hydrogeology
Miocene
Original Article
Plant fossils
Sediments
Tropical forests
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The plant fossil record of Bhavnagar is poorly documented despite its importance in understanding the evolution of Asian monsoonal ecosystems through time. Three genera of the families Fabaceae and Combretaceae are described from the Gaj Formation of Saurashtra Basin, Gujarat. The sediments of this formation are exposed around Lakhanka-Mithi Virdi villages in the Bhavnagar district of Gujarat and considered of early to middle Miocene in age. This is the first plant fossil record from the region of this age. The described fossil woods i.e. Hopeoxylon speciosum (Navale) Awasthi, Millettioxylon palaeopulchra Lakhanpal et al., and Terminalia tomentosa Wight and Arn. are found similar to the modern genera Sindora Miq., Millettia Wight & Arn (Fabaceae) and Terminalia L. (Combretaceae), respectively. The present distribution of modern comparable forms of the fossil taxa suggests existence of tropical to subtropical forests and warm and humid climatic conditions in the region during the Miocene in contrast to the sub-humid to dry climate seen today.
ISSN:0016-7622
0974-6889
DOI:10.1007/s12594-023-2338-5