Studies on plant megafossils from the siwalik foreland basin of mandi District HimachalPradesh India

Abstract

Theme of the present thesis work is based on the study of past vegetation involving aspects of both botany and geology. It provides the clues for understanding of floristics, palaeoclimates, palaeoecology, phytogeography and stratigraphy. The palaeobotaniscal workers investigate the plant fossils from the distant to the immediate past to understand their form and function and buildup floristic patterns through nearly 3500 million years of life records. Such investigations also help in charting the history of modem vegetation and the origins and development of agriculture and plant utilization. newlineThe fossil flora of Siwalik foreland basin of Himachal Pradesh has been subjected to numerous changes. Many genera which are recorded in Himachal Pradesh during Miocene either migrated or faced extinction. Evolution of the Siwalik floras in the northern region has largely been influenced the Himalayan orogeny. The Middle Miocene orogeny of the Himalaya led to the proliferation of several gymnospermic groups and appearance of several subtropical angiospermic taxa. The problems associated with the Pliocene floras are of regionalism, endemism and migration/ extinction in response to physical and climatic factors which need to be worked out in detail to unravel the history of the modern flora of Himachal Pradesh, India. newlineThis exercise will enhance its academic and applied utility of palaeobotanical study for those engaged in evolutionary botany, forestry, environmental interpretation, climatology and exploration of fossil fuels. Based on the authentic and refined plaeobotanical knowledge/data so far available, the reconstruction of vegetation scenarios of Himalayan foot hills through Miocene times has been done, and also discussed on problems related to provincialism, endemism, phytogeograpraphy and migratory pathways of mainly angiospermous plants. newlineUnder present thesis entitled, Studies on plant megafossils from the Siwalik foreland Basin of Mandi District, Himachal Pradesh, India