1996-97 - Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany

BSIP
Plant megafossils comprising leaf-impressions, fruits and fossil woods from
Ghish River, Lish River, Sukha Nala and Sevoke Road cutting sections in the Himalayan
foot-hills of Darjeeling District, West Bengal were studied. The leaf-impressions were
identi fied belonging to modern angiospermous taxa-Xanthophyllum /lavescens,
Pterospermum semisaggi/atum, Swin/oniafloribunda, Millettia albi/lora, Glochidion
hirsu/um, Dipterocarpus tubercula/us, Shorea buchananii, Zizyphus apetala and
Polyalthium longifolium. The fossil woods which form the first record from West Bengal
Siwaliks, belong to modern taxa Bauhinia malabarica and Diospyros kurzii. The
presence of these taxa indicates the existence of tropical climate with plenty of rainfall
during Siwalik sedimentation as well as a fair exchange of floral elements between
Malaya Peninsula and India.
Visited the Himalayan foot-hills of Darjeeling District, West Bengal and a good
number of well-preserved leaf-impressions, fruits and some carbonised woods were
collected. Besides, Central National Herbarium, Howrah was visited for identification
of fossil leaves collected from different localities of Bengal Siwaliks.
Programme 9.12 : SEM studies on the pollen morphology of arborescent
monocots of India with special reference to palms
K. Ambwani
In order to assess the affinities of fossil monocotyledonous taxa, SEM
observations of the pollen of monocot taxa were carried out on: Areca catechu, A.
triandra, RoyslOnea oleraceae, Iriatella setigera, Oncosperma tegillarium, Arenga
engleri, Caryota mitis, C. urens and Cocos nud/era. SEM photomicrographs were
also taken for their detai led interpretations. Studies on fossi I Sclerospenna-like pollen
and the extant Sclerosperma manii were completed.
Programme 9.13: Palynological studies on the Late Cretaceous sediments
of central India
R.S.
Singh
The spore-pollen recovered from areas around Jabalpur and Nagpur are scanty
and mostly represented by pteridophytic spores. The assemblage from Lameta Formation
from Nagpur includes Cicatricosisporites, Cyathidi/es, Todisporites, Appendicisporites,
Ariadnaesporites and few pollen belonging to Palmae, whereas the Intertrappean
sed iments apart from above have Tricolpites, Nypa and some porate-pollen.
Maestrichtian marker genus Ariadnaesporites is found in both Lameta Formation of
Nagpur and Intertrappean beds of Jabalpur area.
PROJECT 10
APPLICATION OF GEOBOTANICAL ANALYSIS IN :
L MINERAL PROSPECTING
so