Annual Report 2011-2012 - Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany

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EBIRBAL SAHNI INSTITUT 1946 OF PALAEOBOTANY Annual Report 2011-2012 Additionally, maceration of sub-surface samples of palaeolake near Dwarahat village, Kumaon, lesser Himalaya has been done (by PSR) and the palynological study is in progress. This work is in collaboration with IISc, Bangalore. P.S. Ranhotra & A. Bhattacharyya Investigated samples of botanical remains from well stratified layers of NBPW, Pre-NBPW with iron and Pre- NBPW without iron (Chalcolithic) periods of a protohistoric site Raipura in Belan Valley, Sonbhadra district (UP). The site is located very close to Kaimur hills and on a small Nala connecting Belan river. The samples were sent by Dr. Prabhakar Upadhyay of Dept. of A.I.H.C. & Archaeology, BHU, Varanasi for retrieval of seed/fruit remains to be used for AMS dating Chanchala Srivastava Revised a prior submitted paper entitled ‘Pollen and phytoliths from fired ancient potsherds as potential indicators for deciphering past vegetation and climate in Turpan, Xinjiang, NW China’ as per the suggestions. Ruby Ghosh Paper on Normal mode analysis of POCB Modification I with phonon dispersion in the first Brillouin Zone using Urey Bradley force field incorporating interaction of water molecule was published. Further work on thermal degradation of PGGA also progressed. Subodh Kumar & C.M. Nautiyal Sediment samples have been collected from Chilka Lagoon during the visit to attend the Indian Science Congress at Bhubaneswar (Odisha). Sediment samples have also been collected from the Mandovi Estuary, Goa during the visit to attend the Arctic Team selection Meeting. The study of these samples will provide some important basic data required for the initiation of project work in next plan period. Vartika Singh Finalized a manuscript on ‘An evaluation of the Late Palaeozoic floras of India’. Distribution of the Glossopteris floral elements through various Lower Gondwana horizons has been analysed in the light of recent researches. Rajni Tewari & S.S.K. Pillai A field trip has been undertaken to various Carboniferous (Gund), Permian and Triassic localities (Nishatbagh, Khunamuh, Mamal, Zewan and Pahalgam) of Kashmir region for collection of plant and animal fossils, and rock samples for the recovery of micro- and megaspores, etc. The Late Carboniferous section showing diamictite base with alternation of shales and sandstones exposed near the Gund village on Jammu-Kashmir national highway is visited and a rich assemblage of plant fossils comprising a variety of lycopsid axes with wellpreserved leaf scars are collected. Animal fossils like insect, insect wing, traces, invertebrates belonging to the Annelida group are recorded from the Nishatbagh section exposed 1 km East of Nishatbagh Garden, Srinagar. Visited the type locality of Mamal Formation situated near Mamal village (Pahalgam) in Liddar valley area. However, plant mega fossils are not found in this area. The samples for the study of megaspores and sporepollens are collected. Besides, the type locality of Zewan Formation (Late Permian) situated near the Zewan village, Srinagar is visited. Mamal Formation is also exposed in this section. Well preserved animal mega remains like Bivalves, Gastropods, Bryozoans are collected. Equisetalean axes are found from the Mamal Formation of this section. Additionally, the well known Guryul Ravine section of Permo-Triassic boundary exposed near the Khunamuh village, Srinagar is also visited and palynological samples are collected from different intervals of this contact. Grouping sorting, cleaning and photo-documentation of lycopsid axes collected from Gund Formation (Carboniferous) of Kashmir region has been carried out. The axes have been tentatively categorised on the basis of structure of leaf scars under the genera Lepidodendron, Tomeodendron, Sigillaria and Archaeosigillaria. Equisetalean stems along with some stem barks and insect wing have also been recorded from the shales. The samples are macerated for the recovery of megaspores and spores-pollen. Monosaccate spores, mesosporium of megaspores and algal remains belonging to the Chaetophora group are recorded from these samples. Animal fossils belonging to the groups aschehelmenthes, annelids, brachiopods and arthropods are recovered from the Carboniferous shales of Nishatbagh Formation (Early Permian), Nishatbagh. Rich charcoalified plant remains indicating occurrences of palaeofire along with spore-pollen grains have also been recorded from samples of Nishatbagh Formation. Rajni Tewari, Ram Awatar, Rupendra Babu, S.S.K. Pillai & Deepa Agnihotri (with S.K. Pandita & G.D. Bhat) Carried out photo-documentation of animal remains, and prepared and finalized a manuscript on Bdelloid Rotifera reported from Chamba Valley. Neerja Jha & Neha Aggarwal 38 www.bsip.res.in
EBIRBAL SAHNI INSTITUT Annual Report 2011-2012 Collaborative Work 1946 OF PALAEOBOTANY Recovered for the first time 11 taxa belonging to sponges, animal embryos and acritarchs from the Chambaghat Formation of Krol Group, Lesser Himalaya, Himachal Pradesh. N.C. Mehrotra & R. Babu [& V.K. Mathur, S. Shome & S. Nath (GSI, Northern Region, Lucknow)] Completed a field Guide book on Vindhyan basin Son Valley area, Central India. Mukund Sharma [& S. Kumar (University of Lucknow)] Contributed to an internet based polling project on nomenclature of Araucarioxylon wood participated by different overseas scientists. www.bsip.res.in A. Rajanikanth [& Ronny Roessler & Marc Philippe (coordinators)] Worked on the CLAMP study on the megaflora collected from Bikaner district, Rajasthan. R.C. Mehrotra & Anumeha Shukla [& R.A. Spicer (Open University, UK)] Worked and finalized a manuscript based on the CLAMP study on the megaflora of the Makum Coalfield, Assam. The study suggests that the South Asian Monsoon was already established by late Oligocene times at intensity similar to that of today. R.C. Mehrotra & Gaurav Srivastava [& R.A. Spicer (Open University, UK) & Jian Yang (Institute of Botany, Beijing, China)] Investigated carbonized wood samples from Late Quaternary (Holocene) sediments of Kerala. The assemblage consists of six recognizable genera, viz. Artocarpus (Moraceae), Caeya (Lecythidaceae), Dipterocarpus (Dipterocarpaceae), Diospyros (Ebenaceae), Neolamarkia (Rubiaceae) and Rhizophora mangle (Rhizophoraceae). Amongst them, Rhizophora (Red mangrove) is a mangrove tree that occurs in the estuarine ecosystem and littoral forests throughout the tropics. These genera are found in the tropical evergreen forests of Western Ghats including Kerala. Further work is being done to finalize the result. Rashmi Srivastava, J.S. Guleria & Anumeha Shukla [& K.P.N. Kumaran (Agharkar Research Institute, Pune)] Morphotaxonomical study on the fossil leaves from the Siwalik belt of Jawalamukhi area, Himachal Pradesh has been carried out. These have been identified with the extant taxa, Dipterocarpus turbinatus of the family Dipterocarpaceae. This finding is phytogeographically important as it is not found presently in the whole Himalayan foot hills. Mahesh Prasad [& GSI (Chandigarh)] Rock samples representing a lignite-bearing sequence from the open-cast mine at Matanomadh, Gujarat have been chemically processed for palynological studies. Objectives of these studies are to assess the palynofloral composition and to interpret the palaeoclimate and environment of deposition. The sequence, mainly composed of lignites, shales and calcareous mudstones, yielded rich assemblage consists of pteridophytic spores (7 genera, 10 species), angiosperm pollen (20 genera, 26 species), fungal remains (14 genera, 16 species) and dinoflagellate cysts. The palynoflora is marked with dominance of angiospermic pollen, particularly those having affinity with the family Arecaceae. Profuse occurrence of fungal remains in the assemblage is also noticed. Based on palynomorph contents, the studied sequence is divisible into two palynozones. It is inferred that lower part of the sequences got deposited in a nearshore environment with intermittent marine incursions whereas; the depositional regime of upper part was shallow marine. Tropical-subtropical, humid climate with heavy precipitation during deposition of the sequences is indicated. S.K.M. Tripathi [& S. Dutta & co-workers (IIT Bombay, Mumbai)] Evolutionary pattern and major diversification amongst flowering plants (angiosperms) during the Cretaceous initiated fundamental changes in terrestrial ecosystems and set in motion processes that generated most of the extant plant diversity. Presence of grass phytoliths in dinosaur coprolites from the Deccan Intertrappean locality near Pisdura, India of late Cretaceous age provided evidence of early evolution and diversification pattern in grass family Poaceae (Prasad et al., 2005). In continuation, recent discovery of fossil cuticular remains from dinosaur coprolites and sediment succession of latest Cretaceous (65 Ma) from the same locality enriched earlier evidence regarding early evolution of Poaceae (Prasad et al., 2011). Based on phylogenetic analyses that combined molecular genetic data and epidermal and phytolith features across the Poaceae, these new fossil forms can be assigned to the rice tribe, Oryzeae, 39
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