Neogene Climate Evolution in Eurasia. 3 rd NECLIME Asian Meeting February 23-24, 2016

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3 Neogene Climate Evolution in Eurasia 3 rd NECLIME Asian Meeting ABSTRACTS Organized by Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow

4 2016 BIRBAL SAHNI INSTITUTE OF PALAEOBOTANY, LUCKNOW, INDIA Published by The Director Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany 53, University Road Lucknow INDIA Phone: , , Fax: , Website:

5 MESSAGE FROM CHAIRMAN, GOVERNING BODY, BSIP I am pleased to know that Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow is organizing the 3 rd NECLIME (Neogene Climate Evolution of Eurasia) Asian Meeting dealing with the very important theme of climate change in the geological past and related issues. It is also very heartening to learn that a large number of delegates, from both India and abroad, are likely to participate in this important meeting. Understanding of past climates is of great importance in terms of its effects not only on biological evolution and past ecosystems and environments but also for projections concerning future climate change. For the past many years, BSIP has been involved in studies on palaeoclimatic reconstructions, both qualitative and quantitative, using a variety of biotic and abiotic proxies. Recent establishment of a number of analytical facilities at BSIP including geochemical, mineralogical and TL dating proxies, has added significantly to ongoing efforts to understand past climate change with a holistic approach and a greater rigor. I am certain that this international conference at BSIP will provide an excellent platform for discussions of outstanding issues concerning deep time climate change. I wish the institute all success in organizing this important event. Prof. Deepak Pental Chairman, Governing Body, BSIP

6 NECLIME Neogene Climate Evolution in Eurasia NECLIME is an open international network of scientists working on the Cenozoic palaeoclimate evolution in Eurasia and related changes of continental ecosystems. Combining a palaeogeography relatively close to present and globally warmer conditions, most Cenozoic time periods anticipate future climate change and thus are suited for case studies in an ideal manner. NECLIME scientists are devoted to palaeoclimatic reconstructions including atmospheric CO 2 and ecosystem analysis using multiple quantitative methods involving various proxies such as plant megafossils, pollen and spores, vertebrates, invertebrates, isotopes, geological and geochemical signatures. Quantitative reconstruction of past climates helps in the ocean, atmosphere and biosphere modelling at global or regional scale. While NECLIME focuses primarily on the Neogene climate, its scope has been informally extended to include the Paleogene climate as well, in order to provide a wider perspective. Model based studies such as ocean, atmosphere and biosphere modelling at global or regional scale are also employed to study the various processes behind palaeoclimate evolution. In order to study changing patterns along the cooling in the later Neogene one key aspect is the transition into the ice-house in the earlier Pleistocene. The steadily growing network formed in 1999, is co-ordinated by groups of researchers, and currently has around 140 members in 36 countries. NECLIME holds annual meetings, has working groups and advisers for specific topics thus bringing forward scientific exchange, joint projects, and integration of the results obtained. NECLIME actually has 6 active working groups which organize regular workshops. Like the NECLIME annual meetings, the workshops are also open to the interested parties. Details of the working group activities and forthcoming workshops are available at the NECLIME website. Volker Mosbrugger, Torsten Utescher and Angela A. Bruch

7 Introduction Climate and vegetation history of the Indian subcontinent during the Paleogene and Neogene Early Paleogene climate of Indian subcontinent has a unique history. It was governed by several factors that included latitudinal shift of the Indian peninsula from subtropical to equatorial zone, coupled with several global warming events. Early Paleogene global warming resulted in the range expansion of tropical rain forest flora that is well preserved in the coal and lignite deposits of today, all along the western and north-eastern margins of the Indian subcontinent. In addition to providing clues to reconstruct the paleobiogeography and paleobiodiversity, early Paleogene plant fossils of Indian subcontinent provide an understanding of the behaviour pattern of tropical vegetation during extreme global warming intervals. Tropical climate during extreme global warming phase remains one of the most difficult to interpret in the global climatic models of the global warm state. Global climate change from green house to icehouse coupled with India Asia collision in the early Eocene (~55 Ma), a drastic temperature drop at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary at 34 Ma resulted in the subtropical climate on Indian subcontinent. Finally uplift of the Himalayas during Neogene led to the development of monsoonal climate on the Indian subcontinent. This resulted in the range retraction of megathermal rain forest taxa but evolution and expansion of deciduous (moist - dry) vegetation adapted to variable rainfall seasonality condition at different parts of Indian subcontinent, characteristic of monsoonal climate. Thus the vegetation of the Indian subcontinent has a unique history, originating in the tropical zone during late Cretaceous-early Paleogene, subsequently getting modified and adapted to the subtropical climate, and finally the monsoonal climate of the Neogene. The connection with the Burmese Arc and Eurasia during the late Paleogene-Neogene opened the dispersal routes that further modified the Indian vegetation pattern. It is the summer rains or SW monsoonal rainfall pattern that determined the Neogene, Quaternary and the present day climate and vegetation of the Indian peninsula. Based on the rainfall pattern present day climate of India is divided into five different groups 1. Tropical Wet or Humid climate characteristic of moderate to high temperature with seasonal but long duration heavy- moderate rainfall in southern Western Ghats, the Malabar Coast, southern Assam, Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar Islands 2. Tropical semi arid (steppe) climate of hot and dry summers and scanty and erratic rainfall in Karnataka, central Maharashtra, some parts of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh 3. Sub-tropical humid, witnessed by most of the North and Northeast India where summers are very hot, while in winters, temperature can plunge to as low as 0 C. Rainfall mainly occurs in summers but occasional rainfall in winters is also witnessed in some areas; 4. Subtropical arid dry climate due to scanty and erratic rainfall and extreme summers in desert region of western Rajasthan; 5. Mountain climate in which the temperature falls by 0.6 C for every 100 m rise in altitude in the Himalayas and results in a number of climates from tropical to temperate. This meeting will hopefully lead to a better understanding of the climate changes in deep time spanning the last 65 million years, as well as biotic events including origin, evolution and dispersal patterns of the various floral and faunal groups in a geodynamic framework. Sunil Bajpai Convenor Vandana Prasad Organizing Secretary

8 CONTENTS SPATIO-TEMPORAL TRENDS OF TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION OVER THE INDIAN SUB-CONTINENT DURING Rajesh Agnihotri and Koushik Dutta... 1 IDENTIFICATION OF AN EARLY EOCENE HYPERTHERMAL EVENT (ETM2, 53.7 MA) IN THE PANANDHRO LIGNITE DEPOSIT, KUTCH DISTRICT, GUJARAT, WESTERN INDIA Shailesh Agrawal, Poonam Verma, M.R. Rao, R. Garg, V.V. Kapur and Sunil Bajpai... 3 INDIAN SUMMER MONSOON INFLUENCE ON PLANKTONIC FORAMINIFERA: A HIGH RESOLUTION STUDY FROM SOUTHEASTERN ARABIAN SEA SEDIMENT CORE Sivachandiran Alagudurai, Yoganandan Veeran and Selvaraj Kandasamy... 4 A PRELIMINARY STUDY ON DIATOM DISTRIBUTION IN HIGH ALTITUDE OF ZANSKAR VALLEY, TRANS-HIMALAYA, LADAKH S. Nawaz Ali, Biswajeet Thakur, P. Mothekai, Binita Phartiyal and Anupam Sharma... 5 RETREAT PATTERN OF GLACIERS AND EVIDENCES OF NEO-TECTONISM: A STUDY OF GANGOTRI GLACIER, GARHWAL HIMALAYA, UTTRAKHAND, INDIA Ajay Kumar Arya, Ajai Mishra and Antara Gupta... 6 PRODUCTIVITY VARIATION PATTERN IN THE NE ARABIAN SEA DURING THE HOLOCENE Syed Azharuddin, Pawan Govil, A.D. Singh and Ravi Mishra... 7 TERTIARY MAMMAL FAUNAS OF INDIA: AN OVERVIEW OF RECENT ADVANCES Sunil Bajpai... 8 EVALUATING GEOCHEMICAL PROXIES FOR PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION IN TROPICAL MONTANE PEAT: A CASE STUDY FROM NILGIRIS, SOUTHERN INDIA P. Ramya Bala, K. Sajeev, R. Sukumar CHARACTERIZATION OF MODERN POLLEN ASSEMBLAGE ON PASHUMARA SWAMP AND RANGA RESERVE FOREST IN NORTH LAKHIMPUR DISTRICT OF ASSAM, INDIA Sadhan Kumar Basumatary GRASS PHYTOLITH ASSEMBLAGES ALONG THE TROPICAL-TEMPERATE ELEVATION GRADIENT OF THE EASTERN HIMALAYAS, INDIA: ASSESSING THE RELIABILITY OF PHYTOLITH INDICES FOR CLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION Oindrila Biswas, Ruby Ghosh, Biswajit Mukherjee and Subir Bera THE ENVIRONMENT OF HOMO ERECTUS IN JAVA CLIMATE AND VEGETATION RECONSTRUCTIONS BASED ON POLLEN DATA FROM THE SANGIRAN HUMAN FOSSIL SITE Angela Bruch and Christine Hertler (i)

9 APPLICATION OF ORGANIC GEOCHEMISTRY IN UNDERSTANDING TERRESTRIAL AND MARINE PRODUCTIVITY VARIATION: 300 KY RECORD FROM THE BAY OF BENGAL R. DaSilva, A. Mazumdar, R.K. Joshi, A. Shaji, Mary Ann Carvalho, P. Mahalakshmi and B.G. Naik LOW LATITUDE MIGRATION PATTERNS OF SHARED ASIAN AND AMERICAN TROPICAL FLORAL ELEMENTS THEIR EARLY EVOLUTION AND DISPERSAL David Dilcher THE DIVERSIFICATION AND EXTINCTION OF NYPA POLLEN DURING QUATERNARY PERIOD IN INDIA Anjum Farooqui and T.Y. Naidu FLORISTIC DIVERSITY OF THE NAWABGUNJ WETLAND IN UTTAR PRADESH Arti Garg AN OVERVIEW OF EARLY MIOCENE TO LATE PLIOCENE PALAEOCLIMATE: EVIDENCE FROM ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR BASIN BASED ON SILICEOUS AND CALCAREOUS MICROFOSSILS Amit K. Ghosh and Arindam Chakraborty MODERN NON-POLLEN PALYNOMORPHS FROM SURFACE SEDIMENTS ALONG A TROPICAL SUB-ALPINE ELEVATION GRADIENT IN DARJEELING, EASTERN HIMALAYAS AND THEIR INDICATIVE VALUE IN PALEOECOLOGICAL RECONSTRUCTION Ruby Ghosh, Subir Bera, Krishnendu Acharya and Narayan Ghorai PALEODIET OF HOMO ERECTUS IN EARLY PLEISTOCENE OF SANGIRAN Susanne Haupt, Tina Lüdecke, Christine Hertler, Angela Bruch, Andreas Mulch and Friedemann Schrenk DUBOISIASANTENG FROM PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS AT SANGIRAN (JAVA, INDONESIA) AND ITS PALEOECOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE Christine Hertler, Susanne Haupt, Tina Lüdecke, Angela Bruch and Andreas Mulch ANTHROPOGENIC AND CLIMATE IMPACTS ON THE PLANKTON COMMUNITY CHANGES AT DAGZE CO IN THE CENTRAL TIBETAN PLATEAU LAKE OVER THE PAST 600 YEARS Juzhi Hou and Jie Liang FOSSIL CTENOLOPHONACEAE POLLEN FROM EARLY EOCENE AND MIOCENE OF INDIA: THEIR EVOLUTIONARY AND BIOGEOGRAPHIC SIGNIFICANCE S. Jeyakumar, Vandana Prasad and Madhav Kumar (ii)

10 UNDERSTANDING THE NEOGENE ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF WESTERN AMAZONIA BASED ON MULTI-PROXY DATA Andrea K. Kern, Martin Gross, Timothy M. Shanahan, Plinio B. de Camargo, Werner E. Piller and Francisco W. Cruz Jr LATE PLIOCENE PLANT MEGAFOSSILS FROM THE FLUVIO-LACUSTRINE SEDIMENTS FROM THE KATHMANDU, BASIN, NEPAL HIMALAYA Dhan Bahadur Khatri, Gaurav Srivastava, Khum N. Paudayal and R.C. Mehrotra EVIDENCE OF HIGHEST BATHYMETRY IN CENOZOIC SUCCESSIONS OF KUTCH THROUGH PLANKTONIC FORAMINIFERA (CASSIGERINELLA SP.) DURING EARLY MIOCENE, WESTERN KUTCH, INDIA Pramod Kumar LAKE ENVIRONMENT SHIFT IN SOUTH-WESTERN CHINA DURING THE MID-MIOCENE CLIMATIC OPTIMUM Julie Lebreton-Anberrée, Shu-Feng Li, Robert A. Spicer and Zhe-Kun Zhou ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS REVEAL A HIGH-RESOLUTION CLIMATIC SIGNAL IN LEAF PHYSIOGNOMY Shu-Feng Li, Frédéric M.B. Jacques, Robert A. Spicer, Tao Su and Zhe-Kun Zhou ON PALEOFLORISTIC AND PALEOCLIMATIC CHANGES DURING PALEOGENE NEOGENE TRANSITIONAL BOUNDARY IN NORTH EAST INDIA B.D. Mandaokar and Ratan Kar CHARACTERIZATION OF MIOCENE-PLIOCENE ONSHORE WARKALLI SEDIMENTARY SEQUENCE (KERALA-KONKAN BASIN, SOUTH INDIA), BASED ON ORGANIC GEOCHEMICAL AND VISUAL KEROGEN DATA Runcie P. Mathews, Vikram P. Singh and Bhagwan D. Singh LATE HOLOCENE HIGH RESOLUTION MARINE RECORDS OF PRYDZ BAY, EAST ANTARCTICA Ravi Mishra and D.K. Pandey TREE-RING BASED DROUGHT RECONSTRUCTION OVER KUMAUN HIMALAYA, INDIA K.G. Misra,R.R. Yadav, B.S. Kotlia, A.K. Yadav and Sandhya Misra CLIMATE VIS-A-VIS VEGETATION DYNAMICS DURING LATE HOLOCENE ALONG THE SOUTHWEST COAST OF INDIA: POOKOT LAKE ( KERALA) Sandhya Misra, Kizhur Sandeep, Amalava Bhattacharyya, Rajasekhariah Shankar, Anish K. Warrier, Zhou Weijian and Lu Xuefeng GEO-BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE Volker Mosbrugger, Zhe-Kun Zhou and Torsten Utescher (iii)

11 NEOGENE CLIMATE AND MAMMALIAN FAUNAL DYNAMICS OF THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT Rajeev Patnaik LATE QUATERNARY CLIMATE RECORDS FROM LADAKH REGION OF WESTERN TIBET Binita Phartiyal, Anupam Sharma, Randheer Singh, Debarati Nag, Vandana Prasad, Anjum Farooqui, Biswajeet Thakur and Priyanka Joshi RECONSTRUCTION OF THE EQUATORIAL CLIMATE DURING PALEOCENE EOCENE THERMAL MAXIMUM BASED ON PALYNOLOGICAL RECORDS FROM NORTHEAST INDIA Vandana Prasad and Torsten Utescher LATE HOLOCENE VEGETATION AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN SOUTHWESTERN MADHYA PRADESH (INDIA), BASED ON POLLEN EVIDENCE: SIGNALS OF GLOBAL CLIMATIC EVENTS M.F. Quamar and M.S. Chauhan LATE MIOCENE INTEGRATED NANNOFOSSIL DIATOM BIOSTRATIGRAPHY FROM NEILL ISLAND, ANDAMAN SEA, INDIA Jyotsana Rai, Biswajeet Thakur and Bhavani Singh Desai APPLICATION OF PALYNOLOGY IN PALYNOSTRAIGRAPHY AND PALAEOECOLOGY IN NEOGENE SEDIMENTS OF INDIA: AN OVERVIEW M.R. Rao and Poonam Verma MODERN POLLEN SPECTRUM FROM SOUTHERN EAST INDIA ANALOGUE OF QUATERNARY VEGETATION RECONSTRUCTION Navya Reghu HOLOCENE HISTORY OF CLIMATE, VEGETATION AND ANTHROPOGENIC DISTURBANCE FROM CORE MONSOON ZONE OF CENTRAL INDIA AS REFLECTED IN LACUSTRINE SEDIMENTS OF LONAR CRATER, MAHARASHTRA N. Riedel, M. Stebich, S. Sarkar, D. Sachse, S. Prasad, N. Basavaiah and Lonar team CLIMATIC EPISODES AND TREE LINE SHIFT SINCE MID-HOLOCENE WITHIN THE DOKRIANI GLACIAL VALLEY, GARHWAL HIMALAYA, INDIA Ipsita Roy, Parminder S. Ranhotra, Amalava Bhattacharyya, Mayank Shekhar, C.M. Nautiyal and Ashish K. Pal PALEOGENE PETROLEUM SYSTEM AND VEGETATION IN THE TROPICS: BIOMARKER APPROACH FROM EASTERN INDIA Arka Rudra, Suryendu Dutta and S.V. Raju (iv)

12 COMMUNITY DYNAMICS AND SPECIES RICHNESS OF MIO-PLIOCENE CORALLINE ALGAE-BENTHIC FORAMINIFERA FROM LITTLE ANDAMAN AND CAR NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA Suman Sarkar LATE HOLOCENE QUANTITATIVE CLIMATE RECONSTRUCTIONS BASED ON POLLEN DATA FROM NORTH SIKKIM, EASTERN HIMALAYA Santosh K. Shah and Nivedita Mehrotra MINERALOGICAL AND GEOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF AEOLIAN SEDIMENTS OF THE MAINLAND GUJARAT: IMPLICATIONS TO THE DECCAN LARGE IGNEOUS PROVINCE SOURCE Anupam Sharma, Kamlesh Kumar and Shazi Farooqui INTEGRATING MACRO-BOTANICAL AND STABLE CARBON ISOTOPIC DATA OF HARAPPAN SITE ( YRS BP), KHIRSARA, KACHCHH (GUJARAT), INDIA: IMPLICATIONS TO CROP-VEGETATION CHANGES, MONSOONAL CONDITIONS AND ADAPTATION Shalini Sharma, Shweta Pandey, Rajesh Agnihotri and Anil K. Pokharia EVIDENCE OF PALEOCENE-EOCENE THERMAL MAXIMA (PETM) EVENT FROM SUBATHU AND ITS EQUIVALENT FORMATION OF HIMALAYA M.K. Shukla NEOGENE-QATERNARY LOW-MID LATITUDE CLIMATE VARIABILITY AND ITS LINKAGES TO THE EVOLUTION OF OCEAN GATEWAYS A.D. Singh LATE CRETACEOUS ORIGIN OF GRASSES: A CASE STUDY FROM DECCAN INTERTRAPPEAN SEDIMENTS R.S. Singh, Vandana Prasad and G.V.R. Prasad DID PRE-MONSOON AND POST-MONSOON RAINFALL EXIST IN KONKAN REGION IN THE LATE PLEISTOCENE Gaurav Srivastava ESTUARINE ECOSYSTEM DYNAMICS IN RESPONSE TO HOLOCENE CLIMATE AND SEA LEVEL CHANGES IN SOUTHEASTERN COAST INDIA: EVIDENCES FROM POLLEN AND SEDIMENTARY ARCHIVES OF NORTHEASTERN CAUVERY RIVER DELTA Jyoti Srivastava and Anjum Farooqui PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE EQUATORIAL REGION DURING EARLY PALEOGENE BASED ON THE DIVERSITY PATTERN OF MELIACEAE (MAHOGANY FAMILY) FOSSIL POLLEN RECORDS Jyoti Srivastava and Vandana Prasad (v)

13 A SUB-CENTENNIAL SCALE HOLOCENE CLIMATE RECORD FROM GARHWAL Pradeep Srivastava, Deepti Sharma, Rajesh Agnihotri, Narendra Meena, Anju Saxena, Ravi Bhushan and Y.P. Sundriyal A LATE MIOCENE FLORA FROM EASTERN TIBET AND ITS PALEOENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS Tao Su, He Xu, Shu-Feng Li and Zhe-Kun Zhou POLLEN-INFERRED LATE HOLOCENE VEGETATION AND CLIMATE OSCILLATION IN LOKTAK LAKE (RAMSAR SITE) OF MANIPUR, NORTHEAST INDIA Swati Tripathi and C.M. Nautiyal ASIAN SUMMER MONSOON VARIABILITY INFERRED FROM POLLEN RECORDS IN LAKE DEPOSITS OF SOUTH WEST YUNNAN, CHINA DURING SINCE ~ YRS BP Anjali Trivedi, Ye-Na Tang, Yi-Feng Yao, Anjum Farooqui, Alexandra H. Wortley, Stephen Blackmore and Cheng-Sen Li POLLEN GENUS DENSIVERRUPOLLENITES AS A MARKER FOR LATE EOCENE SEDIMENTS OF INDIA G.K. Trivedi and Parminder S. Ranhotra EFFECT OF FRESHWATER DISCHARGE ON MORPHOLOGICAL VARIATIONS WITHIN THE PERIDINIOID DINOFLAGELLATE CYSTS Premraj Uddandam, Vandana Prasad and Jyotsana Rai CENOZOIC CLIMATE AND VEGETATION PATTERNS IN EURASIA AN OUTLINE OF NECLIME RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGY Torsten Utescher and NECLIME members QUANTITATIVE RECONSTRUCTION FOR THE EARLY EOCENE CLIMATE, BASED ON EXCEPTIONALLY PRESERVED PALYNOMORPHS IN THE AMBER OF VASTAN LIGNITE, GUJARAT, INDIA Poonam Verma, Vandana Prasad and Torsten Utescher THE FIRST FOSSIL RECORD OF RING-CUPPED OAK (QUERCUS L. SUBGENUS CYCLOBALANOPSIS (OERSTED) SCHNEIDER) IN TIBET AND ITS PALEOENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS He Xu, Tao Su, Shi-Tao Zhang, Min Deng and Zhe-Kun Zhou AN INVENTORY OF GLACIAL LAKES IN THE THIRD POLE REGION AND THEIR CHANGES IN RESPONSE TO GLOBAL WARMING Guoqing Zhang,Tandong Yao,Weicai Wang and Wei Yang (vi)

14 SPATIO-TEMPORAL TRENDS OF TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION OVER THE INDIAN SUB-CONTINENT DURING Rajesh Agnihotri 1,* and Koushik Dutta 2 1 Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India 2 Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL60208, USA * rajagni9@gmail.com; rajesh.agnihotri@bsip.res.in Air temperatures and regional precipitation are two important components of climate and has major control over the socio-economic aspects of human civilizations. The first one and half decades of the 21 st Century turned out to be the warmest since the beginning of the instrumental record period, with 15 of the 16 warmest years in known history occurred between 2000 and Economy of the densely populated agrarian nations of the Indian sub-continent sensitively depends on seasonal rainfalls. Following the global trend, regional air temperatures over India have shown increasing trends especially after 1990s (Attri and Tyagi, 2010). Southwest monsoon rainfall for the core monsoon region of India show a decreasing trend after 1950 and that has been attributed to epochal variability of monsoon (Guhathakurta et al., 2014). In this study, we have analysed temperature and precipitation anomaly over the Indian subcontinent for the last fifteen years ( ) relative to period, vis-à-vis for the tropical Indian Ocean. Monthly time series of surface air temperatures over the Indian subcontinent, the tropical Indian Ocean Sea surface temperature (SST), and rain gauge based precipitations from Global Precipitation Climatology Center (GPCC v6; Schneider et al., 2014) were used (all datasets available from The analyses reveal some conspicuous changes in regional temperatures and precipitation over India and the tropical Indian Ocean over the last one and half decades. Based on observed changes, we attempt to assess what are the plausible scenarios for regional precipitation patterns in foreseeable future. For the grid region N; ºE covering most parts of central and eastern India, average air temperatures appear to have increased by ~0.4 to 0.6ºC for all the months except April, May, and June. Sea surface temperature (SSTs) over sub-equatorial India Ocean show warming of 0.5 to 0.6 ºC. The increasing temperatures over this part of northern Indian Ocean can induce reduced rainfall over Indian sub-continent owing to reduced land ocean thermal contrast (Roxy et al., 2015). Increasing tendency of air temperatures especially during pre-monsoon period (March to May) may have profound effect(s) on regional climatology including precipitation. Significant warming noticed over northwestern part of India extending from Jammu & Kashmir to Punjab and western Rajasthan. This warming could induce enhanced temperature gradient between the land mass of this region with respect to Bay of Bengal region and thereby may induce enhanced regional rainfall. As extreme rainfall event over northwest Himalayas in recent times appear to have enhanced (e.g. 2010, 2013; Ziegler et al., 2014), role of enhanced warming over the region must be investigated in more detail in order to understand possible hydrological impact(s) over the region. Hence, in this study we attempt to assess recent temperature and precipitation anomalies observed over Indian region in the background of concurrent anthropogenic global warming. References: Attri SD, Tyagi A Climate Profile of India, Meteorological Monograph No. Environment Meteorology-01/2010, India Meteorological Department, New Delhi, India. Guhathakurta P, Rajeevan M, Sikka DR, Tyagi A Observed changes in southwest monsoon rainfall over India during International Journal of Climatology, 35: Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 1

15 Schneider U, Becker A, Finger P, Meyer-Christoffer A, Ziese M, Rudolf B GPCC's new land surface precipitation climatology based on quality-controlled in situ data and its role in quantifying the global water cycle. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 115(1-2): Roxy MK, Kapoor R, Terray P, Murtugudde R, Ashok K, et al Drying of Indian subcontinent by rapid Indian Ocean warming and a weakening land-sea thermal gradient. Nature Communications 6:7423 Ziegler et al., 2014.Pilgrims, progress, and the political economy of disaster preparedness the example of the 2013 Uttarakhand flood and Kedarnath disaster. Invited commentary Hydrological Processes. 2 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

16 IDENTIFICATION OF AN EARLY EOCENE HYPERTHERMAL EVENT (ETM2, 53.7 MA) IN THE PANANDHRO LIGNITE DEPOSIT, KUTCH DISTRICT, GUJARAT, WESTERN INDIA Shailesh Agrawal *, Poonam Verma, M.R. Rao, R. Garg, V.V. Kapur and Sunil Bajpai Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India The early Paleogene lignite-associated sedimentary sequences exposed in several open cast lignite mines in the Gujarat and Rajasthan states of western India, continue to attract attention for their rich faunal and floral diversity, especially in view of their stratigraphic and paleogeographic context. The Panandhro Lignite Mine in the Kutch region of Gujarat is one such lignite sequence. While lignite-associated sedimentary deposits in other lignite mines have all been assigned a late Paleocene-early Eocene age, the Panandhro section has recently been dated as late middle Eocene (late Lutetian-early Bartonian). This has opened up the question of diachroneity in the age of the lignite deposits across western India. Here we present the results of combined carbon isotopic ( 13 C) and biostratigraphic (palynomorphs, dinoflagellates) investigations carried out in Panandhro section. The data reveals the presence of a sharp negative carbon isotope excursion in the middle part of the succession, correlated to the Eocene Thermal Maximum 2 (ETM2, 53.7 Ma), similar to the well known lignite mine section at Vastan. District Surat, Gujarat. This suggests that there is no significant age difference between the lignite successions in the Cambay and Kutch basins. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 3

17 INDIAN SUMMER MONSOON INFLUENCE ON PLANKTONIC FORAMINIFERA: A HIGH RESOLUTION STUDY FROM SOUTHEASTERN ARABIAN SEA SEDIMENT CORE Sivachandiran Alagudurai 1,*, Yoganandan Veeran 1 and Selvaraj Kandasamy 2 1 Department of Marine Sciences, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India 2 State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China geosiva1987@gmail.com, yoganandan1@gmail.com, selvaraj@xmu.edu.cn Investigation of abundances of microfossils, foraminifers and ostracods, in lacustrine and marine systems provide vital information to our understanding of ocean and climate systems during the past, and also useful for future projection of Earth's climate and environmental changes. Planktonic foraminifera, in particular, are widely used for palaeoclimatic and palaeoceanographic reconstructions, including sea surface conditions, on glacial-interglacial timescales. Here we focus our study on a 4.82 m gravity core, which was collected from the southeastern Arabian Sea at the water depth of 513 m during the 313 th Cruise of O.R.V. Sagar Kanya. The sediment core was sub-sampled at 1 cm intervals for the top 1 m and 2 cm interval for the rest of the core. In total, 291 sediment sub-samples were analyzed for oceanographically-important planktonic species such as Globigerina bulloides, Globigerinoides ruber and Neogloboquadrina dutertrei, using standard procedures. The percentage data of most abundant species are plotted against age in ka. Our results show that G. bulloides increase their abundances, whereas N. dutertrei decreases in the top 100 cm of core SK-313. The whole core profile of G. ruber shows a decreasing trend in top 100 cm, and thereafter it shows an increasing trend. Abundances of G. bulloides show an inverse relationship with the total contents of G. ruber. All these observations in the southeastern Arabian Sea indicate an increased upwelling and a shoaling of the thermocline due to increased Indian summer monsoon since the early Holocene to present. 4 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

18 A PRELIMINARY STUDY ON DIATOM DISTRIBUTION IN HIGH ALTITUDE OF ZANSKAR VALLEY, TRANS-HIMALAYA, LADAKH S. Nawaz Ali, Biswajeet Thakur, P. Mothekai, Binita Phartiyal and Anupam Sharma * Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India anupam.sharma@bsip.res.in Diatoms are unicellular algae and are often used as one of the important indicator in environmental studies of rivers, streams and lakes. Since diatoms respond directly and are sensitive to several biophysicochemical characteristics such as temperature, nutrient concentrations and herbivory of the river, stream and lake ecosystems, their distribution and assemblages (specific genera and species) help us to understand habitat conditions. Any change in physico-chemical parameters and resources like availability of sunlight, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) concentration and stressors (toxic substances) etc. determine their variability (genera/species composition in a given assemblage) in a given aquatic ecosystem. This variability in diatom community has been successfully exploited by workers to study the health of various ecosystems. In an exhaustive study, Stevenson (1997) has enlisted and organized many factors that directly affect diatoms distribution under varied climatic and spatial conditions. According to Stevenson (1997), in high altitude mountainous regions/terrains, effects of resources and stressors on the diatom assemblages can be largely constrained by climate, geology, and land use pattern. The pennate diatoms (benthic) are very significant for accurate assessment of ecosystem components, stream flow conditions and conductivity and ionic composition. The present study is based on the preliminary results carried out over twenty four (24) water samples collected during July-August 2015 from Zanskar Valley, Ladakh (~4500 amsl) to delineate the primary productivity (diatoms) changes in the lotic (river) and lentic (lake) environments and its abundance and diversity in extreme climatic regions. Among all water samples, 6 samples were taken from Penzi-la lake and 18 were from Zanaskar river. The diatom assemblages in the river samples are relatively low (less than 100 counts) dominated by Encyonema hustedtii and Achnanthidium minutissium which indicate moderate nutrient load in the water. The high gradient terrain characteristics having high water flow rates during the summer melting season may be the plausible reason for the lower abundance of the diatom community. However, the lake samples in this elevated terrain with still water show high diversity and counts. The samples are mainly dominated by benthic forms viz. Navicula erifuga, Navicula spp., Pinnularia virdis, Nitzschia linearis, N. palea, N. intermedia, Frustulia sp., Encyonema hustedtii and low occurrence of Hantzschia amphioxys, Achnanthidium minutissium, Craticula sp., Eunotia, Gomphonema etc. The abundance and diversity of diatoms indicate that the lake water has moderate nutrient richness for their proliferation. Our ongoing work on the physicochemical characterization of the water samples will help us to understand the relationship between the nutrient availability and diatom assemblages and also the role of climate, catchment and land use in overall distribution, which has wider implications. Reference: Stevenson, R. J. (1997). Scale-dependent causal frameworks and the consequences of benthic algal heterogeneity. Journal of the North American Benthological Society, 16, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 5

19 RETREAT PATTERN OF GLACIERS AND EVIDENCES OF NEO- TECTONISM: A STUDY OF GANGOTRI GLACIER, GARHWAL HIMALAYA, UTTRAKHAND, INDIA Ajay Kumar Arya, Ajai Mishra * and Antara Gupta Department of Geology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow , India Corresponding author: ajaimishra2007@yahoo.co.in Gangotri glacier is one of the largest valley glaciers situated in the Uttarkashi district of Garhwal Himalaya. The vertical and lateral retreat of glacier has been well marked by the presence of number of lateral and recessional moraines in the area. The systematic survey in the area was earlier carried out by Auden (1935) who has mapped the snout portion on 1:5000 scale (approx). Subsequently, the snout was surveyed and studied by various workers of Geological Survey of India from 1956 to They have noticed the variable rates of annual retreat of the snout since 1935 to 1990 from m/year to 27 to 30 m/year (Puri and Shukla, 1996). In the present study the area has been mapped from snout (Gaumukh) to Bhujbas on 1: 5000 scales and the annual rate of retreat of the snout has been calculated at 26.5 m/year, for the year The structural and lineament analyses of the Gangotri glacier area have been carried out on the basis of field observations and the interpretation of satellite imageries on different scales. The present paper deals with the identification and characteristics of these features and their impact on the retreat of the Gangotri glacier. Satellite data in conjunction with the field observations have helped in the identification of lineaments that are affecting the snout of the Gangotri glacier. The lineaments are weak zones, which make the snout of the glacier susceptible to disintegration into huge ice blocks. This removes the ice from the snout of the glacier in bulk and enhances its rate of recession. The fluctuations of Gangotri glacier are well indicated by the topographic features in the field as well as on satellite imageries. The high rate of recession of the Gangotri glacier and the pattern of snout front recession suggest that apart from the climatic factors as well as the neo-tectonics in the area has also played a major role in accelerating the rate of recession of the Gangotri glacier. 6 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

20 PRODUCTIVITY VARIATION PATTERN IN THE NE ARABIAN SEA DURING THE HOLOCENE Syed Azharuddin 1,*, Pawan Govil 1, A.D. Singh 2 and Ravi Mishra 3 1 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India. 2 Department of Geology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India. 3 National Centre of Antarctic and Oceanic Research, Vasco-da-Gama, Goa, India. azhar0606@bsip.res.in An attempt has been made to study pattern of productivity changes in the northeastern Arabian Sea during the Holocene on a high resolution time scale. We used foraminiferal and calcium carbonate proxy records in a 3.4 m long, AMS radiocarbon dated sediment core (SK-240/485) recovered from offshore Saurashtra for construction of palaeoproductivity record. Our study reveals that there have been three periods of major changes in the productivity during the Holocene; viz 1-5 Ka B.P. (late Holocene); 5-8 Ka B.P. (middle Holocene) and 8-12 Ka B.P. (early Holocene). The proxy records broadly suggest oligotrophic condition at the core location during the early Holocene period. We record productivity moderate and mesotrophic condition during the middle Holocene between 5 and 8 Ka BP. The productivity, however, relatively was high since 5 Ka to recent which suggests the eutrophic condition. High CaCO 3 percentage (%) corresponding to low foraminiferal abundance during the early Holocene may be due to the presence of aragonite pellets of CaCO 3 % as has been reported earlier. This suggests the possible presence of fifty fathom tectonic flat and related neotectonic activity in the area, which could be a reason of high CaCO 3 % in sediment in spite of low biological productivity condition during this period. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 7

21 TERTIARY MAMMAL FAUNAS OF INDIA: AN OVERVIEW OF RECENT ADVANCES Sunil Bajpai Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India Explosion of research in the early Tertiary mammals of India has attracted widespread interest in recent years because of the importance of this fauna in understanding the origin and early history of modern mammal orders as well for its paleobiogeographic and paleogeographic implications. This fauna assumes all the more significance when seen in the context of the widely accepted early Tertiary initiation of India-Asia collision, one of the most profound tectonic events in India s geological history, which saw the gradual withdrawal of the Tethys Sea and eventual suturing of the two landmasses. Although late Paleocene terrestrial mammals are yet to be discovered in the Indian subcontinent, investigations carried out over the past decade or so have brought into focus the importance of the Indian Eocene mammal faunas in the intensely debated issue concerning the biogeographic origins and early dispersal patterns of several modern groups. Appearing abruptly approximately 10 million years after the Deccan intertrappean mammal fauna of K- Pg age, the early Eocene terrestrial mammals in the Indian subcontinent have been documented in recent years from the Cambay Shale deposits in the open cast lignite mines of Vastan, Surat District in the Gujarat state of western India. Slightly younger early Eocene mammals are also known from the Ghazij Formation (50-54 Ma) in the Baluchistan Province of Pakistan. The mammal zone in the Cambay Shale is sandwiched between Eocene Thermal Maximum 2 (ETM2) and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), which makes them the oldest (~54.5 Ma) known Cenozoic mammals of South Asia. This mammal fauna comprises over 10 diverse orders including artiodactyls, perissodactyls, primates (the APP taxa), creodonts, condylarths, apatotherians, proteutherians, rodents, bats, lagomorphs, tillodonts, and possible marsupials. Several of these groups, especially the APP taxa, appeared almost simultaneously across the northern continents during the intense warming interval at PETM (~55.5 Ma). The Vastan section has yielded not only an exceptionally well-preserved treasure trove of placental mammals, but also fish, frogs, squamates, birds, ostracods, foraminifera, as well as insects and plant remains preserved in a low-energy, coastal marsh-bay complex of mangrove swamps under humid climate. The Vastan mammal fauna nearly coincides in age with the initiation of India-Asia collision, hence the biogeographic affinities of some of the recovered taxa (e.g. hyaenodontids, rodents) may potentially constrain the timing of India s first overland terrestrial faunal exchanges with Eurasia. The exact route and the timing of such exchanges is not yet resolved but it appears that a subareal contact of some kind may have been established between these landmasses by ~55 Ma. Most significantly, the fossil data from India supports the idea of the Gondwanan Indian origin (i.e. the Out-of-India hypothesis) for some of the modern terrestrial orders such as the Perissodactyla whose antiquity can be traced back to the Indian genus Cambaytherium. A similar scenario is likely for additional groups such as the omomyoid and adapoid euprimates (and possibly even anthropoids), whose early history can be phylogenetically traced to the Indian taxa Marcgodinotius and Vastanomys. Equally significant is the recently described tapiroid Cambaylophus from Vastan, the oldest South Asian record of this group. An Out-of-India has also been documented for several plant groups. The next younger terrestrial mammal fauna in the Indian subcontinent is long known from the early Middle Eocene ( 48Ma) Subathu Formation of NW Himalaya and the correlative sequences in Pakistan. 8 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

22 This fauna records the establishment of stable dispersal corridors between India and Asia, as indicated by the appearance of large mammals of Asian affinity such as rhinoceroses and brontotheres. Significantly, the early middle Eocene interval also saw the endemic diversification of certain groups like anthracobunids and raoellid artiodactyls. The former group has recently been removed from Tethytheria and reinterpreted as stem perissodactyls along with cambaytheres, whereas the latter family (raoellids), represented by the semi-aquatic Indohyus, is closely tied to the origin of whales, as a sister taxon to the order Cetacea. Indeed, in recent years, fossil finds from the Indian subcontinent spanning the interval from ~42-50 Ma have elucidated what is now one of the best understood examples of macroevolution, the origin of whales from a four-footed land mammal. The first steps of this major evolutionary transition from a land mammal to obligate marine predators have been substantially documented by the Eocene cetacean families of the Indian subcontinent: Pakicetidae, Ambulocetidae, Remingtonocetidae, Protocetidae, as well as their artiodactyl sister group, the Raoellidae. The excellent fossil record from India has allowed a comprehensive study of the evolution of the various organ systems involved in whale origins, including locomotion, hearing, balance, feeding and osmoregulation. Another major group where fossil finds from India have contributed significantly in recent years is the Order Sirenia that comprises marine herbivorous mammals (dugongs, manatees, and their relatives) with a fossil record encompassing most of the last 50 million years and most of the formerly tropical and subtropical latitudes. Well-preserved and diagnostic cranial material of fossil sirenians described from the Eocene through Miocene sequences of Kutch, western India has added significantly to our understanding of the past taxonomic and ecological diversity of this order. An important puzzle in the sirenian evolution that needs to be resolved is the fact that although Eocene deposits in India have produced members of both the families Protosirenidae and Dugongidae (Subfamily Halitheriinae), the post-eocene sirenians of this region are only dugongids (Subfamily Dugonginae). Another important recent find, with considerable potential for future discoveries, is a diverse terrestrial mammal fauna, both mega and micro, from Kutch, encompassing much of the Miocene. New and recently described fossil material from Kutch comprises an admixture of terrestrial, estuarine and marine elements with a wide range of taxa including freshwater and marine fishes, crocodilians, turtles, snakes and a large variety of land mammals such as proboscideans (deinotheriids, mammutids and gomphotheriids), perissodactyls (rhinocerotids), artiodactyls (anthracotheriids, tragulids, ruminants, suids, sanitheriids) and rodents (murids, cricetids). Overall, this fauna and associated fossils clearly attest to a tropical to sub-tropical, warm paleoclimate in a depositional setting close to the sea, and it has important implications for biostratigraphy, palaeoenvironment, palaeoclimate and biogeographic affinities of the region. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 9

23 EVALUATING GEOCHEMICAL PROXIES FOR PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION IN TROPICAL MONTANE PEAT: A CASE STUDY FROM NILGIRIS, SOUTHERN INDIA P. Ramya Bala 1,2,*, K. Sajeev 1, R. Sukumar 2 1 Centre for Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru , India 2 Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru , India pramyabala@gmail.com; ramya@ces.iisc.ernet.in The understanding of climate on monsoonal variability and vegetation is imperative and this is achieved through studies of terrestrial and marine archives. Peat cores have been popular archives for paleoenvironmental reconstruction using diverse proxies for over a century now. Peat, though discontinuous and limited, is primarily composed of vegetation and offers a valuable insight into the response of vegetation to climate and precipitation. Peat is rare and severely understudied in the tropics. The montane peat bogs of the Nilgiris, southern India have been found to preserve global climatic signals including the Holocene Optimum and the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). At this site, we undertook an exploration of paleoenvironmental proxies for high resolution reconstruction. The study consisted of 3 main objectives, 1. Establishing a high resolution chronology for the peat profile using radiocarbon dating, 2. Exploring decomposition indices for vegetation and climate information and 3. Using elemental profiles to establish the utility of inorganic geochemical proxies for tracking processes such as weathering and dust transport. Sample collection was done using a D-type Belarussian peat corer, half a metre in length and 5 cm in width. Cores were collected as discrete overlapping units till 3.7 m depth, frozen on site and sliced into ~1 cm (Core 1) and ~2 cm (Core 2) thickness using a band saw for various analyses. Core 1 and Core 2 are slightly different in accumulation owing to their position in the valley and their different sampling resolutions. High resolution chronology for the site was built using Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates. To improve accuracy of the age-depth model, we also tested 4 samples for the effects of the AAA (Acid-Alkali-Acid) extraction method, the most common pre-treatment method for peat in the world. We compared ages on bulk samples (acid washed) and AAA treated samples from 4 different depths. We found that for all depths, the ages of the untreated samples do not lie within the internal uncertainty window and differ from the AAA treated sample age by at least an order of magnitude of the internal error, if not more. Based on these results we argue that the internal error should be used in conjunction with a reliable estimate of external error in an age-depth model for more realistic dating of palaeoclimatic events. From the radiocarbon chronology, it was observed that the cores showed multiple reversals. We found that both cores show a gradual decrease in the accumulation rate from >30 ka throughout the glacial period. The slowest accumulation is observed between ~ 25 ka and ~7 ka in Core 1 and ~9 ka in Core 2. Following this, the age-depth curve shows a sharp change in slope, showing a transition to high accumulation up to the current period. This is consistent with previous studies in the same basin as well as other studies in India which support a lower productivity during the LGM due to weakening of the summer monsoon. C/N ratios were explored for their paleoclimatic potential in conjunction with Rock-Eval indices and it was found that decomposition in tropical peat, as opposed to temperate peat, may not be sensitive to climatic perturbations. Decomposition indices show seemingly contrasting results with C/N ratio showing higher decomposition during Holocene whereas Rock-Eval indices show increasing decomposition with depth, not significantly affected by climatic perturbations. Further analysis is required to ascertain these 10 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

24 trends are impending. However at this stage, the results indicate that the decomposition processes may not be primarily determined by climatic conditions, but by time since burial. Inorganic geochemical proxies were also evaluated through this study. We see that the major and trace elements do not show significant trends for paleoenvironmental interpretation. But the Lanthanide series show some promise for identifying potential sources of dust and weathered material. The Lanthanide series shows some strong trends with depth which after careful experimentation on the various peat phases could be developed as a proxy in the Indian context in order to differentiate sources from dust, bedrock and hydrology. Our study has addressed the gap in knowledge about the utility of recent geochemical proxies in tropical peat and has attempted to provide a solution to improve reliability in constructing age-depth models; in turn improving accuracy of the chronology for paleoclimate reconstruction. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 11

25 CHARACTERIZATION OF MODERN POLLEN ASSEMBLAGE ON PASHUMARA SWAMP AND RANGA RESERVE FOREST IN NORTH LAKHIMPUR DISTRICT OF ASSAM, INDIA Sadhan Kumar Basumatary Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India A palynological dataset has been documented on Pashumara swamp and Ranga reserve forest to characterize the flooded and non-flooded region in relation to current vegetation. The palynodata showed that the Pashumara swamp was an admixture of arboreal local and extra-local taxa and not fully cohere with current vegetation. The various pollen distributions were observed in connection to study sites and confirmed that pollen deposition pattern in swamp depends on parent plant growth, flood activity, human activity and vegetation of vicinity area. The presence of broken pollen in the swamp sediments was observed which strongly indicates the long distance water activity. The pollen assemblage of Ranga reserve forest located in non-flooded area was also observed to display modern pollen and vegetation relationship and identification of local arboreal taxa in the region. The main forest elements include Syzigium, Terminalia, Albizia, and Emblica in the palynoassemblage are suggestive of the tropical deciduous forest under warm and humid climate. The abundance of pollen clumping in the palynoassemblage was observed due to local origin and entomophily. This palynodata will be helpful to identify the flooded and non-flooded area in the northeast India and to interpret palaeovegetation and past climate in relation to palaeoflood episodes through the swamp sedimentary soil profile in the region and to correlate other tropical flood prone region of the world. 12 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

26 GRASS PHYTOLITH ASSEMBLAGES ALONG THE TROPICAL- TEMPERATE ELEVATION GRADIENT OF THE EASTERN HIMALAYAS, INDIA: ASSESSING THE RELIABILITY OF PHYTOLITH INDICES FOR CLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION Oindrila Biswas 1,*, Ruby Ghosh 2, Biswajit Mukherjee 1 and Subir Bera 1 1 Centre of Advanced study, Palaeobotany-Palynology Laboratory, Department of Botany, University of Calcutta, 35, Ballygunge Circular Road, Kolkata , India 2 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India oindrila11@gmail.com, berasubir@yahoo.co.in Grasses are significant components of all the major vegetation types of the world and are excellent climate indicators. They accumulate significant amount of biogenic silica in the form of phytoliths. The use of grass phytolith data relies on the ability of phytolith assemblages or indices to differentiate the elevationally stratified vegetation zones while documenting the vegetation responses to climate changes in the mountains. To infer the potential and limitations of grass phytolith assemblages and indices to reconstruct vegetation vis-à-vis climate in the eastern Himalayan regions, we analyzed phytolith assemblages from 66 dominant grasses and 153 surface soils from four different forest types along the c. 130 to 4000 m a.s.l elevation gradients in the Darjeeling and Arunachal Himalayas. It was observed that with increasing elevation, frequency of phytolith morphotypes were altered; in tropical zone (up to 900m) bilobates were predominant and as we approached towards temperate to sub-alpine vegetation zone (above 1800 m) rondels found to predominate, though few variations were noticed in some collection sites. To test the reliability of the above observation, phytoliths from the soil samples were subjected to linear discriminant analysis (DA). DA classified 85.3% and 92.3% of the sites to their correct vegetation zones in the Darjeeling and Arunachal Himalayas respectively. Relative abundance of bilobate, cross, short saddle, plateau saddle, rondel and trapeziform types allow discrimination of the phytolith assemblages along the elevation gradient. We also tested the reliability of phytolith indices (Ic, Iph and Fs) for tracing the dominance of different grass subfamilies in the eastern Himalayas. The phytolith index Ic proves to be effective proxy and Iph and Fs seem to be less reliable in eastern Himalayas as it is a highly monsoon dominated area. We also observed that modification in Ic index (by including the plateau saddles) may enhance the accuracy of interpretations of this index. Phragmites spp. (C3 grass) are dominant grass taxa growing throughout the eastern Himalayas producing medium/plateau saddle and thus the said grass short cell phytolith found in significant frequency in all the vegetation zones along the elevation gradient. Therefore, the inclusion of medium saddles in Ic index improves the positive coefficient both in Darjeeling and Arunachal Himalayas. Moreover, the efficacy of the modified Ic index named as eastern Himalayan climatic index (EhIc) were tested in a sub-surface profile collected from sixth mile, Darjeeling Himalaya and it shows that this modified index works efficiently. Thus we propose this modified index (EhIc) in reconstructing past climate of eastern Himalayan region. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 13

27 THE ENVIRONMENT OF HOMO ERECTUS IN JAVA CLIMATE AND VEGETATION RECONSTRUCTIONS BASED ON POLLEN DATA FROM THE SANGIRAN HUMAN FOSSIL SITE Angela Bruch and Christine Hertler ROCEEH Research Centre, Senckenberg Research Institute, Senckenberganlage 25, Frankfurt am Main, Germany The human fossil site Sangiran in Java, Indonesia, is among the richest hominid localities outside Africa. The site is located in the central part of the island characterized by a seasonal monsoon climate. Its deposits cover an uninterrupted sequence of sediments ranging in age from Early to Middle Pleistocene. The regressive depositional environment changes over time from shallow marine (Puren Formation) to lagoonal (Sangiran Fm.) to fluviatile-terrestrial (Bapang Fm.), with fossils of Homo erectus in the upper part. Published pollen records represent most of this succession and have been the base for quantitative analyses of climate and vegetation. Climate data reflect tropical conditions slightly less seasonal than today except for a phase most probably related to the first cooling event after the Mid Pleistocene Transition. Translated into Köppen classification this phase is equivalent to a transitional monsoonal climate (Am) as it occurs today in Central and Eastern Java, whereas Western Java experiences a fully humid tropical climate (Af) today like it is reconstructed for the older parts of the succession. The biome reconstruction shows a shift during latest Early Pleistocene from tropical evergreen broadleaf forest to warm-temperate evergreen broadleaf and mixed forest and back. However, the trend from Af to Am climate and back occurs earlier than the changes observed in the vegetation, which may indicate the influence of edaphic conditions on stabilizing the vegetation. The presence of Homo erectus is related to that part of the succession which reveals a higher seasonality of precipitation and higher abundances of mixed forest elements. The environment at that time appears to be more dynamic than before which might be related to the global climatic onset of the Mid Pleistocene Transition. 14 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

28 APPLICATION OF ORGANIC GEOCHEMISTRY IN UNDERSTANDING TERRESTRIAL AND MARINE PRODUCTIVITY VARIATION: 300 KY RECORD FROM THE BAY OF BENGAL R. DaSilva 1, A. Mazumdar 1*, R.K. Joshi 2, A. Shaji 3, Mary Ann Carvalho 4, P. Mahalakshmi 5 and B.G. Naik 1 1 CSIR, National Institute of Oceanography , India 2 Geological Survey of India, Kolkata , India 3 Centre for Marine Living Resources & Ecology , India 4 Diectorate of Mines and Geology, Panaji, Goa, India 5 Flat No. CS-1, Block-C, Astral Garden, Panaji, Goa , India maninda@nio.org Terrestrial and Marine organic productivities are strongly coupled to the climatic and oceanographic variabilities like pco 2, rainfall, temperature, oceanic upwelling etc. It is intriguing to explore if the two distinct domains of productivities are temporally linked and can be controlled by some common climatic parameters. In order to understand this we carried out relatively high resolution vertical profiles of total inorganic carbon (TIC wt%), TOC (wt%), TOC/TN ratios, δ 13 C TOC values and lipid chemistry from a core MD (lat: E/ long: N; W.D = 1480 m) acquired off the Mahanadi basin, Bay of Bengal onboard R/V Marion Dufrense (May 2007). Based on the AMS 14 C dates and δ 18 O (Globigerinoides ruber) values the maximum depositional age of the core is estimated at ~300 ky covering 8 marine isotope stages. The age depth model for sediment core is obtained from the correlation of δ 18 O profile with the SPECMAP data. The TIC content ranges from ~0.01 to ~5.63 wt%. Several well defined TIC peaks are recognized in the profile. The δ 13 C TOC values range from to VPDB. The δ 13 C TOC values show significant vertical variation which can be linked to the nature of terrestrial organic flux (i.e., C 3 vs C 4) and marine productivity. TOC/TN ratios range from (avg: 11±2.6). The δ 13 C TOC values show remarkable correlation with temporal pco 2 change. Additional effects like rainfall/aridity and temperature etc., possibly superimposed on the broad δ 13 C TOC variation at MIS scale. Remarkable correlation with 12 C enrichment in TOC and enhanced TIC content (high content of foraminifera) is observed throughout the core. We presume that the increase in marine productivity during LGM is due to increased regional aridity and decreased stratification resulting from a weak southwest monsoon. Arid terrestrial condition resulted in proliferation of C 4 grass type vegetation. On the other hand low average TOC/TN ratio and presence of short chain alkane (< C 25 ) in significant concentrations suggest marine organic contribution. Our future study is aimed at high resolution lipid chemistry of the organic content which will help in the understanding of the nature of terrestrial organic loading, marine productivity variation through various marine isotope stages. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 15

29 LOW LATITUDE MIGRATION PATTERNS OF SHARED ASIAN AND AMERICAN TROPICAL FLORAL ELEMENTS THEIR EARLY EVOLUTION AND DISPERSAL David Dilcher Department of Geology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA Many tropical angiosperm taxa have ancient lineages dating back to the early radiation of flowering plants. Molecular and fossil data place several taxa among the Basal angiosperms that were diversifying about 127 ma, before and during the early emergence of the Basal Eudicotyledons. At this time the Atlantic oceans were opening; separating South America from Africa and North America from the island region that became Europe and Central Asia. During the mid-cretaceous, the Late Cretaceous and into the Paleogene, the Tethys Seaway served as a corridor connecting tropical Asia with the islands of Europe to the northwest and northern Africa to the southwest. These island/land connections extended westward to the Americas. As the Atlantic opened further during the later Cretaceous and Paleogene, the Tethys Seaway extended westward reaching to southeastern North America and northern South America. The presence of Welwitschia, currently restricted to southern Africa, which is found in the Lower Cretaceous of Brazil as well as in some contemporaneous angiosperm remains found in lower Cretaceous sediments in Brazil, North Africa and Portugal, demonstrate these ancient land connections and their importance for plant migration patterns. This low latitude east-west tropical corridor allowed tropical angiosperms to move between Asia and the Americas, early in their evolution. These early migrations formed the disjunct distributions which can also be seen in the relationships of some floristic elements found in the Paleocene and Eocene plant fossils of southeastern North America, Europe and Asia. These relationships are tied to plants currently living in tropical Asia, South America and Africa. Common elements are also shared in the Paleocene and Eocene pollen floras of these regions. Taxa found in the fossil record of Cenozoic sediments in southeastern North America include remains of Dugetia in the Annoniaceae, now found in South America and Africa; Gordonia in the Theaceae, now found in South America and tropical Asia, Nypa, now found only as a mangrove palm in tropical southeast Asia, Podocarpus now living in Central and South American mountains and many more. These represent just a few of the tropical floristic elements shared between Asia and the Americas that are best understood as taxa that migrated along the low latitude islands/lands bordering the Tethys Seaway rather than moving over a seasonally cool/cold high latitude route. This could explain the disjunct distributions of tropical American and Asian plants today. Here I propose the hypothesis of Low Latitude Migration Patterns for many of the disjunct truly tropical genera found in the American and Asian tropics today rather than by the migrations of these taxa over a temperate Bering Sea or cooler North Atlantic land bridges. Currently much of the published research has been organized around support of high latitude migrations of both temperate and tropical plant disjunct taxa. This needs to be reconsidered in regard to the ecological tolerance of the taxa involved and the ecology of the routes being proposed. Because of the extreme tropical nature of some of these plants, it is questionable that so many tropical taxa could have migrated between the tropical Americas and tropical Asia even during the most extreme Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). Not all the genera shared between Asia and North and South America were tropical or limited in their migrations to tropical environments and used high latitude migration routes. Therefore the present distributions of the genera of several families should be viewed as a complex mix of migrations at different times and through different environments. There most probably was no one route, either low latitude or high latitude, that would accommodate all the diverse genera shared between Asia and the Americas. The early 16 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

30 evolution of many taxa during the Cretaceous and their migrations can be seen in the shared taxa of the Cretaceous and early Cenozoic between Asia, European island land areas and North America which are shared tropical genera. On the other hand, as the Atlantic Ocean opened further many later evolving tropical taxa have more restricted distributions. The Paleocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum allowed the more temperate taxa high latitude migration routes between Asia and North America. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 17

31 THE DIVERSIFICATION AND EXTINCTION OF NYPA POLLEN DURING QUATERNARY PERIOD IN INDIA Anjum Farooqui 1 and T.Y. Naidu 2* 1 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India 2 Department of Geology, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, India afarooqui_2000@yahoo.com The fossil record of modern Nypa (Spinizonocolpites) and other palm pollen show much diversity in Africa and South America during Late Cretaceous as compared to records from India and south-east Asia. The depauperate modern records of palms, especially Nypa from the Old World and along the Indian coastline is largely the result of climatic extremes and changes in the deltaic ecology induced by relative sea level fluctuations in the past. We record 24 pollen morphotypes resembling Spinizonocolpites of Palaeogene- Neogene time period and about six morphotypes resembling pollen of Arecaceae family post LGM in a deep borehole of about 200m depth from Godavari delta in the south east coast of India in the beginning of Holocene ~10 ka. The sediment deposition took place in the near shore marshy tidal flat and tidal channel. However, during the middle Holocene only six pollen morphotypes were recorded which show close resemblance with the modern Nypa. The relatively low and high Nypa species in the studied core varied perhaps due to change in coastal ecology induced by the fluctuating sea level during the past. Out of all the species recorded post LGM only Nypa fruticans show its existence during Middle Holocene in the south east coast. At present, Nypa is extinct from the entire south-east coast with its occurrence is only in Sunderbans and Andaman and Nicobar islands. The extinction of rich Nypa diversity from the Indian peninsula reducing to just one species took place during Late Holocene due to climatic adversity coupled with anthropogenic activities along the coastal region leading to high salinity in the ecosystem. 18 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

32 FLORISTIC DIVERSITY OF THE NAWABGUNJ WETLAND IN UTTAR PRADESH Arti Garg Botanical Survey of India, Central Regional Centre, 10-Chatham Lines, Allahabad , India. The Nawabgunj wetland constitutes a small wetland of hectares in the upper gangetic plains of Uttar Pradesh at 27º 2" North and 80º to 81º East, and was recognized as a bird sanctuary in It is divided into six zones, the eco-restoration zone for maintaining biodiversity equilibrium, ecodevelopment zone with restricted access, intermittent tourism zone, adjoining buffer zone which surrounds the submerged, water logged core zone. Studies on its floristic diversity and microclimate revealed the occurrence of 219 angiosperm species under 150 genera and 68 families with rich concentration of aquatic plants. Dicots were dominant with 108 genera, herbs constituted 173 species concentrated mainly in core and buffer zones. There were 19 shrubs, 19 trees, 6 climbers, 1 twiner and a single palm tree. The families Fabaceae, Asteraceae, Acanthaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Polygonaceae, Cyperaceae and Poaceae were dominant while 85 species of plants were found to be economically valuable as edibles, medicines, firewood, timbre and for making baskets from fibres. Occurrence of Acacia nilotica and Prosopis juliflora within pond islands was instrumental in attracting the Asian openbill storks, the most dominant migratory birds of the sanctuary, as these plants were used for making nests. Invasive alien elements constituted 87 species mainly of pantropical origin as well as from Australia, Africa, Europe, Mediterranean, Neotropical and Palaeotropical regions. Dominant among these were members of Asteraceae, Amaranthaceae, Fabaceae, Poaceae and Malvaceae. The invasives species had a two way impact on the wetland ecosystem, while some species served as avian food, nest site and nest material, others such as Eichhornia crassipes, Ipomoea carnea, Nymphaea nouchali and Typha angustifolia spread gregariously causing biomass accumulation, shrinkage and diminished oxygen in the lake body creating eutrophic conditions. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 19

33 AN OVERVIEW OF EARLY MIOCENE TO LATE PLIOCENE PALAEOCLIMATE: EVIDENCE FROM ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR BASIN BASED ON SILICEOUS AND CALCAREOUS MICROFOSSILS Amit K. Ghosh and Arindam Chakraborty Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India A series of geologic and climatic events occurred during the Neogene in different parts of the world. The same was also witnessed in the southern and southeastern Asian regions including the Andaman-Nicobar Islands. The Neogene sequence is exposed in isolated islands of the Andaman and Nicobar Basin. It represents thick deposition of marine sediments rich in microfossils. However, there are lithological variations viz., mudstones, clay, siltstones, nanno-foram chalk, algal-foraminiferal limestones etc., as observed in different outcrops of different ages ranging from early Miocene (Burdigalian) to late Pliocene (Piacenzian). Owing to lithological variations, microfossil content in the sediments also differs. As the past climatic variability reflects the key for understanding the recent and future climate changes, past climatic changes deciphered by micropalaeontological parameters is very useful. The present analysis deals with the results of micropalaeontological investigations carried out from different outcrops of Havelock, Neil, Little Andaman (Hut Bay) and Car Nicobar islands. Havelock Island in the South Andaman is the largest island of the Ritchie s Archipelago and according to regional chronostratigraphic divisions, Jarawaian, Inglisian, Ongeian and Havelockian stages are represented in this island. Burdigalian to Langhian (Jarawaian and Inglisian stages) sediments chiefly composed of soft, creamish-white nanno-foram chalk exposed near the Kalapathar beach of the Havelock Island yielded age diagnostic, well preserved diatoms, nannofossils (NN 4 - NN 5 Zone) and marker radiolarians of RN3 and 4 zones. Seven regional chronostratigraphic stages viz., Jarawaian, Inglisian, Ongeian, Havelockian, Neillian, Sawaian and Taipian have been identified in the Little Andaman Island (Hut Bay). Serravallian and Tortonian sediments exposed in two different localities (Hut Bay Quarry No. 4 and a cliff adjacent to the Butler Bay) yielded calcareous algae, foraminifera (both benthic and planktic) and other biogenic components in thin sections. Serravallian and Tortonian ages (Ongeian and Havelockian stages) have been assigned to the Hut Bay Quarry and Butler Bay sections based on the planktic foraminiferal zonations N12 and N13 respectively. In the Neil Island of the Ritchie s Archipelago, chronostratigraphically two regional stages - Neillian and Sawaian are represented. The Tortonian sediments (Neillian Stage) exposed in the cliffs of Neil East Coast and Cave Point are rich in well preserved diatoms along with radiolarians. Based on planktic foraminifera (N18 Zone), nannofossils (NN11 Zone) and radiolarians (RN8 and 9 zones) the relative age determination has been confirmed. Car Nicobar Island belonging to the Nicobar Group is represented by two regional chronostratigraphic stages viz., Sawaian and Taipian. For the present micropalaeontological analysis, two very well defined outcrops have been taken into consideration. From the type section of Sawai Bay Formation pertaining to Zanclean age (Sawaian Stage) outcropped near Mus Jetty, well preserved diatoms, radiolarians, silicoflagellates and sponge spicules have been recovered, though their diversity and abundance are very low. In this island, Piacenzian sediments of the Guitar Formation (Taipian Stage) exposed near the sea shore, adjacent to Kakana village is characterized by well preserved coralline algae and benthic foraminifera as observed in thin sections. 20 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

34 The different diatom assemblages recovered from various ages have been categorized into palaeoecological zones and these have been demarcated with the help of CONISS cluster analysis and further reasserted by SHEBI analysis. PCA has been carried out to test the relatedness of the samples. The benthic/planktic ratio of the diatoms indicates a clear picture of sea level fluctuations. In fact, diatoms are effective proxies for climate change due to their sensitivity to a variety of ecological conditions. Past climatic variability can be assumed by the changes in species abundance, as the ecological requirements are well known for a number of indicator species of diatoms. Abundance of diatoms indicates nutrient rich condition and perhaps it reflects towards the active monsoonal condition during late Miocene. Moreover, the dominance of ocean upwelling diatom taxa in the late Miocene (Tortonian) indicates intense monsoonal activity during that time. However, there are variations in the studied outcrops where the dominance of ocean upwelling species decreases that indicate a comparatively weaker monsoonal activity. Specifically during early to middle Miocene (Burdigalian to Langhian) and early Pliocene (Zanclean), there are evidences of low diversity and preponderance of diatoms, radiolarians and other biogenic siliceous organisms. The reduced diversity and abundance of siliceous microfossils may be due to nutrient deficit conditions and poor sediment influx from terrigenous sources. Explicitly this episode may also be correlated with the biogenic silica crash at about 6 Ma owing to closure of Indonesian Through flow (ITF). So, it can be inferred that during the late Miocene, Indonesian Gateway was open and this part of the Northern Indian Ocean was well connected with the South Equatorial Current. However, early Pliocene may be earmarked as the recovery phase of biogenic silica as evident from the present analysis of siliceous microfossils from the Zanclean sediments of the Car Nicobar Island. The assemblages of calcareous algae (that includes both coralline red algae and halimedacean green algae) and benthic as well as planktic foraminifera recorded from the Serravallian, Tortonian and Piacenzian sediments of Little Andaman (Hut Bay) and Car Nicobar islands indicate a fairly conducive benthic environment for the survival of the algal forms along with other biogenic components. Variety of characteristic growth-forms and taphonomic features have been noticed in the coralline algal taxa. Several biofacies have been identified from the three outcrops of Little Andaman (Hut Bay) and Car Nicobar islands. Moderate environmental interference, hydrodynamic conditions and availability of substrate may have played a major role in determining the diversity of calcareous algae. The overall coralline algal and benthic foraminiferal assemblages indicate a shallow to relatively deeper bathymetry of approximately 20 to 40 m that corresponds to a more or less moderate to slightly higher hydrodynamic activity. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 21

35 MODERN NON-POLLEN PALYNOMORPHS FROM SURFACE SEDIMENTS ALONG A TROPICAL SUB-ALPINE ELEVATION GRADIENT IN DARJEELING, EASTERN HIMALAYAS AND THEIR INDICATIVE VALUE IN PALEOECOLOGICAL RECONSTRUCTION Ruby Ghosh 1,*, Subir Bera 2, Krishnendu Acharya 2 and Narayan Ghorai 3 1 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India 2 Centre of Advanced Study, Department of Botany, University of Calcutta, 35, Ballygunge Circular Road, Kolkata , India 3 West Bengal State University, Barasat, Kolkata , West Bengal, India rubyghosh06@gmail.com In spite of the growing popularity of non-pollen palynomorphs as proxy having ecological values from different parts of the globe including two very prominent mountainous regions like the Pyrenees and Andes, their efficacy have merely been tested in the ecological studies from the Himalayas- the home for nine of the ten highest peaks on Earth, where climate ranges from tropical at the base of the mountains to permanent ice and snow at the highest elevations showing consequent variations in the flora and fauna. To improve palaeoecological interpretations of NPPs, modern analogue studies are even more essential and are very rare from this region. To fill this gap, here we analyzed surface samples from an altitudinal transect c. 132 to 3569 m a.s.l along the tropical sub-alpine vegetation zones from Darjeeling, eastern Himalaya to understand the principal factors (whether anthropogenic or environmental) involved in sedimentation of these NPPs and to obtain a modern analogue model of NPPs from the eastern Himalayan region. A total of 66 taxa including algae, fungi and zoological remains are found. We have considered here only the taxa which could be identified up to certain taxonomic rank to link their ecological preferences with the floristic and climatic variability. Algal and zoological remains are significantly observed in the top soil samples collected from the river and/or lake beds of the tropical and sub-alpine zones, while fungal remains are well represented throughout the transect. The known environmental preferences of some of the fungi allowed us to draw inferences on particular ecological features. The elevation zonation of the fungal spores are well corroborated with the variations of the forest types along the transect. To explore the reason behind the observed variability of the NPPs, we may ignore the sample type effect as we selected only top soil samples from the entire transect, however, effects of habitat, elevation and climate cannot be overruled. This study is the first step towards the utility of modern analogue surveys of NPPs which may help interpreting palaeoecological data especially from the eastern Himalayan region. 22 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

36 PALEODIET OF HOMO ERECTUS IN EARLY PLEISTOCENE OF SANGIRAN Susanne Haupt 1,2, Tina Lüdecke 3, Christine Hertler 1,2, Angela Bruch 1,2, Andreas Mulch 3 and Friedemann Schrenk 4 1 Research Centre The role of culture in early expansions of humans (ROCEEH), Senckenberg Research Institute, Frankfurt am Main, Germany 2 ROCEEH Research Centre, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Heidelberg, Germany 3 Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Frankfurt am Main, Germany 4 Department of Palaeoanthropology and Messel Research, SenckenbergResearch Institute,Frankfurt, Germany Susanne.Haupt@senckenberg.de The Sangiran dome is one of the richest hominid localities outside of Africa (Indriati, 2004). It covers a large time span from Early to Middle Pleistocene. The hominid fossil bearing layers at Sangiran are belongs to the upper part of the Sangiran, Grenzbank and the Bapang formations (Watanabe & Kadar 1985). This study focuses on the paleodiet of Homo erectus (S7-37) from Sangiran Formation. We took serial samples from the first molar and analyzed the carbon isotope signal. In this way we can detect dietary changes from the beginning to the end of the molar crown formation. The Homo erectus M1 took c. 2.5 years to crown completion, which starts shortly before the birth of this individual (Dean et al. 2001). Within our data we can identify the breastfeeding and weaning phase of Homo erectus. Therefore, we can analyze the chronological sequence of this specimen and features of the diet at every time step. With data from the pollen sequences and the Duboisiasanteng specimens we can analyze the environment and therefore determine which food resources occurred. So we can create possible diet compositions in different live stages of Homo erectus from Sangiran. References: Dean, C., Leakey, M. G., Reid, D., Schrenk, F., Schwartz, G. T., Stringer, C. and Walker, A. (2001) Growth processes in teeth distinguish modern humans from Homo erectus and earlier hominins. Nature 414: Indriati, E. (2004) Indonesia Fossil Hominid Discoveries from 1889 to 2003: Catalogue and Problems. In: Akiyama, S. et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 5 th and 6 th Symposia on Collection Building and Natural History Studies in Asia and the Pacific Rim, National Science Museum Monographs, Tokyo, Watanabe, N. and Kadar, D. (1985) Quaternary Geology of the Hominid Bearing Formations in Java. Spec. Pub. The Geological Research and Development Centre, Bandung 4, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 23

37 DUBOISIASANTENG FROM PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS AT SANGIRAN (JAVA, INDONESIA) AND ITS PALEOECOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE Christine Hertler 1,2, Susanne Haupt 1,2, Tina Lüdecke 3, Angela Bruch 1,2 and Andreas Mulch 3 1 ROCEEH Research Centre, Senckenberg Research Institute, Senckenberganlage 25, Frankfurt am Main, Germany 2 Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Karlstraße 4, Heidelberg, Germany 3 Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre BiK-F, Senckenberganlage 25, Frankfurt am Main, Germany christine.hertler@senckenberg.de Sangiran hominid site is among the most prolific hominin localities outside the Africa continent. All together 150 hominid fossils have been collected from this locality. Stratigraphically, the hominids are associated with a particular section of the sequence, which generally illustrates a transition from a coastal marine environment to a terrestrial riparian habitat. Although there is still considerable debate about the age of the sequence, the order of events is evident. The boselaphine antelope Duboisiasanteng represents an endemic taxon in the Pleistocene of Java. In the stratigraphic sequence in Sangiran it co-occurs with hominins. It is therefore important to understand the specific ecological signal indicated by its occurrence. In order to elucidate the ecology of the faunas in the hominid bearing layers, we reconstructed the paleoecological signal of Duboisiasanteng specimens. We reconstructed body masses and paleodiet. Our results show that Duboisia represents a medium-sized antelope whose diet is shifted towards the browsing end of the spectrum. The diet signal is quite variable and underlines that Duboisia was able to cope with variable conditions in its environment. Variability in the climate signal may be related to a change in vegetation caused by shifts between glacial and interglacial periods. Because of the high degree of averaging in the vertebrate fossil record we cannot resolve the signal in required detail. It is however possible to correlate the paleoenvironmental signal from Duboisia with other signals, for instance the one taken from the pollen record. 24 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

38 ANTHROPOGENIC AND CLIMATE IMPACTS ON THE PLANKTON COMMUNITY CHANGES AT DAGZE CO IN THE CENTRAL TIBETAN PLATEAU LAKE OVER THE PAST 600 YEARS Juzhi Hou and Jie Liang Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing , China Lake ecosystems are one of the most important terrestrial ecosystems on the Tibetan Plateau (TP), which play essential roles in regulating the ecological services and functions for the TP ecosystems. It is critical to understand the plankton community response to changes in climate (temperature, precipitation), environment (nitrogen, phosphorus) as well as human activities (grazing, nitrogen deposition). However, it remains unclear how the lake ecosystems on the TP respond to climate change and human activities due to lack of long-term dataset. Here we present various records from a sediment core at a meromictic lake, Dagze Co, on the central TP to investigate how the changes in lake ecosystems correlated with past changes in climate, environment and human activities. We reconstructed temperature variability based on long-chain unsaturated ketones, precipitation isotope ratios based on hydrogen isotope ratios of sedimentary leaf waxes during the past 2000 years. We also constructed phytoplankton communities using various sedimentary pigments. Total organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and stable carbon, nitrogen isotopes were measured for further comparison. We also counted the number of zooplankton (D. tibetana and Artemia). The results show that the lake ecosystems were mainly influenced by temperature and salinity changes before However, in the past century, nitrogen deposition originated from human activities played a more important role in regulating the lake ecosystems, which suggests that the so-called pristine lakes on the TP are not really pristine during the Anthropocene. This study highlights the importance of the responses of alpine meromictic lakes to recent global environment change as well as human activities. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 25

39 FOSSIL CTENOLOPHONACEAE POLLEN FROM EARLY EOCENE AND MIOCENE OF INDIA: THEIR EVOLUTIONARY AND BIOGEOGRAPHIC SIGNIFICANCE S. Jeyakumar, Vandana Prasad * and Madhav Kumar Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India prasad.van@gmail.com The Ctenolophonaceae is a monogeneric family of the order Malpighiales showing disjunct distribution with two extant species namely Ctenolophon englerianus Mildbraed in West Africa while C. parvifolius Oliver in Malaysia. Cretaceous-early Paleogene pollen fossil records show that it was cosmopolitan, and was distributed in South America, Africa and India. In the present study Ctenolophonidites pollen were studied in late Paleocene-early Eocene lignite succession of western India and Miocene deposit of South India in order to assess the morphological diversity patterns of this family during early Paleogene and Miocene times in the Indian subcontinent. The study shows high morphological diversity of polycolpate forms showing affinity with the typical fossil pollen grain Ctenolophonidites van Hoeken-Klinkenberg. However many of these early Eocene Ctenolophonidites forms are missing in the Miocene lignites of South India suggesting restricted distribution and diversification of Ctenolophonaceae family during Miocene. The study presents clear evidence that highly diversified Ctenolophonaceae plant family was widespread in the Indian subcontinent during early late Paleogene-early Eocene equatorial rain forest, but got restricted during the Miocene. High precipitation and shorter periods of dry months seem to have provided suitable environment to sustain lineages of Ctenolophonaceae in West Africa and SE Asia. It may be inferred that the family migrated eastward to lowland areas of Malaysia, Sundaland and got extinct in India during the harsh climatic conditions of the Last Glacial Maxima (LGM). Present study supports out-of-india dispersal of this family and provide better understanding of its evolution and biogeography. 26 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

40 UNDERSTANDING THE NEOGENE ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF WESTERN AMAZONIA BASED ON MULTI-PROXY DATA Andrea K. Kern 1, Martin Gross 2, Timothy M. Shanahan 3, Plinio B. de Camargo 4, Werner E. Piller 5 and Francisco W. Cruz Jr. 1 1 University of Sao Paulo, Department of Sedimentary and Environmental Geology, Rua do Lago 562, Sao Paulo, , Brazil 2 Universalmuseum Joanneum, Weinzoettlstr. 16, 8045 Graz, Austria 3 University of Texas at Austin, Jackson School of Geosciences, Austin, TX 7873, USA 4 University of Sao Paulo, CENA, Avenida Centenário, , Piracicaba, Brazil 5 University Graz, Institute of Earth Sciences, Heinrichstr.26, 8010 Graz, Austria annkkern@usp.br; cbill@usp.br; martin.gross@museum-joanneum.at; tshanahan@jsg.utexas.edu; pcamargo@cena.usp.br; werner.piller@uni-graz.at The high biodiversity of the Amazonia rainforest has long fascinated scientists worldwide. However, main questions about its origin still remain unsolved. A crucial evolution step is estimated to the Miocene, when the biome (especially in Western Amazonia) was influenced by significant global climate change and sea level variations, and additionally by a major paleogeographical re-organization due to the uplift of the Andean mountain chains. In consequence, marine connections to the Caribbean Sea were (re- )established, leading to the formation of extensive wetlands and the occurrence of several typical marineassociated plants and animals far inland the continent. Nevertheless, the extent and/or the existence of these systems are still discussed by researchers due to the scarcity of area-covering data and the lack of precise up-to-date analyses. In the attempt to connect previous with current research, we analyzed one drilled core out of a big drilling project in Western Amazonia of Brazil (close to the border of Peru and Columbia), where Miocene sequence reaches down to a depth of 300 m. Next to a lithological re-interpretation, we sampled the same horizons for palynology, biomarkers, organic geochemistry and invertebrate microfossils (ostracods in particular). Vegetation dynamics through time are the basis of comparative multi-proxy environmental reconstructions, where one s focus lies on the identification of specific marine indicators, such as palynomorphs, foraminifera, and ostracods. These will be confronted with measurements of stable C/O isotopes on invertebrate shells, which give clear indications of the salinity of waters and will critically reflect on their significance. Additionally, palaeoclimatic interpretation will be based on the plant records, its biodiversity and possible Cexistence Approach in comparison to isotopic measurements in the leaf wax biomarkers to possibly give information about the palaeoclimate prior the establishment of the South American monsoon system. This presentation is based on preliminary data. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 27

41 LATE PLIOCENE PLANT MEGAFOSSILS FROM THE FLUVIO- LACUSTRINE SEDIMENTS FROM THE KATHMANDU, BASIN, NEPAL HIMALAYA Dhan Bahadur Khatri 1, Gaurav Srivastava 2, Khum N. Paudayal 1 and R.C. Mehrotra 2 1 Central Department of Geology, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal 2 Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India khum99@gmail.com The late Pliocene fluvio-lacustrine sediments in the Kathmandu Basin are rich in organic debris, lignite, fossil leaves, fruit and seeds. More than 200 fossil specimens of fruits, seeds and plant leaves were collected from the different surface exposures belonging to the Lukundol Formation. Angiosperm leaves as well as gymnosperm cones and needles are recovered from Nakkhu, Bungmati, Chhyasikot and Pharsidol areas. Altogether, 28 species of fossil plants belonging to 16 families were identified which broadly reflect the palaeo-vegetation during the deposition of the Lukundol Formation in Late Pliocene time. The aquatic plants like Trapa, wetland and riverine plants like Cyperus and Albizia were abundantly found in the Lukundol Formation. The assemblage indicates that there was a shallow lake surrounded by water loving vegetation around it. The seeds of Stelechocarpus and leaf of Artocarpus represent the humid evergreen forest whereas the appearance of Delonix and Pinus roxburghii shows the dry and subarid climate at the surrounding hills of the valley. The moist ravine plant is represented by Acer and the plants like Betula and Neolitsea represent the temperate mixed broad leaved forests. These fossil floras indicate the subtropical climatic condition. The plants which are found in higher altitudes were also collected as fossil specimens. The fossil leaves include Berberis sp., Salix sp., Litsea sp., Quercus sp., and Rhododendron sp. The collection of various species of Quercus also suggests that there was sub-tropical to lower temperate forests around the Kathmandu palaeolake. 28 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

42 EVIDENCE OF HIGHEST BATHYMETRY IN CENOZOIC SUCCESSIONS OF KUTCH THROUGH PLANKTONIC FORAMINIFERA (CASSIGERINELLA SP.) DURING EARLY MIOCENE, WESTERN KUTCH, INDIA Pramod Kumar Department of Geology, Centre for Advanced Studies, University of Delhi, Delhi , India The sedimentation of Cenozoic successions of Kutch took place over stable continental shelf. The beds are almost flat to low dipping at 1-3 towards SSW. The entire succession is comprised of eight formations having distinct lithology and fauna. Because of stable shelf conditions sedimentation is primarily controlled by relative interaction between sea-level fluctuations vis-à-vis siliciclastic supply/carbonate production. The Paleogene successions are carbonate dominated and Neogene are siliciclastic rich. The age diagnostic larger benthic foraminifera recovered from various formations are indicative of shallow shelf environments up to 20-30m bathymetry. This study includes Khari Nadi and Chhasra Formation for their depositional environment and bathymetric control through fossils content and sedimentology. The process based sedimentology, fossils contents and field studies suggests that the Khari Nadi and Chhasra formations were deposited in mixed carbonate siliciclastic system. The formations are bounded by basin-wide unconformity and deposited during single cycle of relative sea-level fluctuation, considered as a depositional sequence. The depositional sequence is strongly asymmetric; 105m thick transgressive systems tract (TST) and 70m thick highstand systems tract (HST). However, along individual river sections thickness varies, depending upon the nature of development and preservation of depositional sequence. A very slow and steady deepening sequence starts at the base of Khari Nadi Formation and reaches up to the middle part of Chhasra Formation. The maximum flooding surface (MFS) is identified by a high abundance of microfossils at the limited stratigraphic interval within shale and limestone units. The limestone beds are highly fossiliferous characterised by Miogypsina globulina, M. (L.) thecideaformis, M. (L.) droogeri, M. (L.) excentrica etc. The silty shale is moderately fossiliferous and is represented by shallow benthic foraminifera. The greenish shale unit hosts high abundance of planktonic foraminifera comprising of Cassigerinella sp. with associated Globigerina and Globorotalia marked the maximum flooding event. The Early Miocene interval experienced the most prominent and extensive transgressive event in the Cenozoic succession of Kutch during which most part of the basin get flooded. This is observed by eastward/landward development of Early Miocene facies over older Cenozoic sequences. The transgression was so extensive that it overlapped parts of Deccan Trap as well as Mesozoic successions through Median High and deposited in the eastern part of the basin. The high abundance of planktonic foraminifera (Cassigerinella sp.) helped to identify the maximum bathymetry during Early Miocene and also explain their occurrence at the base of Mesozoic hills along the eastern part of the basin. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 29

43 LAKE ENVIRONMENT SHIFT IN SOUTH-WESTERN CHINA DURING THE MID-MIOCENE CLIMATIC OPTIMUM Julie Lebreton-Anberrée 1,2, Shu-Feng Li 1, Robert A. Spicer 4 and Zhe-Kun Zhou 1,3,* 1 Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yunnan , China 2 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing , China 3 Key Laboratory of Biogeography and Biodiversity, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming , China 4 Environment, Earth and Ecosystems, Centre for Earth, Planetary, Space and Astronomical Research, The Open University, MK7 6AA, United Kingdom zhouzk@xtbg.ac.cn The Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum (MMCO) was a warm phase ( Ma), one of a number of short-term climatic events that punctuated the long-term cooling trend during the Cenozoic. Because there are very few terrestrial records covering this period, most of our understanding of the MMCO comes from marine cores. We studied a 430 m thick lacustrine section in Wenshan (south-western China) by measuring δ 18 O and δ 13 C caco3 on carbonates, δ 13 C on bulk organic matter (δ 13 C org), total organic carbon (TOC) and C/N ratios to answer the following questions: 1) What were the environmental changes in the lake catchment area in Wenshan during the MMCO and 2) Which mechanism(s) drove these changes? Our results suggest that a sharp environmental change occurred around 15.7 Ma, when the values of all geochemical parameters started decreasing (Fig. 1). Before 15.7 Ma, the climatic conditions were drier and the lake had a closed-basin configuration, preventing lake water mixing and nutrient cycling, leading to low lacustrine primary productivity, which might explain why the organic matter preserved in the palaeo-lake sediments was mainly from terrestrial plants. After 15.7 Ma, the climatic conditions became wetter and the lake configuration switched to an open basin, promoting lake water circulation, nutrient cycling and lacustrine primary productivity, thus decreasing the relative input of terrestrial plants. We hypothesize that the shift in the configuration of the lake basin may be due to higher effective moisture (precipitation/evaporation ratio), or a tectonic event which may have re-routed water towards the lake basin, or a combination of both the factors. The palynological results support the climate-change hypothesis, because the lake-basin shift is synchronous with a decrease in mega-mesothermal and mesothermal elements and an increase in the meso-microthermal and microthermal elements. Furthermore, we assessed the possible correlations between geochemical indices and pollen elements. The values of δ 13 C org positively correlate with megamesothermal element percentages, suggesting that δ 13 C org may primarily reflect temperatures. The values of δ 13 C caco3, C/N and TOC positively correlate with the values of mesothermal elements while the same geochemical parameters negatively correlate with micro-mesothermal elements. This suggests that δ 13 C caco3, C/N and TOC are influenced by climate-related factors, although it is difficult to disentangle which of the temperature and precipitation components played the dominant role. 30 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

44 Fig. 1: Geochemical and palynological results of the paleo-lake sediments in Wenshan. The four zones were determined by the CONISS algorithm based on the relative abundance of palynomorphs performed in Li et al. (2015). The arrows indicate the long-term trend of the geochemical indices and the pollen elements. The grey shaded horizontal rectangle highlightsthe environmental transition between zones II and III. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 31

45 ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS REVEAL A HIGH-RESOLUTION CLIMATIC SIGNAL IN LEAF PHYSIOGNOMY Shu-Feng Li 1, Frédéric M.B. Jacques 1, Robert A. Spicer 2, Tao Su 1 and Zhe-Kun Zhou 1,3,* 1 Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla , China 2 Environment, Earth and Ecosystems, Centre for Earth, Planetary, Space and Astronomical Research,The Open University, United Kingdom 3 Key Laboratory of Biogeography and Biodiversity, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming , China zhouzk@xtbg.ac.cn The relationship linking leaf physiognomy and climate has long been used in palaeoclimatic reconstructions, but current models lose precision when worldwide data sets are considered because of the broader range of physiognomies that occur under the wider range of climate types represented. Our aim is to improve the predictive power of leaf physiognomy to yield climate signals, and here we explore the use of an algorithm based on the general regression neural network (GRNN), which we refer to as Climate Leaf Analysis with Neural Networks (CLANN). We then test our algorithm on Climate Leaf Analysis Multivariate Program (CLAMP) data sets and digital leaf physiognomy (DLP) data sets, and compare our results with those obtained from other computation methods. We explore the contribution of different physiognomic characters and test fossil sites from North America. The CLANN algorithm introduced here gives high predictive precision for all tested climatic parameters in both data sets. For the CLAMP data set, neural network analysis improves the predictive capability as measured by R 2, to 0.86 for MAT on a worldwide basis, compared to 0.71 using the vector-based approach used in the standard analysis. Such a high resolution is attained due to the nonlinearity of the method, but at the cost of being susceptible to 'noise' in the calibration data. Tests show that the predictions are repeatable, and robust to information loss and applicable to fossil leaf data. The CLANN neural network algorithm used here confirms, and better resolves, the global leaf form climate relationship, opening new approaches to palaeoclimatic reconstruction and understanding the evolution of complex leaf function. 32 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

46 ON PALEOFLORISTIC AND PALEOCLIMATIC CHANGES DURING PALEOGENE NEOGENE TRANSITIONAL BOUNDARY IN NORTH EAST INDIA B.D. Mandaokar and Ratan Kar Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University road, Lucknow , India The distribution patterns of pollen and spores during the Paleogene to Neogene intervals in northeast India is asserted here. At the end of Eocene, the earth appreciably cooled down and the evergreen broad leaved flora of India was replaced by evergreen deciduous and temperate flora. There were also major changes in planktonic foraminifera, radiolarians, ostracoda, nannoplanktons and other organism from Eocene to Oligocene. An analysis of Indian Paleogene and Neogene palynotaxa reveals that only a few angiospermic taxa could cross the Eocene - Oligocene and Miocene transitions. There is a considerable increase of pteridophytic spores in Oligocene. The change was gradual and the angiospermic flora started dwindling in middle Eocene and this tendancy culminated in Oligocene. Unlike other parts of the world, India did not experience any cool climate during Paleogene Neogene transition, rather it was enjoying a warm, humid, tropical to subtropical climate. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 33

47 CHARACTERIZATION OF MIOCENE-PLIOCENE ONSHORE WARKALLI SEDIMENTARY SEQUENCE (KERALA-KONKAN BASIN, SOUTH INDIA), BASED ON ORGANIC GEOCHEMICAL AND VISUAL KEROGEN DATA Runcie P. Mathews *, Vikram P. Singh and Bhagwan D. Singh Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India The organic-rich sedimentary sequence of Warkalli Formation (Mio-Pliocene) from the Warkalli Cliff section, southern Kerala has been studied through geochemical, maceral (huminite) reflectance and palynofacies parameters. The aims of the study are to identify the source of organic matter, to distinguish the depositional setting and its variations, and to assess the hydrocarbon potential of these carbonaceousrich sedimentary sequence. The gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis reveals a bimodal distribution and abundance of n-alkanes from n-c 12 to n-c 33. This indicates a significant contribution of high microbial activity and epicuticular waxes from higher plants to the peat biomass. Further, high amount of hopane derivatives are also suggesting high bacterial activity in the peat biomass. Oleanane type triterpenoids suggest the vegetal contribution from the angiosperm wood forest. The distribution of the hopanes detected indicates an immature stage of the organic matter, which is in agreement with the T max (av. 401 C) and huminite reflectance (R r : av %) values; indicating immature nature of the sediments. The pristane/phytane (Pr/Ph) ratio implies variable redox conditions during sedimentation. The Rock-Eval pyrolysis indicates the total organic carbon (TOC) contents vary between 0.8 and 6.72 wt. % in the studied sediments. Hydrogen index (HI) and oxygen index (OI) values range from mg HC/g TOC and mg CO 2 /g TOC, respectively. The phytoclast group (63-87%) dominated the dispersed organic matter with subordinate amount of amorphous organic matter (AOM: 4-35%). The overall characteristics show that the samples belong to the organic facies C to D (Jones, 1987). The geochemical and the visual kerogen (evaluated by palynofacies) observations are in agreement to each other, and suggest that the studied sedimentary sequence possess the potential to generate gaseous (kerogen: Type III) hydrocarbon. Reference: Jones, R.W. (1987). Organic Facies. In: Advances in Petroleum Geochemistry, Brooks, J. and Welte, D. (Eds.), Academic Press, London, 2, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

48 LATE HOLOCENE HIGH RESOLUTION MARINE RECORDS OF PRYDZ BAY, EAST ANTARCTICA Ravi Mishra and D.K. Pandey National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, Headland Sada, Vasco, Goa , India Antarctica plays a significant role in the global climate and based on the ice cores Antarctic palaeoclimatic reconstruction has been done by various workers. However, near the coast recovery of reliable ice cores is difficult and in such cases marine sedimentary records can provide more reliable high resolution reconstructions. Most of the Antarctic climatic history is unfolded by the marine sediments of Ocean Drilling/Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, but there are gaps in Holocene due to non availability of high resolution marine records. The present study aims for high resolution late Holocene record of the Prydz Bay, East Antarctica. The sedimentological studies from the box cores collected from the Prydz Bay, East Antarctica, are presented in this study. The present data represents the late Holocene records since 1100 yrs and characterized by high productivity of terrigenous sediments. The core recovered from the shallow-moderate depth of ~500 to 700 m, shows less transport and deposition of terrigenous sediments from sea ice. Similarly the biogenic contribution is restricted beneath the sea ice and high in Ice-free environment. The present dataset also record the medieval warm period ( BP) and little Ice Age ( BP), which are well documented in the Northern Hemisphere. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 35

49 TREE-RING BASED DROUGHT RECONSTRUCTION OVER KUMAUN HIMALAYA, INDIA K.G. Misra 1,*, R.R. Yadav 1, B.S. Kotlia 2, A.K. Yadav 1 and Sandhya Misra 1 1 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India 2 Department of Geology, Kumaun University, Nainital , India kgmisrabsip@gmail.com Kumaun Himalaya is the eastern part of western Himalaya covers varying orography from Siwalik to higher Himalaya. Many species growing in this region are producing annual growth rings. But, the Himalayan cedar (Cedrus deodara) known to grow very old in the Himachal and Garhwal Himalaya are comparatively young in Kumaun Himalaya and restricted to some patches only. The Himalayan cedar chronologies extend back to AD 1536 and AD 1668 from Jageshwar and Gangolihat. Using Himalayan cedar chronologies prepared from two homogeneous localities, Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), a metric of drought is reconstructed. The principal component regression approach was adopted to develop 7-month SPI of May extending back to 1720 AD. The reconstruction capturing 60% of variance in the observed Standardized Precipitation Index series is the strongest so far from the Indian region. This robust tree-ring calibration could provide a better option to develop long-term drought reconstructions from the scarce data of Himalayan region. The SPI reconstruction revealed high year-to-year variability with 1816 and 1737 the driest and the wettest years respectively. The five year mean of reconstructed SPI revealed multiyear droughts in , , , , We also observed that wheat-barley production of Almora in Kumaun, close to our tree ring sites has strong relationship with 7- month SPI of May. The wheat and barley crops grown in October-November in high elevation regions of the western Himalaya are usually harvested in May when Himalayan cedar trees are in peak of seasonal growth. Most of the droughts recorded in the reconstruction were associated with famines related to rabi crop failures in Kumaun Himalaya. The 7-month SPI of May reconstruction developed from tree rings should provide a better option to quantify the impact of droughts on vegetation over Kumaun Himalaya, India. 36 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

50 CLIMATE VIS-A-VIS VEGETATION DYNAMICS DURING LATE HOLOCENE ALONG THE SOUTHWEST COAST OF INDIA: POOKOT LAKE ( KERALA) Sandhya Misra 1,*, Kizhur Sandeep 2, Amalava Bhattacharyya 1, Rajasekhariah Shankar 3, Anish K. Warrier 4, Zhou Weijian 5 and Lu Xuefeng 5 1 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India 2 Department of Post-Graduate Studies and Research in geology, Government College Kasaragod, Kasaragod , Kerala, India 3 Department of Marine Geology, Mangalore University, Mangalagangotri , India 4 ESSO-National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, Headland Sada, Vasco da Gama , Goa, India 5 Xi an AMS Center, Institute of Earth Environment, Xi an, China sandhyabsip@gmail.com Vegetational history vis-a-vis climate change during the past 3100 cal. years BP was deciphered from pollen data supplemented with magnetic susceptibility and particle size data for a 2.5 m long sediment core from Pookot Lake, Kerala, southern India. Analysis of the multiproxy data shows that the vegetation and climate of Pookot Lake area have varied significantly during the past 3100 years. The data obtained suggest three broad phases of climate, with minor oscillations: (1) wet climate during cal. years BP; (2) dry climate spanning a long period that ended around 1000 cal. years BP; (3) amelioration in climate after 1000 cal. years BP, reflected in the presence of luxuriant vegetation and high magnetic susceptibility values. Pollen data suggest a mixed assemblage of upland tropical elements and wetland mangrove taxa. The presence of trace amounts of pollen grains of montane taxa like Betula, Pinus and Alnus points to their long distance dispersal. Pollen grains of Ixora, Syzygium, Symplocos, Moraceae and Arecaceae that represent tropical vegetation were also recovered, indicating modern vegetation in and around Pookot Lake. Mangrove elements are mostly represented by species of Rhizophora and Ceriops decandra along with other taxa. The period cal. years BP was characterized by a significantly high rainfall compared to the Present. However, pollen grains of this period are poorly preserved due to the high sand content. High-rainfall periods are characterised by high sand % and low clay % and vice versa. The pollen data correspond well with magnetic susceptibility and particle size data. During cal. years BP, vegetation was sparse and the rainfall low. However, this period was interspersed by spells of relatively high rainfall when there was abundance of mangroves. After 1000 cal. years BP, the monsoon got intensified, leading to the growth of various trees/shrubs along with mangrove taxa. The signatures of the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age are embedded in the pollen data for this period. Rainfall exhibits an increasing trend during the recent years. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 37

51 GEO-BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE Volker Mosbrugger, Zhe-Kun Zhou and Torsten Utescher Senckenberg Research Station of Quaternary Palaeontology, Weimar, Germany The actual biodiversity loss is particularly serious and characterized by an extinction rate that is 100 to 1,000 times higher than normal. This biodiversity loss is linked with an annual loss in ecosystem services worth about 4 trillion US$, the global value of ecosystem services being between 125 & 145 trillion US$. To preserve as much biological diversity as possible, several strategies have been proposed. To focus on the so-called (geo-)biodiversity hotspots is one of them. Myers et al. (2000, p. 853) state: As many as 44% of all species of vascular plants and 35% of all species in four vertebrate groups are confined to 25 hotspots comprising only 1.4% of the land surface of the Earth. This opens the way for a `silver bullet' strategy on the part of conservation planners, focusing on these hotspots in proportion to their share of the world's species at risk. However, in spite of the obviously very high relevance of biodiversity hotspots, relatively little is known about their historical evolution and particular future threats. Focusing on the Sino-Himalayan region we will emphasize the urgent need for an interdisciplinary research program including palaeobotany/ paleontology in order to better understand the evolution of (geo-)biodiversity hotspots and their future threats. Reference: Myers N., Mittermeier R. A., Mittermeier C. G., da Fonseca G. A. B. & Kent J. (2000) Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature, 403: Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

52 NEOGENE CLIMATE AND MAMMALIAN FAUNAL DYNAMICS OF THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT Rajeev Patnaik CAS in Geology, Panjab University, Chandigarh , India Neogene fossil and stable isotope data recovered from the Indian subcontinent indicates a shift from Early Miocene warm-humid rainforest dominated landscape to Middle Miocene seasonal forests which further changed to a Late Miocene-Pliocene cold-dry grassland. Influenced by such climate and ecological changes, both large and small mammals dispersed into and out of the Indian subcontinent throughout the Neogene. Early proboscideans such as Prodeinotherium, Gomphotherium and creodont Pterodon of African origin were the first to enter the subcontinent in the Early Miocene and those in the opposite direction primarily involved perissodactyls, artiodactyls and carnivores (Amphicyon) of Asian origin. From East Asia, cricetid rodents Spanocricetodon, Democricetodon and Primus entered the subcontinent during this time. In the Middle Miocene additional artiodactyls migrated out, and primates most probably ancestral to Sivapithecus and thryonomyid rodent Paraulacodus moved into the subcontinent. The Late Miocene is characterized by the equid Hipparion, murid Progonomys, the hippo Hexaprotodon and leporid Alilepus dispersals. Fluctuating climatic conditions of Pliocene saw the spread of Elephas, Camelus, Equus, Hippotragus and Cervus into the subcontinent. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 39

53 LATE QUATERNARY CLIMATE RECORDS FROM LADAKH REGION OF WESTERN TIBET Binita Phartiyal, Anupam Sharma, Randheer Singh, Debarati Nag, Vandana Prasad, Anjum Farooqui, Biswajeet Thakur and Priyanka Joshi Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India The Himalaya is the youngest fold mountain system which stretches across six countries, namely Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan and China. The Ladakh sector lies in the NW part of the Himalayan mountain chain forming the outer fringe of the Tibetan plateau and is a high altitude, cold, arid, desert, dominated by the western disturbances. The Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) winds enter in this region only during periods of strengthened monsoons, which penetrates into the Himalayan zone resulting in the northward shift of the ITCZ. Unlike the Tibetan Plateau, which contains ~300 closed basin lakes, the Ladakh sector, situated in the south western border of the Plateau, have mighty rivers with massive palaeolake sediment deposits. Tibetan lakes have been extensively studied for their late Quaternary palaeoclimatic significance; however, palaeolake deposits of the Ladakh sector river valleys, an equally important archive, have not received similar treatment due to its tough nature and strategic implications. Nevertheless, the palaeolake records of this region provide excellent opportunity to understand moisture source (westerlies from the Mediterranean region of central Asia/southeast monsoon) as well as the role of tectonics (the region being situated in the Indo-Asian suture zone) in intermittently blocking the river flow (Indus river and its tributaries Shyok, Nubra and Tangtse) transforming them into lakes. All these rivers follow courses along major tectonic fault/thrust lines; Indus Suture Zone, Shyok Suture Zone and Karakorum fault. The river valleys have enormous Quaternary deposits of glacial, lacustrine, palaeo-lacustrine, fluvial and aeolian origin. Several lake records were studied and 14 C AMS and OSL chronologies were used. Our studies suggest that several lakes occupied parts of these river valleys at 20-3 ka BP in Tangtse-Shyok sector and ka BP and 11-1 ka BP along the Indus river valley intervened in between by the glacial and fluvial phases. For palaeoclimate reconstruction, sedimentological, mineralogical, mineral magnetic and geochemical proxies were used to study exposed palaeolake sequences while the sediment cores were analyzed for the biotic proxies as well. The lakes along the river Indus mostly are Holocene lakes ( yr BP). The Spituk Lake (~ 55 km of valley length) along the Indus river was formed after the Younger Dryas by blocking of river by precipitation induced debris flow and seismicity. Two lacustrine phases (~ and yr BP) show stable lake conditions occupying the whole valley and have a synchronous relationship between the highest variation in monsoon intensity; high δ 18 O values in the Guliya core, rise in temperature and high solar insolation with the older phase indicative of warmer and humid conditions resulting from the Indian Summer Monsoon for the sustenance of this lake while the younger lake phase can be seen as contribution of the westerlies. Arid, cold stages are seen prior to and between these two lake phases intercalated with shorter pulses of detritus input also at ~11200, 9800, , yr BP during the entire span. Khardungla (5602m) and Changla (5360m) (the first and third highest passes of the world respectively) separating the Indus valley from the Shyok valley and Tangtse valley host many pro-glacial lakes. These lakes (<0.5 sq km area) are mostly frozen except the year round except for few summer months. The record from 4700 to 320 yrs BP is available. The area shows aridity and aeolian activity between yrs BP. Before 4800 an effect of the Indian summer monsoon for the high lake levels is recorded from the area followed by an abrupt shift towards aridity from 4800 yrs BP onwards from the Tsokar lake from the southern part of the study area. These glacial lakes show lake 40 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

54 level rise around 3700 yrs BP and rise in clay content lake leading to stable lake conditions from 3000 yrs BP onwards, as is deduced from multi-proxy data. As there is a documentation of weak summer monsoon during this period these high lake levels are due to the effect of strong western disturbances. The valley lakes have intermittently glacial and fluvial sedimentary record. In the Changla region the Tsoltak proglacial lake records 12 species of thecamoebians mostly agglutinated forms and typical of those surviving in stressed conditions in varied ecological niche indicating good primary productivity sustaining these heterotrophs. Diatom abundance in glacial lakes are controlled by following factors viz., water temperature, sediment input, summer ice cover, ph and nutrient flux. Diatom community was represented by more than 10 genera in both Changla and Khardungla pro-glacial lakes, indicating good primary productivity in these lakes. Thus the multi-proxy results coming up under the ongoing study is very exciting and finer details relative to environmental and climatic conditions will help us in understanding the Indian summer monsoon/ westerlies dynamics during the Late Quaternary period. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 41

55 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE EQUATORIAL CLIMATE DURING PALEOCENE EOCENE THERMAL MAXIMUM BASED ON PALYNOLOGICAL RECORDS FROM NORTHEAST INDIA Vandana Prasad 1,* and Torsten Utescher 2 1 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow, India 2 Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum, Frankfurt am Main; Steinmann Institute, University of Bonn, Nussallee 8, Bonn, Germany prasad.van@gmail.com; utescher@geo.uni-bonn.de We present the first high resolution paleoclimate reconstruction of the PETM event from a paleoequatorial region. Within the carbon isotopic stratigraphic framework and dinocyst age constrained, continental palynomorphs from a coal bearing, shallow marine Paleocene-Eocene succession from Jathang, east Khasi hills, Meghalaya, northeast India were studied. The Coexistence Approach was applied on the already known Nearest Living Relatives (NLRs) of sixty fossil species recorded at different stratigraphic levels, and seven climatic parameters were quantitatively determined for the fossil palynomorphs. Due to the tropical rain forest ecology, the number of dry months of NLRs was taken into consideration and was determined for each fossil taxon. The coexistence intervals obtained for each climatic parameter were plotted against the stratigraphic column. Our study accounts for a warm and wet climate during the pre-petm, with fluctuating annual rainfall from 731 mm mm, mean annual temperatures from 24⁰C - 26⁰C, and a dry season of 5-6 months. An excessively warm and wet climate with a mean annual temperature from 26⁰C - 27⁰C, 1215 mm mm mean annual rainfall, and a dry season of 2-3 months was reconstructed for the PETM event and post-petm. The study shows a distinct vegetational turnover, from palm dominated rain forest existing during the pre-cie (Carbon Isotope Excursion) to highly diversified, dicotyledonous megathermal rain forest during the body of the CIE and post-cie. The present study demonstrates that low rainfall seasonality, due to more active hydrological cycles during the global warmth of the PETM, played a major role in determining the climate and shaping the vegetation cover in the palaeo-equatorial region. We also record that the seasonal rainfall patterns and duration of the dry season, respectively, are the main determining factor for the tropical rain forest vegetation pattern of the equatorial region, rather than mean annual rainfall condition. The NLRs identified from the plant fossil record in the present study, corresponding to the tropical rain forest vegetation of the southern Western Ghats, tropical rain forests of SE Asia, rain forest of western Madagascar as well as evergreen vegetation of Africa, suggest a Gondwana origin for the Paleocene- Eocene vegetation of the Indian subcontinent, and the migration of megathermal plants to SE Asia, subsequent to the India-Asia collision. 42 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

56 LATE HOLOCENE VEGETATION AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN SOUTHWESTERN MADHYA PRADESH (INDIA), BASED ON POLLEN EVIDENCE: SIGNALS OF GLOBAL CLIMATIC EVENTS M.F. Quamar * and M.S. Chauhan Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India quamar_bot@yahoo.co.in Pollen analysis of a 2m deep sediment core from Khedla Quila Lake, Betul District has divulged the vegetation succession and climate change since the Late-Holocene. The pollen sequences have revealed that between 1416 and 506 cal. yr BP (AD ), open mixed tropical deciduous forest occupied the region under a warm and moderately humid climate, corresponding, to a certain extent, with the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) that is known between AD 740 and 1150 worldwide. Between 506 and 120 cal. yr BP (AD ), the open mixed tropical deciduous forest was succeeded by dense mixed tropical deciduous forest due to the prevalence of a warm and humid climate, coinciding with the Little Ice Age (LIA) which falls within the temporal range of AD 1450 and 1850 at global level. Since 120 cal. yr BP to Present (AD 1830 onwards), the open mixed tropical deciduous forest again came into existence owing to a warm and less humid climate. The cereal-based agriculture practice continued with almost same pace, but the lake widened during the second phase which could be attributed to increase in monsoon precipitation. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 43

57 LATE MIOCENE INTEGRATED NANNOFOSSIL DIATOM BIOSTRATIGRAPHY FROM NEILL ISLAND, ANDAMAN SEA, INDIA Jyotsana Rai 1, Biswajeet Thakur 1 and Bhavani Singh Desai 2 1 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India 2 Pandit Deen dayan Petroleum University, Gandhinagar , India jyotsana_rai@yahoo.com The Andaman-Nicobar Group of islands form a part of Sunda- Arc-Trench system in the Indian Ocean. It displays the Neogene sequences exposed in Ritchie s Archipelago and Southern Islands chiefly composed of organic matter rich mud- turbidites with few sand layers but appear lacking any macro-fossil. Neill Island is one of the volcanic islands belonging to Ritchie s Archipelago. The geology and stratigraphy of Neill Island is discussed by Oldham (1885), Singh & Vimal (1973) and Srinivasan & Azmi (1976a, b). Litho-stratigraphically the sequence in Neill Island is divisible into glauconitic mudstone bearing Sawai Bay Formation capped by hard fossiliferous (mollusks and larger foraminifera) and Neill West Coast Formation. Microfossils data both on calcareous (nannofossils, planktic foaminifers and calcareous dinoflagellates) and siliceous (diatoms, silicoflagellates, radiolaria, siliceous dinoflagellates) have been generated from Neill Island (Rai, 2006). The present record of nannofossils and diatoms are from the East Coast, Nipple Hill and West Coast sections. Nannofossil assemblage from the Sawai Bay Formation exposed in Nipple Hill and East Coast sections were dated as Discoaster berggrenii SubZone (CN9A) of Okada & Bukry (1980) comparable to the lower part of Discoaster quinqueramus Zone (NN11A) of Martini (1971) emended Young, 1998 of late Miocene age by the presence of markers Discoaster berggrenii and D. quinqueramus. However, D. berggrenii and D. quinqueramus are poorly preserved both in diversity and frequency from the lower part of Neill West Coast Formation exposed in Neill West Coast section. Presence of Triquetrorhabdulus rugosus restricts the age to a slightly younger CN9B SubZone within NN11B Zone of Martini (1971) emended Young, 1998 within late Miocene. Besides this, the Neill Island is also a promising regime for the study of diatoms during the Neogene time span. Earlier studies on diatoms are based on taxonomical identifications rather than quantitative assessment (Singh et al., 1978). The present study from similar set of samples for assessing the environmental conditions during the Neogene period diatoms were used. The study shows well diversified marine diatoms chiefly constituted of centric forms. The centric forms are dominated by species of Coscinodiscus and Actinocyclus. Alongwith the abundance of these species the other diatoms in subordinate number comprises of Actinophytus undulates, Arachnodiscus spp., Campylodiscus, Cocconeis spp., Cyclotella sp. The pennate forms are few and are represented by Diploneis and forms of Naviculoid group. The dominance of Coscinodiscus and Actinocyclus species suggests prevalence of tropical to sub-tropical waters in the middle to upper bathyl region. Thus the present study shows that the diatoms in the region represent a warm water condition in the marine realm during the time of deposition, an observation also supported by abundance of nannofossils. References: Jafar, S.A. and Singh, O.M Late Miocene coccoliths from Neill Island, Andaman Sea, India. Journal of Palaeontological Society of India. 44: Martini, E Standard Tertiary and Quaternary calcareous nanno-plankton zonation. In: Farinacci, A. (Ed.), Proceedings of the II Planktonic Conference Roma. 2. Edizioni Tecnoscienza, Rome Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

58 Okada, H. and Bukry, D Supplementary modification and introduction of code numbers to the low latitude coccolith biostratigraphic zonation (Bukry 1973, 1975). Marine Micropalaeontology. 5: Oldham, R.D Notes on the Geology of the Andaman Islands. Records of the Geological Survey of India. 18: Rai, J Late Miocene siliceous endoskeletal dinoflagellates from the Sawai Bay Formation, Neill Island, Andaman Sea, India. Journal of Micropalaeontology, 25: Sharma, V. and Sharma, G.K Radiolaria from Neill Island, Andaman Sea, and heir distributional characteristics. Journal of Palaeontological Society of India. 33: Singh, P. and Vimal, K.P A note on the Geology and micropalaeontology of the Neill Island, South Andaman. Current Science. 42: Singh, P., Vimal, K.P. and Nautiyal, D.D Early Pliocene Diatoms and Silicoflagellates from Neill Island, South Andaman, India, Part-I. Journal of Palaeontological Society of India. 22: Srinivasan, M.S. and Azmi, R.J a. Contribution to the stratigraphy of Neill Island, Ritchie s Archipelago, Andaman Sea. In: Srinivasan, M.S. (Ed.), Proceedings of the Vi Indian Colloquium on Micropalaeontology and Stratigraphy. Devijyoti Press, Pandey Howly, Varanasi, Srinivasan, M.S. and Azmi, R.J b. New developments in the Late Cenozoic Lithostratigraphy of Andaman-Nicobar Islands, Bay of Bengal. In: Srinivasan, M.S. (Ed.), Proceedings of the Vi Indian Colloquium on Micropalaeontology and Stratigraphy. Devijyoti Press, Pandey Howly, Varanasi, Young, J.R Neogene. In: Calcareous Nannofossil Biostratigraphy. (Ed. Paul R. Bown). Publisher- Chapman and Hall Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 45

59 APPLICATION OF PALYNOLOGY IN PALYNOSTRAIGRAPHY AND PALAEOECOLOGY IN NEOGENE SEDIMENTS OF INDIA: AN OVERVIEW M.R. Rao * and Poonam Verma Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India rao.mr2008@gmail.com; verma.poonam07@gmail.com The science of palynology deals with the spores, pollen and associated palynodebris consisting of algal and fungal spores, diatoms, acritarchs, dinoflagellate cysts, hystrichosphaerids, silicoflagellates, coccoliths, discoasters, radiolarian and chitinozoa. Palynology is a useful tool in many applications, and immensely effective in handling various problems related to age determination of strata, fine biostratigraphic zonation, correlation of terrestrial and marine deposits, palaeoecological and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, The Neogene is a geologic period and system in the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) Geologic Timescale starting about 24 million years ago and ending 2.58 million years. This is the second period in the Cenozoic Era and it follows the Palaeogene Period succeeded by the Quaternary Period. The records of Neogene sedimentation in the Indian sub-continent brought to light thick geosynclinal and shelf deposits. Neogene sediments are exposed in both peninsular and extra-peninsular India and the palynoflora are known from Assam-Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Tripura in northeastern India; Gujarat in western India, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Uttarakhand in northern India and Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra and Karnataka in southern India. In the present study, the palynological information recorded from the Neogene sediments of India and their interpretation in palynostratigraphy and palaeoecology wherever available has been discussed. 46 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

60 MODERN POLLEN SPECTRUM FROM SOUTHERN EAST INDIA ANALOGUE OF QUATERNARY VEGETATION RECONSTRUCTION Navya Reghu French Institute of Pondicherry, Laboratory of Palynology and Paleoecology, 11, Saint Louis Street, Pondicherry , India The landcover reconstruction using pollen as a proxy was initiated by Von Post in 1916 when he published the first pollen diagram. Generally the pollen present in the past sediments is directly interpreted as the vegetation cover and is explained along with the age model. However, there are some pollen which cannot be found in any of the pollen spectra despite their species occurrence in the landscape and some pollen could be over represented in these sediments. In addition to this, one of the major challenges for tropical Palynology in south-east India is the loss of information as the warm and semi-arid climate is not ideal for pollen preservation; also the tropical vegetation chiefly consists of zoophilous plants whose pollen are not freely liberated in the air. This leads to a perplexity in the minds of ecologists and biogeographers during the interpretation of these pollen counts. Hence a quantitative record of pollen spectrum with plants in the modern landscapes is crucial for linking and evaluating the quaternary paleoenvironment for climate modelling. The present work is a detailed study of pollen and vegetation relation from 12 modern sites in the southeast part of India. A well structured uniform vegetation survey (Bunting et al., 2013) within 1km radii circles was carried out to understand the pollen representation of the vegetation recorded. Surface samples for the pollen examination were collected only from the centre of each of this circle. With this elaborated study of the relationship between modern pollen and vegetation, there will be a better understanding of the complexity and improvement of the interpretation of pollen spectrum for the past landcover reconstruction. References: Bunting, M. J. J., Farrell, M., Broström, a., Hjelle, K. L. L., Mazier, F., Middleton, R., Twiddle, C. L. L. (2013). Palynological perspectives on vegetation survey: a critical step for model-based reconstruction of Quaternary land cover. Quaternary Science Reviews, 82, doi: /j.quascirev Von Post, L. (1916). Skogsträdpollen i sydsvenska torvmosselagerföljder.geologiska Foereningen I Stockholm. Foerhandlingar, 38, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 47

61 HOLOCENE HISTORY OF CLIMATE, VEGETATION AND ANTHROPOGENIC DISTURBANCE FROM CORE MONSOON ZONE OF CENTRAL INDIA AS REFLECTED IN LACUSTRINE SEDIMENTS OF LONAR CRATER, MAHARASHTRA N. Riedel 1, M. Stebich 1, S. Sarkar 2, D. Sachse 2, S. Prasad 2, N. Basavaiah 3 and Lonar team 1 Senckenberg Research Station of Quaternary Palaeontology, Weimar, Germany 2 Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Potsdam, Germany 3 Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG), Mumbai, India mstebich@senckenberg.de To infer Holocene changes in monsoon activity, sediments of Lonar Crater Lake have been intensively studied within the Indian-German research collaboration project HIMPAC (Himalaya: Modern and Past Climates). The lacustrine sequence of Lonar Lake provides one of very few comprehensive and well dated records of vegetation changes in the context of climate fluctuations and human activity during the last ca years in India. Lonar Crater is situated on the Deccan Plateau of Buldhana District. The climate is driven by SW-Monsoon circulation which brings rainfall between June and September. Modern vegetation of this area can be drawn out as tree or shrub savannah and is assumed to be sensitive to changes in annual precipitation and length of the rainy season. As a first step, an extensive study on today s vegetation, modern pollen transport processes, and pollenvegetation relationships have been carried out in the tropical dry deciduous forest inside Lonar Crater. Due to the predominant zoophily of arboreal plant taxa in the vegetation of the Lonar Crater, gravitational transport leads to a significant enrichment of pollen in surface soil. Therefore, pollen spectra from soil samples show a good representation of dominant arboreal taxa. Transport of arboreal pollen to the lake sediment is mostly restricted to surface and channel runoff, which is reflected in strong underrepresentation of arboreal pollen types in the modern lake sediments, as well as in very heterogeneous pollen spectra and concentrations in the studied lake sediment samples. Under modern climate conditions the potential natural landcover of southern India is traditionally characterized as tropical deciduous forest, which has been transformed to savanna, due to long-term anthropogenic pressure. Results of high resolution pollen analysis and n-alkane stable carbon isotope measurements in the Holocene sediment sequence from Lonar Lake now sheds new light on the Holocene evolution of the vegetation of central India. Closed moist-deciduous forest, featuring C 3-grass undergrowth, formed the vegetation in the Lonar region between 8.8 and 5.1 cal. kyr BP, which in conjunction with geochemical climate proxies, suggests drastically enhanced rainfall values in the today semi-arid Lonar area. After 5.0 cal. kyr BP, evergreen woody elements widely disappear from the pollen record, while contemporaneously pollen of dry deciduous and xeric arboreal increases. Moreover, stable carbon isotope ratios prove the establishment of C 4-grasses, in the likely open woodland, which suggest the appearance of savanna vegetation. The rapid change in the functional vegetation type reflects the mid to late Holocene decrease in ISM-activity, which is observed throughout the ISM-realm. While archaeological evidence suggests that the cultural shift from hunting-gathering to sedentary agriculture on the Deccan appeared earliest at 4.5 cal. kyr BP, and becomes evident in the Lonar Lake pollen record not before 1.2 cal. kyr BP, human activity can be ruled out as initial cause for the change in the vegetation type, highlighting the importance of climate changes for the establishment of grasslands in central India. The results on the Holocene vegetation development from Lonar Lake thus can lead to a reconsideration 48 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

62 International Conference on of the potential natural vegetation, as well as the relevance of the anthropogenic factors for the vegetation evolution in central India. Fig. 1: Lonar Lake Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 49

63 CLIMATIC EPISODES AND TREE LINE SHIFT SINCE MID- HOLOCENE WITHIN THE DOKRIANI GLACIAL VALLEY, GARHWAL HIMALAYA, INDIA Ipsita Roy, Parminder S. Ranhotra *, Amalava Bhattacharyya, Mayank Shekhar, C.M. Nautiyal and Ashish K. Pal Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India The vegetation pattern and related climate since mid-holocene is being analyzed palynologically from the two subsurface sedimentary profiles collected from higher reaches within the Dokriani Glacial valley in Uttarkhand, India. The profile KHR-BUG at the altitude ~3500 m amsl analyzed till the depth of 60 cm from surface covers the mid Holocene time period i.e. since ~5000 cal yrs BP till recent based on the absolute radiocarbon ( 14 C) dates and has good palynological yield. Whereas the other 1 m deep profile (KHR-DB) from altitude ~3400 m amsl is found of sparse pollen-spores with the increasing depth, except for few samples at top. So far 3 absolute dates are available for one profile KHR-BUG. Throughout the sequence of this dated profile arboreal (tree) pollen taxa are dominant over the non-arboreal (herbaceous) pollen-spores. However based on the temporal changes of the recovered fossil pollen taxa, four vegetational and related climatic phases have been identified using the CONISS multivariate data analysis. Around 5000 till ~3600 cal yrs BP the pollen of Quercus (broadleaved taxa) are most dominant amongst arboreals, followed by Pinus, Alnus, Abies and Betula. For non-arboreals the pollen of Apiaceae dominates, followed by Poacea, Polygonaceae and ferns spores (monoletes). Steppe elements viz. Chenopodeaceae, Asteraceae-T and Artemisia are represented in low frequencies. Climate for this time phase can be inferred as warm-moist in comparison to modern time. Since ~3600 cal yrs BP the pollen frequency of Pinus and Abies increased with corresponding decline of Quercus, shows the change in forest type from Broad leaved Conifers to Conifers Broad leaved. Betula and Alnus remained almost unchanged. The steppe taxa, Polygonaceae and Cyperaceae showed noticeable increase in their frequencies whereas Apiaceae and Poaceae declined. The climatic conditions can be considered towards comparative cool-dry. Subsequently from ~2350 till ~1175 cal yrs BP the climate again reverted to moist with the increase of Quercus pollen with relative decline in Pinus and Abies. However Betula declined to its lowest values and even not recovered in some samples of this time frame. Apiaceae reached to its maximum whereas steppe elements show little decline. Since ~1175 cal yrs BP (825 AD) the pollen frequency of Quercus and Pinus again reversed with later one showing increase. Abies and Betula also increased noticeably. Apiaceae became to its lowest values whereas Polygonaceae, Ferns (monolete), Ranunculaceae etc. show increase in their values. As presently the Dokriani valley is affected by the anthropogenic activities by the collection of selected herbs, wood burning and grazing of animals etc. Thus the impact of anthropogenic forcing in vegetation change since ~2500 cal yrs BP (~500 BC) also cannot be ruled out. This can be discussed based on absence of Betula pollen and decline of Quercus as these are used as fire-woods and sudden decline of Apiaceae. Also tree line shift to higher altitude with the retreat of glacier can be conferred based on the observed general continuous rise in pollen frequencies of Pinus and Abies since ~5000 cal yr BP till recent. This is also supported by relative high frequencies of Picea and Cedrus also in the top most samples representing recent time. The other profile KHR-DB also shows continues rise of Pinus and temperate broadleaved taxa in the topmost samples thus representing the tree-line shift to higher altitude within the valley. In absence of absolute dates for the profile KHR- DB, this can represent the late Holocene part as correlated with the dated profile KHR-BUG. 50 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

64 PALEOGENE PETROLEUM SYSTEM AND VEGETATION IN THE TROPICS: BIOMARKER APPROACH FROM EASTERN INDIA Arka Rudra 1,*, Suryendu Dutta 1 and S.V. Raju 2 1 Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Mumbai, , India 2 Centre of Excellence for Energy Studies, Oil India Limited, Guwahati, , India arudra@iitb.ac.in The Paleogene period witnessed rapid evolution of marine and terrestrial biota and the development of many worldwide petroleum systems. The Assam Basin, eastern India, records two petroleum systems: the Paleocene-Eocene (Langpar and Sylhet formations) and the Oligocene (Barail Formation) petroleum systems (Raju and Mathur, 1995). Rock-Eval pyrolysis of the coals and carbonaceous shales show earlymatured stage of thermal evolution, forming excellent source rock facies, potential for generating oil and gas under suitable subsurface conditions. Biomarkers or molecular signatures of organic rich sediments and crude oils reveal the dominance of high molecular-weight odd chained n-alkanes, abundance of C 19 - C 20 tricyclic terpanes and C 29 steranes which suggest contribution from higher plant sources. The Paleocene-Eocene sediments and oils contain both gymnosperm derived diterpanes and angiosperm derived triterpanes and bicadinanes. The C 17, C 18 diterpanes along with tricyclic (rimuane, pimarane, rosane and isopimarane) and tetracyclic (ent-beyerane, 16β (H)-phyllocladane, ent-16β (H)-kaurane, 16α (H)-phyllocladane, ent-16α (H)-kaurane) diterpanes are recorded. These biomarkers are attributed to the presence of gymnosperms, with probable occurrence of Podocarpaceae and Araucariaceae (Noble et al., 1986). However, diterpanes occur below detection limit in Oligocene sediments and oils. Both Paleocene- Eocene and Oligocene sediments and oils contain biomarkers such as: oleananes and it s diagenetic derivatives: des-a-oleanane and des-a-lupane, aromatic oleanoids, rearranged oleananes which are attributed to angiosperm signatures and bicadinanes, which are attributed to Dipterocarpaceae, tropical resinous angiosperms. Occurrence of bicadinane within early-paleogene sediments suggests the evolution of tropical rain forest elements in eastern India during early Paleogene. The δ 13 C values of n-alkanes (using GC-IRMS) from crude oils have isotopically lighter values of n-alkanes with increasing chain length, similar trend to terrestrial fluvio-deltaic oils. The bicadinane vs oleanane indices (Fig. 1.) reflect significant input from angiosperms and dominant contribution of resinous Dipterocarps during early Paleogene. Few oils from Miocene (Tipam Fm.) reservoirs have similar indices like the Oligocene oils. Presence of dominant angiosperm and gymnosperm biomarker signatures during early Paleogene suggests the establishment of tropical rain forest elements in eastern India, also supported by the equatorial position of India and early Paleogene warming events (Prasad et al., 2006) which might have induced enhanced terrestrial proliferation. The absence of diterpanes and the presence of angiosperm triterpenoids in Oligocene reflect a vegetational shift towards more favourable growth for angiosperm-dominated regime. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 51

65 Fig.1. Cross plot of Bicadinane vs Oleanane Indices of oils from Paleogene reservoirs, Assam Basin, India References: Noble R. A., Alexander R., Kagi R.I., Knox J., Identification of some diterpinoid hydrocarbons in petroleum. In: Advances in Organic Geochemistry 1985 (Eds. Leythaeuser D. & Rullkotter J.) Organic Geochemistry, 10: Pergamon Press, Oxford. Prasad, V., Garg, R., Ateequzzaman, K., Singh, I.B., Joachimski, M.M., Apectodinium acme and palynofacies characteristics in the latest Paleocene-earliest Eocene of northeastern India: biotic response to the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maxima (PETM) in low latitude. Journal of the Palaeontological Society of India 51, Raju, S.V., Mathur, N., Petroleum geochemistry of a part of Upper Assam Basin, India: a brief overview. Organic Geochemistry 23, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

66 COMMUNITY DYNAMICS AND SPECIES RICHNESS OF MIO- PLIOCENE CORALLINE ALGAE-BENTHIC FORAMINIFERA FROM LITTLE ANDAMAN AND CAR NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA Suman Sarkar Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53. University Road, Lucknow , India Coralline algae and benthic foraminifera are the major skeletal components of the Long and Guitar formations carbonates outcropping in the Little Andaman and Car Nicobar Islands respectively. Herein, the palaeocommunity dynamics and species richness of these Mio-Pliocene benthic organisms pertaining to this Indo-Pacific realm have been approached. Analysis of diversity, abundance and frequency of the studied coralline algae and benthic foraminifera has been carried out in detail. Coralline algal assemblages are dominated by lithophylloids including genera Amphiroa and Lithophyllum. Mastophoroid and melobesioid taxa also present low to moderate diversity, followed by sporolithaceans and unidentifiable maerls-rhodoliths. The coralline algae are mainly represented by encrusting, warty, lumpy, fruticose, arborescent and unconsolidated growth-forms. Nummulitid forms mainly represented by Amphistegina, Heterostegina and Operculina are the most abundant benthic foraminifera recorded from the studied carbonates. These are followed by numerous smaller benthic foraminifera, orthophragminid and miogypsinid species. In addition, corals, bryozoans, echinoderms and barnacles are some of the other important components of the studied benthic community. Palaeocommunity analysis through the integrated evaluation of the fossil assemblages makes it possible to interpret trophic-group differentiation in primary producers and various consumer groups. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 53

67 LATE HOLOCENE QUANTITATIVE CLIMATE RECONSTRUCTIONS BASED ON POLLEN DATA FROM NORTH SIKKIM, EASTERN HIMALAYA Santosh K. Shah and Nivedita Mehrotra Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India s: The pollen grains preserved in sub surface sediments are extensively studied as a proxy indicator of palaeoclimatic and palaeoecological changes during Late Quaternary period from Himalaya region. These records show qualitative past climate based on the vegetation assemblages. However, transfer function model based quantitative past climate reconstruction using pollen dataset is poorly studied in Himalayan region and absent from eastern Himalaya. Here we aimed to establish modern pollen climate calibration set from temperate alpine belt of north Sikkim to develop transfer function model. The models were applied to Late Holocene fossil pollen records from the Yabuk, Zemu glacier, north Sikkim, eastern Himalaya for quantitative past climate reconstruction. The Transfer function for mean annual precipitation (MAP) and mean annual temperature of the warming month (MTWA) were developed with partial least squares (PLS) approach. The validated model was used to reconstruct MAP and MTWA for the last 2992 cal years BP (1042 BC) in north Sikkim. The variability observed in the reconstructions were analyzed for geological past climatic events and compared with available regional and hemispheric proxy based climate reconstructions. The reconstructions captured comparable Medieval Warm Period (MWP) and Little Ice Age (LIA) like events from the Zemu glacier region 54 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

68 MINERALOGICAL AND GEOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF AEOLIAN SEDIMENTS OF THE MAINLAND GUJARAT: IMPLICATIONS TO THE DECCAN LARGE IGNEOUS PROVINCE SOURCE Anupam Sharma *, Kamlesh Kumar and Shazi Farooqui Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India The major river valleys of the mainland Gujarat, particularly the lower reaches of Narmada, Mahi and Sabarmati, poses stratigraphically correlatabale Quaternary sedimentary sequences. Based on field evidences and total organic carbon content, it is inferred that the upper most part of these sequences are more of aeolian in nature and have formed during <30 and >11 ka under vegetation/moisture controlled regime (Juyal et al., 2006), however, detailed textural, mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of these sediments are still lacking. The present study addresses this issue, which has wider implications. The aeolian sediments covering a distance of ~150km from south to north were collected from 10 different localities of the mainland Gujarat. The textural studies, mainly the grain size analysis, confirm that the sediments are largely moderately sorted, bimodal, finely skewed and leptokurtic in nature. The bimodal character suggests that these sediments are contributed from more than one source and transported to the present sites dominantly by deflation processes. The thin section slides of bulk samples studied suggest that the quartz is the most dominant constituent supplemented by lithic fragments and very limited abundance of amphiboles and mica, however, the heavy mineral separates from the bulk samples have maximum abundance of opaques followed by lithic fragments and amphiboles. Pyroxenes and zircon (~2 and 0.5% respectively) are also noticed in the samples. The appreciable amounts of lithic fragments and amphiboles in the bulk and heavy mineral fraction indicates that the provenance must have abundance of basic igneous rocks, which has experienced more of mechanical rather than the chemical weathering. The detailed geochemical investigation including the rare earth elements (REE) chemistry of the samples suggests that the sediments are slightly enriched in iron, magnesium, titanium, nickel and chromium content compared to Upper Continental Crust (UCC) and also to some extent with Post Archean Australian Shale (PAAS). Similarly, the REE chondrite normalised patterns are identical in nature showing that the sediments are well homogenized; however, little variation is noticed in the abundance. Interestingly, most of the samples do not have REE patterns comparable to average shale and have characteristically lower LREE, higher MREE (Sm Dy) with a distinct positive Eu anomaly. The HREE (Yb Lu), are comparable or slightly lower than that of PAAS, but with a slightly negative slope. Also compared to UCC, the samples show LREE depleted (La/Yb)n < 1) pattern, the general uniformity in the REE pattern may be attributed to better mechanical mixing and increase in REE abundance in the finer fraction, which suggests larger contributions from the Deccan basalt and subdued fractions from Aravalli highland. This implies that during LGM, when the sea level was much lower, these sediments were reworked and transported back and blanketed over the existing surface. This further strengthens our earlier observation that the larger igneous provinces might have not been given proper attention (Sharma et al. 2013), which could otherwise explain the discrepancy of certain elements in the UCC composition. References: Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 55

69 Juyal N., Chamyal L.S., Bhandari, S. Bhushan R. and Singhvi A.K. (2006) Continental record of the southwest monsoon during the last 130 ka: evidence from the southern margin of the Thar Desert, India. Quaternary Science Reviews, 25(19-20): Sharma A., Sensarma S., Kumar K., Khanna P.P. and Saini N.K. (2013) Mineralogy and geochemistry of the Mahi River sediments in tectonically active western India: Implications for Deccan large igneous province source, weathering and mobility of elements in a semi-arid climate. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 104: Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

70 INTEGRATING MACRO-BOTANICAL AND STABLE CARBON ISOTOPIC DATA OF HARAPPAN SITE ( YRS BP), KHIRSARA, KACHCHH (GUJARAT), INDIA: IMPLICATIONS TO CROP- VEGETATION CHANGES, MONSOONAL CONDITIONS AND ADAPTATION Shalini Sharma, Shweta Pandey, Rajesh Agnihotri and Anil K. Pokharia * Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India pokharia.anil@gmail.com This paper examines palaeoethnobotanical/palaeoecological changes from a Harappan site (Khirsara, Gujarat; N, 70.71ºE; at ~46.3 meter above sea level) spanning yrs BP, using a multitracer approach. We have used stable carbon isotopes of soil organic carbon (δ 13 C TOC) data in addition to counting macro-botanical remains to gain insights into past crop-vegetation changes, prevalent monsoonal conditions and adapted subsistence strategies in this part of Harappan civilization. Sixty-nine samples collected randomly by floatation technique from systematically excavated trenches were analysed for plant macroremains and δ 13 C TOC of decarbonated soil samples were measured in a total of thirty samples from a ~4.35 meter long section. The quantitative analysis of macroremains revealed the prevalent agriculture was based on double cropping system in the region throughout i.e. from ~ yr BP. The early phase (~ yrs BP) shows the presence of both C 3 and C 4 plants, dominated by the barley (Hordeum vulgare), while later phase (~ yrs BP) was found to be dominant by C 4 plants (millets), indicating arrival of relatively poor monsoonal conditions and hence changes in subsistence pattern. These inferences were reassessed using δ 13 C TOC data which appears to corroborate aforementioned findings while displaying overall range of variations from 23.7 to Assuming the entire organic fraction of soil carbon is composed of only C 3 and C 4 type vegetation and using 27.0 and 14.0 as typical δ 13 C TOC values for C 3 type and C 4 vegetation respectively. We estimated relative proportions of prevalent crop-vegetation using formulae (Wang et al., 2008) C 3 (%) = (δ 13 C sample δ 13 C C4 type) / (δ 13 C C3 type δ 13 C C4 type) (1) C 4 (%) = 100 C 3 (%) (2) Results indicate presence of both types of plants in the region ~50% in first phase while a dominance of C 4 type vegetation in later phase, corroborating macroremain inferences. Hence, our study indicates shifting of subsistence pattern from C 3 towards C 4 type crop during the later phase ( yrs BP) of Harappan civilization. Indian summer monsoon rainfall is known to have declined during this phase (Dixit et al., 2014), shifting of crop pattern from C 3 to C 4 type appears to be a subsistence strategy adopted by Harappan people to cope up with relatively arid environmental conditions. References: Dixit, Yama, Hodell, David, A.and Petrie, Cameron, A Abrupt weakening of the summer monsoon in northwest India ~4100 yr ago. Geology, 42 (4): Wang, G., Feng, X., Han, J., Zhou, L., Tan, W., and Su, F Paleovegetation reconstruction usion δ 13 C of soil organic matter. Biogeosciences, 5: Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 57

71 EVIDENCE OF PALEOCENE-EOCENE THERMAL MAXIMA (PETM) EVENT FROM SUBATHU AND ITS EQUIVALENT FORMATION OF HIMALAYA M.K. Shukla DST Centre for Policy Research, BBAU, Lucknow , India The sediments of Paleogene Subathu Formation (57.9 Ma Ma) which forms an angular unconformity with the underlying Precambrian basement rocks, is an important archive for the insights into the Eocene global warming or Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maxima (PETM) event. Occurrence of impersistent coal horizons in the Subathu Formation is supposed to be related to the global extreme warming event associated with PETM. The presence of oldest volcanic ash horizon in Himachal Pradesh and Berthierine-rich ooidal ironstone occurs within carbonaceous shale of Subathu formation in Dogadda area of Uttarakhand Himalaya are the important evidences of PETM event. However, in the coal bearing succession of the Khasi hills of NE Himalaya, biotic evidences of Apectodinium rich assemblages were also evaluated by Prasad et al (2006) in respect of PETM event. The present study has been proposed to be carried out in detail to evaluate the Subathu sediments for their mineralogical and geochemical characteristics with special emphasis on its isotopical studies (C, O and H). The PETM refers to an important climate event in the geological history of the earth; in fact it represents the single largest well-documented warming event that started at the temporal boundary between the Paleocene and Eocene epochs (~55.8 Ma) and about 170,000 years of duration. The average global temperature was increased by ~ 6 C during that period and it was estimated that the rise in global temperature (> 5 C) occurred in less than 10 kyr and was sustained for a few tens of thousands of years. However, the absolute age and the total duration of this event still remain subject of discussion. The global negative carbon isotope excursion (CIE) and widespread dissolution of seafloor carbonate sediments were the characteristic features of PETM event that were supposed to be caused by the rapid release of a large mass of 12 C-enriched and isotopically depleted carbon (more than 2000 Gt; James et al. 2007). References: Prasad V., Garg R., Ateequzzaman K., Singh I.B, Joachimski M.M. (2006). Apectodinium Acme and palynofacies characteristics in the latest Palaeocene-Earliest Eocene of Northeastern India: biotic response to the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal maxima (PETM) in low Latitude. Journal of Palaeontological society of India, v. 51 (1), James C Zachos, Steven M Bohaty, Cedric M John, Heather McCarren, Daniel C Kelly, Tina Nielsen The Palaeocene Eocene carbon isotope excursion: constraints from individual shell planktonic foraminifer records. Philosophical Transactions. [DOI: /rsta ]. 58 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

72 NEOGENE-QATERNARY LOW-MID LATITUDE CLIMATE VARIABILITY AND ITS LINKAGES TO THE EVOLUTION OF OCEAN GATEWAYS A.D. Singh Department of Geology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi , India The major plate tectonic events associated with opening or closing of marine gateways modulated global ocean circulation and climate patterns during the Neogene-Quaternary period. Additionally, orbital variations also contributed significantly to the global climate dynamics. The equatorial inter-ocean circulation system with unrestricted connections in the Indo-Pacific; north of Australia and the Atlantic- Pacific through central American seaway, existed prior to the Neogene (~ 23 Ma), was interrupted by changing plate boundaries in these regions. This led to the major palaeoceanographic changes and restricted equatorial current system. The blocking of central equatorial current system of the Pacific to westward resulted to the development of modern surface as well as bottom water circulations in the tropical-subtropical Indian Ocean. Possibly this was the period of on-setting of modern Asian monsoon system. Numerous studies have found evidences of closure and reopening of gateways between the NE Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea; the closure of the deep central American seaway and the Indonesian seaway during the late Neogene period that triggered the onset of northern Hemisphere glacial cycles. This is being increasingly realized that the Mediterranean Outflow (MOW: warm, high salinity water) in the NE Atlantic Ocean through Gibraltar Strait and Indonesian Through flow (ITF: warm, lowsalinity water) from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean act as major switchboards in the global thermohaline circulation and significantly influence the low to mid latitude climatic patterns on short term and long term time scales. The evolutionary history of MOW and ITF and its tectonic and climatic control is discussed. New results from the Iberian margin also demonstrate close links between MOW intensity, Atlantic Deep Ocean overturning and climate. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 59

73 LATE CRETACEOUS ORIGIN OF GRASSES: A CASE STUDY FROM DECCAN INTERTRAPPEAN SEDIMENTS R.S. Singh 1, Vandana Prasad 1 and G.V.R. Prasad 2 1 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India 2 Department of Geology, Centre of Advanced Studies, University of Delhi. prasad.van@gmail.com Origins of grasses is one of the key issues in the evolution of angiosperms. Amongst the angiosperms, grasses represent the most important and dominant biome of present vegetation. Origin and spread of C 3 and C 4 grasses during the geological ages have been significant events. In the earlier study silicified plant tissues (phytoliths) from the Deccan intertrappean showed that at least five taxa of the Poaceae subclades were present on the Indian subcontinent during the latest Cretaceous. This taxonomic diversity suggests that the crown-group Poaceae had diversified and spread in Gondwana before India became geographically isolated. In the present study grass phytoliths were recovered from intertrappean sediments near Naskal locality, Telengana. The grass cuticle belonging to grass sub family Bambusoideae and Arundinoideae represents C 3 grasses and are considered primitive in the evolutionary history. Besides these, several phytoliths belonging to wild Musa (Banana) are also recovered in the assemblage. Intertrappean sediments of Naskal also contains Gondwanatheria mammels known by their high-crowned teeth and represent a distinctive group of mammals known only from late Cretaceous Gondwana continents. Based on the close association of hypsodont gondwanathere mammal and grass phytoliths in Naskal intertrappean, we infer that the early evolution of hypsodonty in gondwanatherian mammals was in response to an adaptation to abrasive diet consisting of grasses. 60 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

74 DID PRE-MONSOON AND POST-MONSOON RAINFALL EXIST IN KONKAN REGION IN THE LATE PLEISTOCENE Gaurav Srivastava Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53 University Road, Lucknow , India The fossil flora recovered from the Kangvai well, Ratnagiri District, Maharashtra (17 53'41" N; 73 12'23" E) has been used to reconstruct the monsoon variations and seasonal rainfall pattern during the Late Pleistocene (44,020 ± 390 years BP) by using the coexistence approach. The reconstruction suggests that the Southwest (SW) and Northeast monsoons (NE) contributed ~64% and 18% of the total rainfall, respectively. Moreover, the pre-monsoon showers were responsible for about 15% of the annual rainfall. As both SW and NE monsoons were very active, along with the pre-monsoonal rainfall, the length of rainy season increased and extended up to 9 months in a year favouring the evergreen continuum and prevalence of wet evergreen forests until the Late Glacial Maximum or slightly prior to it. However, due to the weakening of NE and pre-monsoon rainfall later in the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene, the area experiences only four months of rainy season now on account of the present day SW monsoon. These changes resulted in the extinction of wet evergreen taxa which are now endemic to the wetter parts of Western Ghats, from the fossil locality. Our reconstruction agrees with the previous studies from the Western Ghats suggesting that the wet evergreen taxa require <4 months of dry season for their survival. This is the first quantitative rainfall reconstruction from India measuring the pre-monsoon, summer monsoon, post-monsoon and dry season from fluvio-lacustrine sediments. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 61

75 ESTUARINE ECOSYSTEM DYNAMICS IN RESPONSE TO HOLOCENE CLIMATE AND SEA LEVEL CHANGES IN SOUTHEASTERN COAST INDIA: EVIDENCES FROM POLLEN AND SEDIMENTARY ARCHIVES OF NORTHEASTERN CAUVERY RIVER DELTA Jyoti Srivastava * and Anjum Farooqui Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India jyotisri.bsip@gmail.com Middle Holocene vegetation and mangrove successions in the southeastern coast of India are clearly evident in the palynological records of two sediment cores from northeastern Cauvery river delta. Dominance of herbaceous taxa in Vellar estuary before 7 ka suggests an openland without trees. No mangroves and other marine forms show absence of palaeoshoreline until 7 ka in the region. Between ka, high diversity of mangroves and terrestrial taxa shows a stabilized estuarine ecosystem and strengthened monsoon. Middle Holocene (6 ka) palaeoshoreline is recorded at 10 km inland in Thillaividangan. From ka, abundance of back mangroves Avicennia marina, A. officinalis and Acanthus shows retreating shoreline along with a decline in terrestrial taxa due to gradual weakening of monsoon. The abundance of Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae and Poaceae pollen along with a fragmented curve of Asteraceae between ka indicates mangrove deterioration. Since 0.8 ka, mangroves rejuvenated at all the sites after a gap of 3.5 ka but with a loss in diversity. The recent establishment of mangroves in Pichavaram indicates sea water ingression providing suitable ecology for mangroves and its associates. This is attributed to configurational changes in the wetland due to geomorphological changes induced by sediment depositional/erosional pattern in the study area. 62 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

76 PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE EQUATORIAL REGION DURING EARLY PALEOGENE BASED ON THE DIVERSITY PATTERN OF MELIACEAE (MAHOGANY FAMILY) FOSSIL POLLEN RECORDS Jyoti Srivastava * and Vandana Prasad Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India jyotisri.bsip@gmail.com Tropical forests are the most diverse terrestrial biomes on the planet since mid-cretaceous period (~100 Ma) occupying regions with year-round warm and wet climate. Understanding how this tropical plant biodiversity has shaped through time is a fundamental question in evolutionary biology. Hence, familylevel diversification analyses of large pantropical plant groups which represent a tropical forest flora can provide important insights to the ecology and historical construction of the tropical biome. The mahoganies (Meliaceae family) are one such group containing genera and c. 620 species belonging to wet evergreen, moist deciduous to deciduous vegetation types widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions. Here we report a considerably high diversity of Meliaceae pollen from base Ypresian (~54 Ma) post PETM (Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum) interval of Ranikor Barsora section from east Khasi Hills, Meghalaya, northeast India. Based on detail morphological and morphometric analyses of fossil pollen, 7 different types of pollen were identified in the fossil assemblage which were grouped in to two fossil genera Meliapollis and Tetracolporites. An attempt was made to trace the affinity of these fossil taxa with the extant species through nearest living relative (NLR) analysis. Present study suggests affinity of fossil pollen with the extant Walsura trifolia, Toona ciliata, Melia azedarach and Dysoxylum sp. of family Meliaceae restricted to tropical wet evergreen rainforest of southern Western Ghats of India and Malesia, Sundaland of SE Asia. The study suggests PETM induced development of warm climate and high precipitation with lesser number of dry months, a climatic condition suitable for the proliferation of wet and evergreen members of Meliaceae in the paleoequatorial region. Absence of Meliaceae pollen in the Paleogene records of SE Asia further suggests that these wet and evergreen tropical lineages of family Meliaceae must have originated in Gondwana continents and dispersed from India into SE Asia once the land connection between the Indian and Asian plate was well established during the middle Eocene (49-41 Ma). Hence, the present study also supports the Out of India Hypothesis. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 63

77 A SUB-CENTENNIAL SCALE HOLOCENE CLIMATE RECORD FROM GARHWAL Pradeep Srivastava 1,*, Deepti Sharma 2, Rajesh Agnihotri 3, Narendra Meena 1, Anju Saxena 3, Ravi Bhushan 4 and Y.P. Sundriyal 2 1 Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, 33 GMS Raod, Dehradun, India 2 HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar, Uttarakhand, India 3 Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India 4 Physical Research Laboratory, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad, India pradeep@wihg.res.in Climate of south Asia (India) is known to be governed by seasonal reversing monsoon winds and associated rainfall. From oceanic realm to terrestrial repositories, attempts have been made to reconstruct past monsoonal variability at high spatio-temporal resolution. However, palaeo-data indicating air temperature variability over the sub-continent is highly sparse from the Himalayas. Aquatic bodies of higher Himalayas owing to sharply changing environmental conditions offer ideal repositories for unravelling such important records. From winter and then almost up to the spring season, aquatic bodies remain in almost frozen/semi-frozen state, inhibiting any solar radiation and atmospheric exchange yielding very low to almost nil in-situ surface biological activity. In contrast, from beginning of summer these bodies start receiving snow melt waters and debris from higher altitudes as well as monsoonal rainfall. Such conditions allow in-situ biological production through atmospheric gaseous exchange and inventory of sunlight. Using aforementioned hypothesis, we studied a 5.25 m thick peat sequence from the vicinity of Kedarnath temple located at the headwaters of Mandakini river in Garhwal Himalaya. The sequence, chronologically well constrained by seven AMS radiocarbon dates, allowed us to reconstruct a sub-centennial scale palaeoclimate using a suite of geo-physico-chemical, stable isotopic and palynological proxies. Overall, the sequence spans a period of ~7500 years BP from present, and thus encompasses a very important period of human history. Noteworthy this period incorporates warm phase from 6-5 ka BP; ka BP inferred as highly unstable climatic period, a cold and drier climate between ~ yrs BP, relatively warm and wet conditions during historical Medieval Warm Period (MWP) compared to cooler and drier conditions during the period coinciding with globally recognized Little Ice Age (LIA). This study will highlight regional as well as global significance of this palaeoclimatic record. 64 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

78 A LATE MIOCENE FLORA FROM EASTERN TIBET AND ITS PALEOENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS Tao Su 1,*, He Xu 1,2, Shu-Feng Li 1 and Zhe-Kun Zhou 1,3,* 1 Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla , China 2 University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing , China 3 Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming , China s: sutao@xtbg.org.cn, zhouzk@xtbg.ac.cn Fossil floras from Tibet are very important for us to understand the evolution of plants and environments in the world's highest plateau throughout geological time. However, fossil floras in this region are far from fully investigated until now. Recently, we found a well-preserved megafossil flora from the Upper Miocene Lawula Formation in the eastern Tibet. This flora is diverse in plant species including ferns (Equisetum), gymnosperms (Abies, Chamaecyparis, and Pinus), angiosperms (e.g., Alnus, Betula, Cyclobalanopsis, Elaeagnus, Hemitrapa, Populus, and Salix). Totally, about 30 morphotypes of megafossils have been identified; among them, Cyclobalanopsis (Fagaceae) is the most abundant in fossil specimens, followed by Betulaceae, indicating an evergreen and deciduous broadleaf mixed forest. Until now, most of these taxa in the flora have not existed in the fossil site at the genus level nowadays, and Hemitrapa disappeared around the world at the present day. Our preliminary results indicate that, there was a warmer and wetter climate in eastern Tibet during the late Miocene, and the continuous mountain uplift in that region occurred since the late Miocene. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 65

79 POLLEN-INFERRED LATE HOLOCENE VEGETATION AND CLIMATE OSCILLATION IN LOKTAK LAKE (RAMSAR SITE) OF MANIPUR, NORTHEAST INDIA Swati Tripathi * and C.M. Nautiyal Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India swatidixit26@gmail.com The palaeoenvironment scenario of northeast India is among the least understood domains of Manipur, this is true particularly with regard to the beginning of late Quaternary to late Holocene- the crucial period when incipient agriculture first emerged. Loktak is the biggest freshwater lake in that region with an area of about 50 sq km during dry and about 250 sq km during rainy season and has been recognized as a wetland of international importance under Ramsar Convention of Accumulated pollen grains and spores preserve a record of past vegetation of an area which may have changed with climate and, therefore, form the basis of an important aspect of palaeoclimatic reconstruction. Here, we have been able to go back in time farther compared to an earlier report where the lowest measured age was about 500 yrs BP. Thus, the pollen analyses of samples from a 100 cm deep sediment profile from Loktak Lake region, Manipur have provided insight into the changing vegetation and climatic scenario in the region during the Late Holocene. The Palyno-investigation has revealed that between 2,290 and 1,220 yr B.P., openvegetation consisting mostly grasses and heathland taxa namely Xanthium, Artemisia, Asteraceae and Chenopodiaceae with some tree pollen viz., Holoptelea, Fabaceae, Terminalia, Lagerstroemia and Acacia existed in the region near the lake. Ferns, fungal spores and Pseudoschizea along with marshy and aquatic taxa like Nymphoides, Polygonum and Jussiaea imply that at that time humid climate prevailed there. There is evidence of agricultural practices due to the presence of cereal and other cultural pollen taxa. Later, less humid climate took over during 1,220 and 580 yr B.P., as reflected in the expansion of open vegetation and a reduction of trees indicated in pollen counts. Reduction in monsoon precipitation is invoked to explain this which is further supported by a steep fall in ferns and fungal elements. However, the culture pollen taxa do not show any distinct alteration indicating that agricultural practices continued in a similar way. From 580 yr B.P. to present, little change is observed but for a sharp inclination for pastoral activities. 66 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

80 ASIAN SUMMER MONSOON VARIABILITY INFERRED FROM POLLEN RECORDS IN LAKE DEPOSITS OF SOUTH WEST YUNNAN, CHINA DURING SINCE ~ YRS BP Anjali Trivedi 1,*, Ye-Na Tang 2, Yi-Feng Yao 2, Anjum Farooqui 1, Alexandra H. Wortley 3, Stephen Blackmore 3 and Cheng-Sen Li 2 1 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India 2 State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiangshan, Beijing, PR China 3 Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 20a Inverleith Row, Edinburgh EH3 5LR, Scotland, UK anjali_trivedi@bsip.res.in A 150 cm long sediment core from Shuang Hai Zi Lake, northwestern Yunnan, China located at about 3200m amsl altitude was analyzed for Pollen and non palynomorphs in order to reconstruct monsoonal variations and their impact on regional plant community since prior to the Holocene. Qualitative and quantitative analysis using co-existence approach of the pollen sequence five major stages were recognized which indicates that the period between 11.2 and 10.6 cal. ka BP, supported temperate conifer forests suggesting that the region underwent cooler climate with reduced monsoon precipitation. Between 10.6 and 9.1 cal. ka BP, presence of coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forests implies increased warm and humid condition. Between 9.1 and 5.4 cal. ka BP, the Holocene climatic optimum was reached and sustained broad-leaved-oak-coniferous mixed forests. The influence of relatively more warm and humid climate is evidenced by an increase in Quercus and other broad-leaved pollen taxa such as Betula, Corylus and Ulmus. From 5.4 to 3.6 cal. ka BP, the vegetation changed to mixed needle-leaved forest with sparse evergreen broad-leaved forest, indicating climatic shift towards cool and dry. From 3.6 to 1.3 cal. ka BP, the emergence of oak-broad-leaved-coniferous forests, reflect a climatic shift towards warmer and wetter climate suggesting strengthened South West monsoon. From 1.3 cal. ka BP to the present day, the vegetation was again dominated by needle-leaved forests indicating dry climatic reversal again. It is inferred that the cooler and warmer periods oscillated for shorter span of 500 to 1000 yrs during and 5.4 cal. ka BP to present. The longer span of about 5000 yrs was warm and humid between 10.6 to 5.4 cal. ka BP. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 67

81 POLLEN GENUS DENSIVERRUPOLLENITES AS A MARKER FOR LATE EOCENE SEDIMENTS OF INDIA G.K. Trivedi * and Parminder S. Ranhotra Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India. gktrivedi19@rediffmail.com Here we highlight a new palynomorph (Densiverrupollenites) recovered from the exposed section of Late Eocene Kopili Formation along Jowai-Sonapur Road, Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya, instituted by Tripathi & Singh (1984). Morphologically Densiverrupollenites suggest its affinity with the family Alangiaceae (Saxena, & Tripathi, 2012) which is an important constituent of tropical rain forest. Until now, the genus Densiverrupollenites has been monotypic; with Densiverrupollenites eocenicus as the only species and seems to be endemic to the north-eastern part of India. The stratigraphical record of Densiverrupollenites eocenicus from India shows the presence of this genus in the Late Eocene sediment sections from Jaintia hills and South Garo Hills of Meghalaya and North Cachar Hills of Assam. Till now this angiosperm pollen genus has not been reported either from the sediments younger or older than Late Eocene from anywhere in India. Hence, Densiverrupollenites can be suggested as marker pollen genus for the Late Eocene sediments in India. References: Saxena, R. K., Tripathi, S. K. M Seven decades of Indian Tertiary spore-pollen floras: A Compendum. AASP contribution series, AASP Foundation, Dallas, Texas, U.S.A. 45, Tripathi, S. K. M., Singh, H.P Two new pollen genera from the Lower Tertiary sediments of Meghalaya, India. Palaeobotanist, 32(2), Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

82 EFFECT OF FRESHWATER DISCHARGE ON MORPHOLOGICAL VARIATIONS WITHIN THE PERIDINIOID DINOFLAGELLATE CYSTS Premraj Uddandam *, Vandana Prasad and Jyotsana Rai Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India Dinoflagellate cysts have undergone major evolutionary change during the Paleogene. The warming event Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum at 55.5 Ma played a major role in the diversification of dinoflagellate genus Wetzeliella that is characterised with the pentagonal shape with wall features. This group includes dinoflagellate genera Apectodinium, Axiodinium, Charlesdowniea, Dracodinium, Kisselevia, Rhombodinium, Talladinium and Wilsonidium. These genera possess a characteristic Quadra intercalary archeopyle. During the PETM, Apectodinium dominated the dinocyst assemblages from the tropical to the polar regions. Increased seasonality and freshwater runoff into the marine system created a low saline and nutrient rich environment that appears to have favoured the diversification of quadra archeopyle forms, and reduction in the cavity and thinning of the pentagonal cysts. To test that at what extent low saline conditions due to high runoff discharge and nutrients favours the proliferation of pentagonal cyst; we selected the Bay of Bengal as a present day analogue. Bay of Bengal receives high precipitation through monsoon and also receives huge freshwater discharge through Ganga-Brahmaputra, Krishna, Godavari and Mahanadi river systems. The dinoflagellate cyst assemblages in the present samples were dominated by pentagonal cysts with several new taxa that have previously not been reported. High diversity of pentagonal cyst and morphological variability within the same species suggests a low saline environment that favours the diversification of Peridinioid dinoflagellate cysts. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 69

83 CENOZOIC CLIMATE AND VEGETATION PATTERNS IN EURASIA AN OUTLINE OF NECLIME RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGY Torsten Utescher * and NECLIME members Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum, Frankfurt am Main; Steinmann Institute, University of Bonn, Nussallee 8, Bonn, Germany utescher@geo.uni-bonn.de The study of Cenozoic climate change in Eurasia and its impact on terrestrial ecosystems represents acore topic of NECLIME research. Related research conducted within the frame of the network comprises quantitative reconstructions by means of standardised techniques, modelling approaches, and the analysis of interactions between palaeogeography, climate, and biosphere, and include as well consideration on how a better understanding of past conditions can help us when assessing future climate change scenarios. Presently, NECLIME has 138 members from 36 countries, contributing with their published data to a collective data base. As regards the palaeobotanical record of Eurasia, quantitative climate and vegetation data were so far made available for more than 1,000 Palaeogene to Quaternary sites allowing to trace the impact of the global climate evolution on the biosphere throughout the Cenozoic, from greenhouse to icehouse climate conditions. Climate changes induced continent-wide patterns such as the very shallow latitudinal temperature gradient leading to the existence of paratropical vegetation at higher latitudes of Eurasia during the very warm phases of the Palaeogene, and the subsequent replacement of this vegetation, related to subsequent high latitude cooling during the Neogene. On the other hand, the importance of regional climates and related response of the biosphere in the context of a changing palaeogeography became evident. Along the Cenozoic, a pointed longitudinal differentiation between the Atlantic and Pacific side of Eurasia evolved, and in the later Neogene and early Pleistocene, there is evidence for drying of the continental interior of Eurasia. In East and Southeast Asia, Himalayan uplift and the evolving Monsoon System greatly impacted regional climate and evolution of biodiversity. The use of standardised techniques in quantitative palaeoclimate and vegetation reconstruction represents a crucial pre-requisite when working at continental scales. Several techniques used in NECLIME are briefly outlined, namely CLAMP, CA (Coexistence Approach), PFT(plant functional type)-approach, IPR (Integrated Plant Record) Analysis, and PCS (Plant Community Scenarios). The Indian meeting of NECLIME provides the unique opportunity to fill a gap still existing in the actual NECLIME database, namely in a lower latitudinal key area of Eurasia where precipitation and monsoon intensity are considered most important as delimiting factors for plants and the evolution of biodiversity. 70 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

84 QUANTITATIVE RECONSTRUCTION FOR THE EARLY EOCENE CLIMATE, BASED ON EXCEPTIONALLY PRESERVED PALYNOMORPHS IN THE AMBER OF VASTAN LIGNITE, GUJARAT, INDIA Poonam Verma 1,*, Vandana Prasad 1 and Torsten Utescher 2 1 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow , India 2 Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum, Frankfurt am Main; Steinmann Institute, University of Bonn, Nussallee 8, Bonn, Germany verma.poonam07@gmail.com Early Eocene sedimentary successions of Western India are marked by extensive lignite deposits. These lignites are rich in amber content which are Diptercarpus in origin. Amber collected from the Upper Lignite Seam of the Vastan Lignite mine has been studied for palynological content. A variety of palynological assemblages consisting of 58 genera and 65 species comprising of algal remains (2 genera and 2 species), fungal remains (2 genera and 2 species), pteridophytic spores (2 genera and 2 species), gymnosperm pollen (1 genera and 1 species) and angiosperm pollen (51 genera and 58 species) were recorded from the amber. In addition to these, abundance of fungal hyphae and spores, a few grains of burnt charcoal with phytoliths, broken insect parts, theaca-amoebic cysts and a few unidentified particles were also recorded. Among the angiosperm pollen grains belonging to plant families Myrtaceae, Dipterocarpaceae (Albertipollenites, Dipterocarpuspollenites, Foveotricolpites), Bombacaceae (Lakiapollis ovatus and Tricolporopollis) and Ctenolophonaceae are the most abundant. The presence of mangrove members such as Spinizonocolpites - Nypa and Acanthotricolpites (Arecaceae), Paleosantalaceaepites Rhizophora (Rhizophoraceae) indicate a low lying coastal environment of deposition. In this study we present first quantitative climate data for early Eocene amber materials. More than 50 fossil taxa were taken into consideration, and for a total of 31 NLR taxa, climate data were made available. The analysis yields a high degree of overlapping of climate requirements of the vegetational components and thus provides very significant results. The obtained values indicate a considerably wet climate with 2,600-3,200 mm mean annual rainfall, and a mean annual temperature of approximately 27⁰C, providing evidence of an extremely wet and humid climate in the post ETM2 (Eocene Thermal Maxima) during Eocene, with a distinct dry phase of 3-4 months. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 71

85 THE FIRST FOSSIL RECORD OF RING-CUPPED OAK (QUERCUS L. SUBGENUS CYCLOBALANOPSIS (OERSTED) SCHNEIDER) IN TIBET AND ITS PALEOENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS He Xu 1,3, Tao Su 1,4, Shi-Tao Zhang 5, Min Deng 6 and Zhe-Kun Zhou 1,2,* 1 Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla , China 2 Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming , China 3 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing , China 4 State Key Laboratory of Paleobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing , China 5 Faculty of Land Resource Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming , China 6 Shanghai Chenshan Plant Science Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai ,China,. xuhe@xtbg.org.cn, sutao@xtbg.org.cn, zhangshitao9918@sina.com, dengmin@sibs.ac.cn, zhouzk@xtbg.ac.cn Some taxa are good indicators of particular climates because their distribution is determined by specific temperature or precipitation requirements. Ring-cupped oaks (Quercus L. subgenus Cyclobalanopsis (Oersted) Schneider) are mainly distributed in tropical and subtropical climates in southeastern and eastern Asia. Recently, we collected many leaf fossils of ring-cupped oaks from the Upper Miocene Lawula Formation of eastern Tibet at an elevation of 3910 m. No modern species of ring-cupped oaks could survive at such a high elevation under current climate conditions. Based on detailed morphological comparisons with extant and fossil species, we propose a new species, Quercus tibetensis H. Xu, T. Su et Z.K. Zhou sp. nov., representing the first fossil record of ring-cupped oaks in Tibet. We investigated the climate requirements of the nearest living relatives (NLRs) of Q. tibetensis, and the ranges of mean annual temperature(mat) and mean annual precipitation (MAP) are 7.9ºC to 21.7ºC, and mm to mm, respectively, compared with the current climate at the fossil site with MAT of 4.4ºC and MAP of mm. The NLRs of Q. tibetensis are distributed at elevations from 70m to 3000 m, much lower than the fossil locality (3910 m). The altitudinal difference of the fossil site is 161 m to 3091 m between the late Miocene and today, even considering the warmer global climate during the late Miocene. Our results indicate that the climate conditions at the fossil site during the late Miocene were warmer and more humid than the current climate. Meanwhile, this new fossil finding corroborates results from previous studies that the south eastern part of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau experienced continued uplift since the late Miocene. 72 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

86 AN INVENTORY OF GLACIAL LAKES IN THE THIRD POLE REGION AND THEIR CHANGES IN RESPONSE TO GLOBAL WARMING Guoqing Zhang 1,2,*,Tandong Yao 1,2,Weicai Wang 1 and Wei Yang 1,2 1 Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environmental Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing , China 2 CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing , China guoqing.zhang@itpcas.ac.cn No glacial lake census exists for the Third Pole region, which includes the Pamir-Hindu Kush- Karakoram-Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau. Therefore, comprehensive information is lacking about the distribution of and changes in glacial lakes caused by the current global warming conditions. In this study, the first glacial lake inventories for the Third Pole were conducted for ~1990, 2000, and 2010 using Landsat TM/ETM+ data. Glacial lake spatial distributions, corresponding areas and temporal changes were examined. The significant results are as follows: (1) There were 4602, 4981, and 5701 glacial lakes (> km 2 ) covering areas of ± 90, ± 97, and ± 110 km 2 in ~1990, 2000, and 2010 respectively; these lakes are primarily located in the Brahmaputra (39%), Indus (28%), and Amu Darya (10%) basins; (2) Small lakes (< 0.2 km 2 ) are more sensitive to climate changes; (3) Lakes closer to glaciers and at higher altitudes, particularly those connected to glacier termini, have undergone larger area changes; (4) Glacier-fed lakes are dominant in both quantity and area (>70%) and exhibit faster expansion trends overall compared to non-glacier-fed lakes. We conclude that glacier meltwater may play a dominant role in the areal expansion of most glacial lakes in the Third Pole. In addition, the patterns of the glacier-fed lakes correspond well with warming temperature trends and negative glacier mass balance patterns. This paper presents an important database of glacial lakes and provides a basis for long-term monitoring and evaluation of outburst flood disasters primarily caused by glacial lakes in the Third Pole. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 73

87 AUTHOR INDEX Acharya, Krishnendu Agnihotri, Rajesh... 1, 57, 64 Agrawal, S Alagudurai, Sivachandiran... 4 Ali, S. Nawaz... 5 Arya, Ajay Kumar... 6 Azharuddin, Syed... 7 Bajpai, Sunil... 3, 8 Basavaiah, N Basumatary, Sadhan Kumar Bera, Subir... 13, 22 Bhattacharyya, Amalava... 37, 50 Bhushan, Ravi Biswas, Oindrila Blackmore, Stephen Bruch, Angela... 14, 23, 24 Camargo, Plinio B. de Carvalho, Mary Ann Chakraborty, Arindam Chauhan, M.S Cruz Jr., Francisco W DaSilva, R David, Dilcher Deng, Min Desai, Bhavani Singh Dutta, Koushik... 1 Dutta, Suryendu Farooqui, Anjum... 18, 40, 62, 67 Farooqui, Shazi Garg, Arti Garg, R Ghorai, Narayan Ghosh, Amit K Ghosh, Ruby... 13, 22 Govil, Pawan... 7 Gross, Martin Gupta, Antara... 6 Haupt, Susanne... 23, 24 Hertler, Christine... 14, 23, 24 Hou, Juzhi Jacques, Frédéric M.B Jeyakumar, S Joshi, Priyanka Joshi, R.K Kandasamy, Selvaraj... 4 Kapur, V.V Kar, Ratan Kern, Andrea K Khatri, Dhan Bahadur Kotlia, B.S Kumar, Kamlesh Kumar, Madhav Kumar, Pramod Lebreton-Anberrée, Julie Li, Cheng-Sen Li, Shu-Feng... 30, 32, 65 Liang, Jie Lüdecke, Tina... 23, 24 Mahalakshmi, P Mandaokar, B.D Mathews, Runcie P Mazumdar, A Meena, Narendra Mehrotra, Nivedita Mehrotra, R.C Mishra, Ajai... 6 Mishra, Ravi... 7, 35 Misra, K.G Misra, Sandhya... 36, 37 Mosbrugger, Volker Mothekai, P Mukherjee, Biswajit Mulch, Andreas... 23, 24 Nag, Debarati Naidu, T.Y Naik, B.G Nautiyal, C.M , 66 Pal, Ashish K Pandey, D.K Pandey, Shweta Patnaik, Rajeev Paudayal, Khum N Phartiyal, Binita... 5, 40 Piller, Werner E Pokharia, Anil K Prasad, G.V.R Prasad, S Prasad, Vandana... 26, 40, 42, 60, 63, 69, 71 Quamar, M.F Rai, Jyotsana... 44, 69 Raju, S.V Ranhotra, Parminder S , 68 Rao, M.R.... 3, 46 Reghu, Navya Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

88 Riedel, N Roy, Ipsita Rudra, Arka Sachse, D Sandeep, Kizhur Sarkar, S Sarkar, Suman Saxena, Anju Schrenk, Friedemann Shah, Santosh K Shaji, A Shanahan, Timothy M Shankar, Rajasekhariah Sharma, Anupam... 5, 40, 55 Sharma, Deepti Sharma, Shalini Shekhar, Mayank Shukla, M.K Singh, A.D.... 7, 59 Singh, Bhagwan D Singh, R.S Singh, Randheer Singh, Vikram P Spicer, Robert A , 32 Srivastava, Gaurav... 28, 61 Srivastava, Jyoti... 62, 63 Srivastava, Pradeep Stebich, M Su, Tao... 32, 65, 72 Sundriyal, Y.P Tang, Ye-Na Thakur, Biswajeet... 5, 40, 44 Tripathi, Swati Trivedi, Anjali Trivedi, G.K Uddandam, Premraj Utescher, Torsten... 38, 42, 70, 71 Veeran, Yoganandan... 4 Verma, Poonam... 3, 46, 71 Wang, Weicai Warrier, Anish K Weijian, Zhou Wortley, Alexandra H Xu, He... 65, 72 Xuefeng, Lu Yadav, A.K Yadav, R.R Yang, Wei Yao, Tandong Yao, Yi-Feng Zhang, Guoqing Zhang, Shi-Tao Zhou, Zhe-Kun... 30, 32, 38, 65, 72 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India 75

89 76 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India

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