On the palaeobotanical evidence for continental drift and Himalayan uplift

Abstract

This paper provides some recent palaeobotanical evidence from Tibet. The Glossopteris flora from the Qubu Formation of Southern Tibet shows no relationship with the Gigantopteris flora of Northern Tibet. The fossil localities are only about 600 km apart from each other, yet these two floras are so distinct. They strongly support the view of continental drift that the India block drifted in Cretaceous from the south-eastern corner of Africa and later on in Eocene joined up with Asia to become its subcontinent. The Cretaceous to Early Eocene flora obtained from Lhasa, Rikaze and Ali of Tibet do not show any relationship with the Deccan Intertrappean flora of India which demonstrates that the initial contact of the drifting India plate and the Eurasia plate began sometime after Early Eocene. The suture of these two plates perhaps lies in the belt of basic to ultrabasic rocks. along the Yalu Tsangpo valleys as suggested by some Chinese geologists. The writer agrees with the view that the Himalayan uplift is due to the collision of the drifting India plate against the Eurasia plate. The Gandis Mountains may have been uplifted in the Eocene, earlier than the Himalayas. The Himalayan uplift probably began in Miocene, but went on more actively in the Quaternary. The uplift of the Tibetan plateau is also caused by the collision of these two plates, but the upheaval goes On gradually in Miocene.