Siwalik plant fossils from Surai Khola area, western Nepal

Abstract

A part of the collection of plant fossils comprising leaf impressions and a seed from the Siwalik sediments of Surai Khola area, south of Dang Valley, has been studied. The leaves have been assigned to 21 species belonging to 19 genera and 13 families of monocotyledons and dicotyledons, viz., Marantaceae, Poaceae (Gramineae), Arecaceae (Palmae), Annonaceae, Flacourtiaceae, Clusiaceae (Guttiferae), Dipterocarpaceae, Anacardiaceae, Fabaceae, (Leguminosae), Combretaceae, Ebenaceae, Myristicaceae and Euphorbiaceae. The assemblage consists of mostly tropical evergreen to semi evergreen elements indicating tropical and warm humid conditions during their deposition. However, gradual changes in the climatic conditions in the area from tropical and humid to tropical and dry towards Upper Siwalik is reflected by the fossil leaves.