Kasauli, June 12,
In another groundbreaking paleontological discovery, noted geologist Dr. Ritesh Arya has unearthed a 20-million-year-old palm leaf fossil near the Kasauli Club. This rare find, made on June 11 during a field workshop by the Association of Petroleum Geologists (APG), is being hailed as a significant leap in understanding the region’s ancient tropical past.
Also read:https://himachalscape.com/rare-20-million-year-old-fossil-stem-discovered-in-koti-himachal-pradesh/
Dr. Arya, who has been collecting fossils from the region since 1987, stumbled upon the palm fossil while guiding a group of 14 geologists from ONGC and Cairn through the Kasauli Formation. The discovery site lies close to where British geologist H.B. Medlicott first found similar fossils in 1864 — a historical connection that Dr. Arya calls “history repeating itself.”
“This palm leaf fossil revives Medlicott’s legacy and redefines Kasauli’s image,” said Dr. Arya. “It wasn’t always a pine-draped hill station. Twenty million years ago, it may have been a coastal plain teeming with tropical palms.”
Palm trees are typically found in warm, humid, and low-lying regions. Their presence at Kasauli’s present altitude of 2,000 meters offers compelling evidence of drastic tectonic uplift and climate transformation. The fossil supports theories of the Indian plate’s northward drift from Gondwanaland and its eventual collision with Eurasia to form the Himalayas.
The palm fossil is now housed at the Tethys Fossil Museum in Dangyari, founded by Dr. Arya. His collection includes over 500 fossil specimens, including silicified wood, flowers, seeds, and the region’s first mammalian fossil — a rhinoceros from the Kasauli Formation.
By revisiting the same fossil trail that Medlicott once explored, Dr. Arya has not only strengthened the geological narrative of Himachal Pradesh but also opened new windows into its ancient tropical past.
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