Research Projects

In comparison to other Cenozoic contemporaneous and younger deposits (such as subathu, Murree, siwalik, etc.), the Ladakh Molasse or Indus Group is reported to contain very few fossils. However, the vertebrate fauna particularly rodents from this group are of great significance in understanding biostratigraphy, palaeoecology and palaeobiogeography. The vertebrate fossils that have been reported from a few sporadic localities of this group are ruminants (Nalameryx savagei and Lophiomeryx kargilensis), anthracotheriid (Hyoboops palaeindicus), hyracodontid (Juxia sharamurense), ctenodactylid rodents (Wakkamys hatenbergeri, Zindapiria sp., Fallomus razae and F. ladakhensis), cricetid rodents (Democricetodon sp. and Cricetidae gen. et sp. indet.) and squamates (boid and madtsoiid). The age of this group has been constrained by various researchers based on the biotas to range from the Upper Cretaceous to the Late Pliocene, with some studies favouring a date between the Late Oligocene and Early Miocene. Therefore, the proposed project is going to carry out high-resolution rodent biochronology studies including the search for additional vertebrate fossils. The project can fill up the gap in the evolutionary relationship of many vertebrate fauna in the Cenozoic of Indian subcontinent. It is also planned to reconstruct the palaeoecological condition prevailed at that time and make comparison with local, regional and sub-continental deposits, in order to understand the ecological continuity/discontinuity. In the context of faunal migration, the presence of the late Eocene and Oligocene to Miocene fauna of central Asiatic fauna in the Ladakh Molasse indicates the absence of barrier at the time. The present study is expected to shed light on the dispersal pattern (palaeobiogeography) of many vertebrate species between India and Asia. The present proposal involves fieldwork at different localities of Ladakh Molasse to collect vertebrate fossils and bulk sampling for the microvertebrate, followed by photography using sEM and Leica stereozoom Microscope for taxonomic identifications. Micro Ct scan of a few specimens will be done at IIT Ropar to study the 3D geometric morphometric. stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen will be analysed at the Wadia Institute Of Himalayan Geology, Uttarakhand.