Characterization of lignite deposits of Barmer Basin, Rajasthan: insights from mineralogical and elemental analysis.

The geochemistry of fly ash produced from the combustion of coal at thermal power plants presents a significant challenge for disposal and environmental impact due to its complex mineralogical and elemental composition. The objective of this study was to investigate the mineralogical and elemental distribution of thirty lignite samples from the Barmer Basin using advanced techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). XRD analysis revealed the presence of minerals such as haematite (FeO), nepheline, anhydrite, magnesite, andalusite, spinel and anatase.

Journey to the east: Diverse routes and variable flowering times for wheat and barley en route to prehistoric China.

Today, farmers in many regions of eastern Asia sow their barley grains in the spring and harvest them in the autumn of the same year (spring barley). However, when it was first domesticated in southwest Asia, barley was grown between the autumn and subsequent spring (winter barley), to complete their life cycles before the summer drought. The question of when the eastern barley shifted from the original winter habit to flexible growing schedules is of significance in terms of understanding its spread.

Aquatic Habits of Cetacean Ancestors: Integrating Bone Microanatomy and Stable Isotopes.

The earliest cetaceans were interpreted as semi-aquatic based on the presence of thickened bones and stable oxygen isotopes in tooth enamel. However, the origin of aquatic behaviors in cetacean relatives (e.g.

Crown Group Lejeuneaceae and Pleurocarpous Mosses in Early Eocene (Ypresian) Indian Amber.

Cambay amber originates from the warmest period of the Eocene, which is also well known for the appearance of early angiosperm-dominated megathermal forests. The humid climate of these forests may have triggered the evolution of epiphytic lineages of bryophytes; however, early Eocene fossils of bryophytes are rare. Here, we present evidence for lejeuneoid liverworts and pleurocarpous mosses in Cambay amber.

Thecamoebians (Testate Amoebae) Straddling the Permian-Triassic Boundary in the Guryul Ravine Section, India: Evolutionary and Palaeoecological Implications.

Exceptionally well-preserved organic remains of thecamoebians (testate amoebae) were preserved in marine sediments that straddle the greatest extinction event in the Phanerozoic: the Permian-Triassic Boundary. Outcrops from the Late Permian Zewan Formation and the Early Triassic Khunamuh Formation are represented by a complete sedimentary sequence at the Guryul Ravine Section in Kashmir, India, which is an archetypal Permian-Triassic boundary sequence. Previous biostratigraphic analysis provides chronological control for the section, and a perspective of faunal turnover in the brachiopods, ammonoids, bivalves, conodonts, gastropods and foraminifera.

Early Miocene elevation in northern Tibet estimated by palaeobotanical evidence.

The area and elevation of the Tibetan Plateau over time has directly affected Asia's topography, the characteristics of the Asian monsoon, and modified global climate, but in ways that are poorly understood. Charting the uplift history is crucial for understanding the mechanisms that link elevation and climate irrespective of time and place. While some palaeoelevation data are available for southern and central Tibet, clues to the uplift history of northern Tibet remain sparse and largely circumstantial.

Coryphoid palm leaf fossils from the Maastrichtian-Danian of Central India with remarks on phytogeography of the Coryphoideae (Arecaceae).

Premise Of Research: A large number of fossil coryphoid palm wood and fruits have been reported from the Deccan Intertrappean beds of India. We document the oldest well-preserved and very rare costapalmate palm leaves and inflorescence like structures from the same horizon.

Methodology: A number of specimens were collected from Maastrichtian-Danian sediments of the Deccan Intertrappean beds, Ghughua, near Umaria, Dindori District, Madhya Pradesh, India.

Phytogeographical implication of Bridelia Will. (Phyllanthaceae) fossil leaf from the late Oligocene of India.

Background: The family Phyllanthaceae has a predominantly pantropical distribution. Of its several genera, Bridelia Willd. is of a special interest because it has disjunct equally distributed species in Africa and tropical Asia i.

A report on biocompounds from palm fossil of India.

The occurrence of a large number of fossil woods having resemblance in anatomical features with the modern palm genus, Phoenix L in Deccan Intertrappean fossil flora of Maastrichtian-Danian age (i. e. Late Cretaceous and Earliest Tertiary (65-67 my)) indicates the most primitive record of date palm.

Vegetation response and landscape dynamics of Indian Summer Monsoon variations during Holocene: an eco-geomorphological appraisal of tropical evergreen forest subfossil logs.

The high rainfall and low sea level during Early Holocene had a significant impact on the development and sustenance of dense forest and swamp-marsh cover along the southwest coast of India. This heavy rainfall flooded the coastal plains, forest flourishing in the abandoned river channels and other low-lying areas in midland.The coastline and other areas in lowland of southwestern India supply sufficient evidence of tree trunks of wet evergreen forests getting buried during the Holocene period under varying thickness of clay, silty-clay and even in sand sequences.

Cuticle bearing fossil leaves from Mio-Pliocene period in the Sub Himalayan zone and its phytogeographical and environmental implications.

A variety of fossil leaves were collected from the Siwalik group of India and Nepal. Few of them possessing sufficient cuticle were identified on the basis of morphological and cuticular features (epidermal cells, stomatal density, stomatal index etc). They closely resembled with the extant taxa, Pterospermum acerifolium (Sterculiaceae), Dichapetolum gelonioides (Dichapetalaceae), Paranephelium mocrophyllum, P.

The Interdependency of the Morphological Variations of the Planktonic Foraminiferal Species Globigerina bulloides in Surface Sediments on the Environmental Parameters of the Southwestern Indian Ocean.

18 surface sediment samples collected from a north-south transect along the Indian Ocean have been analyzed for planktonic Foraminifera content. Among the other planktonic foraminiferal faunas, Globigerina bulloides was present substantially in all samples. Census data of G.

Thecamoebians from Late Permian Gondwana sediments of peninsular India.

The evolutionary history of thecamoebians (testate amoebae) extends back to the Neoproterozoic Era. However, until now, these have had a restricted, discontinuous and modest record across the world. The studied sediment of Raniganj Formation (Godavari Graben), Andhra Pradesh, India has been assigned as Late Permian on the basis of co-occurring age-diagnostic Late Permian palynomorphs.

First fossil record of Alphonsea Hk. f. & T. (Annonaceae) from the Late Oligocene sediments of Assam, India and comments on its phytogeography.

A new fossil leaf impression of Alphonsea Hk. f. & T.

Cocos sahnii Kaul: a Cocos nucifera L.-like fruit from the Early Eocene rainforest of Rajasthan, western India.

Cocos sahnii Kaul, a fossil palm fruit, is validated and described from the Fuller's earth deposits of Kapurdi village of Rajasthan considered as Early Eocene in age. The fossil best resembles the genus Cocos, particularly Cocos nucifera L., which is now a common coastal element thriving in highly moist conditions.

Ectomycorrhizas from a Lower Eocene angiosperm forest.

The development of mycorrhizal associations is considered a key innovation that enabled vascular plants to extensively colonize terrestrial habitats. Here, we present the first known fossil ectomycorrhizas from an angiosperm forest. Our fossils are preserved in a 52 million-yr-old piece of amber from the Tadkeshwar Lignite Mine of Gujarat State, western India.

Late Cretaceous origin of the rice tribe provides evidence for early diversification in Poaceae.

Rice and its relatives are a focal point in agricultural and evolutionary science, but a paucity of fossils has obscured their deep-time history. Previously described cuticles with silica bodies (phytoliths) from the Late Cretaceous period (67-65 Ma) of India indicate that, by the latest Cretaceous, the grass family (Poaceae) consisted of members of the modern subclades PACMAD (Panicoideae-Aristidoideae-Chloridoideae-Micrairoideae-Arundinoideae-Danthonioideae) and BEP (Bambusoideae-Ehrhartoideae-Pooideae), including a taxon with proposed affinities to Ehrhartoideae. Here we describe additional fossils and show that, based on phylogenetic analyses that combine molecular genetic data and epidermal and phytolith features across Poaceae, these can be assigned to the rice tribe, Oryzeae, of grass subfamily Ehrhartoideae.

Evidence of late Palaeocene-early Eocene equatorial rain forest refugia in southern Western Ghats, India.

Equatorial rain forests that maintain a balance between speciation and extinction are hot-spots for studies of biodiversity. Western Ghats in southern India have gained attention due to high tropical biodiversity and endemism in their southern most area. We attempted to track the affinities of the pollen fl ora of the endemic plants of Western Ghat area within the fossil palynoflora of late Palaeocene-early Eocene (approximately 55-50 Ma) sedimentary deposits of western and northeastern Indian region.

The evolution and distribution of life in the Precambrian eon-global perspective and the Indian record.

The discovery of Precambrian microfossils in 1954 opened a new vista of investigations in the field of evolution of life. Although the Precambrian encompasses 87% of the earth's history, the pace of organismal evolution was quite slow. The life forms as categorised today in the three principal domains viz.

Tree ring imprints of long-term changes in climate in western Himalaya, India.

Tree-ring analyses from semi-arid to arid regions in western Himalaya show immense potential for developing millennia long climate records. Millennium and longer ring-width chronologies of Himalayan pencil juniper (Juniperus polycarpos), Himalayan pencil cedar (Cedrus deodara) and Chilgoza pine (Pinus gerardiana) have been developed from different sites in western Himalaya. Studies conducted so far on various conifer species indicate strong precipitation signatures in ring-width measurement series.

Dinosaur coprolites and the early evolution of grasses and grazers.

Silicified plant tissues (phytoliths) preserved in Late Cretaceous coprolites from India show that at least five taxa from extant grass (Poaceae) subclades were present on the Indian subcontinent during the latest Cretaceous. This taxonomic diversity suggests that crown-group Poaceae had diversified and spread in Gondwana before India became geographically isolated. Other phytoliths extracted from the coprolites (from dicotyledons, conifers, and palms) suggest that the suspected dung producers (titanosaur sauropods) fed indiscriminately on a wide range of plants.

Biogenic arsenopyrite in holocene peat sediment, India.

The plant organic matter in the peat layer deposited around 6650+/-110 and 4800+/-80 years BP, during the transgressive and regressive phases of sea level changes, respectively in the dried part (playa) of the present Pulicat lagoon in Palar Basin (southeast coast of India) was studied to elucidate the biogenic pyrite generation and associated trace elements. The scanning electron microscopic (SEM) observations show strongly curved unique C-shaped bacteria of uniform coccoidal shape and size (1 microm) freely scattered on the plant epidermal microfragments. These form spheroidal microcolonies 8-15 microm in diameter attached to the epidermis in a linear fashion or haphazardly enclosed in the translucent sheath as observed in surface view.

Permian, Jurassic and Early Cretaceous palynofloral assemblages from subsurface sedimentary rocks in Chuperbhita Coalfield, Rajmahal Basin, India.

The results of a palynological analysis of the sedimentary sequence of Borehole RCH-151, Chuperbhita Coalfield, Rajmahal Basin, Bihar are presented here. The borehole penetrated the Rajmahal Formation (comprising two traps sandwiching an intertrappean bed), the thinly represented Dubrajpur Formation and in its lower part, the Coal Measures. The coal-bearing interval is associated with Scheuringipollenites barakarensis, Faunipollenites varius, Densipollenites indicus, Gondisporites raniganjensis and Densipollenites magnicorpus Assemblage Zones.