MANALI: Noted geologist Ritesh Arya has discovered a 20 million-year-old, four-foot-long fossil of palm leaves from the fragile rocks of Ladakh — a finding that reinforces the theory that the towering peaks of Himalayas have emerged from the Tethys ocean.
The reason behind believing the Tethys ocean theory, Arya said, was because the present-day Himalayas were not formed 20 million years ago. Arya has discovered the fossil with two large leaves on a fragile rock surface. He said the fossil would have to be protected as it represented the near-coastal environment of Ladakh millions of years ago. He said this plant was not found anywhere in the Himalayas.
“The fossil has been found from the Tethyan sediments of Ladakh, when I was searching for specimens for a geological museum and laboratory that I have established a few days ago at a school in Ladakh. Tethys was once separating India from Tibet in geological history till 20 million years ago. The presence of fossils of palm from the sediments of Indus molasse in Ladakh clearly shows Ladakh Himalayas were once below the sea. Probably the area till sediments from where the fossils were found were below the sea. Palm fossils represent near-coastal environment,” said Arya.
Arya added the large size of the actual specimens of fossils showed that conditions at the time of deposition would have been hot and humid, similar to equatorial climatic conditions.