Record of Additional Middle Eocene Vertebrate Remains from the Mikir Hills, NE India: Implications on Paleoenvironment and Paleobiogeography — Oak Academic Publishing
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Record of Additional Middle Eocene Vertebrate Remains from the Mikir Hills, NE India: Implications on Paleoenvironment and Paleobiogeography
Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, India
,
Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, India
,
Department of Geology, School of Basic and Applied Sciences, Sri Guru Ram Rai (P.G) College, Dehradun, India
,
Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleosciences, Lucknow, India
,
Department of Geology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India
,
Ampeli, Danda Lackhond Shastradhara Road, Dehradun, India
,
Department of Geology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India
1 Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, India
2 Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, India
3 Department of Geology, School of Basic and Applied Sciences, Sri Guru Ram Rai (P.G) College, Dehradun, India
4 Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleosciences, Lucknow, India
5 Department of Geology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India
6 Ampeli, Danda Lackhond Shastradhara Road, Dehradun, India
7 Department of Geology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India
The fossiliferous middle Eocene deposits of Sylhet Limestone of Mikir Hills have yielded vertebrate and invertebrate faunas. The fossil assemblages recorded in this contribution consist of shark, ray , crocodile, conical tooth, broken fragments and echinoderm spines. Ray and crocodile tooth are reporting for the first time from the Mikir Hills. Paleoenvironmental analysis based on the fossil fish assemblage in association with invertebrate (foraminifera) re mains and sedimentogical observations suggest a shallow marine environ ment ranging from open marine, inner neritic to more proximal coastal settings. Also, the presence of common marine elements (similar faunas) from Kutch , Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Assam (India), New Hampshire, Libya, Iraq, Iran, North Western Sahara (Algeria), Tanzania (East Africa), Italy, Germa ny, Southern North Sea basin (Europe) based on previous published works and the present finding testifies to the connection of the Tethys Sea during Lutetian-Bartonian of middle Eocene.
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