Emergence and extinction of Dipterocarpaceae in western India with reference to climate change: Fossil wood evidences

Journal of Earth system science

R C Mehrotra1¹  Anumeha Shukla1¹  J S Guleria1¹ 

[1] Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53 University road, Lucknow 226 007, India.$$

关键词: Origin;    western India;    Diptercarpus;    Shorea;    Hopea;    palaeoclimate;    phytogeography.;   

DOI  :  

学科分类：天文学(综合)

来源: Indian Academy of Sciences

【 摘 要 】

Climate has played a crucial role in assigning a different kind of topography to Rajasthan and Gujarat since the Cenozoic time. Evidently, three genera, namely, Dipterocarpus Gaert. f., Hopea Roxb. And Shorea Roxb. of the Dipterocarpaceae are described from the Neogene sediments of western India (Rajasthan and Gujarat). These taxa are marked by their complete absence in the region today. The presence of Dipterocarpaceae in western India has been noticed from the Early Eocene up to the Plio-Pleistocene in deep time. The family is usually a dominant component of the humid tropical and subtropical flora of the Indo-Malayan region and its discovery, along with earlier described fossils from western India indicates existence of ancient tropical rain forests in western India. A change in the climate affected warm and humid conditions occurring there during the Cenozoic resulting in arid to semi-arid climate at present which is responsible for the ultimate extinction of Dipterocarpaceae in the region. In addition, the palaeobiogeography of Dipterocarpaceae is reviewed.

【 授权许可】

Unknown