| Session Details | |
| Section | SE - Solid Earth Sciences |
| Session Title | Biotic Evolution During India's Norhward Drift from Gondwana to Asia |
| Main Convener | Prof. Sunil Bajpai (Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, India) |
| Co-convener(s) | Prof. Sankar Chatterjee (Texas Tech University, United States) Dr. Ashu Khosla (Panjab University, India) |
| Session Description | The proposed session deals with the fossil faunas on floras from the Mesozoic-early Paleogene interval of the Indian subcontinent. Recent data have highlighted the global importance of India’s fossil record in our understanding of the origin and evolutionary history of several biotic groups (including mammals and associated microfaunas and palynofloras), and the dynamics of intercontinental faunal and floral exchanges, especially in the context of India’s former position in the Gondwanaland and its subsequent separation from the different Gondwana landmasses as it moved northward to finally collide with Asia in the early Paleogene. These studies have led to a better understanding of the mode of biotic evolution on the drifting Indian plate and provide independent constraints to test the traditional models favouring India’s physical isolation from all other landmasses, especially during the late Cretaceous phase of its northward drift. The new data have opened up several major questions regarding the evolution of biota on a drifting landmass – Was there an endemic evolution of biota in response to a long period of isolation? Were there biotic interchanges between India and other landmasses during the former’s physical isolation? Is there any fossil evidence for ‘Out-of-India’ dispersal hypothesis? What was the response of continental vertebrate fauna to India’s northward movement from a pre-drift southern high latitude position to its current post-collision position. Recent data points to faunal interchanges between India, Africa and Europe at or near the K-Pg boundary and also suggests that the Indian landmass was the centre of origin/early evolution for several orders of modern faunal and floral groups, including cetaceans (whales), perissodactyls (horses, tapirs) and primates. |