Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T07:45:59.977Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Asian monsoon and vegetation shift: evidence from the Siwalik succession of India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2022

Harshita Bhatia ,
Gaurav Srivastava Open the ORCID record for Gaurav Srivastava [Opens in a new window] ,
Purushottam Adhikari Open the ORCID record for Purushottam Adhikari [Opens in a new window] ,
Su Tao ,
Torsten Utescher ,
Khum N. Paudayal Open the ORCID record for Khum N. Paudayal [Opens in a new window]  and
Rakesh C. Mehrotra
Harshita Bhatia
Affiliation:
Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, 53 University Road, Lucknow, 226 007, India Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, 201002, India
Gaurav Srivastava*
Affiliation:
Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, 53 University Road, Lucknow, 226 007, India Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, 201002, India
Purushottam Adhikari
Affiliation:
Central Department of Geology, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal Department of Geology, Birendra Multiple Campus, Tribhuvan University, Bharatpur, Chitwan, Nepal
Su Tao
Affiliation:
CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, 666303, China
Torsten Utescher
Affiliation:
Institute for Geosciences, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany Senckenberg Research Institute, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Khum N. Paudayal
Affiliation:
Central Department of Geology, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal
Rakesh C. Mehrotra
Affiliation:
Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, 53 University Road, Lucknow, 226 007, India
*
Author for correspondence: Gaurav Srivastava, Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Quantitative Miocene climate and vegetation data from the Siwalik succession of western Nepal indicate that the development of the Indian summer monsoon has had an impact, though in part, on vegetation changes. The climate and vegetation of the Lower (middle Miocene) and Middle (late Miocene–Pliocene) Siwalik successions of Darjeeling, eastern Himalaya, have been quantified. Reconstructed climate data, using the Coexistence Approach, suggest a decrease in winter temperatures and precipitation during the wettest months (MPwet) from the Lower to Middle Siwalik. The floristic assemblage suggests that Lower Siwalik forests were dominated by wet evergreen taxa, whereas deciduous ones became more dominant during the Middle Siwalik. The vegetation shift in the eastern Himalayan Siwalik was most likely due to a decrease in MPwet. The quantified climate–vegetation data from the eastern and western Himalayan Siwalik indicate that changes in the Indian summer monsoon had a profound impact on vegetation development during the period of deposition. We suggest that the decrease in winter temperature and summer monsoon rainfall during the Middle Siwalik might be linked with the Northern Hemisphere glaciation/cooling or a number of other things that were also going on at the time, including the continued rise of the Himalaya, and drying across the Tibetan region, which may have affected atmospheric circulation regionally.

Keywords

climate changeC4 plantsCoexistence ApproachDarjeelingmegafossils
Type
Original Article
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 159 , Issue 8 , August 2022 , pp. 1397 - 1414
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acharyya, SK (1994) The Cenozoic foreland basin and tectonics of the Eastern Sub-Himalaya: problem and prospects. Himalayan Geology 15, 3–21.Google Scholar
Acharyya, SK (2007) Evolution of the Himalayan Paleogene foreland basin, influence of its litho-packet on the formation of thrust-related domes and windows in the Eastern Himalayas – a review. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 31, 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Acharyya, SK, Dutta, AK and Sastry, MVA (1979) Siwalik stratigraphy and its bearing on the Main Boundary Fault. Geological Survey of India Miscellaneous Publication 41, 67–79.Google Scholar
Acosta, RP and Huber, M (2020) Competing topographic mechanisms for the summer Indo-Asian Monsoon. Geophysical Research Letters 47, e2019GL085112. doi: 10.1029/2019GL085112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Antal, JS and Awasthi, N (1993) Fossil flora from the Himalayan foot-hills of Darjeeling District, West Bengal and its palaeoecological and phytogeographical significance. Palaeobotanist 42, 14–60.Google Scholar
Antal, JS and Prasad, M (1995) Fossil leaf of Clinogyne Salisb. from the Siwalik sediments of Darjeeling District, West Bengal. Geophytology 24, 241–3.Google Scholar
Antal, JS and Prasad, M (1996a) Some more leaf-impressions from the Himalayan foot-hills of Darjeeling District, West Bengal, India. Palaeobotanist 43, 1–9.Google Scholar
Antal, JS and Prasad, M (1996b) Dipterocarpaceous fossil leaves from Ghish River section in Himalayan foot hills near Oodlabari, Darjeeling District, West Bengal. Palaeobotanist 43, 73–7.Google Scholar
Antal, JS and Prasad, M (1996c) Leaf-impressions of Polyalthia Bl. in the Siwalik sediments of Darjeeling District, West Bengal. Geophytology 26, 125–7.Google Scholar
Antal, JS and Prasad, M (1997) Angiospermous fossil leaves from the Siwalik sediments (Middle-Miocene) of Darjeeling District, West Bengal. Palaeobotanist 46, 95–104.Google Scholar
Antal, JS and Prasad, M (1998) Morphotaxonomic study of some more fossil leaves from the Lower Siwalik sediments of West Bengal, India. Palaeobotanist 47, 86–98.Google Scholar
Antal, JS, Prasad, M and Khare, EG (1996) Fossil woods from the Siwalik sediments of Darjeeling District, West Bengal, India. Palaeobotanist 43, 98–105.Google Scholar
Badgley, C, Barry, JC, Morgan, ME, Nelson, SV, Behrensmeyer, AK, Cerling, TE and Pilbeam, D (2008) Ecological changes in Miocene mammalian record show impact of prolonged climatic forcing. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 105, 12145–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bhatia, H, Khan, MA, Srivastava, G, Hazra, T, Spicer, RA, Hazra, M, Mehrotra, RC, Spicer, TEV, Bera, S and Roy, K (2021a) Late Cretaceous–Paleogene Indian monsoon climate vis-à-vis movement of the Indian plate, and the birth of the South Asian Monsoon. Gondwana Research 93, 89–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bhatia, H, Srivastava, G, Spicer, RA, Farnsworth, A, Spicer, TEV, Mehrotra, RC, Paudayal, KN and Valdes, P (2021b) Leaf physiognomy records the Miocene intensification of the south Asia monsoon. Global and Planetary Change 196, 103365. doi: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2020.103365.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bondarenko, OV, Blochina, NI and Utescher, T (2013) Quantification of Calabrian climate in southern Primory’e, Far East of Russia — an integrative case study using multiple proxies. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 386, 445–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boos, WR and Kuang, Z (2010) Dominant control of the South Asian monsoon by orographic insulation versus plateau heating. Nature 463, 218–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boos, WR and Kuang, Z (2013) Sensitivity of the South Asian monsoon to elevated and non-elevated heating. Scientific Reports 3, 1192. doi: 10.1038/srep01192.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bouchenak-Khelladi, Y, Verboom, GA, Hodkinson, TR, Salamin, N, Francois, O, Chonghaile, GN and Savolainen, V (2009) The origins and diversification of C4 grasses and savanna adapted ungulates. Global Change Biology 15, 2397–417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cerling, TE (1992) Development of grasslands and savannas in East Africa during the Neogene. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 97, 241–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cerling, TE and Quade, J (1993) Stable carbon and oxygen isotopes in soil carbonates. In Climate Change in Continental Isotopic Records (eds Swart, PK, Lohmann, KC, McKenzie, J and Savin, S), pp. 217–32. American Geophysical Union, Monograph vol. 78. Washington, DC, USA.Google Scholar
Cerling, TE, Wang, Y and Quade, J (1993) Expansion of C4 ecosystems as an indicator of global ecological change in the late Miocene. Nature 361, 344–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chakraborty, T, Taral, S, More, S and Bera, S (2020) Cenozoic Himalayan Foreland Basin: an overview and regional perspective of the evolving sedimentary succession. In Geodynamics of the Indian Plate (eds Gupta, N and Tandon, SK), pp. 395–437. Cham: Springer International Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chaloner, WG and Creber, GT (1990) Do fossil plants give a climatic signal? Journal of the Geological Society, London 147, 343–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Champion, HG and Seth, SK (1968) A Revised Survey of Forest Types of India. New Delhi: Government of India Press.Google Scholar
Chirouze, F, Dupont-Nivet, G, Huyghe, P, van der Beek, P, Chakraborti, T, Bernet, M and Erens, V (2012) Magnetostratigraphy of the Neogene Siwalik Group in the far eastern Himalaya: Kameng section, Arunachal Pradesh, India. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 44, 117–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christin, P-A and Osborne, CP (2014) The evolutionary ecology of C4 plants. New Phytologist 204, 765–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clift, PD, Hodges, KV, Heslop, D, Hanningan, R, Long, HV and Calves, G (2008) Correlation of Himalayan exhumation rates and Asian monsoon intensity. Nature Geoscience 1, 875–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clift, PD, Kulhanek, DK, Zhou, P, Bowen, MG, Vincent, SM, Lyle, M and Hahn, A (2020) Chemical weathering and erosion responses to changing monsoon climate in the Late Miocene of Southwest Asia. Geological Magazine 157, 939–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
India Meteorological Department (1931–1960) Climatological Tables of Observatories in India. Nasik: Government of India Press.Google Scholar
Coutand, I, Barrier, L, Govin, G, Grujic, D, Hoorn, C, Dupont-Nivet, G and Najman, Y (2016) Late Miocene–Pleistocene evolution of India–Eurasia convergence partitioning between the Bhutan Himalaya and the Shillong Plateau: new evidences from foreland basin deposits along the Dungsam Chu section, eastern Bhutan. Tectonics 35, 2963–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Das, MR, Mukhopadhyay, RK, Dandekar, MM and Kshirsagar, SR (2002) Pre-monsoon western disturbances in relation to monsoon rainfall, its advancement over NW India and their trends. Current Science 82, 1320–1.Google Scholar
DeCelles, PG, Gehrels, GE, Quade, J and Ojha, TP (1998) Eocene-early Miocene foreland basin development and the history of Himalayan thrusting, western and central Nepal. Tectonics 17, 741–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dettman, DL, Kohn, MJ, Quade, J, Ryerson, FJ, Ojha, TP and Hamidullah, S (2001) Seasonal stable isotope evidence for a strong Asian monsoon throughout the past 10.7 m.y. Geology 29, 31–4.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dimri, AP (2006) Surface and upper air fields during extreme winter precipitation over the Western Himalayas. Pure and Applied Geophysics 163, 1679–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dimri, AP and Chevuturi, A (2016) Western Disturbances: An Indian Meteorological Perspective. Cham: Springer International Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dimri, AP and Mohanty, UC (1999) Snowfall statistics of some SASE field stations in J&K. Defence Science Journal 49, 437–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ding, L, Spicer, RA, Yang, J, Xu, Q, Cai, F, Li, S, Lai, Q, Wang, H, Spicer, TEV, Yue, Y, Shukla, A, Srivastava, G, Khan, MA, Bera, S and Mehrotra, R (2017) Quantifying the rise of the Himalaya orogen and implications for the South Asian monsoon. Geology 45, 215–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farnsworth, A, Lunt, DJ, Robinson, SA, Valdes, PJ, Roberts, WHG, Clift, PD, Markwick, P, Su, T, Wrobel, N, Bragg, F, Kelland, S-J and Pancost, RD (2019) Past East Asia monsoon evolution controlled by paleogeography, not CO2 . Science Advances 5, eaas1697. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aax1697.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feakins, SJ, deMenocal, PB and Eglinton, TIB (2005) Biomarker records of late Neogene changes in northeast African vegetation. Geology 33, 977–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fox, DL and Koch, PL (2003) Tertiary history of C4 biomass in the Great Plains, USA. Geology 31, 809–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fox, DL and Koch, PL (2004) Carbon and oxygen isotopic variability in Neogene palaeosol carbonates: constraints on the evolution of the C4-grasslands of the Great Plains, USA. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 207, 305–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ganguly, S and Rao, DP (1970) Stratigraphy and structure of the Tertiary foothills of Eastern Himalaya. Darjeeling District. Quarterly Journal of the Geological, Mining and Metallurgical Society of India 42, 185–95.Google Scholar
Gaut, BS and Doebley, JF (1997) DNA sequence evidence for the segmental allotriploid origin of maize. Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 94, 6809–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ghosh, S, Bera, ML, Roy, B and Sanyal, P (2021) Revisiting the diachronous transition of C3 to C4 plants in the Himalayan foreland and other parts of the globe: a sedimentological perspective. Sedimentology 68, 2473–99. doi: 10.1111/sed.12865.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ghosh, S, Sanyal, P, Sangode, SJ and Nanda, AC (2018) Substrate control of C4 plant abundance in the Himalayan foreland: a study based on inter-basinal records from Plio-Pleistocene Siwalik Group. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 511, 341–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Givnish, TJ (1984) Leaf and canopy adaptations in tropical forest. In Physiological Ecology of Plants of the Wet Tropics (eds Medina, E, Mooney, HA and Vázquez-Yáñez, C), pp. 51–84. The Hague: Dr W. Junk Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goswami, BN, Krishnamurthy, V and Annamalai, H (1999) A broad scale circulation index for the interannual variability of the Indian summer monsoon. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society 125, 611–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hickey, LJ (1977) Stratigraphy and Paleobotany of the Golden Valley Formation (Early Tertiary) of Western North Dakota. Geological Society of America Memoirs vol. 150, 183 pp.Google Scholar
Hoorn, C, Ohja, T and Quade, J (2000) Palynological evidence for vegetation development and climate change in the Sub-Himalayan Zone (Neogene, Central Nepal). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 163, 133–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huang, Y, Clemens, SC, Liu, W, Wang, Y and Prell, WL (2007) Large-scale hydrological change drove the late Miocene C4 plant expansion in the Himalayan foreland and Arabian Peninsula. Geology 35, 531–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jain, AK, Banerjee, DM and Kale, VS (2020) Tectonics of the Indian Subcontinent. Cham: Springer International Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joshi, A, Tewari, R, Mehrotra, RC, Chakraborty, PP and De, A (2003) Plant remains from the Upper Siwalik sediments of West Kameng District, Arunachal Pradesh. Journal of the Geological Society of India 61, 319–24.Google Scholar
Juenger, T, Pérez-Pérez, J and Mand Micol, JL (2005) Quantitative trait loci mapping of floral and leaf morphology traits in Arabidopsis thaliana: evidence for modular genetic architecture. Evolution and Development 7, 259–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Karp, AT, Behrensmeyer, AK and Freeman, KH (2018) Grassland fire ecology has roots in the late Miocene. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 115, 12130–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Karp, AT, Uno, KT, Polissar, PJ and Freeman, KH (2021) Late Miocene C4 grassland fire feedbacks on the Indian Subcontinent. Paleoeanography and Palaeoclimatology 36, e2020PA004106. doi: 10.1029/2020PA004106.Google Scholar
Khan, MA, Spicer, RA, Bera, S, Ghosh, R, Yang, J, Spicer, TEV, Guo, SX, Su, T, Jacques, F and Grote, PJ (2014) Miocene to Pleistocene floras and climate of the eastern Himalayan Siwaliks, and new palaeoelevation estimates for the Namling–Oiyug Basin, Tibet. Global and Planetary Change 113, 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khan, MA, Spicer, RA, Spicer, TEV and Bera, S (2016) Occurrence of Shorea Roxburgh ex C.F. Gaertner (Dipterocarpaceae) in the Neogene Siwalik forests of eastern Himalaya and its biogeography during the Cenozoic of Southeast Asia. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 233, 236–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kingston, JD, Marino, BD and Hill, A (1994) Isotopic evidence for Neogene hominid paleoenvironments in the Kenya Rift Valley. Science 264, 955–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kumar, R, Ghosh, SK, Mazari, RK and Sangode, SJ (2003a) Tectonic impact on the fluvial deposits of Plio-Pleistocene Himalayan foreland basin, India. Sedimentary Geology 158, 209–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kumar, R, Ghosh, SK and Sangode, SJ (2003b) Mio-Pliocene sedimentation history in the northwestern part of the Himalayan foreland basin, India. Current Science 84, 1006–13.Google Scholar
Kumar, R, Ghosh, SK and Sangode, SJ (2011) Sedimentary architecture of late Cenozoic Himalayan foreland basin fill: an overview. Memoirs of the Geological Society of India 78, 245–80.Google Scholar
Latorre, C, Quade, J and McIntosh, WC (1997) The expansion of C4 grasses and global climate change in the late Miocene: stable isotope evidence from the Americas. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 146, 83–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liang, M, Bruch, A, Collinson, ME, Mosbrugger, V, Li, C-S, Sun, Q and Hilton, J (2003) Testing the climatic signals from different palaeobotanical methods: an example from the middle Miocene Shanwang flora of China. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 198, 279–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, XD and Yin, ZY (2002) Sensitivity of East Asian monsoon climate to the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 183, 223–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lundgren, MR, Christin, PA, Escobar, EG, Ripley, BS, Besnard, G, Long, CM, Hattersley, PW, Ellis, RP, Leegood, RC and Osborne, CP (2016) Evolutionary implications of C3–C4 intermediates in the grass Alloteropsis semialata . Plant Cell and Environment 39, 1874–85.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MacGinitie, HD (1941) A Middle Eocene Flora From the Central Sierra Nevada. Washington: Carnegie Institute of Washington Publication no. 534, pp. 1–94.Google Scholar
Mahanta, R, Sarma, D and Choudhury, A (2013) Heavy rainfall occurrences in northeast India. International Journal of Climatology 33, 1456–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matin, A and Mukul, M (2010) Phases of deformation from cross-cutting structural relationships in external thrust sheets: insights from small-scale structures in the Ramgarh thrust sheet, Darjeeling Himalaya, West Bengal. Current Science 99, 1369–77.Google Scholar
Miao, Y, Herrmann, M, Wu, F, Yan, X and Yang, S (2012) What controlled Mid–Late Miocene long-term aridification in Central Asia? — global cooling or Tibetan Plateau uplift: a review. Earth-Science Reviews 112, 155–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miao, Y, Warny, S, Clift, PD, Liu, C and Gregory, M (2017) Evidence of continuous Asian summer monsoon weakening as response to global cooling over the last 8 Ma. Gondwana Research 52, 48–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitra, S, Bera, S and Banerjee, M (2000) Palynofloral assemblage from Siwalik foredeep Neogene sediments of Darjeeling foothills, Eastern Himalaya. Geophytology 28, 121–7.Google Scholar
Molnar, P, Boos, WR and Battisti, DS (2010) Orographic controls on climate and paleoclimate of Asia: thermal and mechanical roles for the Tibetan Plateau. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 38, 77–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
More, S, Paruya, DK, Taral, S, Chakraborty, T and Bera, S (2016) Depositional environment of Mio-Pliocene Siwalik sedimentary strata from the Darjeeling Himalayan Foothills, India: a palynological approach. PLoS One 11, e0150168. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0150168.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
More, S, Rit, R, Khan, MA, Paruya, DK, Taral, S, Chakraborty, T and Bera, S (2018) Record of leaf and pollen cf. Sloanea (Elaeocarpaceae) from the Middle Siwalik of Darjeeling sub-Himalaya, India and its paleobiogeographic implications. Journal of the Geological Society of India 91, 301–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mosbrugger, V (1999) The nearest living relative method. In Fossil Plants and Spores: Modern Techniques (eds Jones, TP and Rowe, NP), pp. 261–5. Bath: Geological Society of London.Google Scholar
Mosbrugger, V and Utescher, T (1997) The coexistence approach — a method for quantitative reconstructions of Tertiary terrestrial palaeoclimate data using plant fossils. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 134, 61–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mosbrugger, V, Utescher, T and Dilcher, DL (2005) Cenozoic continental climatic evolution of Central Europe. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 102, 14964–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nakayama, K and Ulak, PD (1999) Evolution of fluvial style in the Siwalik Group in the foothills of the Nepal Himalaya. Sedimentary Geology 125, 205–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, SV (2005) Paleoseasonality inferred from equid teeth and intra-tooth isotopic variability. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 222, 122–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ohja, TP, Butler, B, Quade, J and DeCelles, P (2000) Magnetic polarity stratigraphy of the Neogene Siwalik Group at Khutia Khola, far western Nepal. Geological Society of America Bulletin 112, 424–34.Google Scholar
Parthasarathy, B and Dhar, ON (1974) Secular variations of regional rainfall over India. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society 100, 245–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parthasarathy, B, Munot, AA and Kothawale, DR (1995) Monthly and Seasonal Time Series for All India Homogeneous Regions and Meteorological Subdivisions: 1871–1994. Research Report No. RR065. Pune, India: Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, 113 pp.Google Scholar
Parthasarathy, B, Rupakumar, K and Kothawale, DR (1992) Indian summer monsoon rainfall indices, 1871–1990. Meteorological Magazine 121, 174–86.Google Scholar
Pigliucci, M (2003) Phenotypic integration: studying the ecology and evolution of complex phenotypes. Ecology Letters 6, 265–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pilgrim, GE (1910) Preliminary note on a revised classification of the Tertiary fresh-water deposits of India. Records of the Geological Survey of India 40, 185–205.Google Scholar
Pilgrim, GE (1913) The correlation of the Siwalik with mammal horizons of Europe. Records of the Geological Survey of India 43, 264–326.Google Scholar
Polissar, PJ, Uno, KT, Phelps, SR, Karp, AT, Freeman, KH and Pensky, JL (2021) Hydrologic changes drove the late Miocene expansion of C4 grasslands on the Northern Indian subcontinent. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology 36, e2020PA004108. doi: 10.1029/2020PA004108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prasad, M, Panjawani, M, Kannaujia, AK and Alok, (2009) Siwalik fossil leaves from the Himalayan foothills of the Darjeeling District, West Bengal, India and their significance. In Proceedings of National Seminar on Environmental Degradation and Biodiversity: Problem and Prospects, 29–30 November, 2009, pp. 27–32.Google Scholar
Prasad, M, Kannaujia, AK, Alok, and Singh, SK (2015) Plant megaflora from the Siwalik (Upper Miocene) of Darjeeling District, West Bengal, India and its palaeoclimatic and phytogeographic significance. Palaeobotanist 64, 13–94.Google Scholar
Qin, F, Ferguson, D, Zetter, R, Wang, Y, Syabrya, S, Li, J, Yang, J and Li, C-S (2011) Late Pliocene vegetation and climate of Zhangcun region, Shanxi, North China. Global Change Biology 17, 1850–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quade, J, Cater, MLJ, Ojha, PT, Adam, J and Harrison, MT (1995) Late Miocene environmental change in Nepal and the northern Indian subcontinent: stable isotopic evidence from paleosols. Geological Society of America Bulletin 107, 1381–97.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quade, J, Cerling, TE and Bowman, JR (1989) Development of Asian monsoon revealed by marked ecological shift during the latest Miocene in northern Pakistan. Nature 342, 163–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quade, J, Solounias, N and Cerling, TE (1994) Stable isotopic evidence from palaeosol carbonates and fossil teeth in Greece for forest or woodlands over the past 11 Ma. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 108, 41–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ranga Rao, A (1983) Geology and hydrocarbon potential of a part of Assam-Arankan basin and its adjacent region. Petroleum Asia Journal 4, 127–58.Google Scholar
Rodriguez, RE, Debernardi, JM and Palatnik, JF (2014) Morphogenesis of simple leaves: regulation of leaf size and shape. WIREs Developmental Biology 3, 41–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rowley, DB (1996) Age of initiation of collision between India and Asia: a review of stratigraphic data. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 145, 1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roy, B, Roy, S, Goyal, K, Ghosh, S and Sanyal, P (2021) Biomarker and carbon isotopic evidence of marine incursions in the Himalayan foreland basin during its overfilled stage. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology 36, e2020PA004083. doi: 10.1029/2020PA004083.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rundel, PW (1999) Forest Habitats and Floristics of Indochina: Lao PDR, Cambodia and Vietnam. Hanoi: World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).Google Scholar
Sanyal, P, Bhattacharya, SK, Kumar, R, Ghosh, SK and Sangode, SJ (2004) Mio-Pliocene monsoonal record from Himalayan foreland basin (Indian Siwalik) and its relation to vegetational change. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 205, 23–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanyal, P, Bhattacharya, SK and Prasad, M (2005) Chemical diagenesis of Siwalik sandstone: isotopic and mineralogical proxies from Surai Khola section, Nepal. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 180, 57–74.Google Scholar
Sanyal, P, Sarkar, A, Bhattacharya, SK, Kumar, R, Ghosh, SK and Agrawal, S (2010) Intensification of monsoon, microclimate and asynchronous C4 appearance: isotopic evidence from the Indian Siwalik sediments. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 296, 165–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singh, S, Parkash, B, Awasthi, AK and Kumar, S (2011) Late Miocene record of palaeo-vegetation from the Siwalik palaeosols of the Ramnagar sub-basin. Current Science 100, 213–22.Google Scholar
Singh, T and Tripathi, SKM (1990) Siwalik sediments of Arunachal Himalaya: palynology, palaeoecology and palaeogeography. Palaeobotanist 38, 325–32.Google Scholar
Sinha, NK, Chatterjee, BP and Satsangi, PP (1982) Status of paleontological researches in the northeastern states of India. Records of the Geological Survey of India 112, 66–88.Google Scholar
Spicer, RA, Yang, J, Herman, AB, Kodrul, T, Maslova, N, Spicer, TEV, Aleksandrova, GN and Jin, J (2016) Asian Eocene monsoons as revealed by leaf architectural signatures. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 449, 61–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spicer, RA, Yang, J, Spicer, TEV and Farnsworth, A (2021) Woody dicot leaf traits as a palaeoclimate proxy: 100 years of development and application. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 562, 110138. doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2020.110138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Srivastava, G, Paudayal, KN, Utescher, T and Mehrotra, RC (2018) Miocene vegetation shift and climate change: evidence from the Siwalik of Nepal. Global and Planetary Change 161, 108–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Srivastava, G, Tiwari, RP and Mehrotra, RC (2017) Quantification of rainfall during the late Miocene–early Pliocene in north east India. Current Science 113, 2253–7.Google Scholar
Srivastava, G, Trivedi, A, Mehrotra, RC, Paudayal, KN, Limaye, RB, Kumaran, KPN and Yadav, SK (2016) Monsoon variability over Peninsular India during Late Pleistocene: signatures of vegetation shift recorded in terrestrial archive from the corridors of Western Ghats. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 443, 57–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suzuki, K, Yamamoto, M and Seki, O (2020) Late Miocene changes in C3, C4 and aquatic plant vegetation in the Indus River basin: evidence from leaf wax δ13C from Indus Fan sediments. Geological Magazine 157, 979–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tanaka, S (1997) Uplift of the Himalaya and climatic change at 10 Ma—evidence from records of carbon stable isotopes and fluvial sediments in the Churia Group, central Nepal. Journal of the Geological Society of Japan 103, 253–64.Google Scholar
Tandon, SK (1991) The Himalayan Foreland: focus on Siwalik Basin. In Sedimentary Basins of India: Tectonic Context (eds Tandon, SK, Pant, CC and Casshyap, SM), pp. 177–201. Nainital, India: Gyanodaya Prakashan.Google Scholar
Taral, S and Chakraborty, T (2018) Deltaic coastline of the Siwalik (Neogene) foreland basin: evidences from the Gish River section, Darjeeling Himalaya. Geological Journal 53, 203–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taral, S, Kar, N and Chakraborty, T (2017) Wave-generated structures in the Siwalik rocks of Tista valley, eastern Himalaya: implication for regional palaeogeography. Current Science 113, 889–901.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tauxe, L and Feakins, SJ (2020) A reassessment of the chronostratigraphy of late Miocene C3–C4 transitions. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology 35, e2020PA003857. doi: 10.1029/2020PA003857.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tipple, BJ and Pagani, M (2007) The early origins of terrestrial C4 photosynthesis. Annual Review of Earth Planetary Sciences 35, 435–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tiwari, RP, Mehrotra, RC, Srivastava, G and Shukla, A (2012) The vegetation and climate of a Neogene petrified wood forest of Mizoram, India. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 61, 143–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uddin, A and Lundberg, N (2004) Miocene sedimentation and subsidence during continent–continent collision, Bengal basin, Bangladesh. Sedimentary Geology 164, 131–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uhl, D, Klotz, S, Traiser, C, Thiel, C, Utescher, T, Kowalski, E and Dilcher, DL (2007) Cenozoic paleotemperatures and leaf physiognomy — a European perspective. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 248, 24–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Utescher, T, Bondarenk, OV and Mosbrugger, V (2015) The Cenozoic cooling–continental signals from the Atlantic and Pacific side of Eurasia. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 415, 121–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Utescher, T, Bruch, AA, Erdei, B, François, L, Ivanov, D, Jacques, FMB, Kern, AK, Liu, Y-SC, Mosbrugger, V and Spicer, RA (2014) The coexistence approach—theoretical background and practical considerations of using plant fossils for climate quantification. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 410, 58–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vögeli, N, Najman, Y, van der Beek, P, Huyghe, P, Wynn, PM, Govin, G, van der Veen, I and Sachse, D (2017) Lateral variations in vegetation in the Himalaya since the Miocene and implications for climate evolution. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 471, 1–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, B and Fan, Z (1999) Choice of south Asian summer monsoon indices. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 80, 629–38.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, B, Xiang, B, Li, J, Webster, PJ, Rajeevan, MN, Liu, J and Ha, K-J (2015) Rethinking Indian monsoon rainfall prediction in the context of recent global warming. Nature Communication 6, 7154. doi: 10.1038/ncomms8154.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, H, Lu, H, Zhao, L, Zhang, H, Lei, F and Wang, Y (2019) Asian monsoon rainfall variation during the Pliocene forced by global temperature change. Nature Communications 10, 5272. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-13338-4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, PX, Wang, B, Cheng, H, Fasullo, J, Guo, Z-T, Liu, Z-Y and Kiefer, T (2017) The global monsoon across time scales: mechanisms and outstanding issues. Earth-Science Reviews 174, 84–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webster, PJ (1987) The variable and interactive monsoon. In Monsoon (eds Fein, JS and Stephens, P), pp. 268–330. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Wei, G, Li, X-H, Liu, Y, Shao, L and Liang, X (2006) Geochemical record of chemical weathering and monsoon climate change since the early Miocene in the South China Sea. Palaeoceanography 21, PA4214. doi: 10.1029/2006PA001300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolfe, JA (1993) A method of obtaining climatic parameters from leaf assemblages. Geological Society of America Bulletin 2040, 1–73.Google Scholar
Wu, H, Guo, ZT, Guiot, J, Hatté, C, Peng, C, Yu, Y, Ge, J, Li, Q, Sun, A and Zhao, D (2014) Elevation-induced climate change as a dominant factor causing the late Miocene C4 plant expansion in the Himalayan foreland. Global Change Biology 20, 1461–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Xing, YW, Utescher, T, Jacques, FMB, Tao, S, Liu, YS, Huang, YJ and Zhou, ZK (2012) Palaeoclimatic estimation reveals a weak winter monsoon in southwestern China during the late Miocene: evidence from plant macrofossils. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 358–360, 19–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, J, Spicer, RA, Spicer, TEV, Arens, NC, Jacques, FMB, Tao, Su, Kennedy, EM, Herman, AB, Steart, DC, Srivastava, G, Mehrotra, RC, Valdes, PJ, Mehrotra, NC, Zhou, ZK and Lai, JS (2015) Leaf form-climate relationships on the global stage: an ensemble of characters. Global Ecology and Biogeography 10, 1113–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yim, S-Y, Wang, B, Liu, J and Wu, Z (2014) A comparison of regional monsoon variability using monsoon indices. Climate Dynamics 43, 1423–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yin, A (2006) Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the Himalayan orogen as constrained by along-strike variation of structural geometry, exhumation history, and foreland sedimentation. Earth-Science Reviews 76, 1–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zachos, JC, Dickens, GR and Zeebe, RE (2008) An early Cenozoic perspective on greenhouse warming and carbon-cycle dynamics. Nature 451, 279–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zachos, JC, Pagani, M, Sloan, L, Thomas, E and Billups, K (2001) Trends, rhythms, and aberrations in global climate 65 Ma to present. Science 292, 686–93.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhang, S and Wang, B (2008) Global summer monsoon rainy seasons. International Journal of Climatology 28, 1563–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhao, P, Zhou, XJ, Chen, LX and He, JH (2009) Characteristics of subtropical monsoon and rainfall over, Eastern China and Western North Pacific. Acta Meteorologica Sinica 23, 649–65.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Bhatia et al. supplementary material

Bhatia et al. supplementary material

Download Bhatia et al. supplementary material(File)
File 25.9 KB