A new occurrence of silicified wood from the Early Cretaceous (Berriasian) Kagbeni Formation of north central Nepal

Abstract

During recent fieldwork a second occurrence of silicified wood has been discovered from the Early Cretaceous Kagbeni Formation of north central Nepal. The wood exhibits anatomical features which are well in accordance with Araucarioxylon nepalense described from another locality in the Kagbeni Formation near Kagbeni in the Thakkhola Valley in central Nepal. It is a pycnoxylic wood with mostly uniseriate and rarely biseriate bordered pits on radial tracheid walls. According to recent taxonomic opinions this type of wood should not be treated as Araucarioxylon, but as Agathoxylon Hartig. Thus, we propose the name Agathoxylon nepalense comb. nov. for this type of wood. The sandstones of the Kagbeni Formation have been interpreted as delta–deposits, with a major flow direction from the south. This suggests that the wood originated from the northern margin of Gondwana (i.e. the Indian Plate).