Floristic and ecological reconsiderations of the Pleistocene plant impressions from Kashmir

Abstract

The Pleistocene plant impressions from the Lower Karewas in Kashmir described by Middlemiss, Stewart and Puri are considered from the floristic and ecological veiwpoints, in relation to stratigraphy and in the background of the events of the Pleistocene climatic and diastrophic changes. This attempt seeks to straighten out the facts and remove the confusion created by a similar consideration of this fossil flora by the earlier workers. From the stratigraphical considerations it is discovered that this flora came off from an upper part of the Lower Karewas (Lithozone 4) and is in no way representative of the vegetation of the entire Lower Karewas. Furthermore the fossil flora is suggestive of temperate climate rather than tropical or subtropical as deduced by earlier workers. Comments are also made towards the application of this flora in determining the Plio-Pleistocene boundary in the Lower Karewas.