This is about history of siwaliks

1. History of Sivaliks
Presented To : Dr. Mudassir Shehzad
Presented by: Usman Ghani(bsf1900325)

3. Content
• Introduction
• The history and chronology of siwalik
• Fossil Folklore from India
• Fossiliferous areas of Pakistan Siwaliks
• Fossiliferous areas of Nepal Siwaliks
• Significance of foreland faunas
• Conclusions

4. Intoduction
• Siwalik Range, also called Siwalik Hills or Outer Himalayas, Siwalik also spelled
Shiwalik, sub-Himalayan range of the northern Indian subcontinent.
• These are a mountain range of the outer Himalayas that stretches over about
2,400 km (1,500 mi) from the Indus River eastwards close to the Brahmaputra
River, spanning the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent.
• It is 10–50 km (6.2–31.1 mi) wide with an average elevation of
1,500–2,000 m (4,900–6,600 ft).

5. The history and chronology of siwalik
• Cercopithecid monkeys make a comparatively late appearance in the Miocene Siwalik
formations of the Indian Subcontinent.
• The oldest well-dated specimen is a 6.3 MY old colobine.
• Cercopithecines appear later than colobines.
• Although their temporal ranges are uncertain, cercopithecines evidently were not
present before 3.2 MY and possibly not until 2.5 MY.
• In the Siwaliks the appearances of colobines and cercopithecines coincide
with or follow shortly after major faunal changes that also bring other
northern Eurasian and African taxa into the region.

6. Colobines vs Cercopithecinae

8. Fossil Folklore from India
• The Siwalik Hills, below the Himalayas, are strewn with impressive Plio-
Pleistocene vertebrate fossils.
• The historical stage for the legendary battle as described in the Indian
epic Mahâbhârata, during which hundreds of mighty, and sometimes gigantic,
heroes, horses, and war elephants are said to have died.
• Their remains are seen in the fossil bones, skulls, jaws, and tusks.
• Moreover, thousands of ancient bronze javelins and spears are also
found there after rains.

9. sabre-toothed cats
hippopotamuses
four-horned giraffes
giant tortoises
sabre-toothed cats

10. Fossiliferous areas of Pakistan Siwaliks
• The Siwalik Hills of Pakistan have geochronological, sedimentological and
paleontological information for over 5000 m of fluvial deposits spanning the time
period between about 18 and 5 Ma.
• The Miocene-Pliocene strata have traditionally been divided into the Kamlial,
Chinji, Nagri and Dhok Pathan formations.
• The ridges are formed by laterally extensive channel sandstones and the valleys
by more easily eroded floodplain mudstones and siltstones.
• The cervids are characterized by the presence of antlers and prominent lacrymal
depressions anterior to the eyes that are occupied by the pre-orbital glands in the
living animals. They appeared in the Siwalik sequence of Indo-Pakistan during
Plio-Pliestocene times. Earlier studies of the Siwaliks cervids based upon
dentitions and antlers have recognized five to six species. Some of these species
were though time-successive

12. Fossiliferous areas of Nepal Siwaliks
• the history of vertebrate collection is not very old in Nepal.
• Sharma (1977) reported a partial skull of Hexaprotodon
sivalensis from Janakpur town in eastern Nepal.
• West et al. (1978) reported Lower Siwalik vertebrates from Dang
Valley and provided details on systematic palaeontology.

13. Significance of foreland faunas
• Foreland faunas are highly varied and have a wide distribution as they
are well-known from the Himalayan foothills of India, Nepal and
Potwar Plateau.
• The faunas extend southwards to the Sind province of Pakistan and
the Kachchh region of India, and are also very well-known from the
Irrawaddy Valley of Myanmar.
• The Himalayan foothills faunas (including Potwar Plateau) are rich and
varied in comparison to faunas that lie south of Himalayan foothills

14. Conclusions
• The Siwalik successions, belonging to Himalayan foreland basin of
Nepal, India and Pakistan are very rich in vertebrate fossils.
• The foreland basin extends further southward to the Sind province of
Pakistan, Kachchh region of India and the Irrawaddy Valley of
Myanmar.
• As compared to the rich faunal assemblages of the Himalayan
foothills, the faunas from the localities lying south of the Himalaya are
scanty. However these localities yielded significant Siwalik-age faunas.