Vegetation response and landscape dynamics of Indian Summer Monsoon variations during Holocene: an eco-geomorphological appraisal of tropical evergreen forest subfossil logs.

The high rainfall and low sea level during Early Holocene had a significant impact on the development and sustenance of dense forest and swamp-marsh cover along the southwest coast of India. This heavy rainfall flooded the coastal plains, forest flourishing in the abandoned river channels and other low-lying areas in midland.The coastline and other areas in lowland of southwestern India supply sufficient evidence of tree trunks of wet evergreen forests getting buried during the Holocene period under varying thickness of clay, silty-clay and even in sand sequences. This preserved subfossil log assemblage forms an excellent proxy for eco-geomorphological and palaeoclimate appraisal reported hitherto from Indian subcontinent, and complements the available palynological data. The bulk of the subfossil logs and partially carbonized wood remains have yielded age prior to the Holocene transgression of 6.5 k yrs BP, suggesting therein that flooding due to heavy rainfall drowned the forest cover, even extending to parts of the present shelf. These preserved logs represent a unique palaeoenvironmental database as they contain observable cellular structure. Some of them can even be compared to modern analogues. As these woods belong to the Late Pleistocene and Holocene, they form a valuable source of climate data that alleviates the lack of contemporaneous meteorological records. These palaeoforests along with pollen proxies depict the warmer environment in this region, which is consistent with a Mid Holocene Thermal Maximum often referred to as Holocene Climate Optimum. Thus, the subfossil logs of tropical evergreen forests constitute new indices of Asian palaeomonsoon, while their occurrence and preservation are attributed to eco-geomorphology and hydrological regimes associated with the intensified Asian Summer Monsoon, as recorded elsewhere.

Cocos sahnii Kaul: a Cocos nucifera L.-like fruit from the Early Eocene rainforest of Rajasthan, western India.

Cocos sahnii Kaul, a fossil palm fruit, is validated and described from the Fuller's earth deposits of Kapurdi village of Rajasthan considered as Early Eocene in age. The fossil best resembles the genus Cocos, particularly Cocos nucifera L., which is now a common coastal element thriving in highly moist conditions. The recovery of this coconut-like fruit, along with earlier described evergreen taxa from the same formation, suggests the existence of typical tropical, warm and humid coastal conditions during the depositional period. The present arid to semi-arid climatic conditions occurring in Rajasthan indicate drastic climate change in the region during the Cenozoic. The possible time for the onset of aridity in the region which caused the total eradication of semi-evergreen to evergreen forests is discussed, as well as the palaeobiogeography of coconuts.