Plant fossils from the Siwalik sediments of western Nepal and their climatic significance

The Siwalik plant fossils are key for understanding the Himalayan uplift and its impact on climate change. The plant fossil assemblage from the Siwalik succession of eastern and central Himalaya has offered valuable insights into past vegetation transitions and their paleoecological and paleoclimatic significance. However, fossil records from the Siwalik regions of western Nepal are relatively scarce. In this study, we report seven new fossil leaf impressions from the Arung Khola and Binai Khola formations (Middle‒Late Miocene) of the Binai Khola section, western Nepal, namely Clinogyne ovatus Awasthi and Prasad of the Marantaceae family, Calophyllum suraikholaensis Awasthi and Prasad of the Calophyllaceae family, cf. Dipterocarpus Gaertn. and Shorea siwalika Antal and Awasthi of the Dipterocarpaceae family, cf. Bauhinia L. of the Fabaceae family, Daphnogene makumensis Mehrotra, Dilcher et Lott of the Lauraceae family, cf. Syzygium of the Myrtaceae family. These fossils along with previous fossil assemblages indicate the presence of a tropical to subtropical seasonal forest during the deposition of the Siwalik sediments.