Rajasthan is a state known for the beauty of its desert. It is majorly a dry state with temperatures soaring high every summer, and being on the upper limits of a major part of the year. However, recent findings reveal something surprising about Rajasthan - that its desert was once submerged in water!
In the deserts of Rajasthan's Jaisalmer district, paleontologists have stumbled upon nearly 47 million-year-old fossils of the primitive whale, shark teeth, crocodilian teeth and turtle bones, which according to experts suggest that the area was under sea in the pre-historic age.
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The western region of Geological Survey of India (GSI) had been conducting research on fossils in different parts of Gujarat and Rajasthan for over a year. A number of fossils of vertebrates such as whale, shark teeth, crocodile teeth and bones of turtle belonging of middle Eocene Age were unearthed from Bandah village in Jaisalmer.
The research was carried out by senior geologists Krishna Kumar and Pragya Pandey under the supervision of Debasish Bhattacharya, the director of Palaeontology Division. Kumar said the most important aspect in this finding is a fragmented jaw and vertebrae, which have been identified as that of a primitive whale.
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The presence of the marine fossils of Middle Eocene period indicates that about 47 million years ago, there was a sea in this area, he said, adding that faunal record shows similarity with earlier reported fauna of middle Eocene Harudi formation, Kachhch Basin and Gujarat, thus representing similar shallow marine deposition under tropical-temperate conditions.
With inputs from PTI