Fossils of Ammonite from Spiti
Imagine marine creatures which dominated the oceans till 65 million years became extinct and are today found in the cold Mountain desert of Spiti…altitude @4400m above mean sea level.
Answer to these questions hold the key to solve the puzzle of timing of collision between India and Eurasian plates and evolution and upliftment of Himalayas..
These fossils have been sold and bought by collecters majority of them have no love for them except keeping them as show pieces in their drawing rooms
Because of the greed to earn few hundred rupees locals use immature way of collecting fossils, many of these are broken and Lost at the time of collection. Thereby valuable geological information is lost and it becomes difficult for actual scientists who are engaged in building the chapter in Geological history is lost in time and space.
My humble request to those who have these fossils is to share them in the nearby museum or to museum I am making in Kasauli to educate the children and tourists about this wonderful creatures which existed in oceans during Dinosaurs times.
Perfectly shot in original environment where they are found by Dr Mahan Singh Singh.
Your single picture tells the story
Appeal to government
to make a museum in Spiti of fossils collected from Spiti and declare the fossil site as geoheritage site with the broader vision to make it an IndianGeoparks in near future.
Fossil collection and any type of construction activity should be banned in this geoheritage sites so they become ready reference for tourists and geoscientists.
Fossil collectors should be allowed and encouraged by non scientists to collect outside these protected sites because most of the times Fossil discovery is chance discovery. But these Fossil collectors should be encouraged to report thier discovery in DC office or museum authority so that proper DATA Base is made this will help in better reconstruction of the paleoenvironment prevailing in ancient times.
Team under guidance of Dr ON Bhargav INSA fellow to preserve Fossils and Type Section of Spiti
Prof BP Singh CAS Geology,Panjab University Chandigarh
Dr Anju Saxena Scientist BSIP Lucknow
Initiative Dr Ritesh Arya
Photo Dr Mahan Singh