Indo-Pakistan

Indo-Pakistan experienced dramatic geographical changes during the Mesozoic and early Cenozoic, transporting its evolving biota 8,000 km across the equator from a position in southern Pangaea to one near Asia. Paleogeographers disagree on exactly how fast Indo-Pakistan drifted and on the nature its connections, but under any scenario Indo-Pakistan can be expected to have experienced major changes in latitude and land connections that may have influenced the evolution of its biota. Although the biota of Indo-Pakistan is well known well before and well after these paleogeographic changes occurred, its transitional late Mesozoic faunas are relatively poorly known.  Fossils have long been recorded in uppermost Cretaceous sediments of India, but articulated or associated remains are rare. In contrast, late Mesozoic fossils were discovered only recently in Pakistan and provide a new source of information to complement the Indian record. A clearer picture of the pre-impact Indian Plate biota can be reconstructed by integrating and interpreting the fossil records of India and Pakistan through continued prospection and reexamination of previously described fossils.

In 2001 Paul Sereno and I co-led field work in western India with colleagues Ashok Sahni and Ashu Khosla from Panjab University in Chandigarh. We found few fossils in the field on that trip, but we were fortunate to examine dinosaur collections of the Geological Survey of India in Jaipur, where were were hosted by Suresh Srivastava and D. K. Bhatt. We examined a collection of sauropod and theropod bones that were collected from the Rahioli locality in Gujarat (western India). Suresh’s detailed map allowed us to determine that the theropod bones pertained to a single individual, which we jointly named Rajasaurus narmadensis in 2003. In addition to our scientific description and a popular article written by Dr. Bhatt (download), Rajasaurus received a great deal of attention in the US (download) and Indian media (download).

In 2004 I returned to India to initiate a collaborative project with Dr. Dhananjay Mohabey of the Geological Survey of India (at left in above photo). Dr. Mohabey discovered the first dinosaur eggs from India in 1983 and later reported on an enigmatic fossilized egg associated with small bones (Mohabey, 1987) that we are developing together. The original image of the fossil can be seen here.

Photos from my 2001 trip to India can be viewed here.

Movie clips from my 2004 trip to India can be viewed here.

Morocco

I recently returned from a preliminary field trip to Early Jurassic horizons in Morocco with my colleagues Ronan Allain (right) and Nour-Eddine Jalil (not shown). We are interested in exploring these beds because they preserve beautiful remains of some of the earliest sauropods, which are smaller and less advanced than later-appearing sauropods. In particular, we hope that these early sauropods will help document important transitions in the feeding and locomotory anatomy. Ronan described Tazoudasaurus naimi [pdf] from Toarcian beds of Morocco in 2005.

Movie clips from my 2006 trip to Morocco will be posted here soon.