Summary:
Jaisalmer: In a first of its kind discovery for India, some rare kinds of almond-shaped trace fossils have been discovered in Barmer. However, the same fossils are also found as ill preserved traces at Lunu hill about seven kms from Barmer town. These strange shapes turned out to be a rare trace fossil colony created by Mayflies. These clusters of millions of iron rinds preserved in Barmer sandstone dates just after the extinction of Dinosaurs in the early Paleocene period in western Rajasthan.“These are the first fossils of its kind in India to be spotted at Gehun colony of Barmer town and these trace fossils are almost perfectly intact and but now extinct,” Prof Mathur said, discussing the research paper published in the April volume of one of India's science journals “Current Science”. This is the fourth such discovery in the world after America, Mexico and Argentina.Professor SC Mathur, who was the former head of the department for Geology at JNV University, Jodhpur, discovered these peculiar almod-shaped traces during field work around Barmer with his teammates..