20-million-yr-old fossils of leaves 'found' at Maharashtra's Chandrapur

Fossils were commonly found in limestone or clay but these leaf fossils found at Chandankheda in Maharashtra were made of iron oxide, said geology scholar Prof Suresh Chopani, who claimed to have finally discovered these fossils dating back to over 20 million years.

Chandrapur (Maharashtra) : Geology scholar Prof Suresh Chopani, who has been researching in the Bhadravati taluk of Maharashtra for many years, has claimed to have finally discovered fossils of leaves dating back to 20 million years ago. These fossils are from the dinosaur age and were found in an agricultural area at ​​Chandankheda in Bhadravati taluk of Chandrapur district, Maharashtra.

In this area, there were plants of the species Glassopteris that date back to the Jurassic to the Permian period between 28 and 19.5 million years ago. Earlier they found fossils of dinosaurs, elephants, stromatolites, conch shells, trees and leaves at many places in the Chandrapur district. Prof Chopane has taken specimens of these fossils and stored them at his home.

Earlier, Chopane discovered dinosaur fossils in Bhadravati and Varora areas. Now, new history has been brought to light with the discovery of fossils from the Jurassic period. In Chandrapur district, most of the rocks are about 3 to 6 million years old, and also 25 million to 25 thousand years old fossils are also found, said Chopane.

Over 20 million years ago, only one continent called Pangea was on Earth and the land area of ​​India was adjacent to present-day Australia, as per records. Between ancient India and China, there was a sea called Tethys. Over billions of years ago, the landmass of India moved northward and collided with the landmass of China. The Himalayas were formed from this. The age of dinosaurs is 19 to 23 million years old. During that time there were also plants which were eaten by dinosaurs.

As per Chopane, a fossil of a plant was found at Kothari in the past, and now it has been found at Chandankheda. Fossils were commonly found in limestone or clay but this leaf fossil was made of iron oxide, he said. Since there was a sea here in the past, the concentration of this chemical was the highest here and, over time, layers of this chemical were deposited on it, and from this, these minerals were formed, he said.

Fossils from 150 million years ago have also been found in Chandrapur, Chopani said and added that this was the oldest date found so far in the district, but since there was no living creature at that time, these fossils came to be of stromatolite type of bacteria.