Tethys Fossil Museum inaugurated at Kasauli

Solan,April 13

A 20 million-year-old rock structure has been carved to set up Tethys Fossil Museum and Research Centre at Dhangiari in Kasauli here. The centre was inaugurated by noted geologists Professor Dr Ashok Sahni while prominent scientist Dr ON Bhargava was the guest of honour during an event held last evening.

Dr Ritesh Arya, founder of the museum, said fossils of fishes, whale sharks, oysters, molluscs and foraminifera from Subathu and Leh; plant remains such as logs, leaves, flowers and roots from Kasauli and Dharamsala; mammals from various regions of the Shivaliks; and molluscs, ammonites, stromatolites ediacara, trilobites from Spiti valley were on display at the repository.

He said the museum was located on the debris concealing the Dagshai-Subathu boundary, which signifies closure of Tethys Sea and thereafter the evolution of terrestrial ecosystem.

“The water supply at the museum is from a borewell drilled into 40 million-year-old white quartzite sandstone, which is a marker bed extending from Pakistan to Myanmar,” added Arya.

“Anyone visiting the museum will have a glimpse of how different fossils collected from various geological formations has helped to rebuild the history of the various events that led to the evolution and birth of the Himalayas,” Arya said.

The Tethys was an ocean separating India from Eurasia plates. As the Indian plate moved northward it squeezed and when the two plates collided the Tethyan sediments were uplifted forming the mighty Himalayas.