Ghughua Fossil Park is a
National Park, located near
Shahpura in
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, in which plant
fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
s belonging to 31 genera of 18 families have been identified.
The site was founded during the 1970s by Dr. Dharmendra Prasad, a statistical officer of the
Mandla
Mandla is a city with municipality in Mandla district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of Mandla District. The city is situated in a loop of the Narmada River, which surrounds it on three sides, and ...
district and honorary secretary of the district archaeology unit. It was declared a National Park in 1983.
Numerous plant, leaf, fruit, seed, and shell fossils can be found in this park, some of which date as far back as 65 million years,
[ the most prominent of which are the ]palm
Palm most commonly refers to:
* Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand
* Palm plants, of family Arecaceae
**List of Arecaceae genera
* Several other plants known as "palm"
Palm or Palms may also refer to:
Music
* Palm (ba ...
fossils.[
]
Notable fossils
A eucalyptus
''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as e ...
fossil found at Ghughua is the oldest fossil of its type ever discovered and this find supports its origins from Gondwana.
Transportation
Ghughua Fossil Park is located near National Highway 11. It is situated 14 km from Shahpura and 76 km from Jabalpur
Jabalpur is a city situated on the banks of Narmada River in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. According to the 2011 census, it is the third-largest urban agglomeration in Madhya Pradesh and the country's 38th-largest urban agglomeration. J ...
.[
]
See also
*Shivalik Fossil Park
Shivalik Fossil Park, also known as the Suketi Fossil Park , is a notified National Geo-heritage Monument
[National Fossil Wood Park, Tiruvakkarai
The National Fossil Wood Park, Tiruvakkarai is a notified National Geo-heritage Monument located in the Villupuram District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is maintained by the Geological Survey of India. The park was established in 1940 ...]
References
{{commons category, Ghughua Fossil Park
National parks in Madhya Pradesh
Cretaceous paleontological sites of Asia
Fossil parks in India
Paleontology in India
Dindori district
1983 establishments in Madhya Pradesh
Protected areas established in 1983
National parks of India