Fossils dating back a couple of hundred million years ago in remote villages of Lahaul and Spiti valley of Himachal Pradesh are being mined and sold as cheap tourist souvenirs, destroying key links in the ancient geological history of the Indian subcontinent.
These fossils can be bought for as low as Rs. 50 from local shops and eateries where they are displayed. Of several shapes and sizes, the common fossils on sale are coral reef of the Triassic period, between 250 million and 199 million years old, and ammonoids of Triassic-Jurassic period, between 199 million and 145 million years ago.
The geological remnants, described as part of a marine sequence, can be found in the hills near Lalung, Mud, Komic, Hikkim and Langza villages in the Lahaul and Spiti district in Spiti valley about 200 km from Shimla.
What is more, two of the three places where giant scorpion trace fossils along with trilobite traces were found in Parahio valley have been destroyed during construction of a road to Pin valley. The giant scorpion traces are unique and found only in Antarctica, Australia and Spiti Valley.
During construction of a canal, Middle Norian Coral reef in Ratangnala, a tributary of Spiti river was mined to provide building materials. The excavated earth has covered what is left of the reef.
Another geologically significant feature belonging to the era when continents first stabilised, a Paleoproterozoic paleosol in the Sutlej valley, was exposed during the construction of Hindustan-Tibet Road in Himachal Pradesh. Walls have been constructed on either side and nothing can be observed now.
Rising tourism has contributed to the erosion in Spiti valley, which paleontologists say is the “museum of Indian Geology”. Many tourists are aware of the availability of fossils here and offer to buy them in large numbers, spurring locals, including children, to identify and pick fossils at various sites. The fossils have hit the internet, with the Spiti valley souvenirs featuring on travel sites and blogs, and some tour operators offering to take customers directly to the sites to acquire fossils between May and October.
“Fossils have been in high demand, especially in the last two years as the number of tourists has increased. Everyone coming to Kaza is aware of fossils on sale. We try to create awareness, but often fail,” says Tanya Roy, who runs Wanderer’s Nest, a homestay at Kaza. She is the founder of Earthroute, which works to protect indigenous culture and promotes sustainability.
“There are no signboards to warn visitors not to take the fossils. The landscape is so vast that surveillance is a problem. Local people are not aware of the treasures,” she said.
Former director of the Geological Survey of India, O.N. Bhargava, said: “Loss of fossils due to indiscrimate sale to tourists has been a serious problem. I have been cautioning the Himachal Pradesh government to prevent it, as it will seriously affect research.” While a lot of the fossils are documented, they are registered in the national repository at Kolkata or in the museums of various universities for further studies.
“The fossils help in building the ancient geography of the globe. They are meant for studies and not to be kept as souvenirs,” he said. “When we go to collect fossils now, we often do not find any due to reckless mining,” he lamented, adding that in five decades of work in the region, he found fossils disappearing.
An honorary professor at the Department of Geology in Panjab University, Chandigarh, Dr. Bhargava has taken up research in this part of the Himalayan region, which was once a part of the Southern Tethys Sea. Fossils help build an index of global time and correlate them using plate formations here with those elsewhere in the world. Plates are formations that glide over the earth's mantle.
“Scientists are interested in understanding the isolation of the Indian plate, its collision with the Eurasian plate and evolution, between 542 million years and 50 millions years ago. This area provides the entire geological history of India.”
The Spiti valley contains almost a continous succession ranging from the Cambrian (between 542 million and 488 million years old) to the Cretaceous (between 145 million and 65 million year old), making it a popular destination for palaeontologists.
It was first reported by Gerard in 1827 to the Royal Asiatic Society, London. Subsequently, many visited this fascinating area, including F. Stoliczka in 1865 and H.H. Hayden in 1904.
Triassic fauna in the Spiti valley has a parallel in the Alps, in Oman and Timor. “In other countries there are strict protocols for conservation. They are aware of their fossil wealth and vandalism is reported. If a fossil is rare no one is allowed to take it and if they are in abundance, they are allowed for studies,” Dr. Bhargava said. Some foreign paleontolgists also did not return samples, he pointed out.
There is an urgent need to formulate laws to preserve unique geological monuments, he said, with the GSI as custodian of all geological features, just as the Archaeological Survey of India oversees archaeological sites.
