Warm-water Dasycladaceae algae from the Late Ordovician of the Parahio Valley, Spiti, India

Warm-water Dasycladaceae algae Mastopora and Cyclocrinites were for the first time recorded from the Takche Formation (Upper Ordovician–lower Silurian), Parahio Valley, Spiti, India. They are preserved as external and internal moulds of the non-globular or possibly bulb-like cortical skeleton showing flattened thalli with a high degree of compaction. The occurrence of abundant cyclocrinitid remains in the Takche Formation indicates that the Spiti region of the northwestern Himalaya must have been located at about 30° palaeolatitude during the Late Ordovician and early Silurian. The cyclocrinitids were warm-water algae and their extinction at the end of the Ordovician is related to cooling and glaciations. The cyclocrinitids in the Ordovician are known from several localities in central and southern Asia, including Kazakhstan and western China

Asteriacites and other trace fossils from the Po Formation (Visean–Serpukhovian), Ganmachidam Hill, Spiti Valley (Himalaya) and its paleoenvironmental significance

An assemblage of trace fossils comprising Asteriacites stelliformis, A. quinquefolius, Biformites insolitus, Helminthoidichnites? isp., Lingulichnus isp., Lockeia siliquaria, Palaeophycus tubularis, Planolites isp., Protovirgularia isp. A, Protovirgularia isp. B, Protovirgularia isp. C, Psammichnites isp., Rusophycus isp., and Treptichnus isp. from the Po Formation (Visean-Serpukhovian) exposed along the base of Ganmachidam Hill near the village of Chichong, Spiti Valley in the Himalaya, is described. Storm beds (tempestites) are highly bioturbated. Sedimentary structures such as hummocky cross-stratification (HCS), low-angle planar and trough cross beds, and shallow, slightly asymmetrical gutter casts are observed. The overall trace fossil assemblage indicates the presence of upper shoreface to lower shoreface Cruziana ichnofacies of an open shelf