A fossil-rich region of India's war-torn state of Kashmir could be blasted out of existence by mining operations, according to eyewitness accounts by geologists.
Fossil beds in the rocky Guryul Ravine, just south of the city of Srinagar, date back 260 million years to the pre-dinosaur Permian period.
Specimens from the site include primordial corals, small invertebrates, plants, and a group of mammal-like reptiles known as therapsids. (See pictures of the ancient creatures of the Permian.)
But the fossils lie inside rich tracts of limestone—a key ingredient in cement manufacturing.
Local authorities declared the Guryul site a protected area last year and claim that mining activities have ceased.
But there are still quarry owners who supply stone chips to small-scale cement factories in nearby towns, said Ghulam Mohamad Bhat, a sediment geologist at Kashmir's University of Jammu.
Bigger pieces of exploded rock are used in road and housing construction.
Quarry operators earn about 600 rupees (U.S. $15) per truckload of stones, according to a recent report in the Telegraph, a leading daily newspaper of eastern India.
"Underhanded mining has gone on for years and is still going on," Bhat said. "Sadly, the fossil section at Guryul has been entirely put to sale."
Life After Death
Hundreds of millions of years ago, the prehistoric Tethys Ocean flowed where Kashmir's Guryul Ravine now stands.
Guryul's fossils, which were first discovered by a British scientist in 1886, represent a variety of ancient marine life.
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