Discovery of Gondwana plant fossils and palynomorphs of Late Asselian (Early Permian) age in the Karakoram Block

We report the discovery of Early Permian (late Asselian, similar to 280-275 Ma) plant fossils and associated palynomorphs from a marine sedimentary se quence of the eastern Karakoram plate, in northern India. These specimens s how affinities with those found in marine Lower Gondwana sediments of the I ndian subcontinent. This supports the contention that during the Early Perm ian Period, the Karakoram plate was Peri-Gondwanan. It is suggested to have had an intermediate position between the Indian plate and the Qiangtang-Lh asa microcontinents, at a latitude of about 35 degrees south.