We reconstruct the rise of a segment of the southern flank of the Himalaya-Tibet orogen, to the south of the Lhasa terrane, using a paleoaltimeter based on paleoenthalpy encoded in fossil leaves from two new assemblages in southern Tibet (Liuqu and Qiabulin) and four previously known floras from the Himalaya foreland basin. U-Pb dating of zircons constrains the Liuqu flora to the latest Paleocene (ca. 56 Ma) and the Qiabulin flora to the earliest Miocene (21-19 Ma). The proto-Himalaya grew slowly against a high (~4 km) proto-Tibetan Plateau from ~1 km in the late Paleocene to ~2.3 km at the beginning of the Miocene, and achieved at least ~5.5 km by ca. 15 Ma. Contrasting precipitation patterns between the Himalaya-Tibet edifice and the Himalaya foreland basin for the past ~56 m.y. show progressive drying across southern Tibet, seemingly linked to the uplift of the Himalaya orogen.

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A morpho-taxonomic study of leaf remains from the upper part of the Siwalik succession of sediments (Kimin Formation; upper Pliocene to lower Pleistocene) of Papumpare district, Arunachal Pradesh, India, revealed 23 species representing 20 genera belonging to 15 angiosperm families. The recovered fossil leaves are comparable to modern Bambusa tulda Roxb. (Poaceae), Mangifera indica Linn., Dracontomelum mangiferum Blume (Anacardiaceae); Chonemorpha macrophylla G. Don (Apocynaceae); Pongamia pinnata (L) Pierre., Millettia pachycarpa Benth., Dalbergia rimosa Roxb., Millettia extensa (Fabaceae); Macaranga denticulata Muell. Arg., Croton caudatus Geisel. (Euphorbiaceae); Combretum decandrum Roxb.

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The Open University's repository of research publications and other research outputs Occurrence of Shorea Roxburgh ex C. F. Gaertner (Dipterocarpaceae) in the Neogene Siwalik forests of eastern Himalaya and its biogeography during the Cenozoic of Southeast Asia