A 20 million-year-old fossilized tree found on outskirts of Himachal Pradesh Kumarhatti town. This was saved from destruction said a geologist on Sunday. A tree fossil is discovered in 2013 was about destroy last week while construction of a four-lane Parwanoo Shimla highway at Raboon Village which is 50 km from Chandigarh said by geologist and entrepreneur Ritesh Arya.

Numerous flora and fauna fossils have been discovered in Kasauli, Barog, Kumarhatti, Dharampur and subatlu areas he said. All these are located in Shivaliks in solar district.

Arya said, “the Kasauli hills are geologically related to 16 to 23 million years and have been associated with Irish geologist Henry Benedict Medlicott, who discovered the first fossilised preserved leaves in 1864.”

According to him, the discovery of fossils in the Kasauli region indicated that the area which is supported flora and fauna that was native to coastal regions of Malaysia, the Andaman and Nicobar islands and Indonesia.

Arya said, “the presence of fossils of Garcinia and Gluta and other near coastal species show that the Himalayas had not evolved during those times and were younger than 20 million years.”

“This clearly indicated that Himalayan region was under the ocean,” the geologist said.

Earlier 25 million-year-old fossil of a five foot tall and three-foot wide tree was discovered few years ago. This is found at Jagjit Nagar near Kasauli fossil was found standing on a rock. Here the owner took an initiative to preserve it.