Kutch was a heavily forested region 14 million years ago

Science and history proves that earth has witnessed the growth and destruction of civilisations. What was a forest thousands of years ago at a certain place is now a desert, likewise, a place that was a desert many years ago is now a flourishing human settlement.
Interestingly, a team of Indian and French researchers have discovered recently that the arid Kutch desert was a sub-tropical forest long ago. Kutch, as we know, is an island flanked by the Rann of Kutch in north and northeast; the Arabian Sea in the west; and the Gulf of Kutch in south and southeast. Kutch shares its border with Pakistan along the northern edge of the Rann of Kutch.
According to a report published in the press, the researchers found out that the forest in Kutch was rich in several species of birds, aquatic creatures and land animals. The conclusions have been made after more than a decade-long analysis of a tranche of vertebrate fossils dating back to 14 million years.

The fossils are mostly ribs, bones and parts of teeth, and were discovered from Palasava village of Rapar taluka in Kutch. The fossil findings prove that the plants and animals living in Kutch survived in tropical to subtropical and humid/wet climates at the time of Middle Miocene (13 million years ago).


So far, whatever fossils have been found are all marine creatures owing to their closeness to the Arabian Sea. Reportedly, geological changes slowly plugged in the salt-flats’ link to the sea, and thus the region became a large lake and subsequently, salty wetlands.

The research states how the mammals migrated to Africa and the Indian subcontinent. At that time, a portion of India was in the Gondwanaland supercontinent about 300 million years ago.

A senior scientist at the K.S.K.V. Kachchh University told the press that giraffes, elephants, rhinos and giant crocodiles lived in a closed basin in Kutch 14 million years ago which is a surprising finding.
Given this remarkable discovery, we wonder what caused the forested region of Kutch to suffer extinction?