In the 2000s, when the expanding cement industry of Kashmir started encroaching and crushing fossils to cement, the outcry regarding the conservation of the Guryul was wide-spread (Basu 2008; Tiwari et al. 2015). Some measures were taken to prevent the loss but not sufficient to prevent the criminal damages caused by encroachment and mining mafia. Recently Guryul has been again in the news for good reasons, as the government yielding to local activism has finally decided to protect Guryul and rechristen it as International Fossil Park (Kashmir Reader 2016). However, since 2016 due to the political turmoil, the whole process has been on halt. On the contrary, there is every possibility that if the current imbroglio continues in the region, time is not far that we will lose this scientific treasure to human greed. This paper summarizes the most critical publications carried on the Guryul ravine and using them to stress upon the stakeholders of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir of the need for its conservation.
Guryul – A geological treasure
Guryul provides a critical material for the study of paleo-life forms and paleoclimate dynamics. Similar sites are found in other parts of the world, however not as best preserved as Guryul (Furnish et al. 1973; Singh et al. 2015). Hundreds and Thousands of pre-dinosaur fossils lie strewn in the rocks of the ravine, rated by geologists as the world`s premier site for the study of species from the Permian period (Brookfield et al. 2013). Guryul Ravine section is comprised of beds equivalent to the highest horizons of Permian and lowest horizons of Triassic (Orchard et al. 1994). Well-preserved marine elements, as well as some terrestrial remains, have been recovered from the Guryul Ravine section and thus rendering important biologic perception of the Permian–Triassic boundary (PTB) event (Hongfu et al. 2001; Singh et al. 2015). Fossil beds in the rocky Guryul Ravine bear specimens representing a diversity of ancient life like primordial corals, small invertebrates, plants, and a group of mammal resembling reptiles, called as therapsids (Schönlaub 1991; Brosse et al. 2017). The lower part of Guryul Ravine contains beds with fossils of brachiopods, crinoids, and bryozoans (Wignall et al. 2005).
In contrast, as in the upper part of the shale bed, these fossils disappear, and relics of the Triassic period appear (Haas et al. 2004). The fossilified samples obtained from rocks depict the mass extinction event that probably happened between the Permian and Triassic periods about 251 million years ago (Huang et al. 2019). Patwardhan (2012) describes Guryul Ravine as the most illustrious and well preserved faunal assemblage of mega fossils. The Guryul Ravine section, in Kashmir, with support from the Pahalgam section, is one of the best reference sections for the transition beds (Kapoor 2003; Kozur et al. 1995; Kumar et al. 2017). The PTB section at Guryul Ravine, Kashmir, is greater than a hundred meters thick (Algeo et al. 2007). Further, conformable succession of mixed siliciclastic–carbonate sediments in the ramp setting of this ravine is apparent (Mir et al. 2016). Fig. 2 shows the geology of the area in and around Guryul ravine.