Just before the closing scenes of the Cretaceous Period, India was a rogue subcontinent on a collision course with Asia. Before the two landmasses merged, however, India rafted over a ‘hot spot’ within the Earth’s crust, triggering one of the largest volcanic eruptions in Earth’s history, which likely contributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs. In a recent study, scientists excavating the fossilized remains of plant material wedged between layers of volcanic rock describe a new plant species based on the presence of distinctive fruit capsules that likely exploded to disperse their seeds.

In a recent study, scientists excavating the fossilized remains of plant material wedged between layers of volcanic rock describe a new plant species based on the presence of distinctive fruit capsules that likely exploded to disperse their seeds. The fossils may be the oldest fruit discovered to date of the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae), a group of plants with more than 7,000 species, with well-known representatives that include poinsettia, castor oil plant, rubber trees and crotons.

The fossilized fruits were discovered near the village of Mohgaon Kalan in central India, where the remains of the once-widespread volcanic rock lie just beneath the surface in a complex mosaic.

«You can walk around these hills and find chunks of chert that have just weathered up through the topsoil,» said senior author Steven Manchester, curator of paleobotany at the Florida Museum of Natural History. «Some of the best collecting is where farmers have plowed the fields and moved the chunks to the side. For a paleobotanist, it’s like finding little Christmas presents all along the edge of the fields.»

Although there is some uncertainty in the timing, the volcanic eruptions are thought to have lasted for up to 1 million years, occurring in prolonged pulses that blanketed the surrounding landscape in thick lava layers up to 1 mile deep. Today, the basalt rocks leftover from the eruptions, known as the Deccan Traps, cover an area larger than the state of California.

The most violent of the volcanic events, which occurred at the tail end of the Cretaceous, may have been triggered by the asteroid impact half a world away.

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Materials provided by Florida Museum of Natural History. Original written by Jerald Pinson. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.