During late Pliocene times, extrabasinally derived acidic volcanic ashes were deposited as distal pyroclastic fallout in upland interfluvial-lacustrine settings in the northwestern part of the Siwalik basin. These ash beds occur as a bentonitized tuff band and tuffaceous mudstones in the Jammu region of India. We located and described 12 outcrops of this conspicuous, geographically widespread bentonitized tuff band and tuffaceous mudstone association at the same stratigraphic level, coincident with the Gauss-Matuyama boundary at 2.48 Ma. This bentonitized tuff band and tuffaceous mudstone association represents a stratigraphic marker horizon in the diachronous and sporadic vertebrate faunayielding Siwalik strata. The claystone, siltstone, and sandstone units and embedded bentonitized tuff band and tuffaceous mudstone beds represent a coarsening-upward sequence reflecting deposition in lacustrine proximal and distal bottomsets, pro-delta foresets, and mouth-bar facies capped by fluvial topsets. This study reports a chain of four contemporaneous, palaeo-lake basins at this stratigraphic level, which ranged in length from 2 to 7 km.

One complete molar of a baby Stegodon is reported from the road-cutting section of the mudstone horizon of Nagrota Formation exposed about 2km south of Labli village. The molar yielding horizon underlies geochronologically dated (2.48 ma) volcanic ash bed which is the extension of Barakheter-Uttarbaini ash bed in the

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Surinsar Lake is one of the deepest fresh water lake situated in the Lower Siwalik Subgroup of Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India. In the present study,nine species of ostracodes have been recovered from the core sediments of Surinsar Lake, Udhampur district, Jammu and Kashmir, India. These species are identified as Candona candida, C. lactea, C. neglecta, Stenocypris sp., Cypris subglobosa, Cypridopsis sp., Hemicypris pyxidata, Jlyocypris gibba, Potamocypris sp. based on their morphological characters. Out of nine species, four species Candona lactea, Candona neglecta, Jlyocypris gibba and Stenocypris sp., has been already reported from Surinsar Lake and five ostracodes species Hemicypris pyxidata, Potamocypris sp., Cypris subglobosa, Candona candida, Cypridopsis sp. are recovered in addition to already reported species. A brief account on the palaeoecologic and palaeoclimatic implications of fauna recovered is discussed in the present study. Keywords: Ostracodes, Core Sediments, Fresh Water Lake, Surinsar, Lower Siwalik Subgroup, Jammu, India