HIEN tur nige e ME it AN it - n i l} i Ais le tie i" D n H m Arta irri Ait ler t HER if src MU S A do ni Ye "t o PATERE OE DES d ce NE TEA Pr “4 H ie e (al ba h "04 Kt i "111 ee hy J On 4 VOX. em RM Whe mua mis Lm PERRA W dicia: San y rey UN Mu A DE s agat > teh DM (Meo i d MEET " E TN J^ 7 N [^ is NE * 2 2 Ac S E i m EE s D ron. 14 017 or Lo | HC EP wer j > ren A "n Ph ite y N > A we ZO TE x XI LE MEMOIRS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. n Mera) Uer | "sangres okon y : : urg eImay JO MƏTA aqq bun quo sf “Li Td ALX [OA Sto ua y “aDuoy IS ITTA RNE E ARANAS AAO E) MEMOIRS OF THE ^ . GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 4 OF INDIA. VOL. XIV, PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR GENERAL OF INDIA IN COUNCIL. CALCUTTA: PRINTED FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. SOLD AT THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OFFICE, OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF GOVERNMENT PRINTING, AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS, LONDON: TRÜBNER 4 CO, MDCCCLXXVIII. iq GAS CALCUTTA : OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF GOVERNMENT PRINTING. 1878, PREFACE. UNDER instructions from the Superintendent of the Geo- logical Survey of India, I arrived in the Punjab in the cold weather of 1869-70, and commenced the examination of the Salt Range Mountains. During the next season and part of the one which followed I was entirely occupied with this work. The fossil collections which I had from time to time for- warded to head-quarters ultimately suggested a palæontologi- cal examination of the strata in the field, and Dr. W. Waagen, then on the staff of the Geological Survey, was deputed to carry this out. He reached the Salt Range after the whole of the region had been mapped, and after its various geolo- gieal groups had been arranged, according to their generally well-marked petrological features. I accompanied him, and we visited together several of the instructive sections. After this, he, by himself, devoted many weeks to a close reconnois- sance of the Range, noting various sections in detail, largely increasing the fossil collections, and observing the demarca- tion of the groups indicated by these fossils. This examination caused no alteration in the boundary lines which I had drawn, nor in the general arrangement of the groups, but it enabled. the geological positions of cer- tain highly fossiliferous formations, such as the triassic and jurassic, and the upper limits of the carboniferous, to be more definitely established. It led to Dr. Waagen's discovery of (unique) carboniferous ammonites, and to his suggestion vi PREFACE. that one of the groups in the eastern part of the Range, con- taining many ill-preserved shells, as also some doubtful beds below the nummulitic, might be cretaceous; while another unfossiliferous group was thought by him to be possibly ` triassic. About the probable places of one or two other un- fossiliferous groups he expressed doubt. Shortly before making the first draft of the presu Me- moir, 1 had had the advantage of frequent discussions upon the local geology with Dr. Waagen, who further gave me some field notes detailing certain sections which he had visited after I left him. I have, in several instances, used these notes in preference to my own, because they are more detailed, and because they possess the advantage that the most characteristic and abundant fossils have been identified by a competent paleontologist. At one time it was intended to have made this Salt Range Memoir a joint production by Dr. Waagen and myself, and to have added a description of the paleontology and a com- — parison between the geology and that of some European re- gions, together with plates and figures to illustrate both the . geology and paleontology of the district; but Dr. Waagen’s labours upon the fossil Cephalopoda of Kach, followed by his long absence on sick-leave, prevented the design, of which he would have written the palaontological portion, from being carried out. His early retirement from the Survey in ill- health before he could work out the Salt Range collections or contribute towards the manuscript of a joint report, be- yond what will be acknowledged in the following pages, and a few marginal notes on my preliminary report, has left to PREFACE. vil me the rather difficult task of re-casting alone matter in- tended for a joint publication. The originality of this Memoir will, in one aspect, be necessarily limited, when the long list of previous writers upon the geology of the Salt Range is considered. That the Range contained carboniferous, jurassic, or oolitic, possibly triassic, eocene, and perhaps miocene, formations, has long been known from former publications; but the addition to these of an ascertained silurian zone above the salt, and a new arrangement of all of its groups, have resulted from the operations of the Geological Survey. The bulk of the following report has lain for some years in manuscript awaiting publication. This has been post- poned for various reasons, the chief of which I have men- tioned. The extensive fossil collections from the district, when I last saw them, had been but partially prepared for examination, and though I can only give such provisional identifications as were afforded by our lamented colleague Dr. Stoliczka and by Dr. Waagen, it is satisfactory to know that the palzeozoic and secondary fossils have been forwarded lately to Dr. Waagen himself for description. - In preparing this Memoir for publication, I have to thank Mr. W. T. Blanford for much assistance in reading the proofs; and whatever success has attended the reproduction of my landscape illustrations is largely due to their treat- ment by Mr. Schaumburg, the Artist of the Survey. A. B. WYNNE. Camp Hazara, November 1877. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. Page. Introductory.—Geological Examination. —Map used. —Geographical Posi- tion.— Previous Observers : : ; 5 ; ; 1—35 CHAPTER II. PHYSICAL FEATURES. Physical Features. —Remarkable Features. —The Plateaux.—Passes.—Val- leys.—Water Parting —Lakes.—Springs.—Puysicat GEoLo@GY.—Dis- turbance.—Faults.— Elevation.—A tmospheric Influences. —Marine Ero- sion.—Son Plateau Lakes . : $ : ; . 386—63 CHAPTER III. STRATIGRAPHIC GEOLOGY. Disparity with Himalaya.—Rock Groups, 65,—Carboniferous Ammonites.- — Salt Range Series, 69.— Diagram, 69.—Saline Group, 70.—Purple Sand- stone, 84.—Silurian, 86.— Magnesian Sandstone, 87.—Speckled Sand- stone.— Carboniferous Limestone, &c.,93.—Triassic Ceratite Group,96.— Pseudomorphic Salt-Crystal Zone, 98.—Jurassic, 101.—Cretaceous, 103. —Nummulitie, 105.—Tertiary Sandstone and Clays, 108.—Nahan, 109. —Siwalik, 110.—Post-Tertiary and Recent, 113.—General Series, 117 . 64—118 PART II. DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS. SECTION I. Bakrala Ridge, 119.—IT. Tilla Ridge, 124.— III. Chambal Moun- tain, East, 131.—IV. Jalálpur to Jutána, 136.—V. Eastern Plateau, 143. — VI. Dandöt Plateau and Spur, 164.—VII. Kahün Plateau, 170.— VIII. Malöt Table-land, 175.—IX. Nürpur Plateau, 184.—X. Son Pla- teau, 201.—XI. Chiderü Hills, 245.—XII. Tredian Hills, 257.—XIII. Appendix. Trans-Indus Hills, 272.—Summary, 277.—Economic Re- sources, 283.—Salt, 284.—Coal, 293.—Petroleum, 297.—Building Stones, 298.—Ornamental Stones, 289.—Gypsum, Lavender Clay, Galena, 300. —Alum, 301.—Kahi Mitti, 302.—Gold, 303.—Conclusion, 303.— INDEX : ; : S drm : 5 : 305 LIST OF PLATES AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XVIII-2 XIX. XX. XXI. XXII. XXIII. XXIV. XXV. XXVI. XXVII. XXVIII. XXIX. XXX. XXXI. MAP OF SALT RANGE. (Frontispiece). View of Khewra Glen, Mayo Salt Mines Village. Commencement of Salt Range Escarpment at Jalálpur Southern Entrance to the Bakh Ravine Kalar Kahár Lake Looking up the River Indus from Kálabágh View in Jutána Kas Faults in Hills north of Sadowál . Sketch Maps of Position and Direction of Salt Range Diagram to show distribution of Salt Range Series Sections, Bakrála Ridge Rib of Nummulitic Limestone in Ghoragali | Sections, Kahan and Mount Tilla . Cliffs near Bághanwála Sections, Bághanwála Sections, Karángli and Chél Hills : Sections, Khewra to Gamthála and over TUNI Hills . Kúsak Peak and Fort and Section of Khewra Glen Sections, Dandót and West of Dandót Mariäla Coal-driving Diagrams : Slips of nn Matán and Sar Sections in Nilawán Ravine Cliff at Chámil Coal Locality Warru Glen and Disturbance in Kávhád Glen near Jabi Sections: Choya Gorge; Greenish Band in Marl, Varcha; Kangrawala Hill Red Marl near Varcha Natural Shaft, Varcha Mine Section over Sakesar Mountain, &e. East Branch of Golawala Gorge. Ravine Section in Bakh Ravine. Sections at Swas Nummulitic Limestone Ridge N. W. from Namal Jaba Oil-springs—Ravine in Salt Marl near Mari Kalabagh bank of the Indus. Sketch-section in the Chichäli Pass Place of Coal Shales. in Bakh Page. SECTIONS AND FIGURES. 1.—Profile of country 2, —Direction of Salt Range, en (Plate VIII) 3.— Profile of Son Sakesar Basin . 4.—Position of Salt Range. (Plate VIID 5.—Contortion in Salt, Mayo Mines . 6, 7, 8.—Sections, Bakrála Ridge. (Plate X) 9.—Hib of nummulitie limestone, Ghoragali. (Plate XI) 10.—Section, Diljaba Mt. (Plate XI) 11.—Sectiou, Kahan River gorge. (Plate XII) 12 —Section over Mt. Tilla. (Plate XII) 13.—Section over Chambal Hill 14.—Cliffs near Bághanwála. (Plate XIII) 15.—Section, Bághanwála coal locality. (Plate XIV) 16.—Section, Bághanwála to Kotalkund. (Plate XIV) 17.—Cliffs near Bághanwála. (Plate XTII) 18.—Section across Chél Hill. (Plate XV) 19.—Section, Karängli Hill. (Plate XV) 20.—Section, Khewra to Gamthäla Glen. (Plate XVI) 21.—Abnormal position of salt marl, Chambal Hill, west 22.—Section over Doltwála Point, Chambal, west. (Plate XVI) . 23.—Kúsak Peak and Fort. (Plate XVII) 24.—Section of Khewra Glen. (Plate XVII) 25.— Section through Dandót. (Plate XVIII) 26.— Section west of Dandöt. (Plate XVIII) 27.—Mariála coal-driving. (Plate XVIII?) 28.—Section south-east from Kalar Kahär : : 29.—Diagram. Slipped face of escarpment, Matán. (Plate XIX) 30.—Diagram. Slipped ground, Sar. (Plate XIX) os. 91. 32, 33.— Sections in Nilawán Ravine. (Plate XX) 34.—Section across Vásnál Valley 36.—Diagramatic section, Nursingphoár Valley 37.—Balanced mass on cliff Náli 38.—Wurru Glen from above. (Plate XXII) 39.—Disturbance in Kävhäd Glen near Jabi. (Plate XXII) 40.—Section, Choya gorge. (Plate XXIII) 41.—ked Marl near Varcha. (Plate XXIV) Page. 50 51 62 öl 78 120 123 123 125 125 133 137 138 : 138 137 144 144, 149 150 149 157 157 164 164 167 183 187 187 188 197 208 212 213 213 22 229 Figs. g. 52.—Oil-spring ravine, Jába. (Plate XXX) SECTIONS AND FIGURES. 42.—Natural shaft in Varcha Mine. (Plate XXV) 43.—Greenish band in Red Marl, Varcha. (Plate XXIII) 44.—Top of Kangrawala Hill. (Plate XXIII) 45.— Section over Sakesar Mt. (Plate XXVI) 46.—East branch Golawáli gorge. (Plate XXVIT) 47.—Place of coal shales in Bakh Ravine. (Plate XXVII) 48.—Section, Bakh Ravine. (Plate XXVIII) 49,—Section from Swás, the north-east. (Plate XXVI) 50, 51.—Sections at Swás. (Plate XXVIII) : 53.—Ravine in Salt Marl near Mari. (Plate XXX) 54.—Kälabägh Bank of the Indus. (Plate XXXI) 55.—Section, Chichalí Pass. (Plate XXXI); XIV PAPERS ON SALT RANGE. LIST OF GEOLOGICAL PAPERS REFERRING TO THE SALT RANGE, &c. 18. 19. Year. ELPHINSTONE'S Caubul, visited in 1808, &e., London 1815 Burnes, Lizur. (afterwards Sir A.).—A Memoir. Geol. Soc. London, VolILp.8 . . 1831-32-38 —— Some account of the Salt Mines, Punjab. Jl. A. S. Beng. Vol. I, p. 149, &c. 1832 Acua Annas, of Shiraz—Translated by Major dh Jl. N S. B., Vol. XII, p. 564 1837 Mtnsut Momuw Lanr.—4Account of Kálábágh. Jl. N B B. Vol. VII, p. 25 1838 Jameson, Dg. W.—Ext. letter to Mr. Clerk. Jl. A. S. B., Vol. IX, p-1 : : & : 1841 ———— - Deputation to examine effects of great Inundation of Indus. Jl. A. S. B., Vol. XII, p. 183, &e.. 1843 Karsten, Dr.— Lehrbuch der Salinkunde, Vol. I, p. 777, Berlin . 1846 FrguiNG, Dr. A.— First Report on the Salt Range, dic. Jl. A. S. B., Vol. XVII, p. 500 : - 1848 — Diary of a trip to Pind-Dádun-Khän 2 he Salt Range. Jl. A. S. B., Vol. XVIII, p. 661 . 1849 Vicary, Masor.—Geology, Upper Punjab, &c. Proc. Geol. Soc. London, Vol. VII, p. 39 5 : 1850 STRACHEY, Caprain R.—Geology of part of Himalayan Moun- tains and Tibet. Proc. Geol. Soc. London, Vol. VII, p. 292, &c. : 5 1851 FLEMING, Dz., & MuUrcHison, Sir R. L—On Salt Range (abst. of letters). Q.J!. Geol. Soc. London, Vol. IX, p. 189 . 1553 FLEMING, Dr. A.—Second Report on geological structure, &c., Salt Range. Jl. A. S. B., Vol. XXII, pp. 229, 333, 444 1853 D'Arcuiac, Le VicowTE AND JULES HarmE.— Description des Animaux Fossiles du groupe Nummulitique de U Inde 1853 THEOBALD, W.—Notes on geology of Salt Range. Jl. A. S. B., Vol. XXIII, p. 651 5 5 : 1854 Fremine, Dr. A,—On Iron Ore from Korána hills. Jl. A. S. B., Vol. XXIII, p. 92 : 4 1854 Mepuicorr, H. B.—Abstract of paper on enla Jl. A. S. B., Vol. XXX, p.22 . : o 1861 SCHLAGINTWEIT, ROBERT DE.—Hot springs of India and High Asia. Jl. A. S. B., Vol. XXXIII, p. 51 1864 36. 37. 38. PAPERS ON SALT RANGE. OLDHAM, T., L.L. D., &c.—Memorandum on results of a cursory examination of the Salt Range. Report to Government of India . 5 Mepttcort, H. B.—Sub-Himalayan rocks, between Rivers Ganges and Rávi. Mem. Geol. Sur. Ind. Vol. III VERCHERE, Dr. A. M.— Kashmir, the Western Himalaya, and Afghan Mountains. Jl. A. S. B., Vols. XXXV & XXXVI. BADEN-PowELL, Mr.—Economie products of Punjab, Vol. I, pp- 13, 69, 130, dc. WYNNE, A. B.—Geology Mt. Tilla. Records Geol. Sur. Ind., Vol. III. Lyman, B. S.—General Report on Punjab oil-lands. Government Press, Lahore, D. P. W. Warta, Dg. H.— Geology Khewra Salt Range. Lo d Report, Administration, Inland Customs PERDE Official year 1869-70 : Hicxre, M.,—Pamphlet on customs, quoted by Dr. Warth in above. Hickrg, CogNELivs—Analysis of Salt Range salt quoted by Dr. Warth ditto. Lyman, B. S.,—Topography of Punjab oil regions. Tran. Amer. Phil. Soc., Vol. XV : MARKHAM, C.R., c. B.—On Indian Surveys, London WanrH, Dr. H.—Geological descriptions, Salt Range. Report, ae ministration, Inland Customs Department, Appendix D, 1870-71 WARTH, Dg. AND WYNNE, A.B. tiniest of Salt Range fa for Vienna Exhibition. Catalogue, Lond. Sty. Office OLDHam, Thos., L.L.D., &c—Rock-Salt of Salt Range and its position. Ver. der Geol. Reichsanstalt, Vienna BLANFORD, H. F.— Physical Geography for Indian Schools, p. 133, Calcutta and London : WYNNE, A.B.—Points in Physical Gor es Peras Q. Jl. Geol. Soc., London, Vol. XXX, p. 61 TscHERMAK, G.—Salt Range potash salt (translated from the Mineralogischen Mittheilungen, 1873, p. 135. (Rec. Geo. Sur. of India, Vol. VII, p. 64 WYNNE, A. B.—Trans-Indus Salt Regions. Mem. Geol. Sur., Vol. XI, pp. 24, 30, dc. : : 6 MeoLicort, H. B.—Sub-Himalayan series in e Jamu hills. Rec. Geol. Sur. India, Vol. IX, pt. 2, p. 49 1864 1865 1866-67 1868 1870 1870 1871 1872 1871 xvi PALEONTOLOGICAL PAPERS REFERRING. TO SALT RANGE. VERNEUIL, M. DE—Jl. As. Soc. Beng., No. LX, Vol. XXII, p. 267 FALCoNER, Dr. H.—Jl. As. Soc. Beng., Vol. XXIII, p. 677 Davipson, THOS., F. R. s.—Q. Jl. Geol. Soc., London, Vol. XVIII. p25 k : : . : . Koninck, L. pE.—Qtly. Jl. Geol. Soc., London, Vol. XIX, p. 1 . SrorrczKa, Dr. F.—Mem. Geol. Sur., India, Vol. V, pt. 1 VERNEUIL, M. pg--Note to Dr. Verchere's paper. Jl. A. S. B., Vol. XXXVI - . 5 o ; a À WaacEN, Dr. W.—Carboniferous ammonites. Mem. Geol. Sur., India, Vol. IX, p. 351 L Year, 1853 1854 1862 1863 1865 1867 1872 ERRATA. Page 23, line 19 from bottom, for “ Gastropeda” read “ Gastropoda.” ” 25 23, line 5 from bottom, for “ Lepida,” read “ lepida." 23, line 2 from bottom, for * Lamellibranciata,” read “ Lamellibranchiata.” 24, line 3 from top, for “ latelaris," read “ lateralis.” 32, line 18 from top, for “ J. Wiener" read ** Tschermak." 32, line 19, and again on page 80, for * Jahrbuch der k. k. Geologischen Reichsanstalt, XXIII,No. 2," read “ Mineralogische Mittheilungen, 1873.” 40, line 13, for “ 1921” read “ 1221.” 47, line 14 from bottom, for “ Wycher” read “ Wychler.” 51, line 10 from top, for “ Augustan” read ** Angustan.” 54, in-cut margin, line 3, for “ Karangu,” read “ Karangli,” 55, line 11 from bottom, for “ Badräe,” read “ Badra.” 70, line 17, insert “ No. 1” before “ Red Marl: Gypsum: Rock-salt.” . 70, margin, after salt marl, dele “ No. 1.” 72, line 3 from bottom, for “200” read * 2,000.” 84, line 10 from top, for ** dessication” read ** desiccation.” Pages 98, 99. Names of formations in Italics should be in Romans, Page 108, line 4, dele “ No. 15.” 2 25 2 227, Plate XXIII, fig, 43, for “ban” read ** band." 238, margin, for “ inside” read “ in side.” 252, in-cut margin, line 1, for “ carboniferous” read “ carbonaceous.” MAINS ! Mg y ium A RU DUM y u ORAN MEMOIRS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA, On THE GEOLOGY or THE SALT Rance IN THE Puwiís, dy A, B. Wynne, F.G.S., Geological Survey of India. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. Tur Salt Range has long been known as one of the most interesting Mo sua Ho fms and important regions in British India, its geolo- portanti naradi gical interest being enhanced by its highly fossili- ferous rocks, and its importance chiefly derived from the enormous deposits of rock-salt which it contains. Its mineral wealth,* doubtless, early prompted the acquisition of Bar acquaintance information concerning it, and years before the with its importance, conquest of the Punjáb by the British Govern- ment, while the eventful campaign in Afghanistan was taking place, British officers penetrated the wild countries then upon our frontier, not always without risk of life and armed hostihty ; and returned to report, amongst other things, upon the geology of the district under notice. * The Government receipts from the Cis-Indus Salt Mines for the years 1867 to 1871 (excluding Kálábágh) exceeded £1,474,549 (Rept., Inland Customs, official year 1870-71, p.14). “ The average yearly revenue from the whole department of the Salt Range for the last five years was £382,653 ” (MS. letter from H. Wright, Esq., Collector, Shahpür, July 29, 1872). The rate at which the salt is sold is Rs. 3-1 per maund, or 6s. 12d. (at par) for 123 lbs. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Ihdia, Vol. XIV, Art. 1. 2 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. Since then much has been learned on this subject; but it was not Geological examina. till a few years since that circumstances enabled e a e s HOR. detailed examination to be made by the Geological Survey. The examination of the rocks was supplemented by an investi- gation of the fossil-bearing strata in the field by Dr. W. Waagen. . In earrying on the examination of the ground, I had the advantage T of using one of the best published maps of any part of India—one, indeed, rivalling those produced by Government in Great Britain—that of the Jhelum, Shähpür, and Leia tracts, constructed by Captain D. G. Robinson, R.E., with his assistants, and published on the scale of one inch to a mile. Thisscale is sufficiently large to permit an effective representation of the salient features of the ground; but the value of the map in this respect is somewhat impaired by the quantity and manner of the hill shading, whieh frequently exaggerates the depth of the smaller stream valleys. Yet the features are often so faithfully delineated that the stratigraphical structure of the ground (or consequences depending thereon) ean be discerned by the * ornament" upon the sheets. Geographically, the Salt Range* is situated in historie ground, | one extremity resting upon the ancient Hydaspes or Jhelum river, the other on the Indus or Aba-sin (Father of waters), and its eastern extension overlooks the battle-field of Chilianwala,f marked by a memorial obelisk built of materials taken from the range. It extends from near 71° 30’ east longitude to beyond 73° 30°, and the Cis-Indus portion of it lies wholly between the parallels of 32° 23° and 33° of north latitude, forming part of the Kohistan or upland of the * Sind-Saugor Doab." Geographical position. Its connection with the outer Himalayan hills is completely broken Relation with the through by the Jhelum valley, and its eastern outer Himalaya. 6 o o. 5 9 : portion is divided into three nearly parallel spurs * Or “ Jood mountains." Burnes, Jour, As, Soc. Bengal, Vol. I. T Fought January 13th, 1849. (a See A ee INTRODUCTORY. 3 —the Bakräla or Diljaba ridge, that of which Mount Jogi Tilla forms the summit, and the Pubbí or Khárián hills south of the Jhelum. The latter, indeed, hardly belong to the Salt Range proper, being separated from it by the valley of this river, but form a small independent anticlinal chain aligning itself more with the Salt Range than the outer Himalaya. The Salt Range proper lies entirely Cis-Indus, forming a somewhat elevated border to the Rawal Pindi plateau (lying Situation, length, &c. i to the north), and throughout its whole length of about 152 miles presents its steep deelivities and lofty escarpment cliffs towards the vast plains and deserts which spread from its foot through Sind to the sea near Kurrachee. It appears to have been the fashion to speak of the Salt Range Not continuous with Of the Punjäb as extending across the Indus: en through the Trans-Indus salt region and up to the Suféd Koh in Afghánistán—an error adopted from some of the earliest writers on the neishbouring countries. Both geographically and geologically, the continuation of the Salt Range westward manifestly lies to the south of the Trans-Indus salt region, the salt of which is believed to be of entirely different age and position from that of the Salt Range proper.* Contributions to the geological literature of the Salt Range have Previous Observer? been so numerous in various forms, chiefly as uphications, Se. reports to Government or papers to societies, and some of these have been so copious, that extended notice of each would exceed the space which can be fairly devoted to them here. The past sixty-one years have witnessed the appearance of about forty-two papers or records concerning this subject, and others may have escaped observation. To those to which access could be obtained notice * See Memoir on the Trans-Indus Salt Region, Memoirs Geological Survey, India, Vol. XI, pt. 2, P. 32. + See list of references appended to preface. 4 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. is due, however meagre, because the accuracy of some contrasts very favourably with the generality of early writings upon Indian Geology, while the views put forward in many others cannot be considered established. In briefly alluding to these writings, parts having special reference to the geology of the Salt Range or connection with ıt will demand attention. The earliest publication in which I have found any mention of Dita, io “the Salt Range” is “ Elphinstone's Caubul.” * olds He speaks of a branch of the Suféd Koh, “ which may be called the Salt Range,” as shooting out from the Suféd Koh and extending in a south-easterly direction by the south of “ Teeree” to “ Callabaugh” (Kálábágh), where it crosses the Indus, stretches across part of the Punjäb and ends at “ Jellaulpoor," on the right bank of the Hydaspes, becoming lower as it gets further from the mountains of * Salimaun." He says it abounds in salt, which is dug out in various forms at different places. In the days when Elphinstone travelled as a British Envoy to the Court of Caubul (Kábul), the whole of the Punjab and Kashmir were included in the Afghan dominions, and the country was so little known that it can be understood how he might have been mistaken as to the continuity of this range. It would appear from the quotation above that the Salt Range owes its present name to this traveller. The author describes “ Callabaught or Karrabaugh,” i. e., Kálábágh, with its narrow road cut through solid salt rock, hard, clear, and almost pure, but in some parts tinged and streaked with red—a colour prevailing * Account of the Kingdom of Caubul and its Dependencies, by the Hon’ble Mountstuart Elphinstone, p. 103. London, 1815. + The author, adopting the method of spelling the names of places with appropriate English letters, had some slight difficulty to contend with; yet any one familiar with the native pronunciation of several of the names he uses will observe how faithfully, as he writes them, they convey the sounds which thesé words bave in Upper India, or at least the Upper Punjab. (odo) - INTRODUCTORY. , 9 in the soil of the place. Salt in large blocks like quarried stones was lying (as it does often still) piled at the entrance of the Lún Nala,* ready for exportation to India or “ Khorassaun.” Another early record appears as an abstract of Lieutenant Burnes’ Lieutenant A. Burnes, (afterwards Sir A. Burnes’) paper on the geology ASE 1888. of the banks of the Indus, &e.F He describes the salt as being found in “layers of about a foot in thickness, separated from each other by thin strata of clay,” referring no doubt to the laminated structure of the salt, and perhaps mistaking the darker coloured lines for earthy layers. He found what he supposed to be bituminous coal at Kohat, and stated that the Salt Range “extended across the Indus into that district,” supporting an often-repeated error. The abstract seems much condensed, and but little is said of the Salt Range proper. In another paper by the same authorf the locality of the range as the Lieutenant A. Burnes, Southern limit of a plateau between the river Indus = and the Hydaspes is correctly given, as is also the general elevation, but this is followed by a statement that the formation is “sandstone occurring in vertical strata." The desolate aspect of the hills, the hot springs, alum, galena, and sulphur, are mentioned, as well as a red clay in the valleys, indicating salt, which is found at intervals throughout the range. A description of the “ Keoru ? (Kheura) mines follows. Gunpowder was not used lest the roof should fall in, accidents of the kind occurring even then. The miners received a rupee for 20 maunds of salt raised, and its selling price was Rs. 2 per maund exclusive of duties. The profit is stated to amount to about 1,100 per cent., and from it Runjit Singh hoped to derive a revenue of 16 lakhs of rupees. The mode of * Called by Jameson the Gossai Nala. + A Memoir on the Geology of the banks of the Indus, the Indian Caucasus, and the plains of Tartary to the shores of the Caspian, by Lieutenant A. Burnes, Proc. Geological Society, London, Vol. II, p. 8. f “Some account of the Salt Mines of the Punjab,” by Lieutenant S.[A.] Burnes, Bombay Army, Journal of the Asiatic Society, Bengal, Vol. I, p. 143, «e, QD. y) 6 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. extraction was by sledge-hammer and pickaxe, and from near the surface blocks of 4 maunds each were raised. The salt is said to have held a high place throughout India with native practitioners on account of its medicinal virtues, but it is stated to have been impure, having a consi- derable mixture, probably of magnesia, which rendered it unfit for curing meat. The Punjabis ascribed to its effects the prevalence of nazla, a disease said to consist of a running at the nostrils. In those days the salt was not exported west of the Indus. The antiquity of the mines was unknown, and they are said not to have been mentioned by the inquiring Baber in his Commentaries, though they had been used by the Emperors of Hindustan. In the course of a tour through the Upper Panjäb and Afghänis- tan made by one Agha Abbas (at the suggestion of Major R. Leech, by whom the story of his travels was translated*), this person mentions having seen 500,000 Agha Abbas of Shiraz, 1837. maunds of salt covered with mud, as a protection from the rain, at Pind-Dadun-Khan. Several of the mines were then closed, including those at “Sardee” (Sardi), * Neelawan" (Nilawan), * Durnálá," and * Chotana” (Jütáná), and the latter was said to contain veins of copper and lead. Others, as at “Korah” (Kheura) and Makraj, were open. From his deseription these mines appear to have been very irregularly worked, lighted by openings at top, and dangerous from falls of the roof, one of which he witnessed. Blocks were cut by digging round two sides and below with picks, then detaching from above by heavy blows. The mines of Nílawan and Khur Chotata were the finest. 'The cost of earriage from the mines to Pind-Dadun-Khan was one rupee for 20 maunds of salt, and the selling rate, by the Government of Maharaja Golab Sing, was to some merchants one and a half, to others two rupees. Formerly, the mines produced four lakhs of rupees ; after the visit of Captain Wadey they yielded from eight to nine, afterwards * Journal of the Asiatic Society, Bengal, Vol. XII, p. 564. 1843. + Afterwards Sir Claude Martine Wade, Vigne’s Kabul, p. 2. C8) INTRODUCTORY. 7 from twelve to fourteen lakhs, then fourteen lakhs, at which figure Agha Abbas found the revenue in the time of Golab Sing, though twenty- five lakhs were said to be realised. The labourers were paid one, two, or three annas a day, and then, as now, the miners and their families all worked in the mines. The mines were farmed by Maharaja Runjeet Sing to Golab Sing. In another part of the narrative twelve saltpetre (sic) factories are mentioned at Karabagh (Kälabägh), producing a revenue of Rs. 12,000, the tourist evidently alluding to the alum works. Throughout the paper, passing notice is taken of the salt and other mines of the country ; but the quantity of mineral wealth appears to have been exaggerated. When Mohun Lal visited Kalabagh or Bághan* there were Munshi Mohun Lal, ten alum factories there, and two hundred at Janaa y R38. Moch on the other side of the river (probably one of the localities in the Amb valley beneath Sakesir?). The manu- facturing process is very roughly described, and the selling price stated at Rs. 2 per 8 maunds. Twenty-one salt mines were then worked on the other side of a neighbouring mountain (along the Lun Nala probably), the * crop’ of the salí being described as like a line of shining marble across and through the mountain, at the base of which the numerous holes in the salt were attributed to the grazing of cattle! He says that Rs. 3,00,000 worth of salt per annum used to be raised here. He alludes to sulphur mines, of the situation of which the Sikh authorities were not aware, though they were known and used by the Malik of Käläbägh. Writing from Kálábágh, under date 15th November 1841,+ Dr. Dr. Jameson, November Jameson asserts himself to be in the “ saliferous Hy system," which * extends uninterruptedly from that place to Jubbulpore.”” * Account of Kálabágh on the right bank of the Indus: Journal of the Asiatic Society, Bengal, Vol. VII, p. 25. t Extract from a letter to Mr, Clerk, Journal of the Asiatic Society, Bengal, Vol. XI, Peele (ed) 8 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. Of the coal of Kálábágh he says that 2,000 maunds had been collected, for which the people (valuing it from its supposed medicinal qualities) demanded Rs. 4 per pucka maund. He thought no good fuel . would be discovered there, basing his opinion upon the idea that valuable coal only occurred in the carboniferous formation, and apparently unaware that there were rocks of that period within a few miles. He grouped the coal and sulphur-bearing beds [alum shales] of Kálábágh with the salt marl. Among the riches of the country he enumerates gold, iron, sulphur, salt, gypsum, limestone, and saltpetre. The gold was of course the small quantity of that metal obtained by stream- washing from the Indus at Käläbägh; the sources of the iron and saltpetre are not given. In 1843, Dr. Jameson's “ Report* of his deputatiou by Government to examine the effects of the great imundation of the Indus" was published. He experienced much difficulty in consequence of the loss of almost all his notes, his baggage, collections, &e., when attacked and driven back by the Afridis, at the Kotul Pass, followed by his confinement in the Fort of Kohät. He speaks of the lowest stratum in the range at several places as being of Dr. Jameson, 1843. magnesian limestone. He perhaps alludes to some thin flaggy dolomitie layers in the red salt marl, but these cannot be said to occupy the position attributed to them. His rock descriptions are not always sufficiently clear for re- cognition. He asserts that the Salt Range 1s parallel to the central or high mountain range of the Himalaya.T The alum ‘slate of Kálábágh is said to alternate with the red marl. The manufacture of alum from the slate by lixiviation, &c., is described, and the produce is stated to have fetched Rs. 19-4 per 6 * Journal of the Asiatic Society, Bengal, 1848, Vol. XII, p. 183, &c. + Elphinstone, previously mentioned, seems to have written before this word was corrupted into the present form as above; he spells it “ Hemalleh,” which closely approxi- mates to the way natives of Upper India pronounce it. Kun) INTRODUCTORY. 9 maunds—384 lbs., of which Rs. 2-4 were exacted as duty by the Malik, whose income of Rs. 10,000 per annum was entirely derived from the mineral resources of the country: the salt trade, however, being, with the exception of 300 to 700 maunds, which the Malik was permitted to sell, monopolised by Rajah Golab Sing. In his bulky Lehrbuch der Salinenkunde, published at Berlin in 1846, Vol. I, page 677, Dr. Karsten refers to the Salt Range and Trans-Indus Salt rocks speaking of both as belonging to one continuous range springing from Dr. Karsten, 1846. the Suféd Koh of Afghanistan, thus repeating the error of previous writers, from whom he appears to have derived it. Next in order of time are the first of the more extensive and ac- Dr. Andrew Fleming, Curate writings of Dr. A. Fleming, who with zo two assistants was specially sent by Government to make a survey of the geology of the Salt Range.* The ability and general accuracy of description with which Dr. Fleming’s reports are fraught, contrast with many of the geological writings of early Indian observers. His examination of the district in question was both more careful and more detailed than that of his pre- decessor, and was attended with much sounder results. The first of his papers mainly refers to the minerals and their sources, his preliminary examination having been His first report, 1848. š F i 5 5 cursory and his determination of the geological horizons of certain of the strata affected by the effort to correlate dis- tant deposits elosely with the European series. His seeond paper f is an interesting diary of the journey on which he appears to have collected the data of His diary, 1849. - his first report. * Report on the Salt Range and on its coal and other minerals, by Andrew Flem- ing, M.D., Edinburgh, Assistant Surgeon, 7th Bengal Native Infantry : Jour, As. Soc., Ben., Vol. XVIL p. 500. 1848. +. Diary of a trip to Pind-Dadun- Khan and the Salt Range, by the same author: Jour. As. Soc., Beng., Vol, XVIII, p. 661. 1849. B CRS) 10 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. In a letter to Sir R. I. Murchison,* Major Vicary details numerous Maor Vicary, Decem. Sy observations upon the geology of the sas MERO Upper Punjáb, made while campaigning in the country, his military movements being too rapid to permit of closer observation. His route may be traced, but roughly, by the villages and passes, &c., which he names ; he thus seems to have crossed the extreme easterly portion of the district under notice, and “had reason to think the red shales and clays, sandstone, and conglomerate beds beneath"—to which he applied the term eocene—were “the same formation so produc- tive of salt near Pind-Dadun-Khan ;” indeed, he extendsthe observation, and from the accounts of Dr. Fleming and Dr. H. Falconer, concludes that the red shales near Subáthu, Nahu (Náhun), and Mandi were all on the same horizon as the salt-bearing zone of the Salt Range. Major Vicary separated the tertiary rocks throush which he chiefly marched, into eocene red beds, bone-bearing Sewalik, and an extensive deep-bedded pliocene group. Captain Strachey, in his Himalayan paper,t makes but slight refer- : ence to the Salt Range: he deseribes a persistent Captain Strachey, 1851. : ; belt of (Sewalik) tertiary strata supposed to be- long to the miocene period as extending alone the whole flank of the Himalaya: from the Sutlej to the meridian of Caleutta, with an inter- vening zone between it and the mountains, “ chiefly consisting of light- coloured sandstones often containing small seams of lignite and imper- fect vegetable impressions, often associated with marls und gypsum, and sometimes with salt springs.” These he supposes, from their abnormal dip towards the mountains, to have been brought into position by a series of great faults at the foot of the range. He mentions that they are sur- mised, from their mineral character, to be of the saliferous age, and that * On the Geology of the Upper Punjab and Peshawur : Proceedings, Geol, Soc., London, Vol. VII, p. 39, &c. T On the Geology of part of the Himalaya Mountains and Tibet, by Capt. Richard Strachey, Bengal Engineers, F.G.S., Proc., Geol. Soc., London, Vol. VII, p. 292, &c,, June 1851. LO INTRODUCTORY. A they are possibly the extension of the strata containing rock-salt found on the same general line to the west in the Punjáb. Next comes the most valuable of Dr. Fleming’s reports, that accom- DE second panied by a map and sections.* In conducting his De DEI survey, Dr. Fleming had the advantage of the assistanee of Mr. William Purdon, the memory of whose engineering improvements still lasts in the Salt Range, and also that of Mr. William Theobald, now one of the senior officers of the Geological Survey of India. Considering the short space of time allowed for the completion of the examination, the report may be fairly called exhaustive. Errors as to the positions assigned to certain groups in his former report are cor- rected, the physical features and botany described, and full details of the geological structure and development of additional groups in the western part of the range are given. The mode of mining the salt, manufacture of alum, washing of gold, and sublimation ofsulphur, are described at length, and the position and character of the coal deposits and petroleum springs are noticed. Analyses of some of the rocks are inserted ; and the organic remains, together with the minerals, receive attention in the description of each of the principal groups in which the rocks are classified. In a passage upon the upheaval of the range, Dr. Fleming makes deductions as to the various depths at which the strata were deposited and other physical conditions, arguing from the conformity of the whole that they had all been elevated subsequently to the deposition of the newer tertiary beds. The upheaving force he thought extended from the east to the west, perhaps progressively, but this is not plainly stated ; and though he looked upon Mount Tilla as shewing an anticlinal structure, he favours the idea of the elevation having taken place along a line of fracture further westwards and having affected a greater area. Beyond * Report onthe geological structure and mineral wealth of the Salt Range in the Punjab, with maps, sections, &c., by the same author, in charge of the Geological Survey of the Salt Range in the Punjab, season 1851-52: Jour, As. Soc., Bengal, 1853, p. 230, dic. i 12 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN FHE PUNJÁB. (west of) Sakesir he observed an anticlinal structure again, and he thought the elevation of the Himalayas coeval with that of the Salt Range, “this fact fully explaining the anomalous dip along their southern side of the newer formations under the metamorphic schists of the central ridge as observed by Captain Strachey.” On reading this report, it becomes evident that the impossibility of reconciling the series of the Salt Range with those of Europe on the basis of its saline and coal-bearing groups being equivalent to the trias and carboniferous had struck Dr. Fleming, but he still adhered to the idea of more or less close correlation, and, apparently commencing from the carboniferous limestone, referred the groups above to the tertiary and oolitie periods and below to the Devonian, in the latter of which he placed the salt and its associated rocks. | The most important geological discovery made by Dr. Fleming was, perhaps, that of the existence of carboniferous strata in the western part of the range, when returning from his first visit in 1848. Amongst the fossils which he then found, he names Productus, Terebratula, Spirifer, Ammonites, and Belemnites. These were sent to Europe for identification, and, through the intervention of the late Sir R. I. Murchison, examined by M. de Verneuil, who determined “five out of eight or nine species” to be “forms well known in the rocks of carboniferous age.” The Ammonites and Belemnites are alluded to with doubt in the larger report, at page 260, as “what we took for” these fossils ; but although Ceratites are subsequently mentioned as having been found, the author asserts that these belonged to the carboniferous limestone, on the strength of their occurrence with Orihoceratites. It would appear that the salt was supposed by Dr. Fleming to consist of asingle bed, and he alludes to a singularly eruptive appearance of the accompanying marl, though its stratification at the west side of the range “negatives the idea.” He thinks it probable, however, that “it has undergone metamorphism from igneous influence,” notwithstanding the absence of “ plutonic or voleanie rocks by which this might have been a) INTRODUCTORY. 18 caused." In connection with this subject, a singular chocolate-eoloured argillaceous rock is mentioned as of somewhat “ trappean” aspect, occur- ring where the junetion of the marl and overlying purple sandstones takes place, and supposed to be a “ metamorphic argillaceous sandstone.” The greater number of the mines he thought confined “to detached masses of salt, sometimes with horizontal or vertical lines of stratifica- tion, depending on their position at the time they became fixed in the consolidating gypseous paste.” At the time of his report,—in the years 1850 and 1851 respectively,— 768,603 and 640,618 maunds of salt were extracted, yielding a revenue of Rs. 15,37,400 in 1850 and Rs. 12,81,295 in 1851, at a selling rate of Rs. 2 per maund of 40 seers.* Geological notices of Kálábágh, Musakhel, Kaffir Kote, Banu, the Korana hills, and Murree, will also be found in the report. * l c., p. 248. T For the sake of comparison with other or the most recent classifications of the rocks, that of Dr. Fleming is appended. He recognised the following formations, which are arranged in his table in reverse order, but are here placed naturally, the oldest lowest :— 4. POST TERTIARY Recent .. Alluvium. Greenish sandstones, argillaceous grits, con- MIOCENE ? : glomerates, and red and green clays. 3. TERTIARY Brown calcareous sandstone, nummulitic lime- Noten Dor f stone, marls and alum shales with lignite. €. Green Belemnite sandstone and shales. 2. SECONDARY ... OOLITIC ...2 5. Cherty thin-bedded limestones with shales? a. Yellow iron-stained quartzose sandstones, grits, and bituminous shales. c. Upper limestone, sometimesmagnesian. CARBONIFEROTSg... 40. Grey sandstone and shales. Lower limestone, calcareous sandstone, and shales. d. Upper red variegated sandstone, grits, conglomerates and clays. c. Greenish micaceous sandstones and shales with grey dolomitie (magnesian) sand- E | 1. PRIMARY or 4 PALJEOZOIC | L DEVONIAN iiem EOM b. Lower red sandstone and grit with con- glomerate. La, Red marl with gypsum and rock-salt. (o 14 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. The reference to the Korána hills* is, so far as 1 am aware, the only information extant about their geological structure, except the mention made of them by Mr. Theobald in a paper to be noticed presently. Dr. Fleming could not recognise among their dark-coloured and quartz- veined beds of coarse, brown, ferruginous sandstone, greenish quart- zite and silicious clay slate, any representatives of the Salt Range series, but considered them rather as lower Silurian or Cambrian, and subordinate to the salt formation of the range. No fossils could be detected, but filling small cracks in the sandstone small specimens of pyrolusite or peroxide of manganese were found, and numerous white quartz veins contained masses of rich hematitic iron ore.t The beds dip to the north-west at angles of 40° to 45°. These hills are situated in the Jetch Doab near the River Chenab (or “ Ascesines,’ Elphinstone's Caubul, page 24) and 24 miles south- eastward of Shahptir. They rise by Dr. Fleming’s measurement about 957 feet above the plains of the “ Bar.” On the whole, this report is highly interesting and abounds with information. A paper by the late distinguished geologist, Sir Roderick I. Murchison, with abstracts of letters from Dr. Fleming and his Dr. Fleming and Sir A x Roderick I. Murchison, own remarks thereon, appeared in the Quarterly 1853. : : Journal of the Geological Society, London, for August 1853,{ accompanied by a sketch map. Dr. Fleming’s letters herein alluded to are dated in 1851-52, and express opinions which he altered during his correspondence with Sir Roderick, from whom he learned that salt occurred in all formations — * l c, p. 444. t Limonite, composed of peroxide of iron, silica, and water, — vide paper by Dr. Fleming, Jour. As. Soc. Beng., XXIII, p. 92. 1854. j On the Salt Range of the Punjáb, by A. Fleming, E.I.C., Assistant Surgeon, 4th Punjáb Cavalry (Abstract of letters addressed to Sir R. I. Murchison): Quarterly Journal of the Geologieal Society, London, Vol. IX, p. 189. 1853. ( 14 ) INTRODUCTORY. 15 from the oldest to the youngest, and that the salt of Livonia (Russia) occupied the same position as that of the Punjáb. Among the fossils Dr. Fleming had sent home, Messrs. de Verneuil and Davidson had recognised— Productus cora, P. costatus, P. Flemingi, Orthis crenistria ? Terebratula Roysi, T. erispata ? and new species of Terebratula. Sir Roderick observed that the second letter of Dr. Fleming’s was hi kable for 101? 1 M ise iefly remar able for the author's belief, drawn from physical phenomena, that the chief saliferous masses had been produced by eruptive agencies. This opinion was purely the result of observation, as Dr. Fleming was unaware some distinguished geologists have held the same views. In the valuable work of Vicomte D'Archiae and M. Jules Haime,* D’Archiac and Haime, the geology of the Salt Range is referred to. They = give in their geological resume (page 172, &c.) a sectional representation of the range, which may be considered diagramatic, for it includes together groups seen only at its opposite ends, and represents a strong unconformity between the tertiary sandstones and the underlying limestone which has not been found to exist. Taking their information perhaps from the observations of Dr. Fleming, the authors described the lowest rocks as Devonian, including conglo- merate (1), gypseous and salt-bearing rocks (2), and red sandstone (3). Above these are slaty and calcareous clay and sandstones (4 and 5), supposed to represent the carboniferous formation, then limestone * Description des Animaux Fossiles, du groupe Nummulitique de l'Inde, par le Vicomte D’Archiac et Jules Haime, Paris, 1853. (eo D 16 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB, and carbonaceous slates (6), jurassic, succeeded by (7) nodular sandstore, and shaley bituminous clay with lignite and limestone with Nummulites (8), shaley grey limestone with Nummulites (9), grey or yellowish lime- stone marly or sandy and sub-compact, and (10) nodular sandstone, the whole from No. 7 forming the lower tertiary sub-division, overlaid by (11) younger tertiary rocks with bones. In their paleontological resume, the authors refer to the Punjab as their “second region ” or province, the first being Sind, Beluchistan, and Kach, and the third the Himalayan or Subathu division. Of the forty- four Punjáb (Salt Range) nummulitic species of fossils, they found eighteen common to the first province, but none common to the Salt Range and Subäthu rocks. They appear not to have known any Salt Range Cephalopoda, and of its Echinodermata mention only one species. The next account of the geology of the Salt Range is by Mr. Theobald,* who. had, when exploring the range Mr. Theobald, 1854. ] i NP with Dr. Fleming, good opportunities for studying the subject. The paper was written three years before it was published, but revised and curtailed owing to the publication of others on the same subject in England. The writer gives a close description of the physical features and general appearance of the range, its direction, length, and width, remarkable points and heights. Passing to the geology of the range, Mr. Theobald avoids discussing the identity of the geological groups with similar ones in Europe, but remarks that “it would not be dificult to identify almost every bed of the permian and saliferous rocks of Europe by lithological character with the beds of the Salt Range below the nummulitie limestone, but in an inversed order.” He contends that as the whole of the strata are conformable they were deposited during subsidence, and he attributes the formation of valleys on the plateau and gorges leading thence to the * Notes on the Geology of the Panjab Salt Range, by W. THEOBALD, junr., Assistant, Geological Survey of India, late of the Punjab Geological Survey : Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. XXIII, p. 651. 1854. y (16 ) INTRODUCTORY. 17 t south to forces no longer existing, but resembling those by which the Falls of Niagara were excavated. The different groups with their thicknesses are represented in a list (extracted below*), and tolerably full descriptive observations upon each group follow, an extract from a former report being given regarding the Bághanwálla coal, and a section to explain the position of the petroleum springs at Jábbi.T The suddenness with which fossils appear in the lower (or Productus) limestone group is adverted to, none being found below. The Korána hills referred to by Dr. Fleming are also noticed,i and the rock of the Kheura gorge, &e., alluded to by the latter as of “somewhat trappean aspect,” is declared to be an actual trap. Appended to the paper is & list of tertiary Mammalian and other fossil remains identified * Mr. Theobald’s list is given in inverted order, but here restored, for sake of uniformity, to the natural one. 10. Nummulitic limestone, conglomerate, green, red, and yellow Feet. ossiferous sands, marls and conglomerates, minimum ... 10,000 9. Upper or nummulitic limestone... A ts 1,100 8. Carbonaceous shales, sandstone, and lignite... Dr 80 7. Red and green, white spotted shales and sandstones D 600 6. Lower (or Productus) limestone... ade dos 1,100 5. Hard fawn-coloured sandstone with bands of conglomerate... 700 4, Cupriferous purple shale, and red friable grits and con- glomerates sis ses ae 33 400 3. Dark arenaceous shales with green earth ee occ 250 2. Dark-red sandstone, fine grained with black iron sand partings... 009 i» Gao N: 700 1. Red marl and gypsum with rock-salt 560 soo UO) TOTAL .. 16,430 + Jaba on the Government maps. f As formed of a species of slate: with feebly developed slaty structure and deep ripple marks, gray, stained red and yellowish, and weathered to a dark burnished brown, with intensely ferruginous burnt aspect, white quartz veins, much peroxide of iron, and a curious carbonate of lime and iron (Jour. As. Soc., Beng., Vol. XXII, p. 208), having 65°14 per cent. of carb. lime, which formed half a one-foot quartz vein.-—Jour. As. Soc., Beng., Vol. XXIII, p. 674. c | Ge) 18 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. by the late Dr. Falconer as being, with a single exception, entirely of the character of those of the Siwalik hills.* Some of the sub-divisions are differently placed by Messrs. Fleming and Theobald. “The fawn-coloured sandstone,” No. 5 of the latter, is placed above Dr. Fleming’s Devonian * d," instead of being included in a lower division “c”; Mr. Theobald's No. 7, a zone marked by the * As this list may prove useful for reference, it is given below. The fossils were from near Jelalpúr and Lehri (the latter eastward of the Bakrála ridge), and the absence of Carnivora is noticed. PACHYDERMATA. PROBOSCIDIA. Elephas.—A plate of a worn molar, species undeterminable, but probably E. Hyendricus. Mastodon.--Two specimens of molar ridges of the Elephantoid or Stegodon group, species undeterminable. Two fragments of ivory tusks. Hippopotamide.—Tusks of the lower jaw of a larger size than are usually met with in the Siwälik Hexaprotodon, and resembling more the true Hippopo- tamus or Tetraprodon of the Nerbudda. Rhinoceros.—Upper and lower molars in fragments. Equus, —Upper and lower molars of two species. Sus.— Upper jaw. RUMINANTIA. Sivatherium.—Lower jaw (fragment) with tooth. Bos.—Upper and lower molars and fragments of jaws. Cervus and Antilope.—Several species, some of them very minute, abundance of astralagi, femur ends, and scapula caps, also fragments of deer’s horns. Camelus.—Portions of a molar. AVES. Fragment of a leg bone, with the articular surface, of a large form, belonging to the Gral . REPTILIA. Crocodilus and Leptorhynchus (Gavialis) —Lower jaws and teeth with vertebre. Trionyx.—Fragment of the carapace with vertebre of a large species. Fish.—A vertebra. MOLLUSCA. A few lime casts of one of the species found in the Siwálik hills. Calcutta, 12th September 1854. (its) INTRODUCTORY. 19 prevalence of pseudomorphic salt crystal casts, and by him placed high up in the series, is the upper member of Dr. Fleming’s Devonian according to the sections given by the latter. Sufficient has been said to shew the important character of the paper, the general conclusions arrived at approximating more or less to those of Dr. Fleming previously noticed. During a visit to the Punjáb in the winter of 1859-60, Mr. Medlicott had an opportunity of seeing the relations of the H. B. Medlicott, 1859. rocks at the eastern end of the Salt Range, and some of them are alluded to in his memoir upon the southern Himalaya between the Ganges and Rävi.* He observed a difference between the grouping of the Subäthu series and that of the Salt Range nummulitic limestone and next succeed- ing beds, certain hard sandstones and red clays of Subáthu not being present in the Salt Range where the massive unconsolidated mammali- ferous clays and sands of the upper Sub- Himalayan (Siwálik) group are stated to rest upon a denuded surface of the nummulitic limestone. The great difference between the fossils of the two localities as enumerated by D’Archiac and Haime is also alluded to; out of forty-four species from each, none are common to both, and those of Subáthu are of shallow water forms as compared with those of the Salt Range. In describing the salt mines of Mandi and Drang, Mr. Medlicott notices the presumption by previous geological observers that the salt rocks of Mandi are beyond question the geological equivalents of those of the Panjab (Salt Range, &e.). The position of the Mandi salt being, however, fixed by Mr. Medlicott as well within the general boundary of his Krol group,t and not in the Sub-Himalayan rocks, the clue which the latter * Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, Vol. III, Pt. 2, “Subáthu group.” Abstract on same subject.—Jour. As. Soc,, Beng., Vol. XXX, p. 22. 1861. + Since Mr. Medlicott's memoir was written, the “Krol” rocks have been supposed of triassie age, and the Mandí salt has been recently thought by Mr. Theobald (MS. commu- nication) probably of eocene age. (9 >) 20 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. might have afforded to. the age of that salt is lost, and only the total dissimilarity of the associated rocks in each region indicate these saline : deposits of Mandi to be different from those of the Salt Range. For the sake of comparison, Mr. Medlicott’s district being the nearest carefully examined ground in that direction to the Salt Range, his classification of its rocks is abstracted from the memoir and given below.* A paper in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London for February 1862,+ by the distinguished 'Thos. Davidson, 1862. paleontologist, Mr. Davidson, treats of the carboni- ferous Brachiopoda of the Salt Range collected by Fleming. and Purdon. Seventeen species are described, including the Genera Terebratula, Athyris Retzia, Spirifera, Rhynchonella, Streptorhynchus, Orthis, Productus, Strophalosia, and Aulosteges. Several of these are figured, and the author observes that the total number of carboniferous Brachiopoda thus dis- covered “amounts to about twenty-eight species, of which thirteen at * Sub- Himalayan Series. UPPER co. Siwálik .. Conglomerates, sandstones, clays. MIDDLE .. Nahun .. Lignite sandstones and clays. ( Kasaulí, gray and purple sandstones. Subäthu [since | Dagshai, purple sandstones and red clays. Howat { “Sirmur” ] : Sabäthu, fine silty clays with limestone. L (Vummulities.) Himalayan Series. 1.—UNMETAMORPHIC— KROL ... Krol Hill .. Limestones. INFRA KROL... Ditto ... Carbonaceous slates or shales. BLINI .. Blini River ... Limestone and conglomerate. 2.—METAMORPHIC— Crystalline and sub-crystalline rocks, dic. + On some carboniferous Brachiopoda collected in India by A. Fleming, M.D., and W. Purdon, Esq., F.G.S., by T. Davidson, Esq. F.R.S., F.G.S. Quar. Jour. Geol. Soc., London, Vol. XVIII, page 25, Feb. 1862. In a foot note to the paper, Mr. Davidson mentions the following species as having been identified by M. de Verneuil and himself in 1853: Athyris Roysü, a Spirifera nearly related to S. lineata, Streptorhynchus crenistria, Productus Cora, P. Flemingii, P. costa- tus, and P. Humboldt, ‘The determination of some of these first established the fact of carboniferous strata occurring in the Salt Range. (A OD INTRODUCTORY. 2] least are common to European rocks of the same period." The geolo- gical features of the carboniferous rocks of the district are not dwelt upon further than to mention that the fossils occur in beds differing mineralogically, some being hard and crystalline and others argillaceous, while a few were from magnesian limestone. Dr. Fleming's separation of the carboniferous rocks into three divisions is also given as follows :— c. Upper Limestone: Brachiwopoda, and other fossils occur through- out the formation. b. Gray sandstone and shales, in which but few fossils have been found. &. Lower limestone, with calcareous sandstone. This limestone generally abounds in large Brachiopoda and other fossils. Some of the species described are said to be identical with specimens from such distant localities as Red River, Louisiana, Iowa, New Mexico, Arkansas, and Bolivia, on the table-land of the Andes. The following are Mr. Davidson's lists :— COLLECTED BY DR. FLEMING. CoLLECTED BY W. Purvon, Esq., F.G.S. Terebratula (vel Waldheimia) Flemingt,| Terebratula Himalayensis, Dav. Dav. Athyris Roysü, L'Eveilé. _ T. biplicata Brocchi (?) var. problematica, | Athyris subtilita, Hall (P) var. Dav. Spirifera Moosakhailensis, Day. T. Himalayensis, Dav. S. lineata, Martin, var. T. subvesicularis, Dav. Rhynchonella pleurodon, Phill. var. Athyris Roysii, L'Eveillé, sp. Camarophoria Purdoni, Dav. A. subtilita, Hall, sp. var. grandis, Dav. Streptorhynchus crenistria, Phill. Retzia radialis, Phillips, sp. var. S. pectiniformis, Dav. R. grandicosta, Dav. Produetus striatus, Fischer. Spirifer striata, Martin, sp. P. Cora, D’Orb. S. Moosakhailensis, Dav. P. Purdoni, Dav. S. lineata, Martin, sp. var. P. costatus, Sow. Spiriferina octoplicata, Sow., sp. P. Humboldtii, D'Orb. Rhynehonella pleurodon, Phill. sp. P. semireticulatus, Sow. Camarophoria Purdoni, Day. Strophalosia Morisiana, King (?) var, ( 21 ) 2% WYNNE! GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÄB. COLLECTED BY Dr. FLEMING. COLLECTED BY W. Puxvon, Esq. F.G.S. Streptorhynchus crenistria, Phill. sp. Aulosteges Dalhousii, Dav. var. robustus, Hall. Crania. (sp. indet.) S. pectiniformis, Dav. i Orthis resupinata, Martin, sp. Productus striatus, Fischer, sp: P. longispinus, Sow. P. Cora, D'Orb. P. semireticulatus, Sow. P. costatus, Sow. P. Purdoni, Dav. P. Humboldtii, D’Orb. Strophalosia Morisiana, King (?) var. The author mentions Dr. Fleming’s conviction that all the fossils recorded in his list were derived from rocks of the carboniferous period, and the difficulty he found in referring two of the species of Terebratula to this age. They recalled to him certain forms of jurassic or creta- ceous age much more than any shells of the carboniferous period with which he was acquainted. He therefore called attention to them with a view to ascertaining whether they might not have been derived from a less ancient formation. That there were good grounds for his doubts will be seen, The Journal of the Geological Society of London also contains a paper P que rd te by another eminent paleontologist, Professor de 1863. Koninck,* upon fossils discovered by Dr. Fleming in the Salt Range. In his opening paragraph, .M de Koninck refers to the paper of Mr. Davidson, mentioning the faet just, noticed that some of the Brachiopoda do not possess a paleozoic aspect. This feature, he observes, may be remarked likewise among the fossils of other classes in * Descriptions of some fossils from India discovered by Dr. A. Fleming of Edinburgh, by Dr. L. de Koninck, F.M.G.S., Professor of Chemistry and Geology in the University of Liege. Quar. Jour., Geol. Soc., Lond., Vol. XIX, p. 1. 1863. This paper, that of Mr. Davidson, the work of D'Archiac and Haime, and the note by M. de Verneuil, are about the only sources of general paleontological information re- garding the Salt Range as yet extant, and these refer chiefly to its carboniferous, trias, and nummulitic formations. (22) INTRODUCTORY. 23 Doctor Fleming’s collections, and he notices that certain species belong to genera hitherto only found in the secondary formations and principally in the lower groups of that great period. The Ceratites in particular are remarkable, all being new to science, and but for this, serious doubts might have been entertained relative to their geological position, though Dr. Fleming had ascertained by personal examination that they occurred in the same beds as those which contained carboniferous Producti and Spirifere. The author remarks, however, that the rock containing the Ceratites was without any traces of these other palwozoic genera. The fossils which he had for determination included forty-nine species, five of which were in bad preservation and undeterminable. Those described, thirty-six of which are figured, are as follows :— I. ANTHOZOARIA. 16. Pecten Flemingianus, de Kon. 17. P. Asiaticus, 2 1. Isastrea arachnoides, de Kon. 18. P. crebristria, 7 2. Clisiophyllum Indicum, , 3. Lithostrotionbasaltiforme, Conyb. 19. Solenopsis imbricata, » and Phill. 4. L. irregulare, Phill. C. Gastropeda. 5. Michelinia favosa, Goldf. 20. Dentalium Herculeum, de Kon. 6. Alveolites septosa (?), Fleming. 21. Bellerophon decipiens, 2 22. B. orientalis, 2 23. B. Jonesianus, z TE NOTERA TA Ol, URAR dk, = 7. Philocrinus cometa, de Kon. 25. M. avellanoides, " 8. Cidaris Forbesiana, ,„ 26. Nerinea (?) n. sp. (?) dl III. Morzrvsca. d Cep Pap pee VE A El 5 RA nu an de Kon. . ©. Murchisonanus, D 9. Polypora fastuosa, de Kon. 29. C. Hauerianus, » 10. Fenestella megastoma, ,, 30. C. planulatus, $ 11. F. (?) Sykesii, = 31. C. Lyellianus, » 12. Retepora (^) Lepida, „ 32. €. Urt Gane ume = 13. Phyllopora(?) Haimeana, de Kon. 33. C. Buchianus, id 14. P. eribellum, » 34. C. Davidsonianus, 5 B. Lamellibranciata. 35. C. Lawrencianus, 3 15. Anomia Lawrenciana, de Kon. 36. Goniatites (?) Gangeticus, , Can 24 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. 37. Nautilus Bartini, Galeotti. ` IV. Pisces. DE Ao LUE TS, de Kon. 42. Acrodus, n. sp., closely related to 39. Orthoceras vesiculosum, , Al, Dalia len 20, Qs radicada 2 43. Acrodus Flemingianus, de Kon. 41. O. decrescens, » 44. Saurichthys(?) Indicus, „ Prof. de Koninck’s doubts as to the place of at least some of the Ceratites were, it appears, quiteas well grounded as Mr. Davidson’s re- garding certain of the Brachiopoda. In alist of Indian and High Asian hot springs, by M. Robert de om db gue Sehlagintweit, published by the Asiatie Society of tweit, 1864. Bengal,* one at Musakhét—a misprint for Musa- khél—near the Salt Range 1s mentioned, coupled with the name of Dr. Fleming, its latitude being 32? 43' and longitude 719 89' at 706 feet above sea-level and its temperature being 94?. "This spring is situated in the Bukh Ravine, in the Western Salt Range, between Musakhél and Namal. The water, according to Fleming, gives off sulphuretted hydrogen and deposits sulphur. The memorandum} or report in which the former Superintendent Thomas Oldham, of the Geological Survey of India recorded obser- LL.D., 1864. - vations, resulting from a visit to this district and its neighbourhood, to inspect the sources of the coal and salt, is chiefly confined to the objects of his journey, time not permitting of detailed geological examination. Dr. Oldham refers to the exploded idea (see Dr. Jameson’s report) that useful mineral fuel could only be obtamed from rocks of one fixed geological horizon, and demonstrates its fallacy. Minute details regarding the position, thickness, and circumstances of the coal, as exposed at 19 localities, and in one case a tabular view of part * Vol. XXXIII, p. 51, &c., 1864. + Memorandum on the results of a cursory examination of the Salt Range and parts of the districts of Banu and Kohat, with a special view to the mineral resources of those dis- triets. (Report to Government of India.) NS y INTRODUCTORY. 25 of the seetion containing it, are given. The prospects of its being remuner- ative, if worked, are discussed. Some valuable observations and sugges- tions follow relating to the salt mines and their working system. The Trans-Indus salt mines as well as the petroleum or mineral tar and sulphur of some localities, are also described. Dr. Stoliezka, in his paper upon the geological sections across the Himalaya from the Sutlej to the Indus,* Dr. Stoliczka, 1865. 1 y makes some reference to the carboniferous fossils of the Salt Range, some of the species being found in his “ Kuling beds” or carboniferous series of that Himalayan region. He has also an allu- sion to the occurrence of newer secondary rocks in the Punjáb which must also refer to the Salt Range. In the voluminous paper on the geology of Kashmir, the Western Dr. A. M. Verchere, Himalaya, and the Afghán Mountains, by Dr. ar Verchere, are several passages referring to the Salt Range. In sections 89 and 97, the connexions between the range and his theory of the special elevation of the whole region are indicated, and in section 64 the carboniferous limestone is alluded to as well as the formation of the salt marl, and supposed internal changes in it. This marl is re- ferred to the trias or permian age and called “ saliferian.” The carboni- ferous are said to be succeeded by oolitie rocks. In the succeeding section the nummulitic rocks are described, their associated alum shales being, it is stated, developed only where lignite is situated close to the “ saliferian” formation, and the opinion is expressed that these shales appear to be patches of lignite metamorphosed. In sections 67 to 75, the sandstone, elay and conglomerates, overlying the nummulitie group, are supposed to be miocene, the upper portion being ıdentical with the * Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, Vol. V, Pt, 1. T Kashmir, the Western Himalaya, and the Afghán Mountains, a geological paper by A. M. Verchere, Esq., Beng. Medical Service, with a note on the fossils by M. Edouard de Verneuil, Memb. de PAcad. Scien., Paris. Jour, As. Soc. Bengal, Vols. XXXV and XXXVI, Pts. 2 and 2, 1866-67, with maps and illustrations. D (002500) 26 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. Siwálik rocks. The position of the Salt Range Ceratites is discussed in section 76. At sections 92 and 93 the gypsum and salt marl of this district are again noticed, and an anticlinal arrangement of beds at Mari on the Indus mentioned, as shewing conformity of the “saliferian” under jurassic rocks and an unusual dip of the silurian* and jurassic beds on both sides of the anticlinal. It is suggested that these local upheavals may be due to swelling of the gypseous beds from the change of anhyd- rite into common gypsum. A manuscript paper by the same author on the district of Banu and neighbourhood, in referring to part of the Salt Manuscript, 1869. b rk o - Range, repeats his triassic classification of the salt marl, impuens the correct conclusion of Dr. Fleming, that it was in- feriorly placed with regard to the carboniferous series, and concludes with the statement that no older rocks than carboniferous are present. In M. de Verneuil’s note to the paper of Dr. Vercheret will be M. de Verneuil, 1864— found several very interesting remarks upon the 1867. fossils sent to Europe by the latter, mostly from Kashmir, but some identified with Salt Range forms. The author also refers to the species forwarded by Fleming, Purdon, Godwin-Austen, and Verchere, and shews the wide range of some of the Salt Range forms ; for instance, — Athyris (Terebratula) subtilita, Hall, found also in the carboniferous of Great Salt Lake, Utah, America. Productus longispinus, Sow., found also in Ohio, Kentucky, England, Spain, Belgium, Russia, in the Governments of Tiver, Kalonga on the Donetz, and on the River Belaja, near the glacial sea, P. Cora, D'Orbigny; found also in England, Belgium, Spain, and in Russia, on both slopes of the Ural, &c., as well as in North America. * Silurian is evidently a misprint in Dr. Verchere’s paper for Saliferian, + Dr. Verchere’s paper already noticed.—J. A. S, B., Vol. XXXVI, year 1867. 29) \ A IRA INTRODUCTORY. 27 P. semiretieulatus, Sow., also in Europe (Russia) and America, in Siberia, and in the Altai Mountains, P. costatus, Sow., also in England, Russia, and Missouri. P. Humboltii, D’Orb., Salt Range, and western slope of the northern Ural Mountains. M. de Verneuil speaks of Russia, the Ural, and the Altal as links between India and England as regards the organic remains referred to. In his large work on the economic products of the Punjab,* Mr. Powell, apparently following Dr. Fleming, states that the principal beds of salt occur m the Devonian group on the southern side of the Salt Range. From Dr. Fleming’s reports he extracts the full description of the working of the mines. The Range, its geographical position, the positions of its adjacent ridges, Baden-Powell, 1868. and its geological structure are described. At page 13 Mr. Powell states, apparently as an extract from Dr, Fleming, that grains of native platinum are found in the same way as the gold in the Indus, being called by the natives “white gold,” and that they despise it exceedingly. In Dr. Fleming’s “Trip to Pind- Dadun-Khan, &e.,”+ (at page 682), he says, from repeated inquiries among the gold-washers, he could not discover that platinum occurred. This is in accordance with my experience. A short descriptive paper by myself on the structure of Mount Tilla, at the eastern end of the range, appeared in the Records of the Geological Survey.{ The series as exposed here differs greatly from the development of the rocks A. B. Wynne, 1870. further westward. Mr. Lyman was deputed to furnish a specialjreport upon the mineral oil of the Punjäb and its sources. The Mr. B.S. Lyman, 1870. 1 : i field of his operations lay chiefly north of the Salt * Economie Products of the Punjab, by Mr. Baden H, Powell, C,S.,, Vol. I, pp. 13, 69, and 130, &e., 1868. + Jour. As. Soc., Beng., Vol. XVIII, p. 682, July 1849. i Records of the Geological Survey of India, Vol. III, No. 4, 1870. zn) 28 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. Range, but he had opportunities of seeing parts of it, particularly the Jaba petroleum springs, at the west end and northern side of the range. The structural geology of these oil localities are treated at length in his report, to which sections and small maps are appended.* : In a subsequent paper} the same author makes several allusions to the physical geology of the range and of the neighbouring country, and mentions also the useful minerals. Among the appendices to the Annual Report of the Customs Depart- ment for the official year 1569-70, is a report by Dr. Warth upon the Mayo Salt Mines region at Kheura,t one of the most important of the Salt Range mining localities. H. Warth, 1871. The report gives a very detailed description, first, of the geology of the environs; secondly, of the hill in which the salt mines are situated ; it then treats of the mines, their present and future mode of working ; and coneludes with chemical analyses of the salt.§ Vertical sections are also given shewing the arrangement of the strata and position of the mines in profile. The author divides the rocks into two main groups, the “ sandstone" and “ salt” formations, these being again sub-divided into seven smaller divisions. || Living upon the spot and with many opportunities of acquainting himself with details, Dr. Warth has left little unsaid about the loeahty. * General Report on the Punjäb Oil Lands, by Benj. S. Lyman, Government Press, Lahore. 1870, p. 38, &e. + Topography of the Punjáb Oil Regions, by the same author, Trans. Amer. Phil- Society, Vol. XV, 1872. t Report on the Administration of the Inland Customs Department for the official year 1869-70. Appendix H, by Dr. H. Warth, Chemical Analyst, Inland Customs Depart- ment, since appointed Collector of the Salt Range District. § From Mr. M. Hickie’s pamphlet on Customs; also analyses, by Cornelius Hickie, Esq., Chemical Analyst, Agra. i || The following is the list which is given of all the strata, from above downwards, by Dr. Warth :— «Thickness. Average. Recent formation.—Debris of Gypsum, de. e. 100’—200 150 Limestone formation.—Nwummulitie limestone a 200° (ER) INTRODUCTORY. 29 be Considering this more from a mineralogical than a geological point of view, he has dwelt at greater length upon the mines, mineral produc. tions, and immediately associated rocks, than upon the geological suc- cession ; and were it not for his minute and accurate survey of the mines, the stratigraphical relations of the salt deposits here would have remained longer unknown. Another report by Dr. Warth forms the “ Appendix D” to the next “ Annual Report of the Inland Customs De- partment” (1870-71, published in 1872). In this the engineering operations of the year are first detailed, and fresh matter added, including a geological description of Jogi Tilla (or Mount Tilla) His report for 1870-71. with reference to a proposed trial shaft (since commenced) in order to -discover whether the great salt deposits exist in their usual place beneath that mountain.* A map and sections of the locality are appended. Thickness. Average. Coal formation.—Coal, alum-shale, and marl ue 20’ Green sandstone A. boo 55 Sandstone formation J Blue marls .. 100—150 125/ Red sandstone ... 400'—800 .600/ ( Upper layer of white gyp- sum A 000 / 54 i Brick red marl, or gypsum 60’—200: 130’ Sell formation N... Brown gypsum ... 80’—200’ 140’ Lower layer of white gypsum 200’ 200 (Salt marl and salt ae 600’ 600° Volcanic.—Trap piercing through the lower strata up to the boundary between the upper layer of white gypsum and red sandstone. Feet. Sandstone formation d Ver ... 1,925 Salt formation e se 000 Oe 2,400 * The following succession of strata at Mount Tilla is given: I Feet. Nummulitie limestone Boc S. sp 70 Variegated strata Gop Ba ee ooo SW) Green sandstone der ie 80 ... 200 Dark shales ap 60 occ oao 135 Red sandstone (minimum) Ber nop .. 235 Gypsum (minimum) ... ies om ... 130 i 850 30 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. In a passage referring to the brine spring of Kalra, near Bakrála, on the Grand Trunk Road, from Jhelum to Rawal Pindí, the author seems to suppose the existence of a salt-field below. The third part of the paper is a preliminary report “ Upon the salt- bearing strata in the eastern part of the range from the Mayo Salt Mines to Jogi Tilla” The geological structure and physical features of the ground are mentioned, and a succession is described differing slightly from that formerly presented by this writer.* Dr. Warth corrects Dr. Fleming’s statement that “beds underlying the salt marl” were visible; he supposes that this appearance is due to a simple case of slippage, and he states that strata older than the salt marl are nowhere seen. j A fourth part of the report is devoted to the “ Salt mines of the Punjáb Salt Range, west of Pind-Dadun-Khan,” thus furnishing, in conjunction with former reports, a complete survey of the range so far as the salt 1s concerned, The salt quarries of Kálábágh on the Indus are first described, then the geological structure of that part of the range; the alum shale mines and alum factories are next noticed (the latter slightly); after this all the “ beats" or preventive sub-divisions of the range as far as Makrach are taken up and treated in detail, the physical and geological features * One member of the series (s) formerly included by Dr. Warth with his green sand- stone is separated in the following table, which being inverted in the original is here placed in natural order :— Estimated thickness. 9 Tertiary strata ARMEN TNR ae MU SN 1,000 feet. n Nummwulitic limestone Use LoS A. 200 ,, 2 Coal embedded in shales iod N NS 50 , g Red and green, white spotted shales and sandstones (vide Fleming), variegated strata with impressions of salt crystals A : A OR 688 150 ,, à Hard fawn-coloured sandstones with conglomerates on 400 ,, x. Dark arenaceous shales with green earth — ,., da 200 ,, (3 Dark red sandstone, fine-grained ue de 400 ,, a. Red marl and gypsum with rock salt s à 1,000 ,, oo INTRODUCTORY. 31 of each referred to, and ample information as to the mines given, together with numerous rough illustrations. It will be necessary to refer subsequently to various parts of these papers, which, from the amount of information they contain, form certain- ly the most valuable observations made upon the salt-bearing portion of the Salt Range series. The advantage of having a competent mining engineer and analyst, acquainted with geological structure, resident upon the spot, will doubtless be felt in connection with future opera- tions. These appear likely to be carried out on a larger scale than hitherto, a wire tramway from the Mayo Mines crossing the Jhelum at Chak-Nizam having been erected (under the superintendence of Lieutenant de Wolski, R.E.), and surveys on both sides of the river having been made for a branch line from the Northern State Railway. In an able memoir upon the Indian Surveys* by Mr. C. R. Markham, C.B., there is a passage at page 105 Markham, 1871. À upon the Physical Geography of the Upper Punjáb, in which the Salt Range 1s slightly mentioned. A very full collection of the Salt Range minerals and a complete E set of petrological specimens illustrating the structure of the range at Kheura, from the lowest salt upwards, was forwarded to the Vienna Universal Exhibition of 1873 by the Geological Survey of India. In making this collection Dr. Warth rendered much valuable assistance, and furnished a solid rect- angular mass of salt from within the mines, of about two tons in weight. This large specimen was taken to shew the general character and strati- fication of the salt, which it did very perfectly ; it arrived safely at Vienna, viá Lahore and Calcutta, and was left there. Dr. Oldham, while he was officially engaged upon the arrangement of the East Indian mineral products at the Vienna Oldham, 1873. Exhibition, noticed (in a communication published * Printed by order of H. M.’s Secretary of State for India in Council, Allan and Co., London. wa 32 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. in the Ver. Der Geol. Reichsanstalt) the position of the rock salt of the range and its silurian age, being thus the oldest of known salt deposits. In Mr. H. F. Blanford’s Physical Geography for the use of Indian Schools,* a slight reference is made to Salt Range RM O, geology. The upheaval of the range is referred to the period when the Siwálik hills were formed, or perhaps later, and a similarity of certain of its formations to those of the Himalaya around the Spiti and Sutlej valleys is noticed. While the minerals for the Vienna exhibition were being col- Tween, 1873. lected from the Salt Range in 1873, the in- Uis teresting discovery was made by Dr. Warth of potash saltin an impure saline bed separating two of the thick salt seams of the Mayo mines. An analysis of the mixed salt by Mr. Tween of the Geological Survey of India, was given in the catalogue of the collection (published at Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, London, 1875), page 8. A notice of this potash salt, containing sylvine and kieserite, and a description of the mineral by Mr. J. Wiener, will be found in a translation by Mr. V. Ball from the Jahrbuch der k. k. Geologischen Reichsanstalt (XXIII, No. 2, p. 196), in the Records of the Geo- logical Survey of India. The hardness and cleavage of the kieserite are stated to be the same as those of the Hallstadt mineral of the same kind. A paper of mine in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London,t with special reference to the “ junc- . A. B. Wynne, 1874. y 5 y | tion in the Upper Punjäb, between the outer Himalayan tertiary rocks and those forming the bills," has several allusions to the geological features of the Salt Range. The con- formable sequence of the tertiary rocks and the parallelism which * Published in Calcutta and London. + Vol. VII, Pt. 2, p. 64. I Qtly. Jour. Geo. Soc. London, Vol XXX, Pt. 2, p. 64. I should have quoted Dr. Stoliezka's Taglig limestone, in table facing page 62, as Liassic. 02) INTRODUCTORY. 33 obscured any recognisable break between the Salt Range eocene (nummulitic) and overlying sandstone and clay series, are mentioned. A section through Diljaba mountain is given for comparison with the Dandli section of Mr. Medlicott’s Sub-Himalayan Report; but subse- quent examinations have so altered the reading of the latter that much of the disparity noticed has been removed, and if the Dandli hill lime- stone had proved itself nummulitic by any fossil remains the similarity between the two sections would be striking.* The suggestion at p. 69 regarding possible differences connected with the production of the Himalayas of the Simla area as compared with those mountains nearer to the Upper Punjab appears to coincide with the later and bolder announcement of Mr. Medlicott, that these two areas of the Himalaya have been elevated at different periods. (Records, vol. ix). I did not venture to say so much. The elevation of the Salt Range was doubtless connected with that of the Western Himalayas. | In the memoir on the Trans-Indus Salt Regiont I have referred Pon eR ICT to the geology of the Salt Range Wu goa connected with the subject under consideration. When this memoir was published, I was absent on furlough and had not the opportunity of either correcting the proof sheets or bringing some of the observations into connection with the most recent views developed by the Survey regarding other regions geologically connected with this. Thus the classification of the upper tertiary beds was influenced by the supposed discovery that the Siwalik fauna extended downwards far into the Nahan group. On more recent information the Upper Tertiary beds should have been shewn in the table at page 24 as SiwaLIx instead of Naman; and the rocks immediately below these, * See Mr. Medlicott’s paper, Records, Geol. Survey Ind., Vol. IX, p. 49. This limestone is supposed to be carboniferous. Paper on the Pir Punjál. Lydekker, Records, Geol. Surv., Vol. IX, p. 157. Y Mem. Geo. Sur. Ind., Vol. XI, 1875. E CES) ` BA WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. at least as far down as the nummulitie limestone, would have been classed as NAHAN. In his recent paper upon the Jamu country* Mr. Medlicott describes at some length the changing structural H. B. Medlicott, 1876. : ? 1 j features of the intermediate tertiary region, be- tween his Sub-Himalayan distriet and that occupied by these rocks in the Upper Punjáb. The paper has an important connection with the geology of the upper series of the Salt Range, and requires to be carefully considered, because - it differs greatly from any previous attempts to apply the eastern structural arrangement to the Western Punjáb part of the Hima- layan border zone of tertiary rocks. In both regions the differences of stratigraphical structure, embracing succession or discordance, had been as well known as that identical groups occurred in both. The principal points bearing upon the Salt Range tertiary sand- stones, &c., are the following :— All the breaks, faulted boundaries, discordances, or marked uncon- formities separating the different tertiary zones in the south-east become altered and die away in their extension to the north-west, so that the groups found in the Upper Punjab succeed each other with perfect parallelism at the Salt Range as well as elsewhere in this country. This regularity of sequence I had often noticed and referred to—see papers on the Upper Punjab.r Even the unconformity of the Sub-Himalayan eocene Sabáthu group on the older Himalayan series likewise dies out, and the Sabathu beds in this northern region rest with as perfect parallelism upon older limestones of unknown age in Pünch, as I had observed them to do upon * Records, Geol. Survey, Ind., Vol. IX, p. 49. + Records, Geol. Survey, Ind., Vol. VI, pp. 60, 63, Vol. vent p. 48, and Quarterly Jourl. Geol. Soc., Lond., Vol, XXX, p. 61, 1874. ( 84 ) INTRODUCTORY. 35 the hill limestone of Khairí Mürut,* westward of Rawal Pindi, or, indeed, as the Salt Range nummulitic limestone rests on underlying rocks. But a break is mentioned at the top of this Salt Range nummulitic limestone based upon the occurrence of a layer with limestone and flint pebbles just below the junction with the overlying sandstones, &e.: the parallelism between the two remaining still as prominent as elsewhere in the whole series. I have long sought for evidence in favour of this supposed unconformity, but have never been able to prove it completely by any denuded surface of the older rock; the junction layer spoken of where I have seen it, appeared made up of fragments not distantly derived. West of the Indus, indeed, I believe a peculiar sudden transi- tion takes place.t A suggestion ıs made that the Salt Range nummulitic limestone represents that at the bottom of the Sabáthu zone, strong indications of the connexion occurring in the heematitic clay and coal bands at its base.] The Nahan fauna is declared still unknown, and it is noticed that the ossiferous Mammalian beds are all Siwalik. The Sirmür triple group referred to is not represented in this country. —— A new sub-division is introduced to receive the Upper Siwalik conglomerates ; and a post-tertiary conglomerate series (which has repre- sentatives near the Salt Range) forms an unconformable group, inter- mediate between the tertiary beds and the alluvium. Hence, the only tertiary sub-divisions near the Salt Range will be nummulitic, Nahan and Siwaliks, the latter comprising lower and upper groups. It will be seen from the foregoing account of previously published matter relating to the geology of the Salt Range, that it is hardly an easy task to furnish a report, brought up to date, which shall not in too great a measure repeat the observations to be found in former papers, nor yet leave unnoticed circumstances of importance. Differences in the conclusions arrived at have been generally suppressed in the preceding notes, but statements of contrary views will be found further on. * Believed to be nummulitic in part, if not all. T On Mount Tilla, Rec. Geol. Surv. Ind., Vol. III, p. 83. Mems. Geol. Surv. Ind., ‘Vol. XI, Pt. 2, p. 65, and several junctions in detailed descriptions, $ Memoirs, same vol., p. 139, 36 WYNNE : GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. CHAPTER 11. PART I. PHYSICAL FEATURES. Or itself, the Salt Range forms a prominent physical feature of North- Western. British India, rising between the flat A prominent feature of N.-W. India. plains and ¢hal, or desert, of the Lower Indus basin and the elevated Potwar* plateau embayed between the outworks of the Himalaya, Hindú Kush and Afghan mountains. It rises above the adjacent tracts, but with a considerable relative difference of altitude on either side, as do the Western Ghats above the Deccan and low coast plains, or as the Himalaya range itself rises above the high plains of Asia on one side, but stands at a much greater difference of level above the low plains of India on the other. One analogy with the latter range as to some physical peculiarities might even be carried further, the general watershed of the adjacent countries in both cases lying north- : ward of the principal elevations and both being bordered to the south by a fringe of coarse deposits brought down by swollen torrents from the hills. Here, however, the physical analogy ceases; the aspect, stratigra- phical structure and forms of the two regions being even more dissimilar than are their respective heights. Formations of the same geological age have, it is true, been found in both, and some few fossils from each have been pronounced identical, but the petrographical characters of the rocks are totally different. The essential feature of the salt range is that it forms a bold escarp- ment to the southwards, this character being Its features. 1 | obseured in some places, by reason of the con- torted state of the rocks, and in others very promiment, presenting a * This plateau has several divisions with different names, but that of one of them, the Potwar, is often applied to the whole of the ground lying immediately north of the Salt Range. (E) — PHYSICAL FEATURES. 37 fine facade of lofty cliffs, bluffs, and precipices overlooking numbers of steep valleys and penetrated by profound ravines or gorges,* some of which almost deserve the name of cañons. These features contrast strongly with the flatness of the plains below and with the undulating or hilly plateaux which for 76 miles crown the acclivities, or with the more gentle northerly slopes intersected, as they descend to the Potwar, by an intricate labyrinth of deep, narrow, often vertical-sided ravines, such as are rarely seen save in this region, and which have won for it the special name of Kuddera,t from inhabitants generally unobservant of natural features, and often ignorant even of the names of those beyond their own immediate locality. The southern escarpment is strongly marked along most of the range, rising to an average height of 2,200 feet above the plains at its foot, which are seldom more than 750 feet above the sea. Lofty portions of it also look down upon the Potwar plateau, the edge of which (with heights averaging 1,824 feet) does not reach to within 1,074 feet of the mean height of the Salt Range. Southern escarpment. A very gradual increase of these heights takes place westwards to- wards the most elevated summit, Sakesar, which is situated 36 miles from the western extremity of the range at the Indus. Here the general elevation is 4,500 feet, and the summit itself has an altitude of 5,010 feet. The Potwar. But the Salt Range is not entirely a simple elevated tract strongly Variety of form of Scarped on one side and surmounted by undulating panes open plateaux. This is its character in the central * This word “ gorge ” is frequently locally used in speaking of the deep throat-like “ gulches” of the range, to which it appears very applicable. T A narrow valley in this part of the country is called a “ durra ” kus or “ khud ” ; the affix is taken to mean a multiplicity of forms. A large glen or stream course (dry or other- wise) is called a“ Waan” or “Vaan”; as Nila Waan, the blue valley, named after the colour of its stream as seen from above. ERST) 38 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. region, except that the northern sides of its plateaux are commanded by a minor escarpment facing to the south. At each end of this upland country the features change considerably ; in the east one or two con- spicuous hills rise above neighbouring portions of the range, while to the west the ridges enclosing a flat depression, called the Son, converge, and unite with the superior mass of the peak Sakesar. Eastward of Jalälpur the extension of the principal ridge becomes dis- Thom Jikin Go exe torted, and sinuous, and is cut through by the chan- ward. nels of two considerable rivers, the Banhar and the Kahän ; Mount Tilla, one of the most lofty eastern elevations, occurring at the part interposed between these streams. This Mount Tilla ridge is generally between 3 and 4 miles broad, it averages Mount Tilla. : o o : nearly 2,000 feet in height, and culminates at Jogi ka-Tillain an elevation of 3,242 feet. Just tothe westward of this, where the mountain is highest, its width is barely above a mile. The Chambal portion of the Tilla chain, nearest to Jalälpur, rises to 2,290 feet, has a north and south direction, bending towards the west, where separated from Mount Tilla by the Bünhär gorge, and, declining by successive ridges eastward, dies out in the alluvial flat of the Jhelum near the Grand Trunk Road eastward of Rotás. From the northern side of the range at a point N. 10% E from Pind- UP Dádan-Khán, an important spur, separated by a Bakrála ridge. a deep gap from the main mass, leaves the latter and stretehes for more than 30 miles in a north-easterly direction. Close to the range, where it forms the Diljaba mountain, this spur has a height of 3,052 feet, but further on it declines to heights averaging 2,336 feet, and it has been called the Bakrálá Ridge from the Pass of that name on the Trunk Road, Its highest point in this neighbourhood is Níli Hill near Doméli, and the ridge having a general width of 2 or 3 miles may be said to end in the broken hilly ground extending for some distance from the right bank of the Jhelum in the vicinity of Léhri. ( 38 ) — nr ee ee u a DZ OS Ls ^ ^ JINAH J0 OOA AVY NMOL SH) HVIN SADON Ayuvilaal GANIIONI HOOdIVIVe Lv LNAWdeY VOSS 3JONVH IYS 40 LNSAWAONIWWOO -IJUE YNES uni - 3194814 AIX 09A S Vow '" VIGaNI dO ABAYNS WV S12) 01049 PHYSICAL FEATURES. 39 From Jalälpur for 16 miles to the W. N. W. the escarpment of the ae in the escarp- MAIN range is very plainly marked, rising gradually modio in height from 1,852 feet to 2,275 feet (the level of the neighbouring part of the Jhelum river is about 700 feet), and the width of this part of the range steadily. increasing westwards from 24 to 6 miles. One of the most remarkable features of the eastern part of the M Uu Ru: range is that the ai prevalent southerly escarpment changes sides, so to speak, at Chambal mountain north of Jalalpur (where the strata have been most enor- mously disturbed and faulted), an easterly dip of the beds giving a westerly aspect to that portion of the scarp. At Mount Tilla, a few miles distant, the southerly aspect is regained, but at the Diljaba end of the Bakrala ridge the scarp faces the north-west, and again at Kärangli hill, overlooking the Choya-Saidan pass, a strongly marked westerly escarpment occurs. This hill, 3,526 feet high, and that of Chel near it, 3,701 feet, seem to be both displaced portions of a south- westerly extension of the Diljaba and Bakrala ridge. Such variation in the forms of the hills indicates, as might be supposed, corresponding disturbance which will be noticed in its proper place. Another remarkable feature is that the direction of the whole range Another remarkable Changes abruptly near Sakesar, nearly at right zz angles to its (east-by-north to west-by-south) course. Here it becomes very suddenly narrow for about 9 miles, bears to the north-west-by-north, and loses in height, averaging 1,727 feet (with a summit near Namal of 2,260 feet), and a width of two miles and less. This abrupt change corresponds to features in the Trans-Indus extension of the range, both together forming a deep, wide, and open sinus in the hilly margin of the Indus plains, where that river debouches from the mountains. This change is, however, more closely connected with the general orography of the Upper Punjäb than with the Cis-Indus Salt Range, though it forms one of its most peculiar features, (199) 40 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. Beyond the narrow part the range expands into the Tredian hills, 1 reaching to within a few miles of the Indus, and Tredian hills. s R E M having a width of 8 miles near Swás, but dim- inishing as the river is approached. They have an average height of 3,087 feet, and their highest point is reached at Tredian itself, 3,477 feet. At the debouchure of the Indus upon the plains the Salt Range may Pee meer the be said m most senses to disappear for a space in range proper at the In- a way difficult to account for satisfactorily, a few dd small and disconnected hills only remaining to represent it. The chief of these detached portions, formed of the most perishable materials of the whole series of the range, is the salt hill of Mari, consisting of red marl, gypsum, and rock salt, and having an altitude close to the rivers bank of 1,921 feet.* The geological and physical relations of the Salt Range re-appear in some measure Trans- Indus beyond the limits of this district. As one continued massive feature the range may be said to com- mence at its eastern plateau, where the high Plateaux. 2 i ground from Jalálpur, rising gradually from the Bünhár river, meets and almost joins the Diljaba portion of the Bakräla ridge: from hence westward nearly to the summit at Sakesar, high plateaux form its erest. These may be called the Eastern plateau, the Dandót plateau, the Kahün, Málót, Nürpür, and Sön plateaux. The “Eastern plateau ” extends westward to Pid, a distance of nearly sixteen miles, with a width of from one to eight miles and heights of from 2,100 to 2,800 feet, the width of the whole range here being from 7 to 10 miles. The surface Eastern plateau. undulates, being frequently of bare rock, worn waist-deep into closely adjoining furrows. The plateau is much indented by the heads of valleys along its south-eastern side, and bordered in the opposite direction by * Dr. Fleming's List of Altitudes, 2nd report, p. 449. (No heights are given on the field maps.) ( 40 ) PHYSICAL FEATURES. 41 the kill of Chel and by an open shallow valley, beyond which the con- spieuous peak of Kärangli overlooks the northern entrance to the pass of Choya-Saidan-Shah. From this peak a series of south-westerly ridges and valleys divides the plateau from the next, a m and terminates in very broken ground surrounding: the small but lofty plateau of Dandót, part of which is 2,599 feet above the sea. Next to the westward is the Kähün, which might also be called the Dalwál plateau, with heights of over 2,400 feet. Kahün plateau. E ; : A It is less rocky than those previously mentioned, is bounded on the north by steeply sloping rocky “ Kuddera,” and southward by two remarkably long, straight ravines, meeting at an obtuse angle and ferming the deep gorge of Makräch. This upland is 16 miles long and 8 wide, the whole range having here gained so much in width as to be 12 miles broad. On the south-west side of the Kahún, a lofty, narrow, and irregularly shaped plateau extends in a north-westerly direc- Malot plateau. a o : 5 tion, between one of the ravines just mentioned and the southern slopes of the range. It rises to elevations of 3,000 and 3,200 feet, and may be called the Malót plateau. Separated from that last mentioned by the deep Sardi (Sera or Seri- arik) gorge is another larger table-land on which Nürpür plateau. E ER ur the village of Nürpür stands. It is in parts less rocky than the last, and has much the same character as that of Dalwál. The elevation of the surface ranges from 2,500 to 2,800 feet. This Nurpur plateau is about 10 miles from north to south and the same from east to west, the whole range here having a width of 14 miles. The high plateau-country stretches to the westward for 32 miles, Sén or Western pla. becoming narrower about Pail and Chámil, where un; the whole width of the ridge is about 12 miles. F (FAR: ) 42 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. Still further to the west it becomes much wider, and includes the large tract called the Són, reaching to the foot of Sakesar peak, under which is situated the Són-Sakesar lake at an elevation of 2,526 feet. In parts this table-land resembles a sea of huge limestone billows, particularly where it is intersected by the east and west chain of the Patial hills. South of this chain lies a somewhat less elevated and more broken tract, traversed by deep ravines leading down to the plains. The Patial hills rise towards and coalesce with the high mass of Sakesar, as do also those which bound the northern side of the Sôn pleateau, upon which heights occur of over 2,900, 3,000, and 4,000 feet. The width of this plateau from north to south is about 14 miles, that of the whole range having increased to 18 or 20 miles. The Son possesses a reputation for coolness of climate equal to that of Kashmir.* A large spur or lobe of hills,t leaving Sakesar, flanks for some o de miles the narrow part of the range whieh trends to the north-north-west, as if to eontinue the southern side of the Són plateau, but it is much more broken, and has little or nothing of the plateau character. It is separated by a long and deep valley from the narrower part of the range and it risesto a height of 2,899 feet above Chiderü. From the summit of Sakesar the eye ranges widely over the adjacent Geant ale cide country. To the south, flat plains and desert Qu aereum stretch to the horizon with a surface to all ap- pearance as level as that of the sea, being broken only by the great rivers and the distant tops of the Korána hills, a small group near the Chenáb river. To the north the Potwar or Ráwal-Pindi plateau expands beyond the zone of “ Kuddera at foot of the range in wide, gentle undulations, upon which, eastwards, heights of 1,600, 1,700, and 1,800 feet are marked * Dr. Fleming's Report, p. 236. + These are the“ Gredi” hills of Dr, Fleming (p. 252), and apparently the “ Patial? hills of Mr. Theobald (p. 653). ( 42.) PHYSICAL FEATURES. 43 on the maps. North of the Són the heights rise to above 2,000 feet, but westwards towards the Indus decline again to 1,200, 1,300, 1,500, and 1,600 feet. Distance and elevation make the ground on this side also appear like a flat plain, but between the undulations are deep intricate Kudderas leading to the broad sandy beds of rivers generally nearly dry. The range is traversed by three or four principal passes (not includ- ing paths or roads which follow no particular Passes. : depression). The lowest of these are situated near each end of the range. The Bakrála Pass on the Grand Trunk Road north of Jhelum may have a height of 1,400 feet at the ridge of the same name; that at Ghorágali near Diljaba is a gorge of the Bünhár river at about a height of 1,309 feet; alower gorge on the same stream at Pind Sevika may be between 800 and 900 feet high. The long pass of Choya-Saidan-Shah, following the deep valley of that name, one of the few considerable valleys opening on the north side of the range, is an old route from Pind-Dádan-Khán northwards ; up this the road rises among the intrieate and deeply excavated ravines of the range to a height of about 2,000 feet at its crest. The deep gorge of Sardi nearly intersects the range southward of Kalar Kahár lake, but the road whieh erosses it here climbs the right side of this deep defile below Sardi village. The last of the passes worth mention as such is that from Namal to Müsakhel, above the right bank of the impassable Bakh ravine and at a little distance from it. It probably does not ascend so much as 500 feet above the plain to the south.* The valleys of the range are numerous, and some of them profound Valleys gorges, but none have now any important con- nection with the country beyond it, excepting the deeply eut passages of the Kahán, the Bünhär, the Váhi, a nameless stream near Khyrabad, and the gorge of the Indus itself. * The elevations of summits and similar points only are given on the maps; those of hollows or crests of passes are not marked, hence they are estimated above. ( 43 ) 44, WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. The latter at Kálabágh is 1,070 feet in width from shore to shore; its depth in the cold weather varies from 15 to 45 feet, the velocity of the stream is 1:64 feet and the discharge 21,200 cubie feet per second.* Its surface is a little over 681 feet above sea level. There is a wide open valley at the east side of the range, with heights of over 1,100 and 1,200 feet, lying between Mount Tilla and Bakräla ridges. It is traversed by both the Kahän and Bunhar rivers, having no stream exclusively its own. A portion of this valley or depression ovcupies a recess where the Bünhär river spreads before escaping through the Pind Sevika gorge. This, the Choya-Saidan glen, an open basin on the Nurpur plateau, and a small but deep coomb-like depression beneath Vasnäl, are the only glens of importance opening northwards, all the rest being ravines or surface stream-courses, which are more numerous than usual on account of the softness of the rocks traversed. The whole southern face of the range is eut up by numberless ravines and deeply penetrated by many precipitous excavations, eroded to a depth of several hundred feet lower than the escarpment of the table- lands. One of these gorges bifurcates at Makrach, where it may have a depth of more than 1,000 feet. Another is the fine glen of Sardi (Sera or Seriarik), apparently some 1,500 feet in depth, where its width is little more than a mile, and even much narrower near its mouth, though equally deep; but the grandest chasm of all is that of the Nílawán, cut out of the Núrpúr plateau. This varies from a quarter of a mile to a mile in breadth, and penetrates the range for a length of about 5 miles from its narrow mouth. Its depth is unknown, but may be guessed at 1,500 to 1,700 feet. Other fine glens of the same character are—that leading south from Pail, the Narsingphoar ravine, the Sanglewän not far to the west- ward, the Jábi gorge from above Kávhád, the glens of ee Amb, * From information kindly supplied by D. MeMorlie, Esq., C.E., when engaged upon a projected canal from Mári southwards. ed) ANOLSSWIT SNMONF4AINOAYYID NI ; "I3HMVSNnWN 'aNIAYH MWMva8 JHL OL 3O0OVHlIN3 NY3HLNOoS / " I M ASL DAI TOA Saroureyy : ‚aguey HES Pu ÁM a Jọ AJASNS VOIDS 0109 PHYSICAL FEATURES. 45 and the singularly inaccessible cañon called the Bakh ravine, which intersects the whole range near Namal, having a length of about a mile and a fall of nearly 350 feet (judging from the heights upon the map). There are features connected with this ravine which make it ap- pear strangely placed at this point. The streams which now discharge through it look too small to have cut so large a gorge, even though this may have been commenced when the ground to the north was less worn down by denudation. The oceurrence of boulder beds near where. the great rivers leave the Himalayas, and the existence of an uncon- formable boulder accumulation at the north-eastern side of the ridge close to the town of Namal, at the commencement of the ravine, would suggest the possibility of this glen having once been a channel through which a larger stream from the north, perhaps the Soán river, found its way southwards before the gorge of the Indus was sufficiently reduced and cut backwards to take off the main body of meteoric water at a higher point. At present the Golár and Thrappi rivers, which unite and discharge through the Bakh ravine, drain a comparatively small area north of Sakesar summit. All the streams from the Tredian hills run in steep narrow gullies or gulches, those to the south especially, and one of these has eaten for itself a cavernous passage beneath a massive rocky spur; they are sometimes quite impracticable to follow up on foot. The water-parting or “divide” of the range lies north of the prin- PE ` cipal crest or edge, belonging indeed partly to Water-parting. : : the Potwar plateau. For some 45 miles in the central portion it separates the heads of tributaries to the Indus from those of torrents which tend towards the Jhelum, but never reach 1t, as surface streams.* From other parts of the range the drainage of both * That from Makrách forms a doubtful exception. ( 45 ) 46 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. sides finds its way southward, and notwithstanding the elevation and continuity of the chain, it forms no considerable barrier to the general southerly outflow of waters from the north, this northern drainage completely traversing it at two places to the west, while in the east the Tilla ridge is likewise twice intersected, and that of Bakrala no fewer than five times to afford passage to streams from the Potwar. From the salt-marl, most of the southern streams are highly saline, those which are least salt being used for irrigation, but very few are either potable or palatable even to the scattered population accustomed to brackish water all their lives. The hollows of the Sön Sakesar and Khabaki lakes on the western plateau of the range are open shallow depressions without visible out- fall. The basin of the latter is small, but that of the former includes an area of about 60 square miles and occupies a singular position close to the highest elevations. The four salt lakes of the range form quite exceptional features to the general drainage. Three of them are on the west- ern or Sön plateau ; two of these, the Khabaki and Sön Sakesar,* or Samandar, lakes, in depressions of its northern part ; and the other, the Jalár or Jalúr lake,t in the rugged country to the south. These three lakes vary in size with the amount of rain-fall; they have no Salt lakes. * A fault with a north-east and south-west direction was supposed by Mr. Theobald to bring the salt-marl up at the eastern foot of Sakesar, so as to impregnate the water of the lake (see paper already referred to, p. 653); this dislocation could not be recognised on the ground. + Dr. Fleming, translating the name “ Julhur” as Sanscrit for a spring of fresh water, asserts distinctly tnat the water of this lake, unlike others on the range, is fresh. Rain may have lately fallen and produced this impression when he visited it, for it was subsequently found to be as saline as the others, both by Dr. Oldham and Dr. Waagen, at considerably different dates. The natives of the place considered it mita, or sweet, ¿. e., fresh enough to drink, Professor Blochmann, of Calcutta, has kindly supplied translations of the following Sanscrit words: “‘Jhalra,’ a spring of fresh water; *Jalar, a thicket or copse.” There is no wood now near the lake to render the latter derivation for the name likely, though there may have been once; doubtless there are fresh springs in the vicinity. ( 46 ) TAY Peor og AL A frauds ros ATX “TOA Satoux epa "VIONI 20 ASAINS 170919041039 ‘oSuey ates awu sm PHYSICAL FEATURES. 47 outlets, and are all salt or saline, though far removed from and at a higher elevation than the salt-bearing strata. The largest of them is the Samandar lake, about 3 miles long and 1 wide. The fourth, the lake of Kalar Kahär, having a diameter of about a mile and only a depth of 3 or 4 feet, is situated close under the north side of the range, It has no outlet either except when flooded; a neighbouring nala then affords a passage for the surplus water, and sometimes its white saline bed is all but dry. There may be various reasons for the saltness of these lakes, which differs in intensity, and would seem not to be derived from chloride of sodium only; ordinary precipitation from water, unable to escape except by evaporation, may have caused it, In the case of Kalar Kahár, brine springs at one place have an influence; and with regard to the Són, the saltness may be due to the former existence of overlying sandstones and clays charged with saline ingredients. Fresh-water springs are not uncommon upon the plateaux or along N their borders. Among them may be mentioned Fresh springs. = ; those at Choya-Saidan-Shah, the large sacred spring of Katás, that at the Wycher cliff, Dandöt, and those of the Veräla scarp. The table-lands form a large catchment surface, the rain water falling upon which would produce springs in the usual way. Another sacred spring at Rotás may be connected with dislocation of the rocks.. Here fresh-water springs are locally numerous, one of them forming a strong stream which issues from the dry sandy bed of the Kahán river. Brine springs in the salt region are no novelty, but one at Kalrá on i the south side of the Bakrála ridge near Doméli is Brine springs. : : situated among rocks, the highest above the salt- marl; it also occurs in a dislocated locality in the bed of a torrent depositing calcareous tufa and forming river-conglomerate (Kanjir). The water of the spring is of a milky-bluish opaline tint; it is half saturated with salt (according to trials by Dr. Warth), and forms black and yellowish precipitates. It comes probably from a considerable depth, Cae) 48 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. otherwise more springs than one might be expected to occur, and its unknown source can only be guessed at. There is another so-called salt spring in the same range at the southern slope of Nili hill, where a somewhat strong variety of the usual ** Khára pént”’ of the country, charged with mixed salts, chiefly of soda, issues in the bed of a rocky nala. Saturated brine springs occur on the right bank of the Bünhär stream in the Ghorägali pass (near Diljaba mountain), just where it is most narrow. The source is probably connected with the salt-marl. The brine spring of Kalar Kahär rises from a patch of this salt-marl in an entirely abnormal and dislocated situation. The water of streams in the sandy and argillaceous rocks along the north and easterly parts of the range frequently deposits the saline in- crustation called “ iur” or “ kallar ”* in considerable quantities. The hot and sulpburous springs of the Bakh ravine have been noticed by almost every one who has visited the place ;+ indeed, the smell of sulphuretted hydrogen emitted by them is sufficient to attract attention. They occur for some distance from the entrance at both ends of this remarkable miniature cañon, some issuing strongly, others without force; gas bubbles up, and the water, which is covered by a thin film of gypsum, deposits a black tenacious mud used by the natives as a dye for colouring cotton cloth.f The sources are probably distant from the surface, and the springs do not Hot springs. occur in one particular formation. Similar sulphurous springs, sometimes warm, occur here and there in other parts of the range. Two of these close to the Chota and Bara Kata brooks near Jaba (north side Petroleum springs. * Sulphate of soda and common salt; Fleming, 1st Report, p. 525. + MS. notes by Dr. Waagen, &c., &c. f See ante, Fleming, 2nd Report, p. 265; also Schlagintweit, in Chap. I. (4 48» ) A axeyy FO TENES a RASU d AIX CAS “HOVE VIVA NOyY3 SMONI YINIS JAHL dN 9NIMOO!] qrutuans 40 Jue FLO UA "WIONI dO AZAYNS 1VO1DOT1O0AD yqa jo umo], ogu A Sa] UY 4185 SUUM PHYSICAL FEATURES. 49 of the western end of the range) bring to the surface a sufficient quantity of petroleum* to enable about 3 quarts daily to be collected, but all is liable to be washed away for the time by floods. From a gypseous deposit here, (thought by some to result from the action of these springs upon the neighbouring limestone,) native sulphur was reported to have been collected ; but when I searched for it, the barest traces only could be found. Viewed from the north, the aspect of the Salt Range is that of a mono- ce tonously undulating and not very lofty ridge, upon which some conspicuous summits, such as those of Chél, Kärangli, Tilla, and Sakesar, attract the eye. Closely ap- proached over “Auddera” ground, the range may be often observed eovered with scrubby jungle and on limestone slopes by a mass of Sunhettat and Behekurt shrubs, throngh which it is difficult to work a passage. Having once left the plateau, almost everywhere on the ascent the bare rock protrudes, presenting a striking uniformity of grey and greenish or red tints, the latter sometimes predominating and some- times replaced by a dusky orange; all these brighter colours being restricted to argillaceous rocks. On the undulating plateaux small patches of cultivation lie between rocky undulations dotted or covered with Sunhetta jungle, trees of any size being almost entirely absent everywhere along the range. ‘ Seen from the south, the scarcity of vegetation and the bright colour- ing of the red, purple, grey, orange, and whitish rocks of the cliffs and slopes, present a strong contrast to the other aspects of the range; the fan-shaped accumulations of detritus at the mouths of the torrent gorges encroaching upon each other to form a stony belt, slightly concealed by thin, starved-looking jungle, which only adds to the sterile appear- ance of the ground. The whole of this dry and sun-burnt face of the * Lyman—“Punjab Oil Lands ;” Report to Public Works Department, Lahore Govern- ment Press, 1870. + Dodonea Burmanniana. (Fleming.) I Adhatoda vassica, Dr. Fleming's 2nd Report, p. 238. G ( 49 ) 50 10121 gern g Sw 1, Valley TAOL Duwlitzxoa 2932 Wadley ^ g prada Indus R € 44,01 EAS ; Poto war Platero $5 RA x No. v or Jhloam R ba RANA 357 o Chenab RS Fig. 1.— Profile of country from Swát to the Chenab crossing the Salt Range near Sardí: distance about 224 miles. WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. range radiates so much absorbed heat, that an en- 10,000 ft.; horizontal, 1 inch = 32 miles. Scales: vertical, 4 an inch campment at some distance in the plains, though hot, is found to be cooler than one at its foot. Picturesque spots occur occasionally, their at- tractiveness enhanced by their rarity; and there is much that is imposing, though wild, in other scenes. Instances of one or the other may be found in the summit of Mount Tilla, with its ruins and ancient buildings; the rock-pools and gardens of Choya-Saidan-Shah ; the antiquities of Katäs and: Rotás; the lofty village of Dandót; the neigh- bourhood of Kalar Kahär, when the vines are in leaf and the lake is full; the grand glens of Nila- wan, Sardi, and Nursingphoar; the vicinity of Sodhi near the head of the latter ravine; the deep glen of Amb; and the gorge of the Indus at Kálabágh, with salt-rock, water, boats, and quaintly piled buildings, making up a brightly-coloured picture, in which the crimson rol from burnt alum: shale, and duller red salt-marl, eontrast with the cool greenish-greys of the lofty Dangöt cliffs in the back ground. — PART II. OROGRAPHY AND PHYSICAL GEOLOGY. As the theoretical explanations of the formation of the Salt Range are included in those relating to the origin of the adjacent mountain regions, I shall endeavour to confine the following observations to: features, of which some description may be found useful in considering the local relations with re. gard to the larger area beyond the subject of this ae) i " n f po beat Vi ort his bas des GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA Wynne: Solt Range. Memoirs.Vol: XIV. Plate VIII. Mozulkerabad Ir Wulur L. 4. P d o KABUL : AN A Cashmeer botabad cn o Sreenugur M treten y fuxnorn XL 4 SKETCH OF POSITION OF SALT RANGE PUNJAB (Ranges in Black) Sheik Boodeen eS Diagram of Direction of Salt Range. 48.Miles=1 mch. PHYSICAL FEATURES. 51 report; points which belong to the physical geology of the range must, however, be briefly noticed. The situation of the Salt Range is in itself peculiar; it crosses that | embayment where the lower ground of Western Orographical position, 4 : i | : 5 Hindustän projects into the high mountaın regions of Asia, and it forms a separation between two tracts which have very unequal altitudes as seen in fig. 1, a rough profile of the country from Swat to the Chenáb crossing the range near Sardi. This recess is embayed by the high mountains of the North-West - Himalaya on the east, and the Sulimán, Hala, Augustän,* and Khyber mountains on the west; while, to the north, elevated mountainous ground intervenes between it and the snowy ranges of the Hindú Kúsh. In the regions where such great physical features approach and the resultants of their originating forces encountered one another, concen- trated disturbance might be expected to produce intense distortion. In the Salt Range this is observable, both stratigraphical contortion on the smaller scale and sinuous curvature of the range itself marking its effect. Including its continuation Trans-Indus, the whole chain appears to have yielded to lateral out-thrust, or forces proceeding from the greater mountain chains on either side, and to have been compelled to accommodate itself to shortened longitudinal limits. (See diagram, Plate VIII, fig. 2.) The principal or western sinuosity of the range (bordering the Indus for some 70 miles) follows, in a measure, the converging axial directions of the more lofty ranges, its curvature conforming to the angle between these lines.t To the east, however, the strike of the Tilla ridge is distorted so as to fold back upon itself in a curve resembling the letter $, * A name applied by natives to the mountains west of the Panjab. + Sir Roderick Murchison’s mention of the Salt Range as the “ first step in ascending’ from the Lower Pänjäb to the Himalaya” accords with its features, but its parallelism to the Valley of Kashmir and the “mighty Himalaya” is anything but evident. Quart. Journ, Geol. Soc., Lond., Vol. IX, p. 189, (3) 52 WYNNE: GEOLOGY .OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. These sinuosities coinciding with escarpments would also suggest undulations in the strata, being arrested by fissures along lines of weakness. The two prominent results of disturbance, flexure and fracture, va- j ried according to the intensity of their cause, Disturbance. are commonly observable throughout this region, bun complicated flexure is less frequent to the east, having been appa- rently relieved by numerous great fractures. In the vieinity of Mount Tilla, of the Chambal, Diljaba, and Bakräla ridges, boldly eurved beds are often brought into association with nearly vertical strata by means of faults. Indications of antielinal structure occur in the Bakrála ridge Mee ee and at the Rotás end of the Tilla range, on the eastern side of Chambal mountain and elose to Jalälpur, while similar open curves define the eastward commence- ment both of the Kahün and Eastern plateaux. Between Diljaba and the last named is a decided synelinal in the upper rocks, and the wide valley between Tilla and Bakräla ridges may be called a double synclinal hollow. Besides these larger flexures, small contortions are of frequent occurrence, but few other parts of the range exhibit marked synelinal or anticlinal curvature as essential forms of the mountain structure. And yet the whole chain, from the Slight disturbance onthe Mustern plateau westward, partakes broadly of Eastern Plateau. Bu the uniclinal or incomplete anticlinal charac- ter, the northern side of the curve only being present. It seems rea- sonable to suppose that the strata once formed a complete areh, but there is no proof whatever that this was the case. | Over the whole of the plateau eastwards, the rocks, though elevated, Greater contortion to the Are but slightly disturbed, -hence the tabular’ Wesi. forms of the ground ; but to the west the rolling wave-like surface is intimately connected with more violent disturb- ance, each wave representing an anticlinal arch, All the hill country - (32 ) u A u Aa nn A eee ee ee ee a o a cri in à 4 (Ci vaa VNvinr AO 3018 153M) SNIVINONOW IVBINVHO-LS3IM IYMOIVS 40 HLYON SITIH NI SIJIN v4 DIFUASTUN Onimman ura, otk, Qe mue 9 q $8 310€ JT dio Ao AAA) OTP Furie ny POMO y A "à y A : d A UNT ban queria g pf pM st vd REN! A PTI ATX TOA 8 atom ; eJuey ges :ouuLa "YIONI 30 AZAYNS 1991907039 y PHYSICAL FEATURES. 53 about Sakesar is a mass of contortions, fractured and disarranged in places ; but the narrow part of the range, uniting this mountain with the Tredian hills, is composed of highly inelined beds showing a strong tendeney to bend over to the south-west, excepting which this uniclinal ridge has no more indication of anticlinal continuity than the plateau country to the east. In the Tredian hills intense plication again predominates, and the Intense disturbance atthe Climax of disturbance is reached where the range = itself and nearly all of its characteristie forma- tions are lost among dislocations as the Indus is approached. All along the northern slopes, except where deranged by faulting, the . disturbance, even where greatest, is regular and Northern slopes. the northerly dip constant. The whole southern face of the range presents the most strangely broken and dislocated features, large portions of Southern slopes. 4 F A the lofty escarpment having subsided and smaller land-slips taken place, until the slopes have become often erowded with huge disconnected rock masses at all elevations, in all positions and of nearly all the harder groups, the heterogeneous assemblage being fre- quently overshot and obscured by debris. This much of the mountain structure is, however, but the result of meteoric denudation assisted by the perishable nature of the soluble salt and gypseous marl beneath. Besides dislocations of this kind there are many true faults, which N generally take directions oblique to that of the range: sometimes these coincide so strongly with marked physical features as to become suggestive of cause and effect. Though not susceptible of any very systematic arrangement, there is some parallelism between the fractures lying in courses from west 30° to 35° north, also in another group bearing north-45°-east, the included angle approximating to that at which the range suddenly bends north- wards near Sakesar. Other faults assume nearly north and south or east and west directions, (5) 54 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. A long fault stretches close by the south-eastern foot of Mount Tilla, Een bringing the lowest rocks there exposed against steeply inclined or vertical beds of the tertiary sandstone and clay series: three minor dislocations parallel to the main one lie between the unbroken uniclinal of the mountain and the master- fault. The displacement here must be large, but cannot be exactly estimated, because of the positions of the rocks. The fault is lost in the sandy gorge of the Bunhar river at Pind Sevika, North of Jalälpur an extensive and most complicated amount of E E Joe dut faulting has taken pos Pune he groups at i | each end of the series into junction, a large branch fracture extending along the western base of Chambal mountain (east) apparently to join the Tilla fault. One of the most considerable lines of faulted dislocation in the whole LH district coincides very much with the direction of Karangu and Diljaba fault. k 1 i d the Bakrála ridge, sometimes lying at one side, sometimes at the other, the line being certainly far from straight, and the whole dislocation appearing like an extended combination of shorter fractures. One of the results of this zone of faulting is the exposure of a mass of nummulitie limestone on the sandstone and clay ridge near _Doméli; another is the way in which this limestone disappears at Ghorágali pass, among the overlying beds, the same or a parallel fault occurring here on the north-west side of the ridge. The escarpment of , Diljaba mountain is also connected with thisline of fracture, which ap- pears to be itself displaced by a cross-fault at the western end of that hill. In the neighbourhood of Chel hill much contortion and great dislocation oceurs on both sides of the ridge, but most towards the Potwar country. Whether the fracture is here again connected with the main line or not is obseure, but the fault with its original direction reappears on the north-west flank of Kárangli hill Here it turns into the Choya- Saidan-Shah valley, bringing the tertiary sandstones against the salt- marl. From this valley the fracture bends down the deep Gamthalla Coat) PHYSICAL FEATURES. 55 gorge, its throw having changed sides and the tertiary sandstones, &c., beins again brought against the salt-marl on the opposite side from that which they oceupy at the mouth of the Choya Valley. The fault is lost in the red marl at Makrach, but another appears to start from the place where it ends, running up the Malkána branch of this gorge to the west-north-west, and terminating, or becoming no longer traceable, at Kalar Kahár. Close to the latter place, and exactly in the line of this fracture, the red salt-marl appears among the nummulitic lime- stone beds. The throw of this great line of dislocation, it will be seen, varies, changes sides, and in places amounts to nearly the whole thickness of the eastern Salt Range rocks. . In the neighbourhood of Vasnál, on the northern side of the range, Am another complex group of faults encloses a hexa- gonal patch of the red salt-marl surrounded by nummulitic limestone on all sides but one, and there by the overlying tertiary sandstones, &e.; just a fragment of some of the lower rocks above the salt-marl appearing in connection with it. From this place two lines of fracture nearly at right angles seem to start, one reaching to the head of the Nilawän ravine and bringing a long strip of the tertiary sandstones, &e., against the underlying lime- stone. The other appears to extend by Badräe to beyond Dheri, where another complicated system of partly concealed: faults exposes the red marl and some of the overlying rocks, Down in the bottom of the Nilawän ravine, crushing and faulting again appears, as also in the glen leading from Nilawän, &c. s S : Pail to Kutta, and another fracture coincides with the glen of Nursingphoar. A long fracture, too, extends up the nearly straight Kávhád glen from near Jabi in a north-east direction, and meets a series of faults at first bearing north-east south- west, but afterwards taking a westerly direction along the cliffs near (5) Kävhäd, 56 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. Jalar, and to the north of that lake, sending off a nearly parallel branch. The main fracture extends to the head of the Amb glen, passing down which it is lost among a multitude of parallel and other dislocations. In the Chiderü hills again faults abound, and also in the Tredian E. m hills to the north-west ; all the fractures between Kávhád and those of the last-named hills uniting with the frequent minor dislocations, to produce the greatest confusion, amidst which the true succession of the rocks can only with difficulty be traced. The most extreme result of the faulting of the range is the mysteri- 4 ous, almost total, and abrupt, disappearance of the Mari. : P : whole western series intermediate between the tertiary sandstones and clays and the salt-marl. From near Khyrabád | to the Indus, the faults themselves by which this has been effected have left such slight traces to mark their course that, were it not for the disturbance of the ground and the re-appearance of the series beyond the Indus, discordance would have to be inferred in order to account for the absence of the intermediate strata in this neighbourhood, If the range formed a simple symmetrical anticlinal curvature, its origin would be as easily explained as that of other mountains similarly constructed by the hypothesis of lateral pressure, in some cases accompanied by the settlement of the Elevation. mass; but while the disturbance evidently tended to produee common anticlinal eurvature, it only partially succeeded, so far as can be seen, and produced instead the uniclinal strueture deseribed, with a more or less strong resemblance to the features of certain of the Sub-Himalayan hills bordered by fissures or what would amount to faults, if not in some cases absolutely dislocations. This resemblance is nevertheless incomplete, in so far that the sec- tions across the Sub-Himalayan ground expose the boundary fissures and adjacent structures, but in the Salt Range nothing whatever is known ( 8G) PHYSICAL FEATURES. 57 of the rocks concealed along its southern foot or their positions.* The Korána hills, forty miles distant, afford the nearest evidence in this direc- tion, and there the principal ridge, according to Dr. Fleming, -has a uniclinal structure and northerly dip, hke the Salt Range itself. The effort to recall a former state of things has been made by Dr. Fleming { in treating of the upheaval of the range, and again in an elaborate manner by Dr. Verchere § when writing of the larger adjacent area. Dr. Fleming supposes three subsidences and elevations to have taken place before the great elevation of the whole range; in the Miocene period or subsequently, and contemporaneously with that of the Himalaya. He also considers that the upheaval extended from east to west. Dr. Verchere contends that the whole of the embayed ground hetween the border ranges of North-West India was uplifted into an open arch or dome-shaped anticlinal bordered by fissures, along one of which, perpendicular to the others, the arch was broken down, leaving the Salt Range as its uptilted extremity. Both of these authors, Mr. Theobald, Mr. Medlicott,|| and Mr. H. F. Blanford** agree in attributing the elevation of the range to later tertiary times, — * No deep borings are known in the vicinity of the Salt Range : the wells for the piers of the railway bridges on the Jhelum and Chenäb rivers are entirely in detrital deposits, and these deposits only have been found in a boring at Ambäla between the Indus and Ganges basins. "This boring has been put down to a depth of 700 feet, the altitude of the loeality being 919, so that the bore-hole has nearly reached sea level.— Professional Papers, Roorkee (Rürki), No. 12, vol. ii, Major Thackeray, R. E. + Authority cited, p. 446. : T Au. cit., p. 364. § Ditto, p. 83, % Authority cited, pp. 656-657. || Au. cit., p. 174 ** Ditto, p. 133. H | CS 58 WYNNE : GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. from the Miocene to the Siwaliks of India,—and most of them are in favour of the more recent period. Without entering into reeondite theories of elevation here, I may point out that the whole of the Salt Range series, up to the top of the nummulitic limestone at least, being conformable, and this series, together with the overlying tertiary beds up to the Siwalik group partaking of the general disturbance, the last elevation is shown to have taken place, or to have been going on subsequently to the upper tertiary period. The evidence afforded by the rocks is too uncertain to show whether this action was remittent or recurrent, but the varied nature of the whole series would suggest many changes of level.* The subsidence alluded to by previous writers as necessary for the accumulation of several thousand feet of tertiary strata, would indicate a depression of far greater amount than the present total elevation of the range, and the break in the tertiary series, just above the local nummulitic limestone, alluded to by Mr. Medlicott,+ might well be connected with some of the more recent oscillations. ` So far as I can judge, the structure of the range leads to the inference that its existence is due to complicated lateral compression * The Salt Range gives indications of the existence of land at no great distance, con- temporaneously with the formation of several of its boulder beds, even so far back as the period of its earliest groups, and again at various stages up to tertiary times. In one case a section in supposed Triassic beds, between Pid and Kheura, exposed what seemed to be an old river course. The transported fragments in these boulder beds include very similar varieties of crystalline rocks irrespective of age, and amongst them rocks unknown to exist northward of the range. This suggests the idea that the land whence these frag- ments came may have been situated to the south. Other indications of contemporary land in that direction may be found in the fossil vegetation of the newer rocks as well as their remains of land animals. + Records, Geol. Sur. Ind, Vol. IX, p. 59. ae (038, y PHYSICAL FEATURES. 59 under unequal conditions of resistance, which in a late tertiary period developed itselfin local disturbance along one or more lines of fissure coin- eiding with the direetion of the uniclinal escarpments, the whole of the features having been subsequently much modified by meteorie erosion. The strongly marked relations which often exist between the forms and structures of mountains are seldom more evi- Relations between the A > form of the ground and dent than in the Salt Range. In this case they its geological structure. : : > ; ps geoogica sume result from much disparity of texture in the differ- ent strata, and they are most pronounced where the disturbance has been least violent. Not alone are these relations observable in detail, but they affect the range generally, for its strata differ from those of the neighbouring lower country (where these can be seen), and the outcrops of many varieties of the rocks are indicated in the forms of the ground. Thus the Kuddera country of the northern slopes is always formed of soft sandstones with innumerable alternations of clay bands; the plateaux are chiefly com- posed of limestone, rarely overlaid by some beds of the succeeding group, and all the escarpments are formed of the hard limestone, of still harder dolomite or magnesian sandstone, or where this is absent, of massive or uniform beds presenting a relative contrast of texture to others in their vicinity. The escarpments frequently exhibit three or more groups of different hardness, some of them producing under-cliffs, and Escarpments, Xe. many of the slopes both on the plateaux and along the unscarped mountain sides are derived directly from the bedding of the rocks, On the south side of the range below the solid escarpment the frag- Disintegration, south mentary stratigraphical relations all. but defy in- side of range. ' terpretation, the transition from continuity to (o 9» 60 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. disruption being frequently impossible to trace. Limestone tracts are often found with a gentle slope in a peculiar semi-disintegrated state, the rock although not being in situ is yet unmixed with fragments of other rocks and retains sufficient of a former stratigraphical position to conceal the beds beneath. Outlying patches of such half-degraded rock may be sometimes seen in contact with, or resting upon, a lower group, to the exclusion of other intervening layers washed out from beneath. In parts of this dislocated country as many as twenty chief lines of division may be traced, often between widely different and abnormally placed rock masses, and taking as many different directions within one square mile as there are lines; where such confusion prevails, the difficulty of distinguishing between faulting and land-slip sometimes becomes an impossibility. All this dislocation and disarrangement is generally referable to geological and stratigraphic structure, and espe- cially to the occurrence of soft saline marl, gypsum and rock-salt beneath superincumbent masses of hard solid limestone, or other rock, having allowed the upper bed to sink into any accidental position of rest as the action of disintegration went on. In the Upper Punjáb rains are scarce or inconstant, capricious or limited, in great measure, to hills of greater altitude and extent than the Salt Range ; the climate of the country is marked by a large daily range of the thermometer; the seasons are extreme, and for most of the winter months the conditions of a desert prevail—intensely dry air and bright sun during the day, and excessive radiation of heat, causing frost, at night. Such atmospherie influences are most likely to operate strongly in altering the form of the ground, particularly where many of the rocks are absorptive or saline as in this district. Add to these the effects of the strong dry winds which prevail at certain seasons, and it will be readily understood, Atmospheric infiuences. that with heavy rains succeeding intervals of drought, there are causes ( 60 ) PIIYSICAL FEATURES. 61 in operation sufficient to account for a large amount of meteoric denudation.* If anything were wanting to prove the extent of this erosive action, the rain-worn surfaces of the limestone plateaux, the numerous little patches of level ground, remains of former flats among the Kudderas, the pinnacles and profound ravines along the escarpments, and the mass of detritus brought down by torrents, would amply establish its existence and its power. To this agency alone, operating upon suitable materials, can I attribute the removal of the once overlying tertiary sandstones, * The rainfall at the following stations near the Salt Range is taken from the Punjáb Government Gazette for three years :— 1869. 1870. 1871. : E : dz A "P E ES 5 | she 8 | 28g $ 33 ee I el. [$5 (las 3 [8 leg o aa o do Ss n NAME OF STATION = 2533| = = Seel S S mio = as [=> S | Bg a89| 3 | EE lagal 5 za lgss [ES 228l E es ess E iz Bere S een E aE en 3 az o o GE ong o Ga ot o se FU P$ 29|z28) $|239|s29| $ ža |s| 8 | 55 [3821 8 | BS [388 | 5 ee late In In. | In.*+| m. | In In In In. In. Jhelum, east of Range ... | 51) 109 | 138| 17:9) 210 | 219| 101 | 130 | 219 Shahpúr, south of ,„ ...| 131 79 149| 90| 98 | 16:2! 104 | 11:3 17:0 Chakowál, north of „ ...| ... SR ae Sa eas sees 91 70 | 130 Tullagung, ,, co one] Geo jac le Re OL oto 78| 74| 193 Pind-Dádun-Khán, south of Range des Seen Hec 668 Ves BER oe ess 98 | 110 | 146 From this it would appear that the general average rainfall of the country in which the Salt Range is situated is equal to about 16 inches. Mr. Login, in a paper which has recently appeared in Vol. XXVIII, Journal of the Geological Society of London, p. 186, thinks that the rainfall of the Punjáb is the same now as it was two thousand years ago, but more restricted to the mountains. Dr. Verchere, at section 96 of his paper previously referred to, argues that at the beginning of the miocene period in these regions the rainfall was excessive, resembling that of Patagonia, Gael) 62 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. the cutting of the Indus* and other gorges, and the excavation of preci- pitous valleys over 1,000 feet depth. It has been thought that the cliff feature, here so striking, resulted sa À from marine erosion; of course this may have arine erosion. taken place, but so great has been the subaérial denudation, that the traces of marine action would now be sought in vain. Fig. 3.—Profile of Sôn Sakesar basin. Natural scale + inch=1 mile. Sakesar Mountain, 6 miles to west. The salt lake basins of the Sön valley present some peculiarity as to their excavation; the largest, the Samundar lake, at an altitude of 2,526 feet and with a catchment area of about 60 square miles, covers 6 square miles of surface, and Són Plateau lakes. varies in depth and area with the accession of rain water, but is usually shallow. It has no visible outlet, and the difference between the altitude of the lake and that of the lowest part of the edge of its basin may be less than 100 feet. The greater part of the basin is formed of limestone and is rocky, but in an easterly direction there are large deposits of coarse detrital materials that may conceal some spot where the water could have escaped, before the passage was blocked up by their accumu- lation. No sufficient reason for calling in the aid of ice to assist in * Tf only a coincidence, it may be observed that the depth to which the last results of atmospheric erosion have reached at the water escape of the Indus from the hills, is nearly equal to the whole fall of that river from Kálábágh to the sea. The average of twenty heights on the Potwar plateau gives 1,426 feet, and the depth of the Indus gorge at Kálábágh, including that of the river itself, is about 650 feet, the fall from thence to the sea (taken from the height on the maps) being equal to 681 feet, or 82 feet less than half the average elevation of the Potwar country. C 0a) 0 PHYSICAL FEATURES. 65 explaining the excavation exists, and though there may have been for- merly subterranean passages through which dissolved portions of the limestone could be carried off, the saltness of the water indicates evapo- ration as the main cause to limit the area of the lake. The Khabaki lake at 2,481 feet of elevation is in an even deeper, though much smaller, depression of the Sôn ; like the Samundar, it has no outlet either. It is 276 feet lower than the nearer summit elevations, and from 114 te 196 feet lower than the least elevated part of the margin of its basin ; this also appears to be more completely a rock basin than the other, and both, if filled, would discharge into one of the heads of the Narsing- phoar ravine. Another and smaller lake is that of Jalar to the south- ward, also without an outlet. All are situated in limestone tracts, and though probably connected with “ swallow holes” or the damming up of former water passages, the size and form of some of the basins render local subsidence not at all an improbable cause for their existenee. Under existing circumstances, and with nothing to carry away ac- cumulating water except evaporation, these lakes must be gradually silting up. (8) 64 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. CHAPTER III. STRATIGRAPHIC GEOLOGY. Tue Salt Range and the neighbouring parts of the Himalaya are as unlike in geological structure as adjacent regions containing several of the same formations need well be. The Khäsia hills,* eleven to twelve hundred miles distant, occupy a somewhat analogous position with regard to the great chain, yet notwithstanding the distance, the geological section of that distant locality is not more dissimilar than that of the nearer known Himalayan regions described by Mr. Medlicott,+ Dr. Stoliczka,t and others.§ From the Salt Range to the Khásia hills, the structure of the ground concealed by the Gangetic or other alluvium is quite unknown, and in other directions, towards the peninsula of India, so far as the country has undergone examination, its geology is equally different from that of the Salt Range, so that the latter becomes unique if its geological features do not extend westward and south-westward. The disparity with the Himalaya consists not so much in the absence Disparity with Hima- of formations common to both as in the relative layan regions. | character of those represented ; the deposits of each possess petrographic and paleontological characters peculiarly their own, analogous to the distinctions marking the “ Alpine” and “ extra Alpine” regions of continental paleontologists. || Some eight fossil species are mentioned by M. de Verneuil as com- mon to the carboniferous series both of the Himalaya and the Panjáb, * Mem. Geol. Survey, India, Vol. I. + Ibid, Vol. II. t Ibid, Vol. V. § Ibid, Vol. IX. || This analogy was first suggested by remarks of the late lamented Dr, Stoliczka made while examining a few of the Salt Range fossils I had collected, and the suggestion seemed borne out by Dr. Waagen’s field examinations in the Upper Panjab. ( 64 ) STRATIGRAPHIC GEOLOGY. 65 and these include some of the Salt Range forms;* but with this exception, Dr. Waagen’s acquaintance. with scattered Upper Punjäb Himalayan localities tended to show that the fossils of their formations, other than carboniferous, compared with the Salt Range, possessed facies as distinct as the petrological characters of the rocks which contained them. The latter distinction, too, varies in degree, the rocks older than Num- mulitic being least similar in each region; the nummulitics, though distinguishable, approximating, and the overlying tertiary sandstones and clays being most alike; indeed, they belong to the same great series,{ in contact at either side with the inferior rocks of both regions. Rock Groups.—For the sake of conveying a comprehensive view of the various groups and their distribution, 1 annex a diagram, Pl. IX, in which their lateral extensions are shown to scale, and give a short reference to each before describing them more fully. They are naturally divisible into groups, thus :— No. 1.—The lowest is the gypseous red salt marl with rock-salt. No. 2.—The group which succeeds is less constant than the last, but its massive purple sandstones are prominently seen in the southern sections. No. 3.—Overlying No. 2 is a zone of softer nature and darker colour, black to dark gray argillaceous beds, with harder bands. It divides and dies out to the westward, and it contains the oldest fossils met with—Silurian. * Since the above was written, a specimen of Productus Humboldtii, D'Orb., has been found erratic at the northern base of some hills south of and close to Hassan Abdal by Mr, R. Lydekker. This is a Salt Range species, and may indicate the occurrence of a repre- sentative of the Salt Range carboniferous group among the outer Himalayan hills much nearer than the greatranges of the Himalaya beyond the Kashmir valley. How far the simi- larity of the group to the Salt Range carboniferous may extend, remains to be discovered. + The difference between the nummulitic fossils of the Sub-Himalyas (Sabäthu) and the Salt Range was long since pointed out by D’Archiac and Haime, and mentioned in Mr. Medlicott’s Sub-Himalayan Memoir. f Southward, in Kach and Lower Sind, the marine tertiary beds, newer than the nummulitic, are entirely different from these.—Mem. Geol. Surv. Ind., Vol. IX, pt. 1. I (08 )) 66 WYNNE : GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. No. 4.—The last group is closely succeeded by a strong and fre- No No. No quently much harder zone, characterised to the east by hard magnesian and other light-coloured sandstones with beds of dolomite. It also dies out westward. The continuation of the succession above this group differs in different parts of the range. . 5,—Near where No. 4 becomes divided and no longer trace- able as a connected group, its beds are succeeded by a softer and coarser set of granular, strongly bedded, sandstones, surmounted by pale lavender-coloured clay. 6.—Resting immediately on the last is a group of limestones chiefly crowded with carboniferous fossils, and only developed at the western side of the range. . 7.—So intimately united with the preceding as to appear to form a conformable upper portion is another group of limestones, sandstones and shales or clays, in which fossils are numerous. It is not quite so extensive laterally as No. 6, and between these lies the boundary separating the paleozoic and mesozoic rocks, this upper group being of Triassic age.—(Waagen.) . 8.-—To carry on the succession we must again turn to the eastern part of the range which groups 6 and 7 do not reach. Here, resting upon No. 4 and disappearing near the commencement of No. 5, is a group of thin, flaggy sandstones interstratified with blood-red clays, which, from its general relations to the rocks above, has been considered to occupy nearly the same place as the dis- tant westerly group No. 7, both being probably Triassic, though this can only be decidedly stated for the former. No. 9.—The next group lies in the far west of the range succeed- ( 66 ing No. 7. It contains white, red, and soft sandstones, STRATIGRAPHIC GEOLOGY. 67 with yellowish and gray limestones, and yellow marls. Its fossils are numerous and of Jurassic age. No. 10.—Newer than the last, but never in contact with it, is a zone of soft, greenish brown, and olive sandstones, conglomerates, and dark shales. It commences in the eastern part of the range, extending further west than No. 8 or any of the underlying groups to the east; fossils are most rare and ill-preserved, but such as were found were considered by Dr. Waagen probably creta- ceous. No. 11 group is the massive white or light-coloured nummulitie limestone forming so marked a series of clifís and escarpments, and of which the summit of the range consists. It disappears in the dislocations at the Indus and also thins out to the east. Nos. 12, 13, and 14 include the portions of the tertiary sandstone and clay series overlying the nummulitic limestone. Three sub-divisions of it, including Nahan and Siwálik beds, have been recognised, chiefly in the east part of the distriet, by Mr. Medlicott. No. 15.—In this may be included the alluvial and other super- ficial deposits, together with an older diluvial or post- tertiary conglomeratic group. The presence of a few small exposures of a peculiar trappean rock will be noticed in another place. From this and Plate IX, it will appear that the rock groups are irregularly distributed laterally. Of the whole (exeluding the more recent), seven are found to the east and seven or eight to the west, two only, or at most three, being continuous throughout the range. Four of the western groups are absent in eastern sections, and four belonging to the latter are unrepresented in the west, while of these eight only two may belong to the same period. (19000) 65 WYNNE : GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. The sub-divisions as indicated all possess sufficiently well-marked petrographie characteristies to enable them to be distinguished. If some hesitation on this ground might be felt, as to the boundary between Nos. 6 and 7, it would be removed by pal®ontological evidence: The fact of superposition establishes several of the groups, but some, though probably related, are so distant from each other that this clue to their place is absent, and when fossils are entirely wanting, as ın Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, and 8, their geological age becomes less certain, though their places in the series may give some aid as to their approximate position. Of the older groups, No. 3 only has yielded fossils and at but two places, where several small shells of the genus Fossiliferous beds, 3 \ Obolus,* Eichw., or Siphonotreta, Vern., were found by myself and determined by Dr. Stoliczka,t thus indicating an age not newer than Silurian. In group No. 4, obscure Fucoidal impressions have been met with, but nothing determinable. Group No. 6 abounds with well-known carboniferous species and many new ones according to Dr. Waagen. No. 7 contains quantities of Gastropoda and bivalves of Triassic age, (and some which Dr. Waagen thought might possibly show the lower beds to belong to the continental Dyas). No.9 has numerous Belemnites and other jurassic fossils as recognised by Dr. Waagen and previous observers. No. 10 has furnished but scanty and obscure paleontological evidence, while No. 11 is full of ıll-preserved nummulitie fossils, and the tertiary sandstones, &c., above frequently contain mammalian bones, erocodilian and other remains. Perhaps the most remarkable fact relating to the fossils found in Carboniferous Ammo. he Salt Range is the discovery of true Ammonites nites. in the carboniferous rocks near Jabi, collected by Dr. Waagen himself (See Mem. Geol. Surv. India, Vol. IX, pt. 2). It * See remarks on Obolus, with plates, by T. Davidson, Esq., F. G. S. &e., “On earli- est forms of Brachiopoda hitherto discovered in the British Palaeozoic rocks."— Geol. Mag., Vol. V, p. 303. + Dr. Waagen has seen these fossils i» situ and cleared some specimens for further determination, but did not decide to which of the two genera they belonged, so far as I am aware. (u 080) nara pag ugsip Jo asoy) fin shom 3904 qmq Etg Sad SEUD TUNS sp Suorpouaof eu qe9wanuoo GIAL OF fuo q savwpPgsco Y S, um OAN - YLS ol (auvae ng) PUOSAUIY | Tumgmaniunae pr ($029,222) se12129 249(Q OL (a5ssomp) dnos PIP IDA g “mez m;shsa yes B "Pag 2ynpa?22) L !'enuojseurry, 42/A0( 40 snovofmoguny y “DUNN Sp um er Tery2eds g t IUG SPURS Um seu OD] p t DULOJ, 003294301401, hs 4o 87970900 E "1.03 EP S dınz z "TPM 7798 I "ysnbug sepu Qsr=pepurse.dos pon (dip Lo eso, FOU arm WOUND DY y, ' e30NT) serios PUDY IME P4} Lo UI qugsip MY MYS 03 umubeug 'NOIIO9035 19301 qi IS up d SEA N^ ON N SDN San? wy Sd Ge Ee a NU SOME 5 NANN N ENIN INS IN SEIT Ta As == A a AA Tren ae I . o g es | | \ ma A 5 X Si j E i JE AG E A R b E E E 3 B $3. i : % es > = N SB : Lc S 5 > ES 8 E s sà B q^ 3 2 m : ER Pr ; d. ms E 3 3 Son Ea b3 5 $$ ~ * o a B $ $ * m > 3 eh § 4 5 à : & : XT AIT NIX OA FA Ua VIONI 30 AAAYNS 149/907039 omy ges auu SAN STRATIGRAPHIC GEOLOGY. | 69 is greatly to be regretted that his examination of the Salt Range col- lections, so unfortunately interrupted by his illness, was left incomplete.* Observe.—ln this and following tables the rocks are arranged in natural order, lowest beneath and newest at top, as printed :— Salt Range Series. QUARTERNARY, Feet. Alluvial and Rain-wash, alluvium, and superficial deposits. sub-recent. 15 Post Ter- Pebble beds .., Conglomerates is ... various thickness. tiary. CAINOZOIC. Pliocene ? 14. Upper Siwalik ... Conglomerates, drab and pink clays ... 300 to 2,000 13. Lower Siwalik ... Gray sandstones and red clays, with ne Bones 1 ... 1,200 to 7,500 ~ C12. Nahan ... Greenish-gray sandstones, crocodilian remains and fossil wood -.. 600 to 1,000 Eocene 11. “Upper limestone” Nummulite limestone, &e., large Gas- of Salt Range. tropods, Bivalves, Echinoderms, &e. 400to 600 MEsozo1c. Cretaceous 10. Olive series ... Olive, reddish, and white sandstones, caleareous beds, black shales with boulders, Terebratule and Bivalves 150to 350 Jurassic ... 9. Variegated group Red and white and variegated sand- stones, yellow and gray limestones and marls, some hematitic layers, Ammonites? Belemnites, &e. ' 200 to 500 8. Pseudomorphic Red and lighter-coloured flaggy sand- Trias salt-crystal zone. stones and blood-red clays or shales, pseudomorphic salt-crystals $e 50 to 500 7. Ceratite beds ... Gray limestones, calcareous sandstones and gray marls weathering greenish, Ceratites, &c. She .. 120to 250 PALÆOZOIC. Carbonife- 6. “Lower limestone?” Gray and magnesian limestone, cal- rous. of Salt Range. careous sandstone and argillaceous beds, numerous Producte, Spirifere, Bellerophon, Goniatites, and many other fossils 300 to 500 RaO 5. Speckled sandstone Speckled, reddish and white sand- stone, red and lavender clay ..' 250 to 450 PEE 4. Magnesian sand- Light-coloured magnesian sandstone, : stone. dolomite-sandstone, and shales ... 150 to 250 Silurian ,., 3. Obolus or Sipho- Black shales with glauconitic cal- : notreta beds. careous layers and sandy bands, Obolus or Siphonotreta T 30 to 150 EDER 2. Purple sandstone.. Deep purple sandstones .. 250 to 450 Eruptive .., Diorite ? and Ash A few exposures connected with the salt marl close up to base of No. 2 lenticular. ne 1. Saline Series ... Bright scarlet gypseous marls with ) 800 to 1,500 ; thick beds of rock-salt, "ym, Total un- thin dolomitic layers known. * The whole of the collections from the paleozoic and mesozoic formations of the Salt Range have lately been sent to Dr. Waagen for description in the Paleontología Indica, (62) 70 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. The whole of this great series, from the red marl up to the post- tertiary group, presents a general and regularly Conformity. i; d : o successive parallelism of stratification, each group succeeding the one it rests upon without the intervention of any marked traces of erosive action.* In a few isolated cases the upper surface of the highest carboniferous layers has been found locally rugged, as if the upward succession were less regular at that horizon, but in its general aspect it presents no exception to the rule.T Hematitic layers have been observed in some instances to mark the junction of some of the upper formations, both where the succession indicates the greatest irregularity and where it exhibits the least. One break, indicated by derived pebbles of the lower rocks, at the junction of the tertiary sandstones with the nummulitic limestone, accompanied by as much parallelism as elsewhere, will be noticed further on. SALINE SERIES. Red Marl: Gypsum: Rock-salt. The saline series is distinguished by the predominance of marl, in colour bright scarlet to dull purple, containing Salt Marl No. 1. J the rock-salt, gypsum, and some subordinate dolo- mitic layers, all forming together the lowest member of the series. In every section and every glen where the section is seen, the gypseous marl may be clearly observed passing beneath the next group and underlying all. It is always succeeded by dull earthy sandstones or con- glomeratic beds, and always presents the same peculiar aspect. * In the outer Himalayas, at Sirban mountain, near Abbottabad, there is marked unconformity of the Trias, &e., resting upon the supposed Silurian slates. + This unbroken passage of the rocks from Paleozoic to Mesozoic formations, the distinction being chiefly marked by the fossils alone, seems also to characterise the succes- sion in the Himalayas as shown by Dr. Stoliczka’s Sections and his paper,—see Mem. Geol. Sur., Vol. V. (UT SALINE GROUP. 71 Its brilliant scarlet colour, together with the arid aspect of the ground 1t forms, distinguish this rock from all the other groups. Under vertical sunshine it pales consid- erably, owing to the slope of the ground, and to the associated whiter gypsum being more visible ; but when the sun is low the marl glows vividly Colour. in the slanting rays, reflections of one surface upon another producing the softest and most velvet-like transparent shadows, while parts of a dull purple colour vary its monotony, and, at a sufficient distance to be in- fluenced by the blue of the atmosphere, this gives rise to many harmo- nious effects. The marl forms the most noticeable portion of the saline group, but in close association with it are thick beds of gypsum and thicker ones of rock-salt. It is tough rather than hard, but when very dry, possesses much the consistence of sun-dried brick. According to Dr. Warth’s examination, it contains a quantity of gypsum, and from Dr. Fleming’s account I extract the following: “It does not disintegrate when treated with hydrochloric acid, but in powder effervesces strongly, the Composition. greater part remaining undissolved as a red mud composed of clay and sulphate of lime; the portion soluble in acid consists of carbonate of lime and carbonate of magnesia in about equal proportions with a little alumina and peroxide of iron, to which it owes its colour.” * With this composition the name of “gypseous marl" is not inapplicable. Beyond the gypseous, saline, and dolomitic layers the red marl bears Stratification and thick. few original traces.of stratification, or inter-strati- ness fication, generally none at all ; hence it is difficult to form any correct idea of its thickness. Supposing it to have, where most largely developed, the same nearly horizontal stratification as other groups in its vicinity, and reckoning from the height of the mountain slopes which it forms (near Küsuk), it would appear to be at least 1,500 feet in thickness. It may be doubted whether another example could be * Fleming’s 2nd Report, p. 240, (omnt y) 12 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. found of such a homogeneous, argillaceous and aqueous deposit of the same depth in which signs of stratification are equally absent. In strong contrast to this is the perfect lamination frequently seen in the enclosed salt, and in the platy dolomitic layers. From the contorted state of the latter, and the curvature of the beds of salt in some of the mines, ıt may be presumed that, whether stratified or not, the salt marl is likewise disturbed. It has never been found to show any traces of erosion before the deposition of the next group. Dr. Fleming speaks of parts of the marl as brecciated, enclosing angular masses of other rocks, and mentions thin, argillaceous, dark-red layers in it. The latter 1 have not been able to detect, and the former observation seems to refer to some superficial mingling of fallen materials. Every one who has examined the ground pronounces the marl un- fossiliferous, but I am not aware that any of it has been subjected to microscopie examination. It may be found in the most complex association with various other groups, and through faulting it is brought into juxta-position with some of the very newest rocks of the series, or it may be apparently inconsecu- tively overlaid by various bands—a result of progressive displacement, in most cases caused by the dissolving of the salt or washing out of the marl from below the superior groups. It thus continually makes its appearance among the stratigraphie wreck which it has itself produced, and it is not completely buried by the mass of the overlying series, frac- tures permitting it to appear occasionally on the top of the range and along its northern slopes. Along the southern foot of the range itis seen wherever the ground is not thickly covered by debris. It rises pretty high to the eastward ; at Khewra to 1,000 feet nearly ; at Kúsuk to between this and 1,500; at Mount Chambal (west) to nearer 200 feet ; but westward of Makräch it lies generally low. At Varcha it is again high; it has been found at Dheri in the plateau country close to an elevation of 2,739 feet, and it Ce) Distribution. SALINE GROUP. 73 forms a hill of some 427 feet* above the plains at Mari on the Indus. On the north side of the range it is found in a small glen at Vasnäl, and obliquely traversing the slope from Kalar Kahär lake to west-by-south. The only non-constituent minerals which the marl is known to con- tain besides the gypseous and saline ones are bi- Minerals. c 3 . AO pyramidal quartz erystals in the gypsum of Mari (said also to be found at Sardi), scattered erystals or nests of iron pyrites in the gypsum also, here and there, and earth-oil intercalated with the gypsum of Khewra gorge. As to age, the salt marl has been referred to Triassic, New Red n | Sandstone or Permian, Miocene or Pliocene, but it is now known, from the way in which it passes beneath the overlying beds, to be not newer than Silurian—a fact de- pending upon the discovery of Obolus or Sipkonotreta in the group No. 4. Beyond this its place cannot be as yet more definitely fixed. Besides the disseminated gypsum, the red marl contains extensive ee beds and masses of this mineral, often largely developed in its upper part, but also more doubt- fully present in lower situations. As a rule, the gypsum overlies the salt. Sometimes it is interstratified with the marl, and sometimes it appears as if former beds had been broken up, or partially dissolved, leaving large frag- mentary masses embedded in the softer rock. Contorted or even distorted lines of stratification are found in the gypsum, but it has never been found to contain any detrital pebbles or foreign fragments. According to Dr. Fleming, it is nearly pure sulphate of lime, free from carbonate of lime. Its texture varies from compact and sub-crystalline to saccharine, and plates of clear selenite are also found. Its colour is white, or white mottled with grey or bluish grey, or it is sometimes pink or red; the more compact varieties are used for turning into ornamental utensils. * From comparison of heights on map and that given by Fleming, p. 449, 2nd Report. K (287) 14 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. Although the gypsum oceurs in great quantity, true anhydrite has never been found associated with it or 1n the marl, Semi-anhydrite. x f d : the nearest approach to this mineral being certain large nodular cores of greater weight and hardness and of a bluish white tint within beds of the whitish gypsum. Specimens of this rock were found by Dr. Warth to contain only 5 per cent. of water. Bischof says: Sulphate of lime at high temperatures under pressure erystallises with 6:21 per cent. of water, thus forming a semi-anhydrite* (anhydrite being of course waterless and gypsum containing 20°79F per cent.), and coming close to the Salt Range rock. Gypsum (according to Bischof also) may have three-fourths of its water driven off by long ex- posure to boiling temperature, leaving the same percentage nearly as in Dr. Warth’s specimen. Hence it would appear that if this be an original rock, a high temperature may have existed during its formation,] or heat may have acted upon it since its deposition. If neither be the case, the situation of this semi-anhydrite may suggest the transition of the rock from anhydrite to gypsum by taking up water. This variety melts away or changes into finely erystalline white powder below the surface of a stream highly charged with salt in Khewra gorge. Sometimes in thick masses ofthe ordinary gypsum, there occur layers Dolomite layers in gyp- Of white, brittle, hard flaggy dolomite which looks sum. and burns like a limestone. At one or two places, notably at the southern foot of Mount Tilla,$ these dolomite layers contain numerous and very perfect casts of large “ hopper-shaped” erystals of salt. The same kind of rock becomes massive at the western foot of Mount Chambal (east) northward of Jalälpür, also in Khewra glen, where a fcetid variety is associated with the peculiar eruptive rock of * Bischof on rock-salt works near Stassfurt, C. E. M. Pfeffer, Halle, p. 48. + 20:88, Vide Page, and 20:8, Dana. t The gypsum of the Spiti Valley is attributed partly to thermal springs.—Mallet, Mem. Geol. Surv. Ind., Vol. V, p 159. § First observed by Dr. Warth, ( 74 ) SALINE GROUP. 75 the locality and with coaly-looking highly bituminous shales occurring as a pocket or small lenticular mass.* In several places, and apparently low down in the salt marl, hard, thin, dark, platy, gray, or greenish layers of what appears to be also a sandy dolomite with shaly partings, have been met with in several places: they may perhaps be the thin beds of chert and silicious sinter of Dr. Fleming’s paper (p. 240). In a few spots—fewer even have been placed on record by others— I have met with some irregular patches of a dark = purple compact to earthy volcanic-looking rock. It occurs associated with gypsum and red marl close to the upper surface of the saline series, just below the purple sandstone (No. 2). It has the appearance of a diorite, and is associated with paler purple ‘volcanic tufa or ash. It is crowded with stellate accicular crystals of what may be decomposed actinolite,f and contains strings and nests of tale, small geodes of reddish and clear quartz and chalcedony, minute cavities filled with reddish calcite, strings of quartz and white specks of some decom- posed mineral not sufficiently abundant for determination. I have not observed this trap in dykes, but in nearly horizontal lenticular layers from a few inches up to 6 feet thick or even more; in some places between gypsum bands, sometimes having a thin layer of the red marl between it and the overlying sandstone, or, as in the Nílawán ravine, lying between rock-salt and gypsum. Here it is partly decomposed, but may have been 15 feet thick. The associated violet or lavender earthy portion is used by the natives instead of soap.] It generally overlies the more solid rock with an irregular thickness up to 4 feet. Mr. Theobald seems to have found this rockin a more dyke-like position altering the adjacent rocks—an * Some of the shale made a fine blazing fire, decrepitating while burning and leaving much ash, also giving off sulphurous fumes. From this rock Dr. Warth obtained a dark mineral oil by distillation. f Tremolite: Fleming, p. 242, and Theobald, p. 676. I Not unlike the ashy clays with the volcanic-looking infra-nummulitic laterites in Kachh.—Mem. Geol. Sur., Vol. XI. ( 75) 76 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. observation difficult to make on account of the general decomposition in its vicinity where I have seen it. Inthe Upper Khewra gorge the following section occurs :— 8. Purple sandstone dee ie .. Oto O feet. 7. Red gypseous clay E - ¿œ 10 to 15 <5 6. Lenticular mass of trap, maximum... sd 5106, 5. Greenish clay D ose f 20 4. Powdery dolomitic layer, white .. ss 4 „ 3. Bituminous shale see T u 6 inches. 2. Dolomitic laminated bands i3 ad 15 feet. 1. Red marl, gypsum, and salt cb a 1,000 ,, The rock-salt is found near the upper part of the red marl as a rule, and generally just below the greatest development js of the gypsum, with which its stratification is parallel. It alternates with thick, dark-brownish red beds of impure saline marl, ealled by the natives Za//ar, and 1s pink, reddish, or white, rarely having gray blotehes, but frequently showing numerous alterna- tions of laminz of small thickness, reddish and white colour and different degrees of opacity. The marl, gypsum, and salt, all yielding rapidly to the wasting action of the atmosphere, which reduces the whole to a state of obscurity, it is difficult to find any natural sections from which to gather the detailed structure of the saline zone. In Khewra mining region, where a portion of the saline deposits has been most fully explored and a survey of the mines mäde, the lowest bed of the series as known there is a bed of salt, but this 1s insufficient to show that salt-rock 1s always the lowest member of the series. The various modes of concealment, natural or artificial (to prevent theft), combine to prevent an idea being formed of ORT. the lateral extension of the salt beyond what may be gathered from its very frequent occurrence along the southern foot of the range. As toits thickness, whether local or otherwise, the great: caverns excavated in ıt at Khewra, Varcha, and other localities (some of which are large enough to contain good-sized parish churches or large houses) give a general notion of the massive character of the deposit. ( 7%) SALINE GROUP. 77 At the Mayo Mines, Dr. Warth* has found from his survey that the salt occurs in five great beds having a united thickness of 275 feet, alter- nating with another 275 feet of Zallar or impure salt, the whole of this saline group being intercalated in the upper part of about 1,000 feet of red marl and gypsum. ‚Single beds of the salt are over 100 feet in thickness here, and in other parts of the range vary from 6 to 30 feet; indeed, the salt occurs so frequently that it does not appear to have ever been necessary to trace out the extension of any particular bed. The beds are not all of equally good salt, some containing a little earthy matter, but many, if not the majority of Purity. : : : them, consist of the mineral in a fine translucent or even transparent condition varying from crystalline to compact. The following analyses of the sal; of the (Khewra) Mayo Mines will be found with others in Dr. Warth's Report already mentioned, these having been made by Mr. Cornelius Hickey, Chemical Analyst, Agrat :— Composition. CoNTENTS. I. II. III. IV. Me Average. Earthy matter ... dos ... | Trace. | Trace. | Trace. 0:04 | Trace. Sulphate of lime Los s 0:77 0:69 0:92 0:68 0:75 Chloride of calcium a des eee 0:42 1:16 iss 0:50 Chloride of magnesium oss E 0:71 0:71 1:34 9:92 1:25 Chloride of sodium X. ». | 94°60 92°84 92:80 91:74 93:00 Water and loss ... oA 360 3:92 5:34 3°78 5:32 4:50 TOTAL ... | 100:00 | 100:00 | 100:00 | 100:00 | 100-00 No. I. Purest white crystalline salt. No, II. White salt as sold from depót, Buggy Mine. No. III. Red salt as sold from depót, Sájewal Mine. No. IV. Mixed red and white salt as sold from depöt, Buggy Mine. No. V. Average good salt of Mayo Mines calculated from the others. * Report in Appendix to Administration Report, Inland Customs, 1869-70. t Dr. Fleming thought the salt contained no chloride of magnesium, and that the red salt derived its colour from something of an organic nature (p. 243, Report previously quoted). Dr. Jameson (auth. cit.) speaks of crystals of quartz as occurring, though rarely, in the salt. These I have never observed or known to be observed. ru) 18 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. The banded structure of the salt beds is chiefly caused by layers of different colour, the bands being most solid, pera looking or of darkest colour about the middle and softened into a paler tint on the edge; sometimes there are alternating layers of a red earthy nature from which Epsom salt eflloresces. The strata have a regularity intermediate between that ordinarily observable in flag- stone and sandstone, the bands or layers having in some places for consi- derable distances vertical to their planes a general thickness of 6 to 8 inches varying to 2 feet, while for several yards across the strike in some of the larger beds no lamination at all is to be seen. There are also numerous irregularities of the bedding showing much lenticular arrangement of deposition. In one place an earthy film was observed crossing a thick bed in a zig-zag manner as if a crack had been filled up. No sign of current (ripple) mark or well-developed oblique lamination could be found. Layers of the salt thinning out, convex above and below, were frequently seen. A contorted band of salt between two layers of kallar similarly curved was observed in the 10-feet marl bed (fig. 5), the appear- ance being precisely similar to that produced by disturbance in ordinary stratified rocks, though the arch was only about 2 feet across. One of the uppermost layers of the salt in the Khewra gorge has a mechanical brecciated ER ope a structure, and encloses fragments of marl, gypsum, and of rock-salt. Fig. 5.—Contortion in beds within the Mayo salt mines, The whole of the group of salt beds at this place is shown to be curved by the different angles of dip observable, but none of the complicated little foldings so common in the adjacent gypsum and (o We) SALINE GROUP. . 19 dolomitic layers are apparent. The curvature might either result from general disturbance of the whole strata, or from partial motion in the saline series only, and would go to prove a certain flexibility even in the crystalline salt rock, which must have crystallised in horizontal planes originally. Superineumbent pressure is of enormous force in the mines, the strongest stone masonry, even in arches, being crushed out of form, and where large 40 feet pillars of salt are feft to support the roof, this vertical pressure causes huge flakes of the mineral to Separate. At the ends of “drifts” also the pressure causes large pieces to flake off the vertical surfaces left unsupported by working out. The whole mass of the salt-mines hill is subject to percolation of small quantities of rain water, which would eventually cause movement and slippage under the pressure alluded to. The compact solidity of the salt may be inferred from the fact that sounds travelling through it are audible at distances of 110 to 130 feet (as proved by Dr. Warth’s measurement). The miners often, in approach- ing drifts, signal to each other by blows of a sledge on the face into which they are cutting. Sulphate of magnesium (Epsom salts) is mentioned in small quanti- REN ties in some of the analyse (iven by Dr. Warth) made from waste-salt; its existence is doubtful, except to a very trifling extent in the mass of this rock-salt, but it impregnates the hallar and thin layers between the salt-beds. It also effloresces from the surfaces of the red marl in old workings. Dr. Warth has also found in the mines a white mineral composed of gypsum, chloride of sodium, and sulphate of magnesium, besides very beautiful, long, curving, fibrous, spun-glass-like erystallizations of salt Ce) - 80 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. in some of the old drifts, which are now neither safe nor easy of access. In fissures of the salt* he has met with scattered crystals of selenite and crystalline nests of a mineral with the composition of Glauberite (sulphate of calcium and sulphate of sodium without water). While a collection of the Salt Range minerals was being made for the 1 " Vienna Exhibition of 1873, a greenish or reddish- Potassium salts. y white glassy mineral, harder than common salt, was found by Dr. Warth extensively mixed with the material of the hallar band, separating the Sújewal and Purwálla salt seams of the Mayo mines. It predominated throughout a thickness of 6 feet in the Zallar bed, and was largely mixed with sulphate of magnesium, which also pre- vailed through 7 feet of the same band immediately beneath. On a rough examination by Dr. Warth this was found to be potassium salt. In composition it varied, and two of the specimens for the Vienna Exhibition examined by Mr. Tween gave the following results :— No. 1. No. 2. Colourless salt. Pink-coloured salt. Chloride of potassium I in 3:8 61:43 Do. of sodium deb woe Be 29°32 Sulphate of magnesium — ... so 5802 7-78 Do. of potassium Ne EOS dy Water Peed AR NEE e 62 9:1 10044 100:63 This potassium salt is referred to in a translation from the Jahrbuch der k. k. Geologischen Reichsanstalt, xxii, No. 2, p. 136,7 as a white or reddish granular mixture of sylvine (chloride of potassium) and kieserite (sulphate of magnesium), the kieserite possessing the same hardness and cleavage as the Hallstadt mineral and also appearing to be compact. It * In Sújewal and Purwalla mines, where the salt crystals sometimes assume unusual forms, the margins of the cube-faces being replaced so that the solid angles have 6 bevelled edges. + Records, Geol, Surv. Ind., Vol. VII, p. 64. ( 80 ) SALINE GROUP. 81 has been ascertained that this potash salt forms only a local lenticular deposit: it has not been found except in this instance, so far as 1 am aware. As to size and quantity, the salt deposits of this district rank high À among known localities for the mineral, numerous Size and quantity. though these are known to be.* The salt group of the Salt Range, though occupying a much greater longitudinal extent of country, displays much less salt at the surface than 1s exposed in the Trans-Indus salt region. The mineral is found at not very distant intervals along the south side of the range for a distance of 120 miles. How much of the salt formerly existing has been removed by the percolation of fresh water, and perhaps subterraneously distributed to the southward, cannot of course be known, but it is on record that the water of the Thull or Bär and of many places in that direction is brackish or sufficiently saline for salt to be manufaetured from it; this is at great distances from the Salt Range. It is not easy to attempt even a rough estimate of the quantity of salt in the Salt Range. If an average thickness of only 135 feet and a width of three miles be assigned to the salt beds, then, in the 130 miles along which these are seen, there may be 130 miles x 3 miles x 135 feet of beds, giving as the solid content of the salt deposits nearly 10 cubic miles. * Large deposits of salt are known to occur at Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, near the shores of the Caspian Sea, in Persia, in Algeria, in Europe, and America; but still those of the Salt Range seem hardly inferiorto any of those recorded by Dr. Karsten (Lehrbuch der Salinenkunde, Berlin). Salt is not known to occur in the valley of Kashmir,—see Dana's Mineralogy, Art. Salt. A shaft which took several years to sink is stated to have passed through 3,907 feet of rock-salt at Sperenberg, twenty miles from Berlin, without reaching the limit of the deposit (Sitzunsber d. Naturf. Gesellsch. zu Halle, 1867, 23, Nov.) The salt was met with at 280 feet from the surface of the ground, but the dip not being given, the thickness cannot be estimated. A measured section at Bahadur Kheyl, trans-Indus, gave a thickness of 1,000 to 1,200 feet of salt, the very magnitude of which rendered it doubtful whether there were not concealed faults. L (8) 82 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. Rock-salt, gypsum, and dolomite have always presented, as to their . Origin of the rock- origin, difficulties too well known to need recapitu- in lation.* With regard to their occurrence in this district, notwithstanding the progress of. geological knowledge, I may quote and apply this passage of Macculloch, written forty-six years ago: * Tt is far easier to show that the most simple and obvious hypothesis is wrong or imperfect than to propose a probable one ;” and, further, I might aimost use his words, “no rational explanation has yet been suggested, and I have none to offer.” F Though the subject still remains very "T in the obseurity which surrounded it when that author wrote, a few points bearing upon it may be noticed. That the mysterious conditions necessary to the produetion of these j deposits have been persistent from very early Continuance or recur- rence of the salt-produe- geological time, or else recurrent, is established TEO by the local relations, the red marl and gypsum usually (but not always) accompanying rock-salt being as prominent in this region as in many more modern ones; while the saline nature of many of the groups would indicate the presence, more or less, of salt- produeing conditions, from the silurian or pre-silurian epoch up to ter tiary times. Most, if not all, of the groups in the Salt Range series appear to have been marine, and saline ingredients of one kind or another effloresce from many of their beds, but as the succession is consecutive, or unbroken up to the base of the tertiary sandstone group, these saline traces do not appear connected with any derivative formation of the newer from the waste of the older rocks. * It is the less necessary to discuss these causes here, because a similar subject has been noticed recently in describing the Trans-Indus Salt Region: Mem. Geol. Surv. Ind., Vol. XL p. 37. + A System of Geology, by John Macculloch, M.D., F.R.S,, Lond., Vol. II, p. 293, Longman, &e.; 1831. ( 82 ) SALINE GROUP, 83 The regularity with which the red marl, salt, and gypsum “are RM az by aqueous deposits, together with their internal stratification so far as this is exhibited, are in favour of the salt having been produced by evaporation, the theory most generally adopted. The absence in this vicinity of any known great volcanic vents, Distance from any vol. Cither active or dormant, at the early period to en which the salt and gypsum belong, is not in favour of a strong connection with volcanic causes, and yet the idea is strangely associated with the fact that the only igneous rock of the whole Salt Range—one of apparently volcanic origin—occurs absolutely within the saline series. The suggestion of high temperature indicated by the semi-anhydrite, found not far from that porphyritic rock, bears upon this point, as does also the association of dolerites and trachytes with the salt-rocks of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf.* The internal structure of the salt beds and the numerous indications Possibly limited area of lenticular deposition, suggest limited areas of of accumulation. local accumulation on the same horizon; perhaps of similar character to the salt-lakes Professor Ramsay has supposed to have existed during the Triassic period. Some modern writersi suggest the existence of enormous salt- producing causes, at extremely remote geological periods. This silurian or pre-silurian Salt-Range salt being among the most ancient deposits of the mineral known, some trace of these causes of production might be expected to show itself, but nothing has been detected to indicate a dif. * ferent origin from other salt-rock deposits. On the other hand, the Trans-Indus salt, so much more recent, if laterally less extensive, has also * Mr. Blanford’s paper in the Records of the Geological Survey of India, Vol. V, part 2, p. 42. ài t Anniversary Address, 1864, Quar. Journ. Geol Soc. Lond., Vol, XX, p. 47; also Quar, Journ. Geol. Soc. Lond., Vol. XXVIII, p. 160. I See Chemistry of the Primeval Earth, and subsequent correspondence by Dr. Sterry Hunt-and Mr. David Forbes, Geol, Mag., Vol, IV, pp. 363, 365, 438, 439, and Vol. V. ( 83 ) 84 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. a much greater development in mass; and while the tertiary period to which it is believed to belong approximates to present time, this salt itself has a much greater structural similarity to the ancient deposits associated, like it, with gypsum, than to any known modern salt formation.* - Recent salt regions are proverbially azoic, and no organisms : of any kind have been found in this salt or the Absence of organisms, accompanying gypsum, nor yet any recognisable ones in the succeeding group ; but burrows of Annelides (?) and small shells of one genus of mollusea occur in the next newer zone. However, if the salt were supposed to have been formed by the dessieation of pools, there seems no reason why organisms might not be found in the saline series. Fossil bones occur in the gypsum of the Paris basin ; and in the salt of the Ran of Kach, fish, water-snakes and insects, prevented, by the brine from undergoing decomposition, may also be seen. Doubtless the remains of these would become preserved in the adjacent mud of the Ran. The. enormous quantity of sea-water necessary for the formation of Quantity of sea-water So much saltt and the absence of ordinary detrital necessary. stratified deposits formed in tbat sea are also revalent considerations under the supposition of evaporation. PURPLE, SANDSTONE. No, 2.—The Purple Sandstone next above the Saline series possesses Lp great uniformity of aspect and texture except OSITION. in the far western part of the range. Its lower * For information regarding modern Indian salt formations, among other sources, see Ran of Kach, Trotter; Appendix to Annl. Rept., Gt. Trig. Surv., 1872-73; Kach, Mem. Geol. Surv, Ind,, Vol. IX, pt. 1—“ Sambur Lake;" Rept. Admin. Inland Customs, Ind., 1870-71, pp. 113—125; Panchpadder Salt Works, Burnes, Journ. As. Soc, Beng., Vol. II, p. 366—* The valley of the Poorna River.” Records Geol. Surv, Ind. Vol. II, pt. 1. Salt:is stated to cceur in the Hindu Kush Mountains, but whether recent or not I could not discover from my native informant, the only person who had seen it to my knowledge. T For every cubic foot of salt, it may be taken that 50-cubic feet of sea-water would have to be evaporated, or for a column of salt of 275 feet (ante) by 1 foot square a depth of more than 24 miles of sea-water should disappear, not to mention the quantity of salt in the impure Kallar beds assisting to form the 550 feet of salt rocks at the Mayo mines. ( 84 ) PURPLE SANDSTONE. 85 fifty to one hundred feet immediately succeeding the red salt marl are very earthy, but of the usual purple colour, and appear like a transi- tion from the marl up into the sandstone; the latter is generally soft and splintery below, where the lines of bedding are not very clearly marked. Above the earthy portion argillaceous inter-stratifications are rare or absent, and the beds are all of a nearly equal hardness, considerably less than that which is usual in palzozoic rocks. The sandstone is absorbent or hygrometrie, frequently covered with a white IN saline efflorescence, and contains both carbonates of Composition. th : lime and magnesia in its composition.* Its colour near the top of the group changes from the prevailing dull purple to much paler shades, in places banded with warm yellowish streaks. Dr. Fleming’s and Mr. Theobald’s descriptions of this sandstone group vary somewhat. The former describes it as containing conglo- merate and ripple marks, the latter as never containing a pebble and having none of these markings. As a rule, no doubt, Mr. Theobald is correct in these particulars, some earthy conglomerate bands in the western part of the distriet being only doubtfully referable to the forma- tion; but it would scarcely be safe to assert that ripple marks never occur in these sandstones, though they are certainly not characteristic of the group. In one exceptional instance only, in the eastern part of the range, a Rd RENS RENS marked difference in the arrangement of these aia dark shalo Bend, beds was met with, a strong band of greenish-gray flags and shales appearing to intervene between the red marl and purple sandstones at the base of Dandót cliffs. The occurrence being quite unusual, it is very probable that a concealed fault or other dislocation has placed the next overlying group. in an apparently inverted position, and even though traces of the break have not been found, its presence may be almost presumed. from the many dislocations of the rocks of the vicinity. * Dr. Fleming's 2nd Report, p. 253. 7 ( 85 ) 86 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. The thickness of this purple group varies somewhat, but its prevalence Thickness and distr. 211 over the eastern part of the range is very con- Daten. stant; here it generally forms the first cliff rising out from the talus or broken ground, as at Tilla, Chambal (east), along the escarpment from Jalálpur towards Pind-Dádun-Khán and away to the - west. In this direction it gets very gradually thinner and no longer shows itself so prominently amid the dislocated masses of other rocks, but along; the edge of the plains traces of it appear the whole way to near Músa- khél, while in places within the glens it seems to have quite died out. From this part of the range to the Indus it cannot be said to exist, at least not in its usual form, being replaced by a clayey conglomerate of metamorphic pebbles. The group has always proved unfossiliferous, nothing more than obscure and doubtful traces of fucoids oceurring Unfossiliferous. Pea in it, and these but seldom. " . The thickness of the Purple sandstone group varies from two hundred to about four hundred and fifty feet. SILURIAN. | No. 3.—The Obolus or Siphonotreta beds show prominently in N all the eastern sections, forming an inclined talus along the top of the purple sandstones ; and exposed as belts in the cliffs or caps to projecting spurs.* They consist of dark or blackish sandy shales drying of a dull purple colour, full of black glisten- ing polished surfaces on the planes of lamination. Structure. ; T : : They are often micaceous and interstratified with crystalline calcareous glauconitic-looking layers or sandy and conglome- ratic bands, but the dark shaly character generally distinguishes the zone, which is much better defined in some places than in others. Strong ripple marks are seen occasionally. In two places—one in the Khewra gorge above where the fresh water is taken off for the use of the miners, and the Organic remains. 7 : : f à other in a deep ravine nearly a mile east o (88) SILURIAN—MAGNESIAN SANDSTONE. 87 Jútána, close search led me to the discovery of some little bivalves numerously scattered through a small thickness of the sandy micaceous shale. The shells are very thin, no pair ever occurring in position, and are frequently crushed, flat, and broken. With great care and trouble Dr. Waagen was able to free the internal aspect of a few of the valves (the outside only being visible in some hundreds of specimens) so as to enable them to be determined as belonging to two species of Obolus or Siphonotreta, genera only found in silurian rocks. The discovery of these led to the hope that some other fossils might be detected, but nothing except fucoids or annelid markings has been obtained by further search, and I was obliged to rest content with the proof that the Salt Range contained even older paleeozoic rocks than the carboniferous formation . discovered by Dr. Fleming. This silurian sub-division 1s well defined on Mount Tilla, Chambal Ee en sud Mountain (east), on the north-west side of Diljaba, definition. from Jalälpur to Khewra, and thence to Makrách; but beyond this westward becomes divided by light-coloured sandstone bands and loses much of its definite appearance. The characteristic shaly portions can nevertheless be often recognised (though of a greener colour), bending into the gorges and forming the middle of the cliffs as far as the Sungle Wán north of Nálli. In a few places—as, for instance, along the track from the Verála springs to Pail—conglomeratic bands occur in this group, the included pebbles being small, and asis usual in all deposits of the range older than tertiary, being exclusively of crystalline rocks. The thickness of the group varies from twenty to one hundred and fifty feet. MAGNESIAN SANDSTONE GROUP. No. 4.—The next group above that with silurian fossils presents a strong contrast to it, and in a great measure Character. o Bite owing to the association of the two, forms some of the most marked cliff features of the escarpments of the range. In this character it replaces the nummulitic limestone wherever the latter is 87.) 88 WYNNE : GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. absent or inconsiderably developed ; but, possessing itself only a limited lateral extension, gives place again in this respect to other beds. The group is characterised in many places, particularly to the. east- ward, by the prevalence of certain hard, light eream-coloured, or whitish bands of dolomite and massive calcareous dolomitic sandstone rock, sometimes weathering after the manner of limestone,—sometimes showing on the weathered surface strangely arranged markings like the sections of flat lenticular patches of more compact texture than the rest, but a never the smallest trace, so far as known, of any Composition. ^ 3 : : kind of organie structure. "This variety of rock has been called by Dr. Fleming magnesian sandstone, and stated to have the following composition* :— White quartz, sand ... we A ,. )28:000 Carbonate of iron with a trace of alumina ... hab 7:313 Carbonate of lime ... m dt boo 32874 Carbonate of magnesia bes a «e. 81199 Loss .. ose Age se. an 614 Total ss» 100000 Doubtless its composition varies much, and this analysis appears to have been obtained from a highly calcareous and magnesian portion on Mount Tilla. The more massive beds frequently present a peculiar brecciated appearance, as if the rock had been broken by pressure and re-cemented. Associated with these harder beds are strong, light coloured sandstones, sometimes with oolitic layers or more flaggy bands, often separated by greenish and dark-coloured shales, the flaggy portions being occasionally covered with obscure lumpy fucoidal or annelidan markings. Unless the oolitic bands should be found to con- Organic traces. : 6 : o tain microscopic organisms, the whole group would appear to be unfossiliferous otherwise than so far as stated. * l. c, page 255. As the rock contains more than 23 per cent. of carbonate of magnesium, it ought, according to Cotta, to be called dolomite. Calcareous dolomite sandstone would seem most applicable. ( 88 ) MAGNESIAN SANDSTONE, 89 The group with its most characteristic rock is well seen upon Mount Tilla, but is hardly represented on the neighbouring Chambal Mountain. It re-appears on Diljaba and Kárangli (where it contains small crystals of galena), and is well marked from Jalälpur towards Khewra, but beyond Makräch loses much of its individuality. Its sandstones beine often separated by shales, it no longer forms marked features, its best exposures being on the spurs or among the dislocations and subject to the obscurity which they entail. Notwithstanding this, however, at Makräch and a little to the westward, greenish and hard white sandstones with dark, in places carbonaceous, shales and numerous large fucoids on the bedding surfaces, occupy the place of this group and underlie the next, proving the succession different from that apparent to the east. Dr. Fleming unites the group No. 3 with this in one of his divisions, although each possesses, where well developed, United with the group ^ i j x below, &c, by other a strong lithological character of its own; while observers Mr. Theobald would, on the other hand, appa- rently include the present group with No. 10, with which it is seldom in contact; at least it is difficult to account for the conglomerates he describes among the magnesian sandstones on any other grounds, Conglomeratie layers there may be here and there so trifling as to escape notice, but strong conglomerates form no prominent feature of the group, even in its western most sandy and most divided portion. In the direction of Makrach and to the westward, both this group and No. 3 might be included in one; but even ad beyond that locality, the lower shaly zone being traceable much further than the overlying sandstone, &c., and both being more closely related to each other than to the beds either above or below them, it appears better to preserve the petrographical distinction, prin- cipally because the want of paleontological evidence makes it impossible to assert that this group, like the lower one, is silurian. M (1320) 90 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. The thickness of this dolomitie and sandy group, where well de- veloped, is more than three hundred feet, and its average may be between one hundred and fifty and two hundred feet. If we were to follow the apparently natural and conformable suc- cession from this group upwards anywhere about Khewra or the neigh- - bouring eastern part of the range, the following beds would occur in succession: first a brilliant red group, then olive beds, and then a lime- stone group finally overlaid by a mass of grey and greenish sandstones and reddish clays. The sequence would be true and natural no doubt, but not the whole truth, for four other zones having their places between this magnesian sandstone and the “ olive beds” above-mentioned would be unnoticed, not being present in the eastern area. SPECKLED SANDSTONE. No. 5.—OF these four groups the first indications of that which pro- perly succeeds the last become visible to the west- Commencement. à i ward about Makrách; the group rapidly increases in thickness, and extends throughout the range, ifs importance growing less beyond the Chiderü hills, but the beds appearing frequently along the southern edge of the larger elevations eulminating in Tredian Hill, and being only lost amid the eomplieated disloeations in the neighbour- hood of Märi on the Indus. This group of beds consists, as a mass, of light-coloured and reddish NS or purplish speckled sandstones alternating with Constitution. 3 : red clays and shales, and including some very distinctly marked lavender-coloured and purple or grayish argillaceous and gypseous bands. The latter from their deliquescent nature yield so rapidly to the action of the weather that the original rock can seldom be seen, so thickly is the outerop covered with its own detritus in the form of sun-dried or powdery mud. These bands occur Lavender clays. j f y at various heights in the group, but are generally (109019 SPECKLED SANDSTONE. 01 prominent as a thick mass forming its upper part.* As might be expected from the weathering of these beds, saline efflorescences are common on their surfaces. These lavender clays are the beds apparently alluded to by Fleming} codo and Theobald] as “ cupriferous shale” and ** copper shales,” some stress being laid upon their occur- rence by these writers more than might have been the case if a fancied analogy had not been perhaps suspected between them and some European cupriferous beds of triassie and new or old red sandstone age. Dr. Fleming says the occurrence of little nodules of sulphuret of copper was first made publie by Captain Hollings, Deputy Commissioner of Leia. The quantity, however, was insignificant ; it was quite so in a commercial point of view according to Mr. Theobald. The ore is said to be found in grains “rarely larger than a pea" on the surface of the beds, particularly after rain, when the green colour of the nodules brings them prominently into view. That they cannot be very prominent may be gathered from the fact that after repeated search I have failed to discover them 7m situ, the only specimens I have seen being a few in the possession of one of the Salt Customs Officers who did not know exactly from whence they came. The colour of the whole group of sandstones is very often reddish, though the sandstone beds in detail are generally Colour. 2 : speckled, containing greenish or purple patches, orlayers, of no great size. This redness is supposed to result partly from oxidation of iron in the rock, or more mechanically from the absorp- tion of water coloured by the washing of the red earthy bands. Ripple marks and signs of oblique lamination may be frequently observed, as * "The colour, texture, and whole aspect of these clays are very similar to those of the lavender clay patches associated with the Khewra and Nílawán trap: they also remind one of the lavender-grey portion of the lateritic clay deposits of Kachh, which are also often saline.—See Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India: “On the Geology of Kach," Vol. IX, pt. 1, p. 68, &c. + Second Report, p. 257. + As. Soc. Beng., Cit. (ar 9 92 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. well as some obscure fucoid markings and plant impressions—the only traces of organie life the beds seem to possess. If these sandstones have any one peculiarity more likely to aid in distinguishing them than another, it is the occur- Peculiarity. ! i 4 rence of numerous small wart-like concretionary knobs projecting from their weathered surfaces (a feature sometimes common also in the Barákar and in some Máhádéva sandstones of Central India as well as among the upper beds of the jurassie series in Kach). Mr. Theobald says they are chiefly composed of the sharp sand of granitic rocks, and sometimes have a porphyritie aspect owing to crystals of felspar being present.* Some of the coarser beds have an arkose look, but I can hardly argee with him that any general or special character of these rocks which I have seen is sufficient to “afford unquestionable indieations of the simultaneous existence of volcanic forces in the vicinity.” From the Makrách to the Sardí glen the lower part of the group, for a thickness of one hundred or one hundred and fifty feet, is often A seen to consist of brownish and light-coloured i sandstones with some whitish flags and dark shales, as well as bands of conglomerate, the pebbles in which are of granite, syenite, and other crystalline, trappean, or metamorphic rocks, this portion having a general resemblance to some of the beds of group No. 10, On reference to the diagram on Plate VIII it will be seen that another Irregularity of succes. group ends just about where that under notice sion, commences, and the idea may suggest itself whe- ther the two are or are not continuous. The sections in this neighbour- hood, however, show here and there a red band above the sandstones of No. 5, which may possibly be the last remnant of group No. 8. The latter before reaching this place gradually diminishes in thickness for a * Mr. Theobald’s paper to As. Soc. Beng., pp. 661, 662, (9) CARBONIFEROUS. 93 long distance, evidently disappearing from the series, besides which it has hardly a petrological characteristic in common with the group No. 5, though both are arenaceous and partly argillaceous deposits, and both, for all useful purposes, unfossiliferous. This group, No. 5, is even at its commencement conglomeratic in places. It is occasionally so throughout its extension, and far to the west, where the groups 2 and 5 lose in thickness greatly, the conglo- meratic character increases, the paste being often earthy and the enclosed fragments large boulders of crystalline rock; but it is rather uncertain whether these beds may not belong to the “ Purple sandstone.” The’ average thickness of the group where well seen is from two hundred and fifty to four hundred feet. - CARBONIFEROUS LIMESTONE, &c. No. 6.— We come now to a very interesting formation, the carbon- iferous rocks of the Salt Range which have attracted so much attention. The most prominent beds of the group are grey limestones, in colour, texture, and very frequently in the general aspect of their organic remains, ‘undistinguishable from much of the carboniferous Limestone. limestone so largely developed in England and Ireland. ee in the latter country, magnesian limestones are also com- mon. Shales often predominate at the base, suc- ceeded by yellowish and reddish sandstones with Spirifer and fish remains (teeth, &c.), sometimes containing strong bands Other rocks. of black coaly sandy shale. The upper parts of these sandstones are an in places often highly fossiliferons with Pusilina, Aulosteges, Productus, Spirifer, &e., and are suc- ceeded by limestones, dolomitie or otherwise, with Goniatites, Ceratites, Strophalosia, Athyris, Streptorhynchus, several species of Productus, Spirifer, Retzia, Terebratula, Macrocheilus, Fenestella, Polypora, Rete- pora, Crinoids, and many other of the carboniferous forms, such, for instance, as are mentioned in the papers of David- son and de Koninck already referred to. The ( 98 ) Sandy upper strata, 94 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. upper strata are again sandy; or light-coloured sandstones even, among which are intercalated coaly shales and argillaceous beds, reappear, one Different sections in thick sandstone band being crowded with a globose iesus piagas species of Bellerophon. The sections differ much in different places ; occasional sandstone bands may oceur anywhere, and not unfrequently the solid grey limestone has been found directly overlying the lavender clays at thetop of the sandstone group below. The limestones vary in colour from grey to black, and several of the magnesian bands are of a warm yellow colour. The beds are more commonly compact than crystalline and are sometimes crinoidal, chert layers and nodules being in e places very common. Dr. Fleming has sub-divided these rocks into three groups, the middle Hence am: one of which he distinguishes as micaceous, fine- bald’s three-fold sub- grained, fissile sandstone, alternating with beds of a dark bituminous shale. Whether such a division could be carried out or not Trans-Indus seems doubtful, and as no such grouping has been found to characterise the Cis-Indus carboniferous formation, it is very probable that both Dr. Fleming and Mr. Theobald, in forming their triplicate classifications of the beds, took the main part of this formation for their two lowest groups, and made their third of the triassic beds. These writers also allude (the latter with much doubt) to the d PN UU occurrence of both Ceratiles and Orthoceratites in thoceratites and Cera- these beds, and Dr. Fleming gives a drawing ea of apiece of rock in which Ceratites and Ortho- ceratites occur together. Mr. Theobald had never seen an Orthoceratite along the range, but suggested that parts of Belemnites might have been taken for them. The fact is that both of these forms do occur in the triassie limestones, the Orthoceratites being, however, rare, and the forms figured in Fleming’s plate are not from the carboniferous, but were recognised by Dr. Waagen as from the triassic beds above. The Ceratites, which are most of {hem new, and all different from ( 94 ) a SA CARBONIFEROUS. 93 the carboniferous species, occur in much the greatest abundanee in the triassie group. But a stranger fact even than that alluded to has been already Discovery of Ammon- noticed, namely, the discovery by Dr. Waagen, at ites. a plaee about a mile north of Jabi, in a land- slipped mass, of the carboniferous limestone (belonging tothe lower portion of its upper part) of an unquestionable but altogether unique Ammonite, or, as he has called this form, Phylloceras, associated with Goniatites, Ceratites, Athyris Royssii, several well-known species of Productus, Terebratula Himalayensis, Fenestella, and other carboniferous fossils. In the progress of the survey, several Goniatites and nodose Ceratites, closely resembling Ammonites in exterior form, were collected ; but here at least a genuine one was found, the oldest known occurrence of that genus.* The magnesian portions of the limestones are, as Dr. Fleming says, generally interbedded, and where they cross the Magnesian beds. a à N stratificationt all the relations of the rocks are obseure. The magnesian rocks are in places not wholly unfossili- ferous, Eehinoid spines, and parts of a few other fossils, often corals of silicious composition, weathering out from the surface. The carboniferous formation commences in the fine eliffs on the west FRIENDS. side of the Nilawán ravine, below the beds development of the form- recorded as carboniferous in that loeality by dino Dr. Fleming and Mr. Theobald. The rocks here are coarse, light-coloured, yellowish-grey and greenish sandstones with coaly lamine and a band of sandy ealeareous shales. The sandstones contain Productus spinosus, and the whole group, having a thickness of sixty or seventy feet, immediately succeeds the lavender elays, &c., of the group below. From this westward the earboniferous beds are much * See Mem. Geol. Sur., Vol. IX, pt. 2. + This vertical arrangement of magnesian portions of carboniferous beds often occurs in Ireland. ( 99 ) OE WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. concealed, but “they reappear with largely increased thickness in the part of the Verála'searp towards Pail and in the immediate vicinity of that village. Still further to the westward they develope rapidly into an important member of the series, having a thickness of at least four hundred and fifty or five hundred feet, which would appear to be mantained as farasthe Chiderü hills. In the narrow part of the range connecting these hills with the Tredian cluster, tbe thickness appears less, but increases in the latter hills near Swas. With the extension of these hills towards the Indus the thickness again decreases, and the formation strikes obliquely out towards the plain and disappears at Khyrabád. These carboniferous limestones in their greatest development carry on the scarp feature usually formed by the nummulitic Features. : 6 E é limestone, but with less regularity, being often subject to intense contortion and slippage. The peculiarity of the way in which they are sometimes decomposed 7m situ as mentioned at page 59 is well seen about Jalar lake and towards the Kavhäd glen, while the country which they occupy, with its rolling ground, sheeted by frag- mentary debris, its steep precipices and deep ravines, has an aspect peculiarly its own. TRIASSIC CERATITE GROUP. No. 7.—Immediately succeeding the carboniferous rocks is another T interesting but smaller formation, the existeuce of i which was suggested by the doubts felt with regard to the place of some of the fossils sent by Dr. Fleming and Mr. Purdon to Europe for examination. The lowest beds of these triassie rocks are generally thin limestone with Lowest beds. h ER Ceratites, succeeded by a thick marly zone, that yields much to atmospheric disintegration and weathers of a light greenish colour, which enables the band to be distinguished from a considerable distance. These are overlaid by grey sandstone Succession. j E x and flaggy limestone layers with many Ceratites, passing upward into grey nodular marls. Hard limestones and calcareous (307) ee E N TRIASSIC. 97 sandstone beds with spinose Ceratites, marls, limestones, and sandstones, form the upper portion of the group, and contain, besides Ceratites, numerous specimens of Gervillia, a Cardinia, Rhynchonella, Anoplophora, Orthoceras, &c., being generally characterised by a predominance of bivalves.* The succession varies frequently as to details, and some of the limestones are magnesian, or dolomite bands take Magnesian. : s their place. Sometimes layers of glauconitic limestone (or pisolitie limestone with glauconite) occur, and beds of conglomerate, in one instance formed of huge limestone blocks, are sometimes present. This representative of the Trias first appears in the neighbourhood of : Kürat and Katwáhi, and extends thence to the First appearance. 3 ^ A westward, except where interrupted by dislocation. It also occasionally occurs in isolated or surrounding outliers as near Virgäl. It is well seen near Chiderá, and from the vicinity of Sakesar accompanies the carboniferous formation everywhere to its disappearance at Khyrabad. The group is characterised throughout by the number of Ceratites which it contains. Certain species of these prevail Ceratites. o c : in certain zones, and one band is marked by a pre- dominance of the genus Bel/erophon{—an instance of geological history repeating itself, the same genus occupying, as has been said, a strongly marked zone in the upper part of the foregoing group. Abese triassic rocks, though lithologically distinguishable, present no No strong lithological Such marked contrast to the carboniferous form- CORRES ation as exists between the Trias and succeeding beds. The limestones are more thin-bedded, and the shales or marls of * This information as to fossils is given from Dr. Waagen’s notes. T This name must be distinguished from Khewra. It is exactly represented by the old spelling “ Koora.” : t Dr. Waagen, N (19265) 98 WYNNE : GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. different character and somewhat different colour ; but the whole aspect of the group is such that, were it not for the paleontological evidence, it might pass for a portion of the paleozoic rocks immediately below with which it was classed by Dr. Fleming. The thickness of the formation is very much less than that of the carboniferous beds, being on an average a hundred and twenty to two hundred feet or sometimes even three hundred feet. PSEUDOMORPHIC SALT-CRYSTAL ZONE. No. 8.—The thin-bedded and flaggy sandstones with intensely red shales or clays which form this group, have Character. Ps 3 been separated from the rest of the series, prin- cipally on lithologieal grounds, and although the rocks differ widely in appearance from the Ceratite-bearing £riassie beds, I have been induced Reasons for supposing to place them with or near the latter for the fol- dies [rests Den lowing reasons: First, superposition shows them to form a newer sub-division than all the rocks up to the Magnesian sandstone, inclusive. Secondly, they thin out towards the sandstone No. 5, which comes into the series near their termination but at a lower level in the cliffs about Makrách. Thirdly, they possess no similarity to the carboniferous formation, nor yet to the associated ¿riassic rocks, while they have some analogies of colour with the succeeding jurassic beds, and if placed between the two latter might form a transitional group.* It will be seen on reference to the diagram that this group No. 8 is separated by a distance of nearly forty miles from both the known ¿riassic and jurassic groups; its position would correspond to that of an outlying portion of either of these, or of the carbon2ferous, but the total absence of fossils would seem to dissociate it from each. From above downwards it comes into the place of the Jurassic beds, and the only characters left to aid in fixing it are its red colour, unfossiliferous nature, and the presence * It was after discussion with Dr. Waagen that I was induced to classify this group with the Trias. In the absence of paleontological evidence I was inclined to give it a separate place by itself, but Dr. Waagen seemed to think there was sufficient probability to warrant its being provisionally included as a part of the triassic group. ( 98.) PSEUDOMORPHIC SALT-CRYSTAL ZONE. 99 of numerous pseudomorphie casts of erystals of common salt. These might be taken to indicate for it a triassie horizon as an isolated deposit of the period, to which also its general place in the series would accord. It must be admitted that this method of identification is open to much objection, as it closely resembles the erroneous reasoning which led to the red salt marl itself being thought triassie ; but for want of better grounds, in adopting for it provisionally the place here indicated, I am compelled to take advantage of all petrographic aid where fossils are non-existent, and in classifying the group as triassic, to do so with the reservation that it may belong to any of the three formations (Nos. 6, 7, or 9) named, and if not to the upper part of the ¿riassic beds, possibly to the jurassic period. As in almost every group of the range, the sections in this present local differences. Where best developed the lower ae portion is the most flaggy, the flags being out- wardly red, but often greyish or whitish inside. Here the upper part of the zone, which is thicker than the lower, is formed of red and liver- coloured, variegated, argillaceous beds, passing upwards from shales into clays. In other places variegated purplish and red clays and shales pre- dominate below, and where the group is thinnest, it is generally formed of flags, to the exclusion of most of the shales and clays. The more earthy portions disintegrate into minute angular frag- ne ments, and sometimes contain little nodules of hematite used by native shikaris as bullets. Greenish spots or veins or layers are common, as is often the case in ferruginous rocks, but the most characteristic marks of the group are the cubical salt pseudomorphs or casts which prevail almost everywhere in the more flaggy layers. These separate so as to show the casts thickly studded over the lower surfaces of the flags, a solid angle of each cast generally projecting. Similar pseudomorphs of salt have been noticed by Strickland at Blaisdon in Gloucestershire, and by Professor Phillips at Spetehly in Worcestershire.* According to Dr. Warth they Salt pseudomorphs. * Jour. Geol, Soc. Lond,, Vol, IX, p. 5. ( 99.) 100 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. also occur in Cheshire above the salt, and m Germany in the Keuper formation overlying the salt-bearing Muschelkalk. He explains their occurrence by the evaporation of brine, the crystals being formed partly in mud left dry sufficiently long to harden. ` Salt Formation. o : o : water or weaker brine again flowing over this mud would dissolve the salt and deposit mud or sand in its place, forming casts of the crystal moulds, which would adhere to the under surface of the upper layers. In the cases quoted first, however, the casts were observed both on the upper and under surfaces of the layers, from which it would appear that the erystals were enclosed before they were dissolved, or were developed near the surfaces subsequently to the depo- sition of these layers, their adhering to one surface or the other being a matter of accident. The only organie traces observed in these beds were obscure fucoid impressions, or tracks like those of worms. "They Organic traces. o E frequently exhibit very perfect ripple marks, some- times crossing each other in different directions. Whatever may be its precise place in the general series, the group PEE is a local one. It is present from Mount Tilla to Distribution, Makräch in one direction, appears at Diljaba on one side, but is absent at Chambal Mountain (east) upon the other, and attains its greatest thickness near Bhaganwäla about midway between these points. Here unfortunately the beds undulate greatly at low angles, so as to render observations of the thickness uncertain, but i measured seetions aeross the strike, reduced to Thickness. compensate for possible error, gave a thickness of over three hundred feet for the upper earthy portion and one hundred and fifty feet or more for the sandstone and flags below, so that from four to five hundred feet may be a fair estimate. Where the group is thiuner, as at Mount Tilla, Diljaba, and towards Makrách, it may vary from one hundred to fifty feet and even less where dying out both to the east and west. (OU JURASSIC. 101 This disposition of the group suggests that it may have oceupied an Lacustrine and estua- 1SOlated estuarine or lacustrine situation ; the thin- ne bedded and ripple-marked characters point to the existence of shallow-water eurrents, while the mass of clays and shales would indicate a change to still and deeper water; but the source of the ferruginous colouring. matter which separates it so decidedly from the associated groups is quite unknown. JURASSIC. No. 9.—In upward continuation of the section in which the Ceratite- * m bearing portion of the ¿rias occurs at the western Situation. . eet o : : side of the district, is a very varied and mingled group of arenaceous, argillaceous, and calcareous rocks, liable to consider- able change laterally, in thiekness and composition, but preserving a well-marked individuality of aspect, by which it can generally be recognised without difficulty. In the lower part of this series strong bands of thick-bedded, soft, ferruginous sandstone, of red, variegated, or Lower part. í 4 T yellow colour, alternate in places with liver- coloured and grey ripple-marked bands. To these succeed thick, argil- laceous, yellow limestone, soft rusty-looking sandstones, grey gypseous and pyritous clays and soft, powdery, white sandstones, apparently largely composed of white quartz and felspar grains in a white earthy or chalk-like matrix. amog these beds and in the body of the group, bands of hæmatite several feet in thickness occur, and thinner layers Hematite. of “golden oolite,” each grain having a burnished ferruginous coating (this latter rock exactly resembling in character the golden oolite of Kach and resulting from the decomposition of an oolitie limestone). Above all these are coarse brown sandstones and yellow marls or mudstones, white cavernous sandstones, and bands of grey hard limestone of inferior thickness and less constant occurrence than those below. ( 201%) 102 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. The sandstones are sometimes conglomeratie, and limestones are more i largely developed in the western extension of the Composition. ono group. Frequently the rocks are fossiliferous, numerous indefinite plant fragments* occurring in the sandstones in the golden oolite and more calcareous beds—Ostrea, Exogyra, Terebratule, many Gastropods, unsymmetrical Echinoid frag- Fossils. o : | ments, and generally in the upper region Belem- nites, and possibly Ammonites (these last being locally numerous Trans- Indus). There are associated with this group at Chiderá beneath Siran-kı- dók and near Kyrabád, a very considerable thick- Incoherent beds. i E a ness of light grey incoherent sandstone or slightly compacted sand with many alternations of orange-coloured or drab clays. This soft group in some places appears to belong to, and in others to be discordant to, the rest of the series, so that I have been unable posi- tively to include it with them, more particularly because its whole aspect is almost exactly that of one of the upper members of the great tertiary sandstone-and-clay series, parts of which might have been introduced by fracture or even unconformable deposition among the older rocks.T The upper limits of this jurassic group are rather indefinite, a gradual transition appearing to take place upwards Upper limits. E y : ; into the newer beds, and the junction with these being, as a rule, concealed by a talus of debris from the cliffs above. In the western parts of the district along the southern side of the Tredian hills, these upper beds partake of the Disturbance. 3 8 general contortion and disturbance to a degree * At page 269 of his larger Report, Dr. Fleming notes the occurrence of very perfect fronds of ferns in the lower argillaceous beds of this group. The general accuracy of his observations led me to frequent but unavailing search for these, and only a few imperfect fragmentary fern impressions have been found. + These possible unconformities have never been established, and the localities are among too many faults and disturbances to encourage belief in them, (02) D VM IAM RR CRETACEOUS. 103 which renders their boundary most difficult, and sometimes impossible to follow in close detail, through that wild, rugged, and frequently preci- pitous country. The whole group commences in cliffs west of Jalar lake, reach- ing along the southern escarpment of the Són- Commencement. : e AM Sakesar basin, where it is interrupted by faults, but it reappears in the fine cliffs south of Sakesar summit, and it is also exposed by erosion on the northern slopes of that mountain. From Sakesar north-westwards it extends with some interruptions along the narrow part of the range and through the Tredian hills to Khyrabád. The thiekness of the formation may be estimated Thickness. d at five hundred feet where fully developed. CRETACEOUS. No. 10.—The jurassic rocks, as has been just now stated, pass up with an apparent lithological transition into the Passage beds to west. EE : 3 e nummulitie series in the west of the district; some of the intervening bands just at the base of the eocene, however, contain fossils of a different aspect from those of the immediately over- TN A RI de lying rocks. Dr. Waagen remarked a typical resemblance between these fossils of the lower beds and those of the Ronca or Italian eocene.* They have only been observed in the Bakh ravine southwards from Namal, and they may be taken to indicate the limit here between the mesozoic and tertiary epochs. In the eastern parts of the district, however, there oceurs a very considerable group of sandstones, of dark greenish, Eastern representatives. 4 N E greyish, white-and-yellow striped, yellow-and-grey spotted, or olive or whitish colour, in the upper part of which coaly seams oceur with some shaly bands, while in the lower part are strong bands of conglomerate, or thick, dark, trappean-looking shales filled with * From information given by Dr. Waagen. 7 398. j 104 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. boulders. The enclosed rounded fragments in these are always of crys- talline rocks and sometimes of great size. Passing westwards among the upper beds of the group, brown, variegated, and Western beds. z dark green sandstones, with granules of phosphate of iron, are associated with calcareous layers, marls, and coaly bands, and sometimes with bands of hematite. In some of these western localities the sandstones and calcareous layers contain large Nautili, long thin spines of the genus Cidaris, other Echinide, Astrea, and the Terebratula Flemingu, un. to which attention was called by Mr. Davidson as unlikely to be of carboniferous age. Far below all these in eastern parts of the group, thick, greenish-olive, deeply-weathered sandstones enclose considerable numbers of the casts of large bivalves as yet undeterminable, but, like all the other fossils collected from these rocks, possessing a cretaceous rather than a newer aspect.* The whole group, which from its prevailing colour I have called the “ Olive group,” resembles many of the others Shots af Cho ame in he fuse lenior of its distin. It is absent at Mount Tilla and Chambal Mountain (east) ; may be said to commence in. the hills near Bhaganwäla, and increases gra- dually towards the eastern plateau, over which and on Diljaba Mountain it is most largely developed. The lower shaly, block- or boulder-conglome- rates + are especially well exposed as to quantity at the north-eastern part of Chél hill, and the whole group may be traced on t! : T NE SPAN the south side of Kárangli hill round the edges * Dr. Waagen. I found some small-ribbed protuberances on weathered surfaces of the sandstones belonging to this group in the Jutána Beat, which struck me as peculiar from their always occurring in pairs. Though very indefinite, Dr. Stoliczka, on seeing them, suggested at once their being the opened valves of T'rigonic lying close together. + A block of red granite, of about 100 cubic feet, believed to have been derived from these beds, but ‘now lying on the “Saline Series," occurs to the eastward of the Salt Collectors bungalow at the Mayo mines, Khewra. Another very much smaller, well- rounded boulder, also fairly supposed to have lain in these conglomerates, was discovered lately by Mr. Theobald to be glacially striated. He found it near Kárangli on the eastern plateau. ( 104 ) NUMMULITIC. 105 and depressions of the eastern plateau near Sálowi, Kúsak, Choya- Saidan-Shäh, Pid, above Khewra, and around the Dandöt table-land. From this westwards by Makräch, Malöt, and Sardi it becomes thin, but is still represented in the Nílawán ravine and by a narrow band as far as Nursingphoar, beyond which it has not been observed. "Where strongly developed, the thickness of the group is fully three hundred and fifty feet, declining to a hundred and fifty feet or less in other places. NUMMULITIC. No. 11.—The Nummulitic group is one of the most largely deve- loped and structurally important of the whole Large development. y i } series. It is mainly formed of fine compact grey or white limestone, frequently cherty and sometimes variegated, pink and grey, having rarely a curiously waved or concentric banded appear- ance marked by lines of lavender, yellow, grey, and reddish tints. The highest beds present no great difference of colour or texture from those much below them, but the lowest part The limestone. ^ of the group is generally formed of rudely con- cretionary, pale yellowish marly beds of great thickness, with some bands of light-coloured friable sandstone, grey shale and hematitic layers. The massive and homogeneous character of this limestone as a group has been doubtless the cause of some of the most striking physical features of the range, of many of its finest cliffs, and of all its plateaux. Immediately below the light-coloured marly limestones there is a band of dark gypseous shales, very commonly Coal shales. f but not constantly developed; in these occurs the Salt Range coal, in strings and beds of very variable thickness and inconstant character. Both shales and coal are very frequently pyrit- ous, and in consequence of the destructible nature of this part of the series, as compared with the overlying limestone, the latter, being deprived of support along the outcrop, has parted vertically and fallen away, leaving sheer precipices behind. The coal-shales to the west as exposed o (1059 106 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. in the Bakh ravine occupy an unusually high place in the series, being more nearly in the middle than at the base of the nummulitic group. Just beneath the coaly shales are sometimes a few beds, and some- times a greater thickness of friable white or red Beds below them. y i or olive sandstones with grey shales or clays interstratified. In some places a thick mass of dark lumpy foramini- ferous limestone occupies the place of these, and frequently the base of the whole formation is marked by a variegated white and red clayey hematitic band which often assumes the character of pisolitie haematite or the brownish look and polished surface of earthy laterite. In the eastern parts of the distriet the beds beneath the solid limestone are sometimes over a hundred and fifty feet in thickness. Fossils are numerous in the group. In thelower shales and sandstones Nd plant fragments are common, and in the dark shale lanceolate and other leaves have been observed, while in the light yellow lumpy limestone casts of large Gastropods, such as Conus, Cyprea, Cerithium, Strombus and others, are frequently found ; very large Echinide also occur. At higher stages than these, casts of Cytherea, Astarte, or Lucina and other bivalves are often met with. Nummulites are common throughout, but most prevalent in the lower beds, where Orbitolites and Alveoline also occur. The assemblage of fossils, though numerous enough to fix the age of the rocks and more numerous than in other nummulitie beds of the north-west Punjáb, is poor compared with that of distant groups of the same age,—such, for instance, as seen in Kach; and the organisms, as a rule, are badly preserved, existing ehiefly as casts with little or none of the originally shelly parts remain- ing. Small bullet-like concretions of iron pyrites are common in many parts of the limestone. The coal-shales have a thickness varying from about fifty to more than a hundred feet to the westward, and the whole of this dower part of the group, including the coaly shales and associated sandstones, or limestones where well seen, may be esti- ( 206 1 Thickness. | NUMMULITIC. 107 mated at a hundred and fifty feet, becoming nearer three hundred feet towards the Indus. The limestones from various measurements and esti- mates have throughout most of the range a thickness of four hundred to five hundred feet, becoming thicker to the west, thinner on the eastern plateau, and disappearing entirely in the hills between the meridians of Bhaganwala and Jalälpur. The whole group is absent from the series on Chambal Mountain (east), and north-by-west of Jalälpur, but a narrow band of the limestones re-appears upon the northern slopes of Mount Tilla. The group is more largely represented upon Diljaba Mountain, termin- -ating with dislocations in the Ghorägalli pass; and a faulted mass of these beds is seen again upon the Bakrala ridge over Doméli. At the western part of the eastern plateau these nummulitic rocks are discon- en nected by denudation and faulting from the rest of their mass, but from the Choya-Saidan-Shah valley they extend continuously throughout the remainder of the range as far as Khyrabád, several outlying portions occurring to the southward of the main exposure. Beyond Khyrabád these rocks are involved in the great disloeation which prevails, and they disappear entirely with the ex- ception of a narrow faulted rib in the outer hills close to Mári on the Indus. This Nummulitie group of the Salt Range differs in many respects Boc aire CUNG nummulitic limestones of other parts of nummulitic limestones. the northern Punjab, chiefly in the absence here of interstratified thick zones of dark-coloured shale, in its being uniformly of a light grey colour or nearly white, and, so far as seen, in never assuming the black or dark colour usual in other places. The general assemblage of fossils differs also, and the whole aspect of the group sug- gests its having been deposited under circumstances different from those which prevailed in the hill region to the north. In this direction it may possibly be represented by the light-coloured limestones, which Mr. Med- licott has identified as corresponding to part of his Sabathu beds, external to and newer than the mass of the limestone seen in the hills. (We) 108 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. The petroleum which rises from the nummulitie rocks will be noticed hereafter. TERTIARY SANDSTONES, CLAYS, &c. Nos. 12, 13, 14, 15.—Everywhere from one end of the range to the other, and always on its northern and eastern as- pects, the uppermost rocks of the Salt Range series are innumerable alternations of grey or greenish sandstones, of no great General description. hardness, with red or light-brownish orange clays, more rarely with con- elomerates, but frequently with harder fine-grained sandy beds of pecu- liar concretionary pseudo-conglomeratic structure. The enclosed con- eretions are of hardened, sometimes calcareous clay, of purple and yellow colour, in a somewhat calcareous matrix, and give the rock the appear- ance of a gravelly conglomerate. The alternating bands of sandstone and clay are from seventy to a hundred and twenty feet in thickness, being very frequently about a hundred feet each, but some zones are much thicker. : Mr. Medlieott, at page 91 of his Himalayan Report, remarks that all these sandstones, &c., rest upon a denuced surface of Salt Range »ummulitie limestone; and this is supported by an observation in his paper on the Jamu country,* but without the confirmation that any denuded surfaces of the limestone had been observed; hence, the existence here of an important break in the Supposed unconformity. series depends entirely upon the occurrence of an intervening conglo- meratic layer “ made up of water-worn pebbles of the limestone and its flints."t * Rec. Geol. Surv., India, Vol. IX, p. 49. T Ibid, p. 55. Many of these fragments have the forms of concretions, and none of any other than nummulitic rocks appear to occur amongst them. Almost immediately above the nummulitie limestone, or within 15 feet of it, a pseudo-conglomerate layer, such as is described in the preceding paragraph, contains small chert pebbles and some also of erys- talline rocks. Iboccurs on the hills above Fadíálá close to where the limestone conglo- meratic bed is seen. This limestone conglomerate appears to belong more to the limestone beneath than to the overlying sandstones, &c. (es " 4 ^" NAHAN GROUP. 109 Being aware of the earlier notice of this break, I had sought along the range for confirmatory evidence, and noticed the abruptness of the change from limestone upwards to sandstone beds, but could never find erosion of the lower rock, while I observed in the contact layer, where present, a coneretionary or nodular band rather than a regular conglo- merate, though the latter occurred in the ascending section within 40 feet. In the trans-Indus country I also paid considerable attention to the point, and have described the junctions of the two groups in several places.* I have observed at this horizon as well as both below and above it scattered pebbles of nummulitic or alveolina limestone. They were found in the intercalated lower nummulitic sandstones trans-Indusf and at different stages or horizons in the sandstone and clay series cis-Indus, but in all cases accompanied by the same perfect parallelism of deposition among the containing beds. NAHAN GROUP. No. 12.—The Nahan beds of this district have, comparatively speak- ing, a limited exposure in the Bakrála ridge. They are the same beds which 1 had observed to present a strong similarity to some of the lower rocks of the north side of the Potwár, distinguished by me as the ** Murree beds.” . Here at the Bakrála ridge they consist of purplish and grey sandstones, interstratified with many bands of red clay, which give to the whole group a reddish tinge; the sandstones are harder than those occurring at higher places in the series. This strong similarity to the red “ Murree beds” is not found to the westward, and the character of the rocks appears to have changed laterally: many of the intercalated greyer sandstones, &c., being, however, identical on the Bakrála ridge and generally along the northern slopes of the Salt Range. Both the redder and greyer rocks of the Bakräla ridge contain some bone frag- ments and occasionally mammalian (Mastodon) teeth. * Mem. Geol. Surv., India, Vol. XI, pt. 2, pp. 64, 65, 66, 94, 102, 105, 114, 116, 118, 120, 135, 159, 170, 176. + Rec. Geol. Surv., India, Vol. IX, p. 83. ( 109 ) 110 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. In other places where the Nahan beds have not been recognised, the lowest rocks of the Salt Range tertiary sandstone series are slightly calcareous, often of the nature of the pseudo-conglomeratic gravelly- looking beds found higher in the formation. ‘Their colour is pale purple or dull grey, passing rapidly upward into soft coarse sandstones of green- ish or dull brownish and grey colours, containing locally crocodilian bones, teeth, jaws, scutes, &c., and pieces of exogenous fossil timber in considerable numbers. Above these beds greyer sandstones prevail, and red clays or shales increase in quantity upwards, associated with occasional layers of pseudo- conglomerate and lumpy calcareous purple clay until the red beds pre- dominate so as to form a marked “red clayey zone” with indefinite upper and lower boundaries. The bottom of the red zone has been adopted as the upper limit of Mr. Medlicott’s Nahan rocks in this part of the Punjab. SIWALIK, ` Lower Siwalik, No. 13.— The “red zone” alluded to is commonly observable along the north side of the range, and on both sides of the Bakrála ridge, but to the west it is difficult to trace this red zone among the disturbed rocks at the Indus near Märi and Ainwa. The red band is succeeded by grey sandstones here and there, containing strings of lignite, alternating first with red, and higher up with warm orange clays, and some layers o£ conglomerate, in which mammalian bones, &e., occur. The pebbles in these conglomerates are usually of hard quartzose sandstone, but sometimes of limestone, and rarely of syenitic rocks ; among them, pieces of purple or grey sandstone similar to those form- ing the harder varieties of the tertiary rocks are occasionally met with. One of these conglomerate beds among the nearly vertical sand- stones south of Mount Tilla between the villages Bidar and Hün was searched for evidence of later tertiary denudation of the Mount Tilla series, but the only recognisable detritus belonging to that series con- tained in this conglomerate were numerous pebbles of limestone enclosing CoU SIWALIK. TEST Nummulites and Alveolina, together with some fragments of purple tertiary pseudo-conglomerate; thus the vertical effect of the erosion which produeed the pebbles appears to have been limited to the num- mulitie and overlying beds. The remainder of the pebbles were chiefly of purple and grey quartzite, quartz, red syenite, and earthy ferruginous rock. The grey sandstones and orange or drab elays continue to occupy the surface for a long distance from the Salt Range into the Potwár plateau, and they are also observable between the eastern spurs of the range. With the red and grey bed below they have been taken to form the lower sub-division of the Siwalik group in this country, that con- taining the greatest quantity of the fossil bones, for which this group has become specially famous. Upper Siwalik, No. 14.— Resting conformably upon the grey and brown or orange beds, and passing into these, is a strong group of con- glomerates and boulder beds sometimes consolidated, but often so friable as to have weathered down, covering the ground with their hard, mostly quartzitie blocks, and concealing their own outcrop. The group has often a much greater thickness than in the vicinity of the Salt Range, but wherever its conglomerates are found zz» situ they are unmistakeable. If a local name were wanted for this group, it might be found in the word “ Chainchal,” commonly applied by the natives to its debris, from the hard pebbles of which the road metal for the neighbouring parts of the Grand Trunk Road is obtained. Such con- glomerates as these might be expected to have a more or less local distribution, and they appear to be in places represented by a great accumulation of drab and pink clays on about the same horizon ; those, for instance, of the Kharián hills,* or near the village of Bakrála south of the ridge of the same name. Bones, generally worn and rounded, are also sometimes found in the conglomerate group, which with some * Mr. Medlicott, Records of the Geological Survey, Vol. IX, Part 2. Cm) 112 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. overlying drab or pink clays constitutes the highest known part of the Sıwalik series. The whole of this Siwalik group locally abounds with ossiferous mammalian remains, but frequently for long dis- The whole sandstone OTAN tances no fragment worth preserving can be obtained. It has recently yielded to Mr. Theobald a large collection from the valley between the Tilla and Bakräla ridges, and numerous fossils have also been found in the vieinity of Lehri to the eastward. The Nahan representative sandstones and clays, besides forming the northern foot of the Salt Range, rise upon its slopes near Kalar Kahär, overspreading a large depression in the limestone plateau and running upwards to the very margin of the Sardı glen on its western side. Several outlying portions of the group also occur on the top of the range, either left by denudation or previously to this having been faulted in among the nummulitic limestone rocks. Cases of this kind occur near Choya-Saidan-Shah, Dilwal, Sähetti, near the heads of the Bhäl portion of the Nilawän ravine, close by the village of Pail and north of the cliffs over Jalär lake, where these lower beds of the sandstone series contain large fossil (rib) bones. At the termination of the Salt Range proper on the Indus, the chief exposures of the detrital tertiary rocks consist of the Siwalik sandstones and clays (with some which may be of Nahan age). Besides these, the only considerable exposure of any other group cis-Indus is of the red salt marl: the two extremes of the Salt Range series thus meeting, to the actual exclusion of everything else, in places. The small quantity of petroleum found in these tertiary rocks and the stream washings for gold will be subsequently noticed. The thickness of the tertiary sandstones and clays in the vicinity of the Salt Range must be great: the Nahan beds are about 1,000 feet in the Bakräla ridge, the lower Siwaliks may be 7,500 feet, and the (aL icy) POST-TERTIARY. 113 upper conglomerates or clays about 2,500 feet,—making in all, roughly speaking, 10,500 feet.* PosT-TERTIARY AND RECENT. No. 15.—A still more recent set of pebble beds than those of the paikat Siwaliks, capping the hills over the Kahán gorge near Rotas, has been referred to the post-tertiary group, or older alluvial, or high-level river shingle of Mr. Medlicott’s paper. The same group was noticed long previously in the Salt Range (but included with the upper tertiary rocks) by Mr. Theobald. t I had noticed these beds in the Soan valley in the Potwár and in other places. They contain frequently a large percentage of lime- stone pebbles and sometimes are almost exclusively made up of either these or of the same pebbles which occur in the uppermost Siwalik con- glomerate. It has been said that the latter conglomerate wastes away so as to furnish an enormous quantity of boulders covering the ground, Where these lie thickly and are cut through by streams, the unconform- able mass exposed, though perhaps but quite locally derived, has exactly * Mr. Medlicott has in his paper (Records, Geological Survey, Vol. IX, p. 49) indi- cated much of the difficulty which prevented the full recognition of his groups in the Northern Punjab until he was able to traverse the country reaching from the typical Sub- Himalayan area to this district and identify them here himself. Although the general characters of the Upper Punjáb Tertiaries agreed with the whole Sub-Himalayan series, Í was unable previously to fix the divisions with any certainty, because I could find neither the same stratigraphical breaks in the series, nor an exceptionally ossi- ferous upper (or Siwalik) group. I had previously pointed out that the whole of the Potwär sandstones, &e., were more or less ossiferous from the nummulitic (Sabäthü) upwards, and Mr. Lydekker’s reference to fossils from some of the Märi beds near Kushialgar (Records, Vol. IX, p. 94) shows that the oceurrence of bones is not sufficient to fix the rocks as Siwalik; the main characters for the determination of the boundary between the Siwalik and the Nahan or Murree beds in the field will therefore be position and lithological structure. Records, Geological Survey, Vol. IX, p. 55. f Paper on the Salt Range, As. Soc, Beng., p. 672. - cas) 114 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. the appearance of the conformable Siwalik eonglomerate group. In this way I found it difficult to account for the masses of pebbles resting unconformably on the edges of the Siwalik sandstone at the Rotas gorge, except on the supposition that the beds had been recomposed. Far away to the west at the village of Namal, these unconformable beds are again seen and without the accompaniment of Siwalik conglomerate in the immediate vieinity. The deposit near Rotas is at about 1,000 feet of elevation above the sea; the Namal pebble beds may be situated 100 feet higher, but there is a very similar deposit of boulder beds (that \ - mentioned by Mr. Theobald in his paper on the Salt Range, p. 672), on the Sön plateau of the Salt Range near Nowshera at a height of over 2,500, or even 2,700 feet. Besides the ordinary alluvium of the Rivers Jhelum and Indus, there N are in the eastern parts of this distriet masses of superficial deposits much resembling the river allu- vium, but, very rarely, containing fragments of the local rocks and often fairly stratified, the stratification being nearly horizontal. As the coun- try is so much occupied by soft, easily abraded rocks, these fine deposits are very probably the waste of the tertiary sand- Older silt. : stone and clay beds. They frequently contain kunkur, but bo not resemble alluvial flats either in position, form, or elevation. The very convenient term /oess has been applied to them, and the idea was suggested that such deposits might resemble those described by Richthofen as accumulations formed only by wind. The occasional erratie pebbles enelosed showed this view to be untenable. The flanks of the hills near Khyrabád towards the Indus are covered with a mass of boulder and elay debris, sometimes gypseous, whieh T would assign to the post-tertiary sub-division ; and close to Mári on the outer side of the hills, grey and reddish-yellow sands and clays form banks sloping towards the plains from their foot. Boulder clays. Í These may either have been formed by the Indus floods, or may belong to the post-tertiary group. (AN | POST-TERTIARY. 115 The very strongly marked boulder-zone along the southern foot of the range (absent where the sands and clays just mentioned occur), is evidently due to the action of swollen torrents bearing down boulders from the hills. This zone has a varying width, generally greater where the number or size of the mountain streams is largest, and the fragments are, of course, those of the hardest varieties of the Salt Range rocks. Boulder-zone. It may commonly be observed that the streams from the hills cross- ing this zone terminate about the commencement of the finer alluvium, as if this covered a stratum of the coarser debris Rn en oE honth- through which the water (when any exists in the channels) would be enabled to percolate more readily under ground than to find a way for itself across the slightly inclined or level plain. Unless this is the case, it seems almost unaccount- able that the streams should not in many cases be able to reach the Jhelum river, only eight to twelve miles distant from the range, while several of them come from far behind tbe general escarpment. On the north side of the range the most recent accumulations are usually either rain-wash, sandy m p ' North side of range. y 4 y ud, or clean S sand; and the ground would appear to have been once less rugged, small, perched, isolated, remains of nearly level surfaces occurring here and there among the rain-worn * £Auddera," which presents throughout a most powerful example of the action of rain water. In the lower portion of these * Ahuddera’ streams, where their beds are wide and sandy, gold is sometimes washed for after rains; the places pointed out to me have been usually freshly formed banks, of coarse material, and the yield was said to average from two to fourannas a day per man. Close to the range, however, it does not seem to be at all a thriving industrial pursuit. The Auriferous sands, &c. tools, method of eradling, and treatment of the results with mercury, are fully detailed in Dr. Fleming’s report at page 355. | (aan 116 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. On the different high plateaux where the angles of slope of the ground are lowest, a fine argillaceous silt washed Plateaus silt or wach, som the neighbouring hills is deposited and forms some of the richest soil to be found near the range. In very many places, and, of course, most frequently in the vicinity : of the limestone rocks or on their surface, very large Calcareous tufa. x A E" deposits of calcareous tufa occur enclosing P/anorbis or Helix-like land and marsh shells, sometimes fragments of land-crabs, and often, as usual in such deposits, beautiful impressions of leaves. The salts of the lakes and the * kallar ? often found along streams, or EE VAR on the ground on both sides of the range, being alts , ‘kallar? 5 cados derived from efflorescence and collected by water im many cases, may also be included among the recent deposits. South-west of Mári, on both sides of the stream which flows through an open hollow in the range near Khyra- ae clay near bád, are some large rounded or elongated hills of drab clay, extensively mingled with gypsum. They occur in the neighbourhood of seen or supposed faults, and if not a product of local streams which first deposited and then excavated a passage through them, they may be re-arranged portions of the red marl itself. It has been supposed that this gypsum here was the result of decomposition of limestone by sulphurous springs; if so, the action must have taken place to a very large extent. The deposit bears no similarity to the Sabäthu gypsum of the north- ern side of the Potwär, and, on the whole, subterranean waters may have been its most likely source. In a paper on the former extension of glaciers within the Kangra District, Mr. Theobald alludes to Dr. Verchere’s Supposed glacial period. notice of the erratic blocks north of the Salt Range; he assigns to these blocks a different ( 116 ) GENERAL SERIES. à 117 origin from that previously attributed to them, and connects them with the same glacial period whieh he believes to have left its traces in the Kangra valley. The blocks alluded to are situated near Trapp or Trab, a village eighteen miles distant from the nearest part of the Salt Range, and the only other erratics near the Salt Range which, so far as I am aware, could be referred to this supposed glacial period are the large one in the Khewra valley, another above Bäghanwäla, most probably derived from the boulder beds of group No. 10 in the series; or some crystalline blocks found at the foot of the escarpment between Jalálpur and Bághanwála. The power which transported these blocks and smaller erraties of the Salt Range, if it was not gravitation from the outcrops of the creta- ceous .(?) boulder beds,* aided by land-slip, may be perhaps referred to some form of ice flotation which seems the only agency adequate for the removal of such large blocks as some of those referred to. The general series. —With regard to the general series now described, Rae AU AURA the sections nearest the Indus are known to be the fullest, and though local developments have been found to differ trans-Indus, the hills in that direction forming the continuation of the range stil contain parts of the Salt Range series, and seem to be most largely formed of the mesozoic and tertiary rocks ; portions of the older strata appearing in places. Although several of the cis-Indus groups have but a limited lateral extension, a general sequence throughout has been shown to exist, unac- companied by marked or established unconformity up to the póst-tertiary groups, yet characterised by several instances of transgressive deposi- % Whatever may be the cause to which the present situations of these large transported blocks is due, it is equally difficult to account for their original position in the cretaceous conglomerates without the agency of ice. Mr. Theobald’s discovery since the above was written, of a veritable ice-scratched boulder on the Salt Range, which he believes to have been derived from these boulder shales of the immediate locality, is very suggestive of ice action as the transporting power. In other parts of the country too, along the left bank of the Indus south of Attock, the foreign erratic blocks are too numerous and too large to be accounted for satisfactorily in any other way that I know of. ( a2 118 . fWYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. tion or overlap. Had some of these groups extended further, difficulties in the way of placing several of the others would have been removed. The intervals left unrepresented, by the limited extension of certain of the groups, must be very considerable, and each case of the kind points to a break in the whole series similar to that contended for by Mr. Medlicott with respect to the nummulitic and newer tertiary boundary. It cannot be supposed, for instance, that while some causes limited the carboniferous rocks to one end of the range, carboniferous deposition was not going on somewhere else. If this limitation of deposition were observable only with regard to one formation, it would seem less strange, but there are here at least six or seven instances of circumscribed deposits of different geological ages, from possibly pre- silurian upwards. What the conditions were which thus confined the deposits of a geological system so extensive in time, with so few. indi- cations of even local unconformity, and restricted to the comparatively small area occupied by the Salt Range, is a difficulty which may be pointed out, but which I cannot at present explain. Trans-Indus appearances of unconformity are stronger, but, so far as yet seen, are chiefly limited to the basal and upper boundaries of the eretaceous beds; the junction between the carboniferous limestone and tertiary sandstones, &c., of Kaffir Kot (south), is perhaps also an instance in which the older rock has been denuded before the deposi- tion of the newer formation. The general absence of discordance in the series on this side of the Indus must be taken as evidence of enormously prolonged tranquillity, extending through all the epochs of palaozoie, mesozoie, and cænozoic time; and yet these tranquil conditions can have been but very local, for besides the unconformity just mentioned beyond the Indus, there is the most palpable discordance at Sirban Mountain in the Himalayan region between the infra-triassie beds and the underlying slates supposed to be . silurian—a formation of which the Salt Range representative is perfectly conformable with the rest of the series. COLS) PART II. DETAILED DESCRIPTION. Section I.—Baxrita RiparE.* In describing the local features observed at various points in the Salt Range, both the form of the ground and disposition of the rocks suggest that it will be best to commence to the east where the series is least full, passing on westward to its termination as the “ Salt Range proper” at Mari on the Indus. Most people who have passed that way in the daytime may remember on the Grand Trunk Road, about twenty Situation. : PU o miles above Jhelum, a sharp dip into a river valley, and then a long ascent over intensely ravined ground, towards a higher grey rocky ridge which the road crosses, through a tortuous and not unpicturesque defile. This is the Bakrála ridge, taking its name from the pass, or a small village on its southern side. The ridge commences about four miles northward by east of the road, and may be said to terminate at Diljaba Mountain, having a length altogether of some thirty-three miles, and an average height of 1,200 to 1,500 feet above the lower ground in its neighbourhood; that lying to the north being some 400 or 500 feet higher than the open valley to the south.T In the pass itself a fair section of the beds is seen, showing them to form an open, contorted, anticlinal curve, undu- Bakrála Pass. : ie ARAS lating a good deal within the pass, but dipping steeply at 40°, 50°, and 60°, to the north of west and south of east * The Bakräla Pass lies a little way beyond the limits shown upon the map, but as the rocks form part of the oldest tertiary sandstones, &c., near the Salt Range, they are here described. + Where not stated to be otherwise (as in this case), the heights given are those marked upon the Government maps showing altitudes above sea level, (119.5) 120 WYNNE : GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. respectively, at either end of this pass. Out in the plains to the north the dips become lower, and sometimes in a contrary direction, showing undulation of the beds ; while on the Bakräla side they rise to vertical, having been apparently sharply folded and cut off by a fault along the base of the ridge. The rocks are grey and purplish sandstones, and red shales or clays, pseudo-conglomerates, and lumpy, Rocks. I $ f. slightly calcareous argillaceous bands, micaceous, grey and purplish soft shaly sandstones. These beds frequently contain a few indefinite plant impressions ;* they all belong to the tertiary sand- stone and clay group, and are chiefly remarkable for bearing a greater resemblance to ** the Murree” beds than has been found to exist to the westward along the northern flanks of the Salt Range, in which region they do not seem to have existed. This resemblance to the Murree beds is only to be observed along the ridge itself and among its lower beds ( (a) of fig. 6, Plate X, (6) being Lower Siwaliks). But in the lower ground on both sides grey sandstones and brownish orange clays prevail, a zone of red clays with. some sand- stone beds dividing the two, or belonging more to the upper group. The brown or drab clays predominate just to the southward of the fault between the ridge and the village of Bakräla, and extend thence the whole way to the stream (a tributary of the Kahän) crossed here by the Trunk Road ; they belong to the Upper Siwalik group, being the form which it assumes when conglomerates are few or absent. The anticlinal structure still characterises the ridge westwards, but is by no means regular, the beds being affected by many subordinate contortions. At a distance of about three miles south-by-west from the village of Bakrála, and quite on the southern side of the ridge, some nummulitic = * A small fragment of bone was found in these beds above the road on the south- eastern side of the pass by Major M. G. Clerk of the N. S. Railway. Since this was obtained I have found a few remains of mammalian teeth and bones higher up on the ridge, and again within two miles to the south-west among the harder purple beds. ( 120 ) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA Wynne: Salt Range. Memoirs. Vol: XIV. P1. X. Nr 8 m Fig. 6. Sketch Section Bakrala Pags. Fig8.8. Sechon across Bakrala Ridge W. by N. of Domeli. BAKRÁLA RIDGE. 121 limestone makes its appearance amongst local dislocations, and may be traced at intervals as far as the hill over Domeli. The ridge here becomes double and much wider, a long valley and other depressions Lm dividing it midway longitudinally. The lime- Nummulitie limestone, stone occurs on the top of the southern elevations, being apparently brought up by a greatly compressed and broken anti- clinal fold. It contains numerous casts of Gastropoda and some Nummulites. In a clunchy shale below are large and small Ostree, and the lowest beds seen are of hard red ferruginous aud spotted amygdal- oidal-looking heematitic clay of lateritic aspect :* (See fig. 7 (Plate X), in which ais nummulitie limestone ; 6, Náhan ; e, Lower Siwalik ; d, Upper Siwalik ; F, faults). The chief fracture which has brought these limestones, &e., into ton view is not very easily traceable among a number of smaller disturbances, but seems to have had an east and westerly direction, north of Doméli; and the limestones, &e., do not continue in this direction aeross the river, on the banks of which that village is situated. The anticlinal arch has here lost a good deal of its symmetry and Unsymmetrical anti. become normal, the angles to the north being low, nel while those to the south are very high, and the beds vertical, or closely erushed. A soft red zone also occurs at the outer foot of the hills on the Domeli side, and appears to occupy most of the escarpment of Nili hill near the centre of the ridge: (fig. 8, Plate X—a, Nähan ; 6, Lower Siwalik ; F., fault). The tertiary sandstones and other beds of this part of the range are frequently covered by a white saline efflorescence ; Saline efflorescence. k : o Brine spring. and a considerable sulphurous and saline spring issuing from calcareous tufa is situated at the foot of the hill near * Probably representing the pisolitic zone of Mr. Medlicott’s Jamu paper, l c. ante. Q (ario) 122 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. Kalra.* The occurrence of this spring is very probably connected with the faulting which has allowed the nummulitie limestone to appear; and the sulphur may perhaps be taken up by the water from the pyritous shales which usually underlie this rock, although they do not appear in their ordinary place above the hematite nearer Doméli. Further to the south-west the ridge maintains very much the same character, lower angles of inclination being observed on its northern side, and higher ones to the southward; the beds also on each side are softer than those of which the ridge itself is composed, and more level ground than the “ Khuddera” along the hill-foot has formerly existed, as is shown by numerous patches of the older surface not removed by denudation. The country on each side of the ridge, particularly to the south, it N is covered by immense deposits, chiefly of clay, | the results of atmospheric denudation; but the numerous ravines, streams, and higher parts of the ground occasionally expose the soft Lower Siwalik beds of the tertiary series. Where the Bunhär river cuts through this Bakräla ridge at the 1 gorge of Ghoragali, the rocks have suffered more Ghoragali. i : than usual disturbance and fracture. Thick, soft grey sandstones with occasional pebbles are seen beneath the superficial deposits in the river banks at a mile or so from the northern entrance to the gorges, dipping to the west-by-north at 10°; these are faulted against greenish and brown sandstones and drab or reddish clays, which are folded, vertieal, and compressed, and brought by another fault against a strong vertieal rib of whitish nummulitie limestone ; the latter runs up the right side of the gorge, widening, as it goes, to join the limestone patch capping Diljaba mountain. Ata little distance on the left side of the gorge this rib of limestone is cut out by other fractures, and dis- appears. Close to the limestone, on its southern side, the grey sand- stones and red clays are much crushed, dipping towards it at 45° and * This spring is described under the heading “ Springs,” Part 1, p. 47. ( 122 ) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA, Memoirs. Vol: XIV. Pl XT. E Fig. 9 Rib of Nummulitic limestone in Ghoragally Pass. Tertiory sandstones ow both sides. Fig. 10. Across Diljaba mountan. 2. Purple somilatone. 3. Silurian.. % Magnestan Sandstone. 8.Sulb-crystal zone. 10. Olive. group 11. Nummuliftc limestone, 1%.Nahan. 13.Lower Süurahk. eC BAKRÁLA RIDGE. 123 higher angles; but a little further away, assuming the usually high dips of the southern side of the ridge. These sandstones become conglo- meratic with silicious and limestone pebbles, and are overlaid by a broad belt of bright red clays with fewer sandstone bands. (See fig. 9, Pl. XI.) Diljaba mountain, the south-western termination of the Bakrála Diljaba. ridge, is much more lofty than any other portion of it, having a summit elevation of three thousand and fifty-two feet. From the abruptness of its north-west scarp and the occurrence of some of the tertiary sandstones close beneath this, the mountain appears to have been separated from the rocks of the low country upon that side by a continuation of the fracture or fractures seen in the Ghoragali gorge. Having passed the thick covering of detritus close to the foot of the escarpment, the dull reddish-purple sandstones of the group No. 2 in the table are exposed. Over these comes the dark shaly zone No. 3, surmounted by the strong magnesian sandstone group, overlying which is the red and greenish, flaggy, “ salt-pseudomorph zone.” This is succeeded by the conglomeratic beds and sandstones of the “olive group,” here containing the remains of Ostree, and passing beneath the lower beds of the nummulitic limestone, the talus of which probably conceals the coaly shales frequently occurring at that horizon. The stronger beds form cliff-benches, and the ground is in places covered with sunketia jungle, so that the section is obscured, or is concealed by detrital accumulations on the benches, but can still be made out. The nummulitie limestone, just on the ridge, is flat or gently undulating, averaging from fifty to a hundred feet in thickness; but almost immedi- ately commences to descend the south-eastern slopes of the hill with a rapidly increasing dip. The very summit is formed of the lowest beds of the tertiary sandstone lying conformably upon the limestone and stretching up the steep south- eastern sides of the mountain in great sheets, which, placed almost on edge, form ground too steep for cattle or almost for goats to frequent, and consequently a favourite haunt for the “ Ooriar,” “ Meroo,” ( 123°) South-eastern slopes. 124 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. or wild sheep (Ovis cycloceros) of these hills. The beds which more immediately overlie the limestone are of grey sandstone, lumpy shales, and pseudo-conglomerate. Some of the sandstones are very coarse, and in one of these a short bone, like the humerus of a reptile, was found, which broke, however, in the effort to remove it. Overlying these and reaching along the base of the hill is the strong red clay zone, before alluded to, succeeded by soft grey Siwalik sandstones and light brown clays (see fig. 10, Pl. XI). The most interesting circumstance connected with this Bakrala Similarity to Murree "dge is the identity some of its beds present Bi to the Murree group, and in consequence to the older tertiary rocks of the Sub-Himalayan series, while this identity, together with the occurrence of bones, bone fragments, and Mastodon teeth, seems to present in one group the characteristics both of the lower tertiary and the Siwalik divisions. Section 11.—Mounrt Tria RIDGE. A short paper has already appeared in the Records of the Geological Survey* explanatory of the geology of Mount Before described. o o o o > Tilla ; still, as the ridge claims a place among the connecting links between the Salt Range and the Himalaya, it must be noticed. The eastern termination of the Tilla Ridge just crosses the Grand Trunk Road, from which the hill itself may be plainly seen, looking all the finer because it is viewed endways and full advantage given to its height of 3,242 feet above the sea. The ridge has a length of 26 miles, but the western part only is lofty, a few bungalows upon its summit near the Pir (or sacred locality of the natives), with its fine old tank and temples, surrounded by various trees (among which a deodar is conspicuous), forming a small but picturesque sanatarium for Jhelum station. Eastern termination. mE M l * Records, Geol, Survey of India, Vol. 111, pt. IV, p. 81. ( 124 ) ug ur SUY a MUN M De Cin BEN Pd n ir pr Ear GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. 5 Wynne: Salt Ronge- . Mem oirs.Vol: XIV.PLXIT, 00,00 E ; ; oo? E aW A m = g ZUM E AW à Q : se 1 / 4 4 5 : 7 A un Fig. 11. Section in Kahan River Gorge Rotas. 3 miles in length. 1,Conglomer ates Sandy bade and Clays. 2,Groy sandstone and brown Clays. 3, Conglomer- -ate ond ts detritus. 4, Gray Sondetones and Clays. 5 Conglomerate (Post tertiary) 6, Sandotones Es ryj -------------- Fig. 12. Section over MË Tilla. 2, Purple Sandstone. 3, Sdurian . +, Magnestan Sandstone. 8, Trias. ?. 11, Nummaditic - -Limestone , 12, Nahan. 13, Lower Súvalik F. Falt. TILLA RIDGE. 125 Round the termination of the ridge to the eastward is the low Alarte country and alluvium of the Jhelum, which, follow- meratic zone. ing the course of that river, extends along the southern side of the ridge past the wide sandy bed of the Bunhár river, as far as the neighbourhood of Dhárapur. Embracing the low extremity of the ridge, and rising from this alluvium, is a crescent-shaped belt of low pebble-covered hills, derived from the waste of the incoherent Upper Siwalik conglomerate rocks. The pebbles in these consist prin- cipally of quartzose grit with fragments of other metamorphic or crys- talline rocks, and the detritus, apparently of these beds, is found as a re-arranged, unconformable, post-tertiary deposit, resting upon the flanks of the ridge near Rotás. Where such beds as these occur in open ground, it is very difficult to see their relations; they weather down into beach- like slopes, covering everything else from view, and when occasional cliff or bank sections occur and total discordance can be seen, the re-arranged materials simulate the original structure of the beds so closely that appearances cannot always be trusted.* The horse-shoe arrangement of the pebbly ground, however, coincides with an anticlinal structure seen at Rotás gorge in the tertiary sandstones, &c., and conglomerate bands are occasionally found intercalated with the latter beds in the neighbourhood. The gorge of the Kahän river, near the old fortress of Rotäs, shows K both these and the unconformable post-tertiary Rotas gorge. : ; eonglomerates, as well as the subjacent tertiary sandstone and clay beds (see fig. 11, Pl. XII). The conglomerates are much more frequent over the country beyond the north-east bank of the river; while on the opposite side of the stream they * Upper Siwalik conglomerates and their debris, formed more largely or exclusively of rounded syenite, quartzite, and other crystalline fragments, are widely distributed along the Indus, beyond which river, on the track from Kälabägh to Shakardara, they are seen to be perfectly . conformable to the upper grey tertiary sandstones, &c.,—single pebbles and layers of pebbles first appearing, afterwards becoming more numerous, till at last enormous masses of conglomerate supervene, ( 135 ) 126 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. extend but a short way, the mass of these beds having been removed or never deposited. From Rotäs to Mount Tilla the Upper Siwalik beds are all on From Rotás towards edge, running in a south-westerly direction either cU straight for the hill, or so as to pass along its southern side, occupying a width of about three miles. In these rocks contortions may exist, but the tops of the arches having been removed by denudation, the structure of the ground is obscured; the main anticlinal, however, as at Rotás, lies well to the south-east side of the brokenrising ground. In a southerly direction the country near the hills is eovered by debris, apparently derived from very soft underlying rocks in which clays predominate. Just along the foot of the tertiary hills are conglomeratic beds with limestone pebbles, pseudo-conglomeratic and grey sandstones, with light brown clays. Ascending the slopes, purple and red clays alternate with grey soft sandstones; while about the region of the anticlinal, and on the north-eastern side of this, brownish clays, and soft, coarse and fine sandstones, with some gravelly beds, again appear. Near the middle of the ridge, where the road from Jhelum to Mount Tilla meets the old one from Rotás, a zone of ossiferous sandstones is interealated with the brownish clays and sand- stones. Bone fragments are locally numerous in Bone beds. ) o this, but as they are embedded in a very frag- mentary state, the finding of good specimens must be quite accidental. The thickness of the tertiary beds of this ridge and its neighbour- hood must be great, but calculations regarding it are affected by uncertainty as to the existence of compressed and concealed contortions. Beneath the Rotäs fort these Thickness. beds dip to the north-west steadily for more than a mile at 60° and 70°, giving a thickness of 4,700 to 5,000 feet. In the event of plications not occurring, that thickness might be fairly doubled, while the softer beds beyond the ridge may be at least 5,000 feet more. Hence 10,000 feet does not seem too large an estimate for this portion of the tertiary rocks. ( 126 ) TILLA RIDGE. 197 At a distance of eight miles from Rotás, Mount Tilla commences to rise above the lower part of the ridge. Here Mount Tilla, : : older roeks are brought against the beds just now described by a fault or faults, the beds of different age in contact being e greatly crushed, and some of the red tertiary clays in the neighbourhood have the rather unusual character in this part of the country of being gypseous. The hill being high and the southern esearpment bold, instructive sections appear almost everywhere upon it, and the geological structure is clear; but the series is repeated in great part twice, if not three times, by slips or faults parallel to the main dislocation (see fig. 12, Pl. XII). Along the south-eastern base of the hill, the ground, there tolerably high, shows the grey and brownish or red portion of the tertiary beds, generally nearly vertical, with an incli- nation towards the hill, but sometimes folded. The lowest rocks appear- ing along the fault are the earthy basal portion of the purple sandstone group No. 2, with here and there possibly the top of the red marl of No. 1, which shows itself further to the west; but this is so much of the colour of the red tertiary clays, observed to be gypseous near Mogli village, that it is difficult to distinguish between them. Thin purple sandstones, the silurian zone, and overlying magnesian Us sandstones, &e., form the clıffs, above which the supposed trias group, No. 8, with salt-pseudo- morphs, appears, and the summit is formed by an anticlinal roll in the e hard magnesian group. The red zone No. 8, again showing itself on the steep bedding-slope of the northern side of the mountain, 1s followed by a thin and uncertain repre- sentative of the nummulitic limestone, with some shales below it here and there; above this come the usual grey and greenish lower tertiary sandstones and reddish clays. The red clays here (as elsewhere), becom- ing locally prevalent, range themselves in z zone along the north base of the hill, beneath the soft grey sandstones and brown or orange clays forming the Lower Siwalik group. Remnants of the nummulitic lime- stone also occur near the summit of the hill. ( 1237 ) 128 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE , PUNJAB. The following is the estimated thickness of each Thickness. of the groups :— Feet. _ Siwalik sandstones and clays, grey, brown, and red zones oto 1,200 Nähan zone ds aps ooo 00 500 800 Nummulitie limestone 900 000 000 a. 15to 30 Salt-pseudomorph zone, variable Mee Sis .. 80to 20 Magnesian sandstone 009 000 300 ... 150 to 200 Black shaly zone (silurian) kon 060 Bc ... 100 to 180 Purple sandstone group «oq 000 000 * ,.. 170 to 250 Red salt-marl with gypsum .«. u 000 .. 50 and upwards. Immediately to the south-westward of the summit two deep ravines Magnesian sandstone, €Xpose sections in the beds as low down as the pur- Se, ple sandstone, the magnesian sandstone forming a narrow edge above a vertical precipice formed by this and the under- lying rocks. The same group undulates over a large lobe of the moun- tain, between some ravines and the more open glen north of Nára, edged by precipices. At the base of these the salt-marl makes its appearance, ^ while from their crest the steep north-western Nára glen. slopes of the mountain commence. The salt mar] here is, as usual, accompanied by gypsum and white calcareous bands (probably magnesian limestone layers), which contain very perfect casts of hopper-erystals of salt.* These are rather numerous close to the Mount Tilla experimental shaft, sunk in this gypsum and marl to seek the salt which ought to occur beneath it. The site chosen for this shaft or driving seems to coincide Salt marl. exactly with the run of a fault or extensive slip. Appearances outside would lead to the expectation that the solid rock should be found much within the length the driving has been carried to, instead of which the ground it has passed through exhibits a most heterogeneous accumu- lation of detrital fragments, of the local rocks. From this fact it would seem that the line of division between a great subsided mass * First observed by Dr. Warth. ( 18) TILLA RIDGE. 129 of the magnesian sandstone and the main mountain, must “hade” or * hang" to the north; but much confidence cannot be felt in speaking of debris, which is nearly all that the driving exposes. This debris can hardly extend much further, and it is understood the driving is to be carried through it, into the rocks of the mountain, where its course towards the position of the salt will be decided by the lie of the beds. As usual in mining operations, where the extension of the beds is not known, nothing but a trial could prove the fact of the salt being present here or not; but the probabilities are all in favour of its exist- ence.* Salt-springs occur, perhaps on the same horizon, at the edge of the Bunhár river near Pind-Sevika to the south-westward, and also near the north-eastern termination of the older groups of Mount Tilla not far from Bangiál, at a place called Lunáda. The occurrence of these brine- springs in both places is probably connected with that of the main Tilla Fault. Beneath the precipices over Nára glen may be observed the first indications of the boulder zone which borders Boulder zone. : the Salt Range along its southern side. The south-western extension of the mountain beyond these clıfls, South-western exten- though high, is less so than the more faulted por- SER QUIAE tion, but still it has summits of 2,304 and 2,004 feet. An open, though incomplete, anticlinal structure occurs here, the south-eastern side of which has suffered dislocation and erosion ; and the whole mountain having a somewhat broader base, the foundations of the wide and undulating arch occupy a larger area. The salt-marl is just seen at the base of the escarpment, the purple sandstone forms the body of the clifis, the dark shaly silurian zone accompanying it, and the hard magnesian sandstone forms rough undulating plateau ground, overlaid by the salt-pseudomorph band, here locally thick. The Nähan sandstone-and-elay series caps the mountain and contains quantities * A special examination of this locality was made and the results communicated to the Inland Revenue Department in April 1874. E R ( 129 ) 150 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. of silicious fossil exogenous wood, a narrow zone of nummulitic lime- stone being just traceable beneath it. These upper beds turn down- wards on the steep north-western mountain slope and the red earthy zone, and softer sandstones with brownish clays occupy the lowest ground in this direction, which is, however, much cut up by khuddera and ravines, and rendered more rugged than it would otherwise be by reason of the steep angles at which the beds pass downwards. At the western end of the ridge all the beds are suddenly bent down Curve at west end of and locally faulted or fractured, describing in EN plan the half of a semicircular arch with a radius of more than two miles, the other half being apparently cut off by the Pind-Sevíka portion of the Tilla fault. This arrangement of the beds is well shown by the topographieal ornament upon the one-inch map, and the tertiary beds roll over to so great a degree that they often lose their outward inclination and sometimes appear to dip towards the hill. With this structure it is difficult to conceive much internal or local contortion of the beds, and in the absence thereof, this portion of the tertiary sandstones and clays, including the Náhan beds, must have a thickness of fully a mile and a half, or seven thousand nine hundred and twenty feet. Here and along the north-western base of Mount Tilla the patches of ancient flat surfaces before alluded to are not un- Remnants of old plains. common, and masses of recent conglomerate appear to have once filled the gorge at Pind-Sevíka. Between this place, also, rud and Ghoragali Pass, the Siwalik beds appear to be nu auriferous, gold being found in the sand of the Bunhár river, but not in larger quantity than usual. With the exception of one group, the “ olive group,” or “ cretaceous,” and some shales below the nummulitic limestone, it will be seen that i Mount Tilla forms an epitome of the whole of the SEN stratigraphie geology of the Eastern Salt Range. (101900) CHAMBAL MOUNTAIN, EAST. 131 Section IIl.—CHamBAaL Mountain, East. There are two Chambal mountains, one west of Jutäna and the other Chambal > Mountain, north of Jalälpur. This latter mountain presents East. much peculiarity as to structure. In its vicinity great fractures occur, and it appears to be itself a result of extreme and Be position‘ uf complicated dislocation, the ordinary anticlinal and - strata and dislocation, synclinal disturbance being interrupted by faults. The disturbance of Mount Tilla is great; its dislocation and con- tortion, however, appear natural and intelligible, but having crossed the Tilla fault, the strike of the strata, their inclinations, and positions are discontinuous and discordant, the later tertiary beds striking so as to run against the earliest rock of the series, the red salt marl; and the only remnants of symmetry left being in the dips of these newer beds, those of the two mountains tending to form opposite sides of a broken synclinal valley, in which rest the broad quicksands of the Bunhär river. One spot where extreme results of dislocation can be seen is the lowest and last, the Pind-Sevika gorge of the Pind-Sevika gorge. i j | ; Bunhár river; on the Tilla side of this are the undulating, nearly horizontal, but depressed, older beds of the whole series, with a little of the salt-marl at their very base (from whence brine-springs issue); while on the Chambal side the purple sandstones, silurian zone, and magnesian sandstone incline at an angle of 45° to the north-east, being apparently checked by a fault; the red zone and overlying beds of the upper tertiary series dip in the same direction at 50°, 60°, and 70°, in such a way that their strike, if prolonged, must abut against the older rocks of Tilla. Again to the north of Jalálpur the whole series is reduced to the similitude of a gigantic breccia, in each frag- North of Jalälpür. A d ment of which several groups are ineluded, the (Misia) 152 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. . disturbance first met with north of that town being so complex that the one-inch map fails to show it correctly. The scarped side of this Chambal Mountain, unlike other similar features in the vicinity, is presented to the west- ward, and bears the nearest analogy to a step-fault on an enormous scale, repeating the features found in the scarp from Jalálpur to Jutána. The escarpment is high and steep, rising over the village of Chanod (or Chanad as spelled upon the map) to 2,290 feet above sea level. The base of the cliff is covered with a deep talus of debris and travertine conglomerate, but the salt-marl and gypsum can be seen in many places along its lower part; and at one place, not far from the village named, a subsided mass shows the whole of the purple sandstone group capped by the shaly silurian band. Chambal scarp. In the escarpment itself both the purple sandstone and the shaly band re-appear and are continuous along it, but the Chambal scarp con- tinued. magnesian sandstone is only slightly represented, its development increasing to the northward. The red zone with salt pseudomorphs is absent, and the lower beds of the tertiary sandstone and clay series rest directly (where the succession is complete) on the representative of the magnesian limestone or on the underlying silurian band, without the intervention of either the olive series or the nummuli- tic limestone. Three characteristic groups of the eastern succession are thus missing, and among those that are present any want of development seems to have been the result of thinning out, and not of pre-tertiary denudation having removed any portion of them; so that the series, limited as it is, still appears to be quite conformable. From the crest of the hill the tertiary sandstones, &c., curve downwards towards the east at angles of 50° and a 00 5 prey sandstones and the reddish clays rapidly alternating as the beds succeed each other, the clays predominating in a soft zone worn away to form the valley traversed by the Jhelum road, and following the curve of the hill. An escarpment facing the moun- (o mem. 3 "CHAMBAL MOUNTAIN, EAST. 135 tain borders this valley or pass, and is formed by some stronger bands of sandstone, etc., the dips being still high, and, near the village of Núrpur vertical, giving a thickness of more than a mile. Further eastward soft grey sandstones and light brownish Siwalik clays with conglomerate bands undulate over an intricate and deeply-ravined mass of lower hills towards Dárapur, some of the sandstone beds being extremely soft and weathering down to sand heaps. These upper beds form a very wide arch with gentle inclinations, except on the banks of the Jhelum, where the dips are generally high. The series is as follows :— 3 > Ghambal. Hii, sU 2200 2 E Le Hille towards D ar apur AAA toni ale Lo ¡Vert 1100086 Fig. 13. Section over Chambal Hill (East). a, Dolomite bed in Salt-marl, Feet, Grey sandstones, very friable, and light brown marly Siwalik No. 13 x clays; maximum apparent thickness, which may be much below the real amount E se» 5,500 Red zone, chiefly clays xc 000 se. 1,500 Nahan No. 12 «== Lower sandstone, etc. 000 .. 500 Nummulitic limestone Nos. 9, 10, 11 ...2 Olive group ABSENT ER 2 0 Salt-pseudomorph zone 4. Magnesian sandstone occ co 50to 0 n 3. Dark shaly band (Silurian). ... vee 150 to 200 Paleozoic 00 2. Purplesandstone ... B60 060 e.. 500 1. Red gypseous marl GBR see icc ? In the dislocated ground between Jalálpur and Vang, the village of Nonius Ducum 1s situated near the middle of a faulted ground. portion of the rocks, comprising several of the local groups. The stream below the village shows the red salt ( 133 ) 134 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. marl, faulted against the upper tertiary beds, and just at the top of the marls there occurs a massive band of pale, whitish grey dolomite, in places reddish and containing cherty nodules ; hard white granular bands occur in it, and it has Dolomite in salt-marl. A : all the aspect of solid grey limestone, and weathers in the same form, but does not effervesce with acid. It is well seen in a low hill at the southern edge of the plain of Chanod, where its thickness seems to vary from one hundred to one hundred and eighty feet. The same rock occurs again, brecciated, in faulted ground amongst the red marl,at the base of the Chambal scarp west-by-south from the same village, these being the only instances in which this bed has been found along the whole range. The dolomite is overlaid by some four hundred and eighty feet of the purple sandstone group, the beds becoming calca- en reous as they ascend, and including pale purple and orange, vesicular and caleareous bands with green specks, some slightly micaceous beds being more calcareous than others. These are succeeded bythe dark shaly silurian band, here apparently thinner than usual, and resting upon it are about forty feet of the compact light semi-calcareous sandstones, of the magnesian sandstone group, passing apparently be- neath some portion of the tertiary sandstones not well seen at the surface. Where the tertiary beds rest upon the silurian band at the south end Junction of tertiary Of the Chambal hill, the upper fifty feet of the and ner purple sandstone group below this band is very soft and of a whitish colour; the outerop of the silurian shales 1s but ninety paces across, with a southerly dip of 50^; and the Náhan sandstones resting on them form ground like that on the south side of Diljaba, their steeply sloping beds ascending to various heights upon the moun- tain side. ‘In the neighbourhood of Jalálpur, for a mile to the westward of the town, and for several miles to the eastward, the uU tertiary sandstones, conglomerates, and clays dip at ( 184 ) CHAMBAL MOUNTAIN, EAST. 135 angles of 40°, 50°, and 55° to the south,* and form most rugged hilly ground. Up the stream from this town the steady southerly dip of 35° and 40° does not long continue, the beds soon commence to undulate and are crossed by a line of intense crushing and faulting: for a width of one hundred yards the rocks are much mixed, fragmentary portions of different groups being brought together, squeezed, slipped, and wedged in amongst each other, the most prominent being the purple sand- stone and marls and gypsum of the salt series; and the softer ter- tiary clays show saline efflorescence. This line of crushing and fault, ng bearing south-west, crosses from the southern R end of the Chambal scarp, so as to cut off the Mangaldeo end of the Jutána scarp and bring the older rocks against the tertiary beds, close to a temple above the village of Dheri. Eight or ten other faults occur in the vicinity of the “divide” or watershed between the Bunhár and Jhelum rivers here, nearly all of them bringing groups of most dissimilar situation in the series into contact. The Khárián or Pabbi ridge on the south bank of the Jhelum, form- EN ing a sort of continuation of the Chambal hills, is principally composed of the soft Upper Siwalik beds, and, receding from the stream where crossed by the Grand Trunk Continuation of Cham. Road, is laid open by the deep cuttings for the de Northern State Railway. The sandstones are all of soft texture, but are harder inside, and both these and the thiek bands of warm orange or light brownish red clay crumble away and wear into deep ruts under the action of the rain, though “ so tough and coherent as to have required blasting in making the euttings." The beds form a low open anticlinal arch. p * The neighbourhood of Jalálpur seems to have furnished some good reptilian and other fossils during the survey of Dr. Fleming, &c. Although sought for, these highly fossiliferous beds have escaped my notice. (DAD) 136 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. i * Suction IV.—JALÄLPUR TO JUTÁNA. The well-marked escarpment from Jälalpur to Jutána exposes very much the same section as Mount Tilla. The salt Escarpment. o ; marl shows a thickness of thirty to fifty feet beneath the Jalälpur end of the ridge, and on the northern side a thin representative of the salt-pseudomorph zone appears in its proper place as regards the underlying beds, but overlaid by the tertiary sandstones, etc., to the exclusion of the nummulitie limestone and olive groups. The beds forming the ridge have steady dips of 30°, 40°, and 50° to ; the north-east, with a tendency to flatten on the Thil and to the west. : s ; outerop, as at Thil, a couple of miles beyond which place a thin yellowish calcareous marly bed represents the nummulitie limestone. The red salt-marl is not known here, but a portion of it may be concealed beneath the debris immediately at the base of the escarp- ment. Above this comes the purple sandstone, well developed and suc- ceeded by a talus of the dark shaly silurian zone, then the strong beds of the magnesian sandstone; then the red salt-crystal-cast zone, thicker than before; the nummulitic band, the grey, gravelly, and pseudo-conglo- meratic tertiary sandstones on the northern slope; the tertiary red clay zone at its foot, and the brown clay and grey sandstone beds of the Siwalik groups down in the Bunhar valley between this and Mount Tilla. (See section, fig. 16, Pl. XIV.) In this neighbourhood, at a considerable height upon the talus at the southern side of the ridge, a kind of drift or rain-wash contains numbers of small crystalline and metamorphic boulders, the source of which is rather mysterious, seeing that the olive group, with its clay-shale conglomerates consisting so largely of these fragments, is not represented in the local section. The Jhelum river passes through a country in which conglo- merates of the tertiary series contain numbers of the same or similar crys- talline boulders, and their presence here may indicate their having been transported by this river in former times. (pale Gin) a MEINE ; * Y 5 AME JA A 2 n 2 ir ANS ams o , qw Y ‘Wane LI P E M i y "n "m cus bor 5 q i * : E = y ' P T z H NT. G > * Y p- sE ‘ ^ a E * * n 4 x “VYVIVMNVOVHE HV3N S4430 MOTO Q THON SIFLO LT BT, 2A0QB urody INQ “HL BZ A "DUOS PUSSIES B ^ w0).*p?rD c ans uw UNLESS ¡DUO sS pupos admar "eu ox apdaow opinor rog Bowuejepu s uva se boy T annınnge "TUS PUDE adunyy IYPT Lun queiro su JUE qe S aw AA 'NIONI 30 ABAHNS 1v21901039 JALÄLPUR TO JUTÄNA. 157 Westwards towards Bhäganwäla the ridge grows wider, the flattening of the beds on the top of it more decided, though undulating, and the strike of the tertiary beds trends off to the northwards to enfold the termination of the Eastern Towards Bháganwála, Plateau. In this locality, too, the olive sandstones and conglomerates of the cretaceous zone No. 10 begin to appear. The face of the escarpment close to Bháganwála on the left-hand 2 side of the glen has been fractured, or slippage has Bháganwála. taken place, so as to present the appearance of a double set of lower beds, the fractures and their results being of the same character, but on a smaller scale, than those of the Tilla and Chambal searps already mentioned. Within the little glen at Bhágan- wála the rocks are much disturbed, thelower earthy part of the purple series being seen, and just the top of the gypseous red marl, here not sufficiently saline to impregnate a delicious stream of fresh water flow- ing through the ravine. The banks of this stream are lined with water- eresses, and highly coloured (blue and pink) erustaceans inhabit the water. Two paths lead from this gorge up the precipices to more undulating ground above. The best of these passes by a small but picturesque ruin perched upon the cliff edge, and the other, which is by no means safe — or pleasant, ascends obliquely to the eastward the cliff formed by the magnesian sandstone on the northern side of a deep ravine entering behind the outer hills. "The path leads to the bed of a stream, which must form a fine waterfall as it descends over the outerop. It was dry when visited ; but such is the permeable, jointed nature of the strong magnesian sand- stone group, that a quantity of water (having evidently percolated from the stream bed above) issued from the lower portion of the cliff over which the river falls when the stream is full. The undulating ground above the cliffs is occupied by the red clays, mottled with green, and red stained flags, of the salt-pseudomorph group, from beneath which a lofty bedding-slope of the magnesian sandstone rises at angles of 30° and 40°, (See fig. 14, Pl. XIII.) S (9507 3) 138 WYNNE : GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. The olive group is apparently only locally developed and not thick in 3 the neighbourhood, yet a large syenitie block, or Large erratic block, E d boulder, supposed to have come from it, which was observed in the stream bed above the fall, measured six feet four inches in length. Following the tributaries of this stream north-eastwards, the head of a ravine is reached, which leads into the Bunhär Coal locahty. k N valley near Kotal Kund. High, tertiary sandstone and conglomerate hills rise on either side, their beds dippimg to the north-north-east at 50° and 60°, and just below these rocks is a band of nummulitic limestone overlying dark coaly shales, with a bed of good coal three feet six inches thick. Underneath it some sandstone oecurs, and then a band of bluish grey shale, which rests directly upon the red salt-erystal- cast zone. This is the Bháganwála coal locality, the “ mines ^" being repre- sented by a few small excavations in the bank at the side of the stream. The ground is bad and the ravine steep and so narrow that a fallen mass from the limestone had almost blocked it up; but the flood water had found a passage, through which the tape was carried, partly beside and partly beneath the block. The following is the section measured at this place, which is about two miles in a straight line north-east of Bháganwála. (See fig. 15, Pl. XIV.) Ft. In, p (18. Gray pseudo-conglomeratic sandstone, dip 60°—70° — ... ox 2 foo ALG E 17. Conglomerate p > 2 6 E 16. Sandstone 4 0 E 84 15. Conglomerate ED ED con co aco ul aa 14, Sandstone ... 006 68 000 000 000 006 oc 650 Bu | 13. Conglomerate ^ 5c cob ooo oo aie E 2 0 z 12, Sandstone ... oon 000 coo 000 je co dE) a) (11. Pseudo-conglomeratic Halo 4 6 (10. White and brown variegated impure limestone 006 000 000 » 15 0 9. Shaly band . coo 600 Bea Serna NK) 8. Lumpy estone, dip 450 (COTA diss ?) ae a Bes 2/7000 S | 7. Yello fossiliferous nummulitic limestone ... oco 000 ono ag xb (0m = E 6. ies shale ... v 600 000 odo 3 su anto E | 5. Coal shale including 3 feet 6 dudes coal soe ocd teo ono s ak = 4, Gray lumpy sandstone . 000 AN 3. White ferruginous sentina. eoarse pages e grains anal roman: cmo clay atri ix, with black shaly and carbonaceous veins, and strings, and delicate purple and green earthy ce layers above, conglomeratic at base das on on 5n LO, ( 188 ) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ' INDIA. Wynne; Salt Range. Memoirs . Vol:XTV.P1.XIV. Fig. 15. Section asross Bhaganwala Coal bed. one mila " 1000 £t Vertical ——A— Y : PAPES Fig. 16. Sectyon from Bhaganwala to near Kotalkund. JALÁLPUR TO JUTÁNA. 139 Ft. In ™ ( 2. Bluish pray shale, red blotches below vr cac a te v» 29 0 Ek l. Red and green variegated clay-shale, measured up to 430 feet, but partly undu- à lating s er ER to vs d 300 0 z 487 9 The coal of this locality will be found mentioned at page 8 of Dr, Oldham's memorandum already alluded to, being the first that he notices. It is traceable for about two miles altogether, or less, and with the in- eluding beds forms an open eurve bulging towards the north. The associated shales and the coal itself are pyritous, causing the coal to take fire spontaneously. In the section from Bháganwála to near Kotal Kund (fig. 16 Nummulitic limestone Pl XIV),* the nummulitie limestone has already thickening. gained considerably in bulk and exhibits its two J characteristics, of solid and lumpy-beds; the latter having much the appearance of conglomerates in consequence of the nodular portions being surrounded by softer marly rock, which weathers more readily and is often crowded with small nummulites. There is here certainly no stratigraphic indication that any unconformity exists between the ee nummulitie and Arosa beds. Nor is duale any sign of unconformity below the nummulitie group; the gray and white sandstone with carbonaceous streaks occurs in other places with the same relations of paralellism to the overlying and underlying rocks, though the “olive group” is entirely absent. The gray shale (No. 2, at top of page) appears to form a part of the underlying beds of group No. 8. Group No. 8 (Nos. 1 and 2 in this measured section) has greatly Local thickness of salt increased in thickness, chiefly by the appearance Bozen land of a quantity of shales and elays in its upper part, In this place, after making large deductions from the measurements, * 1.—Salt marl. 2.—Purple sandstone. 3.—Dark shaly band (silurian). 4.—Mag- nesian sandstone group. 8.—Salt-crystal zone. 11,—Nummulitic limestone and coal. 12.—Tertiary sandstones, dic, (ea) 140 WYNNE : GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. on account of undulation, a thickness is found which cannot fall far short of 500 feet. The other groups have their usual dimensions; the magnesian sandstone from 150 to 200 feet, the silurian shales 150 to 180 feet, and the purple sandstone from 400 to 500; its lower 70 feet being flaggy and shaly and passing downwards into purple marl. The tertiary sandstones, &e., dip at high angles, and must be very thick, the quantity, however, shown in Fig. 15 Tertiary sandstones, &c. A : : . appearing greater in consequence of the section crossing the line of dip obliquely. The steep dips are confined to the northern slope of the ridge; having gained the summits of which, the beds bend over and become horizontal, their outerop and that of the nummulitie limestone terminating in a scarp only 150 or 200 feet deep. Where the ground falls rapidly, these rocks are cut into by numerous deep ravines. The main escarpment about Bhäganwäla is a good deal broken, massive portions of the cliffs having fallen entirely or par- tially slipped from above. (See fig. 17, Pl. XIII.) Escarpment. Westward of Bhäganwäla the ridge rapidly increases in width as Sad JUE ae it joins the Eastern Plateau of the range. The wala. E escarpment stil continues bold and marked to- wards Jutána; the purple sandstones and dark shaly silurian zone being everywhere capped by the magnesian sandstone whieh forms the LER cliffs along this feature. The ground above un- dulates greatly, much of it being covered with the bright red salt-pseudomorph group, and some higher hills are formed of the nummulitie limestone, here more than a hundred feet in thickness, while to the northwards the highest part of this undulat- ing country exposes the lower tertiary sandstones, &e., in the neigh- bourhood of Ara. To the east of that village, Tertiary sandstones, &e. | : nearly horizontal tertiary sandstones form a (OD . C SARO AHL. ONidd VS INOZ ¡IVLSASD 1I1VS 30 LYYd INV $-£-Z SdíiOH9 SS(IM YNWLAP NI MIIA LAIITA TO A's arowan ‘ague reg suuAn "VION!I 30 AJAUNS 1791901039 JALÄLPUR TO JUTÄNA, 141 broken range of hills, some five hundred feet above the plateau, just EL, before these beds turn downwards into the valley of the Bunhär. Fragments of silieified wood frequently occur here in the lower greenish beds of this series. The boundary lines of the various groups in this vieinity being decided almost entirely by erosion, run most irregularly, forming contours of the ground; patches of the newer beds are left outlying upon those below, and wide or narrow portions of the red flags and shales appear where the nummulitic and overlying beds have been removed. The seme boundaries are also sometimes affected by faults Olive group, bearing north-by-west. Over this region too, the olive or brownish sandstones and conglomerates’ (with crystalline pebbles) of the “olive group” are to be found, though not always exposed, the group being apparently very thin. To the south-west of Ara village, the white earthy sandstone at the base of the nummulitic series, accompanied by purple and white variegated clays in its upper part, has a thickness of 23 feet. The sandstone is very soft, its earthy ingredient whitening the fingers; and the variegated shale or clay above it possibly represents the heematitic clay so frequently seen near the base of the nummulitic series in other places. A deep narrow coomb or glen* is cut back from the escarpment east- ward of Jutäna, and seems to coincide with an Jutána ‘Kas.’ east-by-north fault, the rocks on the southern side having sunk considerably. The groups from the red marl upwards to the top of the magnesian sandstone, and part of the group above, are seen here; and here also, in an old mine, is the most easterly Most easterly salt known exposure of salt-rock in the range, a bed Enoy of bad salt with large crystals of pure salt em- bedded in it. + * Such a steep-sided ravine as is elsewhere called a ‘khad’ (khud), is here spoken of as a ‘kas’ (kuss), a word very generally used in the Upper Punjab. + Dr. Warth’s Report, page 181, 1872. (341) 142 WYNNE ;} GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. The depth of this cliff-enclosed ravine appears, from aneroid measure- ment, to be nearly 1,000 feet, made up of purple sandstone 450 feet, the dark shaly (silurian) band 200 feet, magnesian sandstone 250, — and some 50 feet of the red, flaggy group No. 8, from which the red oxide of iron is washed down over the face of the hard cliffs, staining the light-colored underlying beds as deep ared as the overlying red zone itself. The remaining 50 feet may be allowed for the salt marl which appears nearly midway up the glen. This locality is interesting also as one of the two at which the nn. silurian fossils, referred to Obolus or Siphonotreta, have been found. They were obtained on the southern side of .the glen, where one or two cross-faults or slips seem to have let down the black shaly zone to the stream-level, not far from the salt-station and well within the glen. The fossiliferous beds are tough, dark, shales ; thin brecciated sandstone layers occur near the bottom of the group, often of a greenish color, and some soft and light-coloured clays are used for washing by the natives. | In the magnesian sandstone group a coarse pisolitic or concretionary i structure was observed throughout some ten feet a of hard thin-bedded calcareous sandstone, and on some of the bedding surfaces slight traces were found resembling the tracks of annelids or mollusks, or sometimes having a fucoidal bunch- like grouping. Thin beds of coarse purple and white breccia also occur in places in this group. For a mile and a half westward of Jutäna the same sections are exposed by the escarpment and the ground above West of Jutana. : Dig. mo o V it ; the nummulitie limestone in the latter position, having increased in thickness by 50 feet or more, projects southward from the main mass, accompanied by the underlying white sandstone, Nummulitic limestone here with a ferruginous, red, and variegated ad Bis LOST e clayey band, the former 16 feet and the latter 12 feet thick. Over this the coaly shales are represented by about eight ( 142 ) EASTERN PLATEAU. 143 feet of dull brown olive shales, so far as seen without coaly layers. The lumpy part of the nummulitic limestone above this contains nodules of pyrites, and the rock seems to be very incoherent, the ground being covered by its debris.* The metamorphic-pebble conglomerates, shales and sandstones of the * olive group” are apparently only locally present, but the underlying red zone with salt pseudomorphs is well seen: still largely composed of red shale at the top and more flaggy below. Here is its last appearance in force. From this country westwards it is much thinner, the upper clays mostly disappear, and it is evidently dying out. Some lumpy, brecciated, shaly, pebble-bands, seen hereabouts, are of unusual occurrence in the group. SECTION V.—EASTERN PLATEAU. Between Diljaba mountain and the country last described, the convex contour of the Eastern Plateau rises with the dip Outline to east. : of the tertiary sandstones, &e., at angles of 25, 30° and 40°; but except at Ara these beds do not extensively overlie the plateau. Some outlying patches, however, occur near Saida Leri and Umrála (Oomrala of the maps). On that part of the border of the plateau faeing the north in this neighbourhood, the angle of dip is steeper, up to 60°; and from the higher hills the sandstones and clays can be seen forming a broad synclinal trough which opens to the east, one side resting on the flanks of Diljaba, and the other upon the edge of this plateau, and the red clay zone occupying the hollow along the foot of the hills. The surface of the plateau undulates bU in plaees very considerably, the undulations fre- Nummulitic limestone. quently coinciding with the stratifieation of the gray nummulitic limestone, which, stripped of the overlying beds, * The effectof violent rain, evidently recent, was well seen on a steep hillside covered with this debris—the loose stony covering having been, as it were, ploughed by the runnels, and the contents of the channels thrown off, forming ridges on either side of the furrow. ( 148 ) 144 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. is most deeply eroded along the southern side of the table-land. The limestone is frequently fossiliferous, but its fossil-remains, as usual, are in bad preservation. Some beds, however, contain numbers of a small deeply marked oyster (Ostrea Flemingi?) in a much better state; large Echinoderms and Gastropods are also common. On the north-western side of the plateau the narrow ridge of Chél rises 800 feet above it, having a summit elevation of 3,701 feet, and a length of about four miles. The ridge is formed by a much displaced and broken anti- Chel. clinal of the magnesian sandstone group and would appear to have been faulted along both sides, slightly on the south-eastern, and to a much greater extent on the north-west side. (See section, fig. 18, Pl. XV.) Along the south-eastern flank the nummulitic limestone rises gently, though forming ground difficult to cross in places. Close to the ridge a little valley intervenes, at the northern end of which, on the plateau side, are some bands of red, purple, and variegated, ferruginous sandstones passing downwards into coarse white sandstones, with red veins, and upwards into some black shales (doubtless the beds next below the limestone, on the usual horizon of the coal shales). They are of no great thickness, but remarkable for containing’ several Tertiary plant leaves. well preserved lanceolate, dieotyledonous, leaves of small size. Not far from the place where these were found, on the north-east prolongation of the ridge, and down its northern Gravelly shale. a í : slope, is a mass of greenish brown splintery and gravelly shale, having a peculiar appearance, weathering like soft trappean amygdaloid, containing white specks, metamorphic grains, pebbles, and even boulders of crystalline rocks. Layers of brown sandstone and conglomerate occur in and with this shaly mass, which appears to succeed the Chél hill beds without the intervention of the salt-crystal group. The bedding when seen conforms to that of the nummulitic limestone and passes below the lowest beds of that group. ( 144 ) GEOLOGIGAL SURVEY OF (NDIA. Wynne: Salt Range Memoirs: Vol, XIV. Pl. XV. 1 Chel Hall | 3"01 ESSET Natural. Seale Horizontal and Vertical One malo Fig. 18. Section across Chel Hill. +, Magnesicor Ka«ndgtene. 10, Olzye group. H, Nummulibie Limestone. 12, Tertiary Sandstone. EL X Fossil Leaves. K argngli Hill A ASA W.20° S. One male 1000 feet E.20. N. Fig. 19. Karanglı Hall Section . 1, Red mart. 2, Purple sendstane. 3, Dork shales. Sila toon A, Magnestor Sandstone . 10, Olive li, Nummuliie limestone. 12, Tertiery Sandstone . group - N sed jit i E pa EASTERN PLATEAU. 145 The hill of Chél itself, at least at its northern end, seems to be mainly composed of the magnesian sandstone Magnesian sandstone. : UNS $ : beds, typieal varieties of this rock, the brecciated dolomitic and pisolitie or concretionary forms, occuring there; some of the beds are more sandy, some more compact and silicious, and here and there are red layers, with soft micaceous, dark and pale-gray sandstones having annelid burrows or fucoidal markings. In some spots too, dark mieaceous sandy shales occur, a few beds together, of the entire aspect of the shaly silurian zone below. They are sometimes lumpy and flaggy, and on being narrowly examined were found at one place, south-east of the summit, to contain small, indefinite, plant fragments (probably of fucoids) and some small broken fish teeth (?), pointed like those of sharks.* As the axis of the stratigraphie curve forming the hill bends downwards towards both ends, these may be among the lowest beds exposed. On O ATA the north-western side the crushing and disloca- E tion is extreme, the beds next 1n contact with the magnesian sandstone, &e., just described, being flaggy gray sandstones, with some eoarse red layers and semi-caleareous grits, over whieh come conglomerates, and some of the conglomeratie shale, just now mentioned, at the point marked A in the section (fig. 18). Here another fault oceurs, and a mass of erushed nummulitic limestone is let in between conglomerate and red Náhan beds, the junction of the latter with the limestone, being also a line of crushing and dislocation, cutting these limstones out entirely within a short distance. The whole of the Choya-Ganj-Ali-Sháh valley below is occupied by the Náhan tertiary beds (sandstones, &c.), which are much disturbed, particularly along a transverse line of fault between this and the head of the Phadiál valley. Choya valley (East). * These fossils being very obscure, and possibly belonging to detached upper beds of the Obolus or Siphonotreta zone, they have not been previously mentioned with either of these groups. T ( 145 ) 146 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. Towards the south-west end of the Chel ridge the plateau lime- South-west end of Stone rests upon a thin red band, probably repre- ess senting the salt-erystal zone, beneath which are the conglomerates and shale-eonglomerate of the olive group; all dipping gently towards the plateau. These beds are brought up along the fault on the plateau side of Chél ridge, in contact with the rocks of this hill. Crossing the low arch formed by these beds, to the opposite side of the ridge, another fault is met with which brings a vertical portion of the same red bands against the ends of the Chél beds, and beyond these a mass of the underlying shale-conglomerate with metamorphie pebbles appears. A third fault places these in contact with the dark plant shales (?), overlying red and white, variegated hzmatitie clay, both of which are overlaid by the nummulitic limestone with a gentle dip towards the Potwár plateau. The latter rock forms a large outlying mass, resting on the north- eastern flanks of the Karángli hill, turned up and faulted at both sides, but passing gently under steeply scarped Náhan sandstones, &e., towards the low ground. The limestone only occurs towards the northern end of Karángli hill, being there cut off by a prolon- Karángli hill. ; í ; gation of the most extensive fault of the whole range. From beneath it crop out gray, brown, and olive sandstones and flags, with bands of dark shale and conglomerate, in which nothing organic could be detected. Below these are other dark, shaly bands, in places flaggy, which contain a few small and fragmentary plant remains, and beneath all are strong conglomerates of metamorphic-pebbles, and shales, resting directly on the magnesian group, in a hollow at the south-west end of the Chél ridge; the intermediate red zone No. 8 having apparently died out. These magnesian sandstones, &e., rise (see section, fig. 19, Pl. XV), to the escarpment and form the summit of Karänglı Hill,* (3,528 feet) where they contain Karángli scarp. AR AA AAA A AA * This elevation, and indeed all conspicuous heights on the Salt Range, including Sakesar itself, can be recognised from Murree on a clear day, ( 146 ) EASTERN PLATEAU, 147 a few small scattered erystals of galena.* They are here rather more than 200 feet thick, and make a fine vertical cliff below the sharp top of the ridge. Beneath them comes the dark shaly Odolus zone, nearly 200 feet, and then 450 feet of the purple sandstone, from under which some of the red gypseous marl crops out, in faulted contact with the tertiary sandstones, occupying the mouth of the Choya-Saidan-Sháh valley. The strata forming Karángli hill belong to the western side of an open synclinal curve, the axis of which slopes at a considerable angle to the north-east. As the beds erop out from under each other, they also rise on the western slope of the hill, striking obliquely towards the fault at its foot in such a manner that the section is most full towards the southern end of the ridge. The mouth of the Choya-Saidan valley is filled with the lower part Structure of Choya of the tertiary sandstone series, embracing on the uch). western side a broad anticlinal of the nummulitic limestone, along which the tertiary sandstones occupy the low ground as far as the village above named. These sandstones, &c., are cut off to the south-eastward by the continuation of the long line of fault striking from the direction of Diljaba up this valley. The magnesian group is less calcareous here than to the eastward, and from the prevalence of shaly and sandstone bands, in the absence of the salt-pseudomorph zone, is not easy to separate from the conglomeratic olive series No. 10. The nummulitic limestone has been denuded, but apparently it originally attained a thickness exceeding 150 feet. From Karángli to the south-westward, the strike of the rocks on the Eastern Plateau side of the Choya valley coincides Karángli to south-west. i : ; | pretty much with the course of this depression, the * As noticed by previous observers, this galena is much valued as surma by the natives in the vicinity. + Mr. Theobald mentions (loc. cit.) a dyke of intrusive trap in tne fault under the west side of Karángli mountain. The locality was searched, but no rock of the kind was found. Doubtless some of the same volcanic rock as occursin Khewra gorge exists in connection with the salt marl, both here and at Gamthála (or Goddála) ravine. Its occurrence as dyke would be interesting ; it certainly has not that appearance at all at Khewra. ( 247 \ 148 WYNNE : GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. hilly ground rising immediately from the fault exhibiting the series above the purple sandstone 1n a dislocated state. In the sides of one of the hills here, north*east from the village of Choya-Saidan ` Choya-Saidan-Sháh. i ; AEN Shäh, the “ olive group” with its shales ard con- glomerates appears to be much thicker than usual (perhaps 150 feet), and the hill is capped by nummulitie limestone, within a synelinal fold of which, close by the village, is a narrow basin of the tertiary sandstones. At the eastern side of the hill upon which the upper Dilúr bungalow stands, the shaly conglomerate of the olive group, with its metamorphic pebbles, is seen, and a narrow, red, flaggy band representing the salt crystal-cast zone, partly occupies the southern face of the hill above, and overlies the magnesian group ; the last is here chiefly composed of sand- stones, and forms the floor of a long valley extending from Waháli to Pid. In the low, scarped sides of this valley the groups Nos. 8 and 10, and the dark shales immediately beneath the nummulitie limestone, may be traced; the heematitic clay band at the base of the dark shales also appears occasionally. South-west of Choya, the ground between the Eastern and Kahún South-west of Choya- Plateaus is very much broken, its most marked Sidana Dak, feature being a steep ridge, in continuation with the Dilür bungalow hill, one side of which slopes steadily at an angle of 35° into the Gamthála glen. On the northern side of this glen the cliffs expose all the series from A oy the purple sandstone up to the nummulitic lime- stone ; on a narrow neck of which, faulted so that the beds dip in opposite directions, is built the village of Choya-Saidan Shah. ‚Further down the ravine the red marl crops out from beneath the purple sandstone, so that in this locality all the groups of the eastern series are visible. On the southern side of the glen are tertiary sand- stones, faulted against the “purple sandstone ” and “red marl,” as if to dip beneath them ; these tertiary beds rest upon a bare surface of num- mulitic limestone deeply furrowed by numerous parallel rain-channels run- ning directly down its dip. The limestone forms a ridge, the scarped side (es) | CAUSAL orprynuiena (qp: dneab&8 saxo gr ‘suey PASAJI- -FPS Z '?4u099puns upiszubsy y ‘mIn tg IUIL 2d] "m -qumu-qmsg 'I (s2M) SKH TE tueuo quoJ PIEMaqroQd daño Uu0HISS Zz ‚FE NOEM qPo5424 33 000r TOFU OL VLE H py pry je duago PMOPRR fo taot SIEH qog Oper) o T ougspos home] ‘zy "@UMmSTUNT AU 17 nash 2740 0] -2u07 qoeshia) 41s lo "201492 Spas: am Sana bra ar e tapings “e CORR ED FIRE deny ‘g quema ges T ` yeys "uPpres weAoyg mmu vuelo IB pues of PaMmeuy LOA uornoeS OF “Ara A j 5 a NOOO ANY WUBI wise JO uoquiod 11975 om 1008 TAR TI AIX A eo ur) yr l ‘VIGNI 30 AINBNS 191901039 : 3 ¿SULÁM EASTERN PLATEAU. 149 of which overlooks the Pid end of the long valley previously mentioned as bounding the Eastern Plateau. Above the opposite side of that valley, the termination of the plateau undulates much, following the bedding of the nummulitie limestone, but the deeper excavations pass through the latter and expose the “ olive group,” the “red salt-crystal” zone, and the magnesian sandstone group below. The southern side of this Eastern Plateau is remarkable for the Sontherm side of quantity of salt-marl exposed, and the suddenness u tor eaten: with which it makes its appearance in force west of Jutána. : (See section, fig. 20, Plate XVI.) Doctor Warth is of opinion that sudden increase of the salt-marl is M TEN due rather to undulation of the strata than to any Sudden development of dislocation. During the examination of the ground, the salt-marl. : : some disturbanee was observed in the glen north- west of Jutána, just where the red marl commences to show itself strongly : but this was more like the results of slipping than of violent faulting, and no great fault could be traced, intersecting the plateau north- wards; where such a fault would in all probability have existed if dislocation were the structural cause of the development of this red marl in the Jutäna * beat. * A certain amount of disturbance has never- theless occurred, and where landslips are less numerous, such appear- ances as the small outlying hill of the magnesian group, upon which a chowki (No. 4) stands, west of Jutána village, and the abrupt way in which different groups abut against each other in the glen further north, would be taken as sufficient evidence of fracture, although here they are referable rather to the mere presence of the marl and the tendency of this rock to produce landslips than to fauiting. In this and the next (the Kúsak “ beat”) the largest exposures of the marl el, herent in the whole range occur. This salt-marl rises at of marl exposures. the Chambal (west) hills between the two “ beats ” * The southern side of the Salt Range is divided into “beats” for patrolling purposes by the Salt Department. ( 149 ) 150 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. to an elevation of nearly 1,500 feet, and is singularly placed, an enormous slip or fault having allowed the mass of a whole group of hills, formed of the overlying strata, to subside so much below the level of the marl, on the crest of the ridge, that, either from subsequent in atmospherie degradation, or from original displace- Abnormal position. ment, the marl for a short distance absolutely overlies the magnesian group. Fig. 21. Abnormal position of salt marl at Chambal hill (west). : 1,—Salt marl. 4—Silurian and magnesian groups. It seems most likely that the salt-marl was left standing as a cliff when the subsidence took place, and afterwards under atmospherie de- gradation and superineumbent pressure, the cliff being destroyed, its ma- terial first formed a talus, and finally the heap now overlying the newer beds. In the large exposure of the marl on the east slopes of these (western) | Chambal hills, mines are not now worked, and Jutána beat mines. > i $ but little is known about those which formerly existede Old mining works, however, occur in several places, and Dr, Jameson in his paper* states that, at about two miles distance from Jutäna, three mines were open in 1843. The inclined “shafts” which varied in length from 140 to 180 yards, passed through several small salt * Page 198. ( 150 ) EASTERN PLATEAU. 151 beds from three to six feet in thickness before reaching the large deposit, then being mined, and which had a thickness of one hundred and seventy to two hundred feet. The salt was, as usual, accompanied by gypsum, and the mines were situated about forty-five feet above the bed of a small stream. Judging from the distance between these mines and Juténa it does not seem likely that Dr. Jameson referred to the bad salt in the ravine eastward of the village, but rather to some of the old workings to the westward ; at one of these localities there is a twenty-foot layer of bad salt, but the others, forming a group of three or four, and lying to the westward still, are probably those visited by Dr. Jameson. From the height at which these mining localities are situated, if they contain the great mass of salt recorded by this writer (very nearly the same thick- ness as the Khewra beds), it may prove advantageous to re-open them. The marl of this beat often shows considerable masses of greenish EE: gray eolour, generally broken up and confused, but probably the remains of such gray dolomitie and gypseous layers as are found in other places to the west. In the more gypseous parts, horizontally undulating stratifieation may be oceasionally seen. The sections exposed by the cliffs above this marl are very much the i . same as those nearer to Jutana,* but owing to Cliff sections. ORAE i slipping are sometimes much confused; the next rock to the marl, for instance, on the road to Salowi from Jutána, being the salt-erystal band, here abounding with the sandy pseudomorphs, and * There is a large space of ground near the ruined mining village of Jutäna bearing the marks of having been cultivated. On the removal of the miners to Khewra their fields may have been abandoned ; but according to the statement of a native of the present village, this land was irrigated by means of the more easterly of two streams running close together from the north. This, he said, had suddenly become salt, and thus the cultivation had to be discontinued. It seems probable that the stream may have worn a passage down to some salt bed in the marl. There are numbers of ruined villages all along the foot of the range, about which notbing is known; they are all presumed to have belonged to miners of early periods, (Ob: ) 152 WYNNx: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN. THE PUNJAB. overlaid by some dark shaleand whitish sandstones of the “olive group,” with carbonaceous markings. At other places, the succession is natural, but both of the last-mentioned groups are comparatively thin. On this road, overlooking a little valley much filled with calcareous N tufa, and on the ascent up to Salowi, the sand- Road to Salowi. | stones of the “olive group” not far below the nummulitic limestone, were observed to be studded with scattered projecting knobs, which if concretionary had a very organic aspect, and much resemblance both to one another and to the opened valves of a Trigonia.* Above these sandstones, variegated, reddish, and conglomeratie sandstones intervened below the limestone. In this neighbourhood the plateau-limestone has been cut down into long valleys, exposing the underlying beds, and the junction of the limestone and the latter at one place is as follows :— Feet. Part of the nummulitic limestone an md 30 to 50 White marly limestone m sot 000 100 Black shale an 25s 000 we 6 White sandstone and black shale Ves iss 50 The lower part of these rocks belongs apparently to the “ olive group” and the representative of the coaly shales has dwindled away to the few feet, mentioned ; the strong and very white sandstone seen above Bághan- wála having disappeared. Indeed, the rocks forming the lower part of this exposure are so obliquely bedded, that one band of sandstone, fully fifteen feet thick, thins out entirely within a hundred yards along the cliff face; where the stratification is so irregular, it is not surprising that much differenee should be found in different sections. Southward of this place, an extremely dislocated group of hills rests upon the outer edge of the red marl, a couple of miles to the north of Sadowál. These hills are Sadowál. evidently formed of portions of the series slipped from their places, and disconnected, mainly by the fault along which the red marl for a few * As suggested by Dr. Stoliezka: C VS EASTERN PLATEAU. ] yards overlies the magnesian group (fig. 21), as already mentioned (p. 150). Although greatly broken and displaced, the whole series may be traced in these hills, from the red marl up to Series exposed. RA i n the nummulitie limestone, a small patch of which is present. On the western side of this outlying portion of the series, a moun- tain stream coinciding nearly with the faulted Sucession. 1 4 E junction of the red marl and overlying groups gives the following succession (see section, fig. 22, Pl. XVI) :— Fault. 1. Red salt marl, abnormally placed. 4. Magnesian sandstone. 3. Black shaly band, silurian. 2. Purple sandstone. Fault. Nummulitic limestone, not seen here, but present at a short distance to the east. ; Feet. 10. Olive group, sandstones and conglomerate, fossils in lower beds... 220 8. Red clays, shales, and flags of the salt-pseudomorph zone ... 100 to 160 4. Magnesian sandstone, compact and calcareous e ... 190 to 200 3. Shaly silurian band MS su uoc .. 100 2. Purple sandstone, shaly below ... oet .. 900 1. Redsalt marl ... dx Sóc T ... 1,500? Boulder zone at foot cf hills. The red marl on the right-hand bank of this stream again overlies newer rocks ; here a portion of the flaggy salt-erystal zone, with much erushing and apparent faulting. The purple sandstones on the other bank of the stream become light-coloured at top, and the overlying silurian shaly band contains interbedded purplish sandstone and greenish shaly layers. The magnesian sandstone beds are sometimes very compact and of a gray color marked with red, and some of them expose on weathered surfaces the strange lenticular sections observed on Mount peas OA Tilla, the markings in the present case lying at surface of magnesian different angles in the matrix, crowded together, sandstone. and having sometimes a length of three inches by a quarter of an inch broad: some of the beds are brecciated. U ( 153 ) 154 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. At the base of the “ salt-erystal zone” is a coarse gravelly sandstone band, and further up many of the harder bands have a purplish gray colour. The salt-pseudomorphs occur here again, with ripple marks and casts of desiccation-cracks on the flags, and there is a considerable development of the red clays or shales belonging to this zone, some of which are variegated with green spots. The largest part of the shales here occur (unlike those to the east) in the lowest half of the group. The “olive group” above contains boulder conglomerates, some of the boulders in which measure two and three feet in their longest diameter, and in a bed of soft, weathered green sandstone are the casts of large bivalve shells, before alluded to as of cretaceous appearance. The following section .of the “olive group” Olive group. in these hills is from Dr. Waagen’s notes :— Fault. Ft. In. plo. Gray and yellow thin-bedded sandstone, with irregular papery layers of coal ... 000 800 000 200 coo 0 Q 16. Light yellow nodular sandstone, with indistinct coaly plant-remains ... 2 0 15. Yellow and gray spotted, thin-bedded sandstone, with a few traces of coal... 280 000 obc qs oos: 1124 0 14. Whitish yellow sandstone, with coaly plant-remains 000 co | 0 % | 18. Strong coaly, sandy layers, with lenticular small masses of coal NO 0 S 4 Yellow and gray spotted, thin bedded sandstone 000 "ET, 0 dE 2. Purple sandstone, part of the upper - fifteen or entry fect nate ne: y white, and overlaid by a coarse white conglomeratie layer, base not seen, measured sa Be Bid wk irpo * Dr. Warth's Report, 1872, page 184. 156 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. The cliff-sections above the marl, where not disturbed by slipping, show the same series, the hard sandy dolomitic Cliffs. beds forming the cliff edge, overlaid by the “ salt- pseudomorph zone,” and this again by the con- glomerates and sandstones of the “olive group,” the whole covered over by the nummulitic plateau-limestone. Where this spreads over the higher portions of the ground, under the action of the atmosphere and rain, its fretted, gnarled and jagged surface forms narrow tortuous channels, in which one can walk more than waist deep, and which are | most difficult to cross when covered by scrub jungle. At the head of the western Kúsak glen, not far from the village of Bátli, the cliffs exhibit the series as follows—the Near Bátli. : y f - thickness being estimated, as the ground was too steep to be measured :— Feet. 11. Nummulitic limestone, with some white beds below we 200 10. “ Olive group ” sandstone and conglomerates, varying up to ... 200 8. Red flags “ salt-pseudomorph-group " ... 000 .. 150 4. Light-colored sandstone and dolomitic beds ses .. 150 3. Black shaly zone, silurian 335 050 .. 100 2. Red and purple sandstone Se es 300 to 500 The “olive group” seems here to be very thick in some localities, and very thin in others. It consists of dark gray and olive sandstones, olive-black shales and some beds of red shale, doubtfully referred to this group on account of slipping, these probably forming the top of the group below. Conglomerates of metamorphic pebbles occur as usual. Some red sandstone and shaly bands also appear just beneath the nummulitic limestone, but they are of subordinate character, and the coal shales, if present, are generally concealed by the talus at the foot of the limestone scarp. The old fort of Ktisak, a stronghold of the Sikhs, is perched upon the lofty and precipitous southern end of a spur from the plateau (see fig. 23, Pl. XVII). The neighbourhood is much disturbed by slips or small faults, and the pre- (56. ) Kúsak. GEOLOGICAL ¡“SURVEY OF INDIA. Essence. Sele Masco, Memoirs NoEXIV. PLX VIL. Fig 23. Kusak Peak & Fort. Looking NovUha ords. IE x son Scale 2 inches -1 mile horizontal, Vertical ke =1000 fE NSW Fıg. 24. Sketch Section of Kheura Glen from 1inch map and a MS sketch by DE Warth (Grrected to August 1812) heights much; exaggerated, T.Solt marl. including. 2.Rúliwalo seam probably Lowest ?.3. Solé marl 140 ? 4. Salt SOF’ Ehurwulla Sear. 5.merL 100 f!.6.£0lt Soojew al seam 56 ft Y marl 25F".8 S att 100 £* (Big Buygy seum). 9 marl 10 f* .10.8odt 25f* (Rehans seam) 11. White gypsum 200 et Y 19. Brown gypsum. 140 ££.13.Briek. red gypseous mart 130 f$ 14. Place of Trop-ash ond. white gypsum St! and upwards. II. Purple sanclstaone. II. Silurian. I: Magnesior Sandstone . VIIL. Salt -erystal zone. X. Olive group. EASTERN PLATEAU. 157 eipices are inaccessible, but the section seems to be generally the same as eleswhere, though the group, No. 3, looks thicker, and seems to contain some harder beds than usual. The red marl is seen far below the fort, the purple sandstone follows next above;and the dark shaly zone (No. 3) is capped by the magnesian sandstone, on which rests a small patch of the red flaggy pseudomorph- zone. Between the fort and the plateau the rocks are much broken, and the ground is covered by heaps of disintegrating rock. The “olive group ” and “ salt-erystal zone” skirt the base of the “ nummulitic lime- stone ” cliffs, and a fault seems to extend from the eastern side of Küsak peak, up the shallow valley in the plateau-limestone, through which the road from the fort passes northwards. On the spur which separates the Küsak from the Khewra “ beat” to the west, and along the neighbouring part of the Spur to west. $ 4 plateau, the ground is much broken and very hilly, the same series as before being traceable in the cliffs and higher emi- nences as well as the upper portion of the underlying beds, exposed by denudation, beneath the limestone of the plateau. In this direction, too, where a high peak of limestone rises to the ^ north-north-east of the Mayo mines, there is a Coal shales. small exposure of the coal-shales dipping to the north-west at 24°, just beneath the nummulitic limestone. Coal was said to oceur here, but it was not visible. In the vicinity of the road from Khewra to Kúsak, the rocks are greatly dislocated, as well as to the southward; several fragmentary outliers of the nummulitic lime- stone, patches of the red flaggy zone, the lateritic variegated clay, and even a small portion of the coaly shales just now alluded to, occurring detached, and probably none of them actually iz situ. Further out towards the plains, the least disturbed ground is occupied by the massive beds of the magnesian group undulating in many directions, but the hill-slopes are greatly covered by debris. Both the silurian (OBI) 158 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. shales and the purple sandstones appear to have lost much of their thickness in their last exposures towards the plains. The Khewra valley is much smaller than either of the last men- tioned “beats,” and the main scarp of the plateau, approaching nearer to the plains, the glen appears deeper (see frontispiece). Having j passed a narrow defile between outlying hills, Outer hills. overspread by the purple sandstone or the dark shaly silurian zone, and capped by the dolomitie sandstone or its detritus, the valley opens somewhat, but is still hemmed in on all sides by high ground; that to the westward only being entirely composed of the red marl. The strata appear from their present disposition to have had originally a dome-shaped arrangement, dislocated along the inner side of the outer hills, or else a general landslip of the overlying beds in that direction may have taken place; narrow glens along the strike among these outer hills show on one side the overlying rocks, and on the other red marl and gypsum only. The marl is quite of the same kind as isum already described, having a decided similarity of aspect throughout, but its arrangement, so far as itis connected with the rock-salt beds, is better known through the exertions of Dr. Warth, whose report, mining plans and sections show that there is a regular sequence in the upper part of the group, though one which may not be minutely recognisable in other localities. The mines have been so often described and with so much detail* that it will be unnecessary to do more than state that Mayo Mines. 4 they are the largest and most important of the whole range, and probably the most extensive salt mines in the world. Old chambers occur in them of 80, 120, 240, and 320 feet in width, and 40, 60, and up to 130 feet in height, besides natural shafts formed by rain water, one of which is 212 feet deep. These old workings have long been in a most dangerous condition. That they ever grew solarge, was owing to the ignorance of system * Authorities cited, ante, EASTERN PLATEAU. 159 exhibited by the old workers, and the result has been constant danger and tremendous falls—a large one having taken place so late as 1870, in consequence of a huge supporting pillar having been undermined, and left standing over a lower chamber, upon a comparatively thin shell, which it eventually broke through. When the mines were visited in 1869-70, the position of some of the miners was anything but enviable ; perched upon a lofty tripod of slender sticks, picking at the roof of one of these high chambers, a roof probably full of fissures and utterly un- supported for many yards; while in other places, considered still more dangerous, huge masses of salt-rock between the fissures impended like the displaced key-stones of enormous arches.* The heavily-laden women and children struggling up the well-made incline of “ Purdon’s tunnel” had evidently, bad as it was, the better place. The beauty of the interior of these mines has often been noticed; their extent appears more impressive than their smoke-begrimed sides and roof, but the effect, when they are lighted, is very fine; lines of small lamps at different levels and inclinations marking those places in the vast chambers where footing can be had, while some hay set on fire here and there, for a few moments, lights up portions strongly, others vanishing in distance or in smoke. The mines have been excavated, some in the same and some in differ- icu e ent beds of salt, all of which lie in the upper portion of the marl, though most of the worked bands oceur at a considerable depth from the surface. The following is their arrangement according to Dr. Warth, from the purple sandstone downwards (see section fig. 24, Plate XVII). E Feet. 14. White gypsum, average 360 000 000 000 5 13. Brick-red marl or gypsum (i. e., gypseous marl) _ on .. 130 12. Brown gypsum (? purple gypseous marl) o 600 .. 140 11. Lower layer of white gypsum _... Bee 2s .. 200 Salt marl and salt am 800 500 000 550 to 600 * I was told that the workmen preferred these localities to places where the salt was more solid, because a single blast in such a situation detached more of the mineral. ( 159 ) 160 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. The latter is grouped as follows :— Marl and Gypsum. Salt. Feet. 10. Salt bed (Rehan’s seam) Br obi, 300 -25 9. Salt marl og Sa 3o 10 080 8. Salt bed (Big Buggy seam) ... oc ae 100 7. Salt marl vos ss s 25 A- 6. Salt bed (Soojeewal seam) ae Bae 500 50 5. Salt marl vus OR 000 100 ae 4. Salt bed (Phurwalla seam) ae «ve joo 50 3. Salt marl ies vee oc 140 anc 2. Salt bed (Billiwala seam ?) ann on B. 50* 1. Salt marl S. ae ae ? Total 500. Zul 275 The colour of the salt is red and white ; red earthy, or merely coloured, layers being very numerous in some of the beds, generally from ten inches to a foot apart, and about one inch thick. As a rule, these layers of deposition are parallel. The salt beds and alternating marls appear to be nearly flatin the southern part of the glen, and towards that side of the salt mines’ hill; but within this hill they curve rapidly downwards, dipping at 60° and 70° towards the west of north, an undulation of the strata bringing them again at a lower angle beneath the cliffs at the head of the glen (see section fig. 24, Pl. XVII). The main mass of the gypsum overlies the salt, and is succeeded by the purple sandstone and other groups in their proper order. These can only, however, be considered the general relations of the salt-bearing part of the marl; and it is probable that there are still other salt beds on different horizons, one of these occurring in a side ravine, on the left of the Relations of the series. Khewra glen at the junction of the gypseous portion of the marl with the purple sandstone. * Dr. Warth has some doubt about this last seam ( No. 2). The section is known down to the bed No. 3, and the last is assumed as probably another bed. (^ 160 ) EASTERN PLATEAU. 161 Leaving the mines and proceeding along the upper gorge, the top of the marl, which is all more or less gypseous, has in places a dull purple colour (probably representing that portion of the group described as “brown gypsum” by Dr. Warth). Flaggy bands of dolomite and massive layers of gypsum also occur in the marl, the uppermost being a white band of the last mineral, immediately beneath the “ purple sand- stone group.” Associated with this gypsum is the voleanic rock of Khewra, and NRA. near it are some grey gypseous and carbonaceous shales, as already mentioned (page 75). This upper portion of the salt-marl seems to be highly saline, for the stream which comes from the plateau above as soon as it enters the deposit becomes so charged with salts that the pebbles in its bed are all frosted over with a thick incrustation, growing for some inches upwards in fantastic pedunculated and other dendritic forms. Ascending this stream, its narrow ravine exposes a good section S dis ERA in the purple sandstone, marly or shaly as usual below, and its upper beds forming the lower part of the cliffs between the glen and the plateau. Its thickness hereabouts is estimated at from 450 to 600 feet. The dark shaly zone above it is also well marked all along the cliffs. In the main ravine, where the track upwards leaves the stream bed, is the locality at which the silurian ZOR AUE fossils, Obolus or Siphonotreta, where first discovered. These little shells occur in numbers in dark sandy micaceous shale, but some layers contain them in greater quantity than others. No fossils besides these could be found in their neighbourhood, except obscure fucoids or Annelide markings on flaggy layers; some of these layers are calcareous and glauconitic. The dark band which contains these fossils is here fully 150 feet or more in thickness. It is immediately succeeded by the magnesian sandstone band, as usual prominent in the cliffs and exhibiting well the northerly inclination of the beds, at angles of 35° and 40°. The group wW (ESO 162 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. chiefly consists of fine grey, gritty, light-coloured sandstones, and the more compact dolomitic rock is not so prevalent as it is upon the outlying hills to the southward. The group is about 250 feet in thickness. Over it comes the red salt-crystal zone, in places as thin as 30 feet, but still so strongly ochreous that the rain washes the iron oxide out and stains the rocks below. "The olive conglomeratic shale with metamorphic pebbles belonging to the “olive group”? overlies this red zone, and in the same group are included many massive soft sandstones, the whole exceeding 150 feet in thickness, These beds and the red group lie chiefly behind or on the plateau side of the general escarpment. Near the head of the ravine a narrow vertical mass of nummulitic limestone is brought in by a north-east south-west fault, together with some soft black and grey gypseous shales having an apparent thickness of about fifty feet. These overlie the “olive group,” conglomerates, &c., and come just beneath the limestone. Further northwards, undulating, inclined, and disturbed masses of the nummulitie limestone rest upon this olive group and the Ne intervening shales (which, again, contain layers of coal in their outerop), extending from this valley to the neighbourhood of Pid. Ata distance of about half a mile south- wards from the latter village, some mining operations have been carried out upon the coal, beneath a displaced mass of the limestone. The coal-shales here dip with the limestone at 40° to the northward, and rest upon soft friable whitish sandstone—some of the basal beds of the nummulitic series. The section measured as follows : — Ft. In 7, Nummulitie limestone, part ... ae RA OOO 6. Rotten, white, and grey shale Bod S So LOEO] 5. Coal 00 300 900 ss Bt 3ft.to 3 9 4. Dark-coloured shale 600 500 oec B60 0 11 3. Coal boh ; 50 o tee 1 2 2. Black shale ats ves 560 500 .. 28 0 1. White earthy sandstone, full of plant-fragments. ( 162 ) EASTERN PLATEAU. 163 In these dark carbonaceous shales there is much pyrites, and a white aluminous efflorescence occurs, enclosing plant-stems and pieces of brown lignite. In another place close by, the thickness, from the shale No. 6 to the coal No. 8, was ten feet, and the upper coal was three feet six inches, the lower being one foot nine inches thick; the black shales below were only six feet, and an underlying whitish clay bed ten feet, so that the coal and associated beds appear to have been very irregularly deposited. The shales contain nodules of hard clay enclosed in gypsum, and the lowest rock of the series exposed is a thick mass of rapidly weathering, variegated, white, green, and red clays answering probably to the heematitic beds of other places. Sections of the rocks are frequently exposed on the turnpike road leading from Pind-Dädun-Khän and Khewra north- Pid road. Ascent, : wards vid Choya-Saidan-Sháh. The first ascent exposes much-broken beds of the purple sandstone, overlying the red and purple marl, and overlaid by the flaggy and shaly silurian fossil zone, its lamine being often marked by black glossy surfaces. Above these are grey sandstones, and a fifty-feet band of fine hard oolitie rock, belonging to the magnesian sandstone group. Higher up, the beds are dark and shaly, with thin layers of pale green-banded sandstone, glauco- nitic, and bearing obscure Annelide markings, and above all are fine- grained strong white sandstones which might make good building stone, but are much shaken. To the northward, the salt-marl 1s brought into contaet with the beds just deseribed by the slip or fault which has been noticed as running along the back of these outer hills. The marl, which contains hard flagg compact layers of an apparently caleareous or dolomitie rock, is here intersected by a deep road-cutting exposing quantities of gypsum and the usual want of structure. Further up the ascent, the road leaves the marl, and the purple sandstone is again seen in its proper position, followed by the two succeeding groups. Still higher up the slope, slipping of the beds has taken place, and the red salt-erystal zone is seen to contain a mass of hard, sandy, metamorphie-pebble conglomerate, of exeeedingly confused ( 163 ) 164 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. aspect, including portions of its flaggy layers, looking as if detached by river action. The thickness of this red zone is about 40 or 50 feet, but the “ olive group ” above it is still very largely developed, and includes some reddish sandstone bands in its lower conglomeratic portion. Layers of this metamorphic-pebble conglomerate, 19 feet in thickness, occur, and the whole group may be over 200 feet thick. The beds become flatter as the plateau is reached, the road passing hereabouts chiefly through this olive group and slipped masses of the nummulitic limestone. The glen to the westward below the road is so full of fallen and displaced masses of the series that it is difficult to say which rocks are in situ. SECTION VI.—DaNpór PLATEAU AND SPUR. The undulating table land of Dandót forms a sort of continuation S of the Eastern Plateau, but at a lower level, and is covered as usual by the nummulitie limestone, detached portions of which cap the spur extending from the plateau to the west and south of the glen of Makrách. The village of Dandót is perched upon the edge of lofty cliffs which over- look the plains and expose a fine section of the rocks (fig. 25, Pl. XVIII); the arrangement, however, presented by this differs much from others in the neighbourhood, and in one respect, from all others of the range,—namely, in the occurrence of a dark zone of sandy and shaly beds apparently near the base of the Cliffs. Peculiar shaly band. ; purple sandstone. This zone so exactly resembles the silurian one above those rocks, as to afford reason for the supposition that it has been faulted into its present position, although the dip of the whole cliff-section seems regular, and would indicate a sequence from top - to bottom. Either such faulting would seem to have occurred, or else there is an unusual development of the shaly group No. 8, accompanied by a great diminution of the purple group No. 2, and a sudden appearance of another large group of red sandstones, overlying the silurian Zone, and interposed between this and the magnesian sandstone. (1 GEOLOSICA ! SURVEY OF INDIA. “Wynns: Salt Rage. Memoirs. Vol. XLV. Pl. X VIU. Dundót Village Gyps wn ALO ake 1 : EN « ROS + + xx j Rs OMNEA N Tye ees y “x + N.15*.W. One mile Horixental r Fig. 25. Section through Dandob village. 1, Salt-mar!. 2, Purple Seruistone . 3, SÚuriorn. +, Magnestan Sandstone. B, Salt-erystel, zone. 10, Olive group. 11, Numnudit limestone . T, Feulbs. Purple red Sandstone E bandon Fam Fig. 26. Section West of Dandot. «y Purple Sandstone. b, Red Sorulsterie. €, Gypsiinmo band, do, Olive Sandstores Flags E z, Place of Coal-shales. f, Nwrunuhtie limestone , DANDÖT PLATEAU AND SPUR. 165 The gypseous marl at the base of the cliffs is greatly eroded, harder masses projecting from one to two hundred feet; The series, : Hoe deep gullies are also cut in it, and some of these are naturally bridged over in places by the marl. This is succeeded by thick purple and greenish variegated clays or shales, passing upwards into purple sandstones. Then comes the dark olive and blackish shaly zone above mentioned, passing downwards into thin light-coloured sandstones, and containing some markings like those of Annelides. Black and greenish films separate many of the beds, and the shaly part contains a thirty-feet red band; the shales are generally micaceous. Owing to the supposed fault or slips, these beds appear to be succeeded by a thick mass of reddish purple sandstone exactly similar to No. 2, becoming flage towards the top, and, from its great thickness, this is supposed to be nearly doubled by other slips or faulting. More red sandstones overlie this, shaly underneath, and in this shaly portion is a bed or vein of reddish and white gypsum, 30 feet thick, and in character quite resem- bling that of the red marls below. Grey, silicious, and calcareous coarse grits succeed, very dark in colour and alternating with dark shales below ; the silicious and calcareous beds may represent the magnesian sandstone No. 4, and the lower portion would occupy the place of the silurian zone No. 3. Then follows the red, flaggy, salt-pseudomorph zone No. 8, including layers of grey shale and thin grey sandstone, in the lower part. Over this is a considerable thickness of dark shales,with a twelve- ‘feet band of metamorphic-pebble conglomerate evidently that of the olive group, No. 10, and above these are reddish and white sandstones, projecting from below the shaly talus, at the foot of the Wychler cliff, the vertical portion of which, at the fine springs below the scarp, measured 179 feet. SECTION BELOW DANDOT VILLAGE AND CLIFFS. Groups. Ft. No. 11 (2m limestone T T Ts 000 200 MEE Coal-shales, traces to westward Talus ... room for 150 feet of beds ( 165 156 WYNNE : GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. Groups. Ft. - (Red shales we wes u. 56 Light-coloured sandstones ... He 000 n 20 Shales ne JA ade Bad 132008 No. 10.— 4 Whitish sandstones 0% dur vig s VAN Red clay or shale 600 oon 000 e. 96. Greenish shales ... 088 ooa 00 ooo SY U Metamorphic-pebble conglomerate i EA o6: dey — 186 No. 8.— Red shaly and flaggy zone (salt-pseudomorph band)... GU 120 No. 4.— Silicious and calcareous grits m 000 m 200 No. 3.— Dark sandy beds ci 100 Red sandstones and shales, with a thirty-feet band of gypsum ... 200 No 2 Red shaly sandstones 808 obo a a | 400 More solid, red sandstones ... probably Thick and flaggy red sandstones 5 acd repeated. ? Fault or slip. Ft. No. 3?— Black shaly band, with whitish flaggy sandstones below, probably exceeds aN 000 cod pe Sch 150 No. 2.— ( Red shale 500 có ida 000 ies 30 part of ? RE and green variegated shale and sandstone ... ... 70 to 250 No. 1.— Gypseous salt marl. ? To the westward of this line of section, within a mile, the faulting ie e TM IM and slipping seem even pateo giving the ap- pearance of an enormous thickness of the purple sandstone. The red gypseous band marked in the section continues for some distance along a curving line, and appears discordant to the bedding, as if filling a reversed line of fault or fissure in the western part of the course. (See figure 26, Plate XVIII.) Further still to the westward (fig. 26) at the head of a deep narrow glen opening to the south, the section seems more Gypseous band. 4 normal as to thickness, and the gypseous dark coaly shales are seen beneath the limestone escarpment of the plateau. Near the head of this ravine, a narrow neck of limestone connects that of the plateau with its lower continuation Dandöt coal. i westward, and upon both sides of this neck the coal-shales are exposed. At the southern locality, they are more than N) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA : Wynne: Salt Range. SUE A dE Memoirs Vol: XIV.PlXVIIL2 alode Fig:27. Mariala Coal driving. a. Limestone cliff; b. Sandstone, Coal-drift. DANDÖT PLATEAU AND SPUR. 167 100 feet thick, but are greatly split up by thin sandstone bands. These shales rest on red sandstones, and are overlaid by light-coloured sandstone beds; more shales overlie the latter, becoming flaggy above. A fault brings the whole against the nummulitic limestone; just beneath which some of the uppermost of the dark shales, and some two feet. of the coal* are badly exposed. The coal burns with difficulty, giving off much gas and sulphurous fumes. Northwards from this locality, on the opposite side of the neck of Samundri” bungalow, Dummulitie limestone, the coaly shales are seen locality. í again, near a dilapidated bungalow. Some larger openings have been made into them here. In three of these the coaly por- tion was found to differ: in one, there were three small bands and three or four, 4 to 6-inch strings of coal; in another, the coal and shale were so blended that the thickness of the former was undefined ; and in the third, the coal was 6 feet thick, but divided almost in the middle by a 7-inch band of grey shale. The coal weathered away rapidly owing to its sul- phurous character, and some parts of the coal-shale had taken fire and burned red. Just beneath the coal a hard, yellow, slightly calcareous rock, deeply weathered, and blue within, contained some obscure Bivalves and some Rotaline. Underneath these are some coarse reddish and white soft sandstones, which may belong to the same series. The coalseemed here in greater quantity than in the other places in the neighbourhood ; but as the limestone under which it lies is very limited in extent, so also must be the coal. Within a mile to the westward there is another locality, where the » d coal-shales and limestone are faulted against hard grey sandstones, capped by 100 feet of red sand- stone and shales. The cliff in which the coal oecurs was inaccessible, the road to the old driving having slipped away, but the entrance to the mine could be seen on the opposite side of a ravine (Plate XVIII2). It * The guide who pointed it out ate some spoonfuls of the coal with apparent relish, no doubt regarding it as a medicine, and did not seem the worse during the rest of the day, ( 962) 168 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. did not appear here that the junction of limestone and shales wag regular, these having been crushed into irregularities of the under surface of the: limestone by slipping of the whole mass. The red sandstone brought against the limestone here seems to succeed the grey sandstones below regularly; but The sandstone. as the latter are of the character of those belong- ing to the magnesian sandstone group, and no such strong red sand- stones are known in a similar position among the upper beds to the east, it is most likely that they belong to the group No. 5, which comes into the succession not far to the westward. There is yet another locality at which the coal-shales are visible in this neighbourhood, rather more than a mile to the Nila coal. 6 westward, under the salt miners’ old hot-weather village of Nila, on the northern scarp of the tongue of limestone which caps this spur of the hills. The coal is rather more than a foot thick, occurring in the upper part of six or eight feet of black shales, under- neath which a yellowish calcareous rock reappears, similar to that noticed at the northern Samundri locality; grey and ferruginous shales overlie the coal, and above them, just beneath the lime- Associated rocks. E j stone, is some fine powdery soft white sandstone with carbonaceous markings. The whole group of beds associated with the coal from the limestone downwards is twenty-eisht or thirty feet in thickness. Beyond the small capping of limestone, the rest of the ground forming this spur is very much broken. The Other rocks. B : salt-marl rises high on the southern flanks of the hills, and is much exposed in the deeper glens: the purple sandstone cliffs start immediately from it, but the most of the higher ground is covered either with light-coloured rocks, very generally sandstone, of the magnesian sandstone group, or with their debris and that of the overlying rocks. ( 168 ) DANDÖT PLATEAU AND SPUR. 169 On the Makrach side, this spur is bold and steep, having more the character of an escarpment than the“other side. Makrách side of spur. The rocks, too, dip to south-by-east at higher angles than on the outer slopes. The purple sandstone shows a thickness of some three hundred feet, but the shaly group No. 3 is in- significant, being apparently united with the light-coloured sandy beds of No. 4. A thin red band or two occur near the base of the “ olive group,” overlying the possible representative of the group No. 5, this being near the place where it commences. The whole sandstone series below these red bands is about three hundred to four hundred feet thick, and at the eastern end of the Makräch salt-marl valley the beds are bentinto an anticlinal curve, which on its south-eastern side passes below the Dandót plateau, and to the north-east under the long limestone ridge from Choya-Saidan-Sháh, which Anticlinal in glen. 4 d 3 forms the inclined southern side of Gámthála glen. Near the mouth of this glen just beneath the nummulitic lime- h ; stone, there is strong development of the coaly oal series i 3 shales with their coaly band, here two feet three i obs ar ie inches thick. A good deal of slipping in the vieinity obscures this place, and the dip is very high to the north, so that the shales appear unusually thick, the outcrop being 130 yards wide with a dip of 70°. The shales include some white, lumpy, sandy, and gypseous beds, and the lower part contains plant fragments. Underneath the coal-shales are soft white sandstones and red shales overlying a thick mass of the usual metamorphic-pebble conglomerate and sandstones of the “olive group” with which these red beds are provisionally placed. The whole group is thick, but much concealed. From beneath these beds, the red, rippled, flaggy and shaly rocks, with micaceous layers and Annelide tracks, representing the “salt pseudomorph zone,” make their apppearance; and in the undulating light-coloured semi-calcareous beds of the “ magnesian group” the white oolitic bands with a thickness of twenty feet (the same as on the turnpike road near Khewra) were again observed. X (150911) 170 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. SECTION VII.—Tuer Kanún PLATEAU. This wide portion of the table-land of the Salt Range is almost ni entirely oecupied by the nummulitic limestone, Description. à i which is not unfrequently cherty, as in the neigh- bourhood of Dilwäl. The maximum heights of the plateau are at nearly the same level, and the central part is oceupied by flat east and west valleys, with limestone ridges between, the southern edge being tilted somewhat and sloping to the north with the bedding of the rocks. The valleys are occupied by fertile soil washed from the higher portions. With regard to fossils, the limestone is quite the same as that to the east. All along the northern side of this plateau, the lower (Nahan) beds l of the tertiary sandstone series dip from it Northern side. Tertiary sandstones. northwards, passing under the Potwár country at angles varying from 30° to 50°. These beds have not at all the general look of the Murree or of the Bakrála pass rocks ; the purple sandstones of the latter and general purplish colour are both wanting. The lowest beds are strong grey sandstones, in places greenish, having a calculated thickness of 4,500 feet. Above these comes the “red clayey zone,” between 200 and 300 feet in thickness, and then the “ orange and grey series,” with some conglomerate beds, in places a good deal contorted, and occupying much of the country to the north. Just on the flanks of the range there is in places a set of more recent-looking conglome- rates and sandstones, with a steep dip to the north, and resting with doubtful conformity upon the older tertiary sandstones. These may probably be referred to a post-tertiary period. As is usual in such ground, ravines or “ khudderas” prevail extensively in the lower situations, and the harder sandstones rising on the flanks of the range form numerous, more or less continuous, escarpments. The eastern end of the limestone of the Kahin plateau, as already mentioned, forms an open anticlinal curve, the Eastern part. i à Bir un por axis of which sinks to the eastward, so that it 1s (ON KAHUN PLATEAU. 171 embraced by the tertiary sandstones outside of and within the Choya- Saidan-Sháh valley, west of the fault which brings these against the older beds underneath Karanglı hill and elsewhere. A synclinal, corresponding with this anticlinal curve, its axis dipping also to the eastward, terminates the valley portion of these tertiary sandstones, close to the bungalow of Choya-Saidan-Sháh, where the limestones rise out from beneath them. The termination of the sand- stones is concealed by a great quantity of calcareous tufa, on a high cliff of which the district bungalow is built. Towards the western end of the Kahún plateau the lower beds of the tertiary sandstones rise upon the limestones, Western part. S ERU hc become horizontal, and bend over, —dipping gently to the south, forming strongly scarped hills, with heights over 3,000 feet. A brine-spring is reported to exist among these hills, but my guide could not point it out. To the west of Dilwál (the largest village upon the plateau), and very much in the strike of the Choya tertiary sandstone synclinal, are two isolated patches of these beds, let down by faults into depressions of the escarpment above the western arm of the Makrách valley. The southern escarpment of this (Kahün) plateau extends from Choya- nt Saidan to Khárdér, projecting so as to form a very open angle between the two branches of the Makrách defile, south of Dilwál. At the head of the Gämthäla glen, near Choya, it presents a fine cliff-section of the series, from the “ purple sandstone" up to the “nummulitic limestone,” including the “ salt-erystal zone” (see section, fig. 20, Pl. XVI). The cliffs continue, but the section changes; and within a mile and a half of the mouth of this glen the salt-marl appears, so that the following succession is seen— Feet. Group No. 11. Nummulitic limestone, lumpy below, more than -- 200 (Talus, place of coal shales, &c.) » No. 10. White, red and purple sandstones and olive metamorphic- pebble conglomerates, estimated et 150 (a) 172 WYNNE : GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB, Feet, Group No. 8. Red “salt-crystal zone,” flaggy and shaly layers aco GY) » No. 4, Light-coloured semi-calcareous sandstones of magnesian sandstone series - ... 000 .. 200 » No. 3. Dark micaceous shaly band, part iy We 100 to 150 » No. 2. Purple sandstones, flaggy, earthy and shaly below 200 to 300 » No. 1. Purple and red gypseous marl—seen con .. 150 Further to the westward the succession is different; the “olive group,” so strong in the neighbourhood of Choya-Saidan, is still present, but much thinner, and the “ salt-erystal zone” disappears, giving place to another rock-group. The magnesian sandstone is no longer of uniform character, but becomes, as it were, blended with the silurian zone, by the presence of other dark shaly bands, which render the distinctive character of the sandstone group less apparent. The purple sandstone and the underlying salt-marl retain their characters unaltered. Sandstones and shales of the magnesian and silurian groups, however, continue to the westward ; the latter extending beyond the former, and, in the absence of the stronger sandstones, pre- senting still the character of the lower group (silurian). The new zone, No. 5, increases in thickness rapidly to the west, the salt-pseudomorph zone is not met with again, but the “olive group,” much diminished in thickness and somewhat altered in appearance, holds on westward, maintaining its place just beneath the nummulitic rocks. Around the glen of Makräch the cliff-sections exhibit some local differences, most marked along the southern edge of the Kahtin plateau. One of these sections has just been given, and the following will serve to show their variation in Makräch glen. the vicinity :— Groups. Feet. No.11— f Nummulitic limestone, compact above, marly and nodular below ... 200 (Talus and debris, concealing 50 feet and upwards) ... 75? Yellow nodular marls, no nummulites, some corals x Green glauconitic sandstones, with a few pebbles of Cial rocks, heematitic below: contain Terebratule ... 5 to 10 Nodular pseudo-conglomeratic bands; calcareous, friable, light- 60 coloured, flaggy, striped, micaceous sandstones, with black No. 10.— shaly partings och add coe e. 50 ( 172 ) KAHÚN PLATEAU. 173 Groups. Week. Na gc ( Reddish and white, coarse, speckled sandstones, thick-bedded, EU 80 TAY red shaly alternations Greenish and white sandstones, with nace ER matins coaly, pyritous and ferruginous nodules large and numerous; fucoids A on surfaces... N 444 200 Lumpy, gravelly, cons pebbles of erstelle ck No, 3.— Dark shaly beds ... . 100 Dark red or purple satidatono, BED Belen Sit ibis of m No. 2.— 250 shale; generally earthy beneath, near junction with next group: No. 1.— Gypseous, red salt-marl 3c oc an My, 300 Nearly below the old Makrách customs-bungalow standing on the cliff edge, there is a thin band of red flaggy sandstone, apparently at the base of No. 10 in the above section, which may possibly be one of the last remnants of the salt-erystal zone, No. 8. Some other thin red rocks have been before mentioned high in the series, on the opposite side of the glen, under Níla, and eastward; but in the sections to the west all traces of this band are unknown. In the western branch of the Makräch glen, along which a fault appears to pass towards Kalar-Kahár, the sections are in places concealed by slips and by accu- mulations of calcareous tufa, as near Málkána; but light-coloured West branch of glen. sandstone beds, of the aspect of the magnesian group, still divide the series. Dark shales oceur both above and below these sandstone beds, the upper band, of about fifty feet, having some six alternations of sand- stone and shale. The sandstones were estimated at from 250 to 300 feet, and the dark shales below at 100 feet. Underneath the latter are, first, the “purple sandstone," and then the “red salt-marl.” Over the light- coloured sandstones is as great a thickness of coarse white, reddish and speckled, strong-bedded sandstone, with red shaly layers. This is group No. 5. Above it the talus of the nummulitic limestone cliff greatly conceals the beds, but there is room for both the coal-shales and the diminished “ olive group.” The red salt-marl occupies the whole interior of the Makrách valley, and the gorge which leads from it south-west- wards. Small portions of the marl occur in the CRS) Salt-marl. 174 WYNNE : GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. Gámthála glen, and it extends for two miles up the Khárdér branch. The marl, as usual, is gypseous ; its upper portion towards the mouth of the gorge, under Nila cliffs, presents some of the most distinct stratifi- cation to be found in the group; the gypseous interlaminations, to which the stratified appearance is due, dip, like the rest of the cliff, to the . south-east at 35° to 40°. ‘Large salt-mines were once opened in this Makräch glen, but AR have long since been closed, the miners working now at Khewra. It appears from Dr. Warth's* report that, west of the miners’ old village, there is a band of salt, 150 feet thick, including several small layers of marl, the whole dipping at a high angle to the north. At another mine, to the south- west of the old village, the salt beds are thinner, an upper one being twelve feet thick, and consisting of a mixture of white granular salt and two-inch cubes. An old mine is also said to exist in the Gämthäla gorge, but none are known in the Khärder branch. It willbe seen from this that, while the general situation of the salt is much the same, its section cannot be closely identified with that of the Khewra set of beds. The great eastern fault of the range bends here, or two faults xe meet, one coming down each branch of the glen. The dislocation caused by these faults is every- where irregular. Its effects in the Gämthala glen will be seen in the section, fig. 20, Plate XVI; butinthe Khárdér ravine the only result seems to be that the strata to the south-west are left at a rather higher level than those on the opposite side of the glen; while higher up, about Khárdér itself, the beds on both sides being of the same lime- 2 stone, there is little or no apparent “heave” on one side or the other. The fractures, which have allowed some of the tertiary sandstones to subside among the limestones and other beds of the north-eastern * Report, 1871, page 212. (D) MALÖT TABLE-LAND. 175 cliffs of this valley, differ entirely in direction from the main break, but may be branches from it, running more east and west. Their throw is not considerable. There may possibly be some connection between the “line of weak- ness” along which these faults took place, and the reputed prevalence of earthquakes about Dilwál. One of these is said to have destroyed the Salt Officer’s old bungalow on the cliff edge, only the northern half of which, forming a poor habitation, was standing when I visited the place. Section VIII.—Marór TABLE-LAND. The Malöt table-land is a lofty and broken rocky spur, parallel with the Khárdér branch of the Makrách glen, and rising between it and the plains. The south- eastern portion undulates much, while in the opposite direction the ground slopes gently eastward from the Simbal escarpment, overlooking the Sardi gorge ;* northward, towards Kandoya, the plateau undulates, is hilly, or slopes to the north-westward. Described. The upper portion of this table-land is occupied by the light grey nummulitie limestone, differing but little from that of the Dilwál and Kahün country, except that it is perhaps less cherty. Its fossils are, as in other places, chiefly Nummulitie limestone. casts of large Gastropods and bivalves with some large Echinoderms, all in an imperfect state. The cliffs which bound this plateau to the southward and west are more lofty and bold than those to the eastward 5 and the thickness of the limestone, with some allowance for denudation, may be assumed at 250 to 350 or even 400 feet. Parts of the escarp- ment sometimes seem, as at Malöt, to have slipped downwards between small parailel fissures or faults. * This gorge is generally known by the first name, and the salt mines are spoken of as the Sardi mines. Dr. Fleming calls itthe “Seral” gorge (p. 241), and natives of the country spoke of it as the Seriárik Wan. (ls g 176 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. All along these southern cliffs the sections are much confused by land-slips, and the rocks are for large spaces concealed by debris. The talus at the clif foot conceals the beds next below the nummulitie limestone, but the strong- Cliffs. bedded sandstones of No. 5 (already much thicker) generally project, skirting the base of the limestone cliffs, or form- Under-cliffs. 5 5 ing under-cliffs themselves; further out upon the spurs are broad patches of the nummulitic limestone which have subsided to lower levels, and then beneath these the reddish, or white, or speckled, sandstones of No. 5 are sometimes seen: but the slopes are often covered with quantities of debris derived from the light-coloured sandstones, &c., of group No. 4. The black shaly lower portion of these beds or the representative of group No. 3 is seen occasionally ; and below all there is generally a well-marked strong feature formed by the purple sandstone group overlying the red salt-marl. In this marl salt is known to occur in several places, and old mines 2 exist in a broad valley due south of the village of 'ádála on the edge of the plateau above. The mines being closed, no information could be obtained about them on the ground; but they are noticed in Dr. Warth's Report for 1870-71 (previously quoted), in which he mentions a resemblance between the arrangement of the salt and salt-marl at this place and that at Khewra,— “the white and red gypseous marl overlying the salt, which is underlaid by compact salt-marl.” He also gives a rough sketch showing several alternations of red and grey salt with brick-red eypsum, in a vertical position; and he mentions one of many dislocations and disturbances by which the salt and gypsum seem to overlie the superior strata. From the arrangement of the guard-posts in this glen, it is evident that the salt lies in the upper portion of the marl, conforming to the outcrop of the purple sandstone. In the Kartli glen, again, westward of the last, where slips are also common, extensive but concealed deposits of salt are said to exist. (Ron) MALOT TABLE-LAND. TT. The sections of these southern cliffs and spurs are very unsatisfac- tory ; towards the south-east end of the searp they resemble the section west of Makrách. In other directions the sandstone group No. 5 appears to have increased, being from 250 to 300 feet thick. In the Karáli glen, the red marl may be exposed to a depth of from 460 to more than 500 feet; numerous ap- pearances of discordance caused by slips from above occur in the overlying strata. The purple sandstone above the marl is about 300 feet thick, and at one spot contains, just at its upper limit, a thin band of granular red hematite. A commanding and rather detached peak of about 900 feet altitude shows a large portion of the series horizontally bedded, the upper half being formed of light- coloured massive sandstones, with a dark shaly band at their base, resting on the purple sandstone; the whole being capped by some of the reddish sandstone of No. 5. Karili glen, Underneath Malót, at the head of this glen, there are vertical cliffs N UM showing sections at least 300 feet thick of the light- coloured, speckled, and reddish sandstones of the last-named group (No. 5), alternating eight times with bands of red and erimson shale, and overlying brownish sandstone, or sometimes conglom- eratic bands, probably the locally uppermost portion of the group No. 4. Within this thickness of sandstones, &c., there is some diversity ; the majority of the beds are whitish, some greenish or purple or darkly speckled, some are soft, and some silicious and ferruginous. All varieties of sandy lamination occur in them, and all are much ripple-marked, the red colour which pervades them being less apparent on the freshly broken than on weathered surfaces. Above this group are whitish flags with black filmy layers, and some few bands of greenish shale, with marks like Overlying beds. : i worm-tracks, these beds becoming gravelly and conglomeratie with metamorphie pebbles in a soft olive sandstone matrix. At irregular positions in the upper part of these beds are also (O) Ni 178 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. some very red shaly bands, and higher up, the coal shales, below the mass of the nummulitic limestone, are seen just under the village of Karúli in the subsided portion of the cliff on Rn which this village stands. The section is thus— Feet. 6. Lumpy white limestone, part of a cliff of more than 130 5. Black coaly shales, with much pyrites ii des 0 to 34 (In these coal-shales is a lenticular mass of limestone from 18 inches to 3 feet thick). 4. Lumpy limestone ... 000 dot 000 6 to 8 3. Black shale bon 06 go Ves 5 2. Hematitic and lateritic px 00 600 3 to 30 1. Red and pale purple, and Pennisi shale, with plant fragments M. 000 000 000 30 The coal is merely in strings and lenticular layers in the shale. Some of it was tried in my tent-stove at night, but the fumes were too sulphurous to be borne. The general section near Karúli is as follows :— Groups. Feet, ( Nummulitic limestone, lumpy and cherty below — ... 000 300 No. 11 1 Coal-shales 000 con „00 abe 20 | Lateritic band, alias clay .. 000 009 .. 3 to 30 * Pale purple clay or shale d E 15 Nia. 1G | White flaggy beds, with black filmy ee and) | beds of red clay i 000 ni = AM 30 | Olive conglomerate and conglomeratic sandstone j No. 5. Reddish, speckled and whitish sandstone with many alterna- tions of red shale ... 000 «s con 300 No. 4. Light coloured, flaggy and strong sandstone _... ses 250 No. 3. Black, clunchy, micaceous shales, parts flaggy ... 000 100 No. 2. Purple sandstone, marly below 6 va. 300 No. 1. Red salt-marl—seen aa 000 650 300 to 500 The great gorge of Sardi (or the Seriárik Wán), west of Karúli, is cut back into the plateau country for a distance of six and a half miles from the plains in a north- erly direction; three miles more of excavation would have carried it right across the whole range. Its depth is not marked upon the map, but appears from aneroid observation to be from 1,500 to 1,600 feet. ae) Sardi. MALOT TABLE-LAND. 179 The sides of the gorge expose high cliff-sections from the nummulitie limestone downwards to the red salt-marl, which Cliffs. > : runs up the glen for a distance of nearly five miles. It is evidently the horizontal disposition of the strata that leads to the exposure of the salt-marl, so far up this and other glens intersecting the plateau-country, which is itself a result of the horizontality of the bedding between the southern escarpment and the line along which the rocks assume a northerly dip. As noticed by Dr. Flemins and others, with regard to this gorge, the strata have a low dip from the valley towards the east and west; and, as Dr. Warth has ob- served, there are masses of brick-red gypseous marl on the east side Anticlinal. of the glen, near the mines, which are unrepresented at 1ts western side. This can hardly be accounted for except by slipping or by supposed len- ticular irregularity in the stratification of the upper part of the marl. „Disappearance of the salt beds by solution should have caused a smaller development of the whole group on the eastern side of the glen, and faulting would not be tenable on the presumption that the beds of salt and gypsum retain the arrangement attributed to them, at Khewra and elsewhere, by Dr. Warth. There is, however, another and more feasible A explanation of the difficulty ; for, to the westward part of section, of the mines, a great land-slip has taken place; a tract of the nummulitic limestone, two and a half miles long, having subsided from its continuation with that of the cliffs of Marjhang. In consequence of this dislocation, which can hardly be supposed limited only to the nummulitic limestones, the underlying strata appear to have been pushed out over the marl, so as to conceal the portion of the latter which is really uppermost in the vicinity of the mines; and the salt beds of Sardi, if on nearly the same horizon as those of Khewra and south of Vádála, would seem to have above them a local development of the gypseous red marl unknown in those localities. As is often the case with regard to slipped masses along the escarp- ment, that under Marjhang, although it is broken and confused, and u) 180 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. the ground is often concealed by debris, does not seem to repeat the series regularly. From anterior or subsequent landslip portions of the same limestone mass rest on different groups of the older rock. The thickness of the salt beds mined at Sardi does not seem to be known; one bed of 20 feet, with a north-westerly strike, is mentioned by Dr. Warth; another of the same thickness, but of bad salt, dips at a steep angle to the north- north-west ; while good salt above the latter is shown for some 40 feet, and below for about 75 feet, in thickness. There has alwaysb een diffi- culty in working these mines on account of their low situation, the excavations leading downwards below the level of the stream, and con- sequently rendering them liable to flooding. The small bi-pyramidal quartz-erystals mentioned as occurring in the gypsum here by Dr. Fleming (2. c. p. 251) were stated by people knowing the locality to Salt. occur but very rarely. The sections on both sides of the gorge are very much the same,+ RONDA except that, at the head of the glen, the nummuli- tie limestone suddenly increases in thickness owing to the introduction of a quantity of soft marly beds below, nearly double the depth of the same group, at the sides of the glen, midway between the head and the mouth. That the group has not been reduced at the latter place to any great extent by denudation would appear from the occurrence of the conformable tertiary sandstones, &c., close to the edge of the cliff at the village of Sardi. The general section exposed in the glen where the rocks are not confused by dislocation or concealed by debris is as follows :— Groups. Feet. No.12. ‘Tertiary sandstones close to the edge of cliff to the west of glen ? No. 11. Nummulitic limestone, grey, compact, and lumpy, or marly below coc 000 dee 000 ... 250 to 400 (Talus and debris, room for ae an 150) Shales and clays, light lavender or darker N odi 80 No. 5.4 Sandstones, speckled, ferruginous, and whitish, with red clay or shale bands NO aui AS .. 250 to 300 (USO NN) MALOT TABLE-LAND. 181 A * Groups. Feet. No. 4. Brownish and light coloured or grey sandstones, passing into— 150 to 200 No. 3. Black shaly band Son ore Soc .. 80 to 100 No. 2. Purple sandstone, shaly or marly below 800 ace 250 No. 1. Red salt-marl ... ? The outerops round the glen are nearly horizontal, the beds dipping gently away from the excavation to the east and west; but at the head of the glen they dip at 20° and 25° to the north. Just beneath the nummulitie limestone talus on the road from Karuli to the Sardi salt mines, a mass of variegated, hematitic, earthy laterite, projects. From this rock, it is supposed, the native artificers procure the material which they cut into letter-weights, &c., for sale. In several parts of the Sardi glen there are deposits of calcareous tufa. On the hilly part of the plateau above the northern end of the í ravine, there are some peculiarly veined concre- Variegated striped beds. 3 : tionary beds high up in the nummulitic limestone, They are of a reddish grey tint, the structure being marked by irregu- larly concentric rings and thin bands of purple and yellow colour; their thickness is at most 20 feet. From these are taken those parts in which the lines are most strongly developed, for knife handles, weights, and such ornamental uses. The exposed parts of the beds are much jointed, but, if large blocks could be obtained, they would doubtless work up into a pretty marble. It is said that the church at Shahpur is flagged with stone obtained from this place, and the remains of old quarries are visible.* Close to the locality at which these beds occur, there are some rem- nants of the tertiary sandstones, and one consi- Tertiary sandstone. Í x \ derable outlier forming hilly ground; here the lower beds contain a number of reptilian remains and some fossil wood. Bones are numerous, and parts of the heads of crocodiles have been found ; but none of the fossils discovered were in very perfect preserva- tion. Due north of this outlier, the underlying limestone rolls up and * The polished specimens of this stone sent to the museum at Calcutta were presented by Mr. Marshall, late of the Salt Department, Sardi. ( ISI) 182 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. then turns steeply down northward, forming the hills south of the pie- turesque neighbourhood of Kalar-Kahár. By the road from Sardı to Kalar-Kahär, both the uppermost num- Kally-Kohér junction mulitie beds and the lowest tertiary sandstones can of nummulitie and ter- be seen. The junction beds of the latter are at jum Dre m me most a couple of feet in thickness, and are of pseudo-conglomerate, calcareous and lumpy, and of a greyish purple colour. Sections of small concretions resemble Nummulites; and a few of the latter are scattered through the rock, but whether originally belonging to it, or derived, there is nothing to show, and the junction presents every appearance of conformity. In some places, this junction rock appears more conglomeratic, with pebbles of a dun-coloured lime- stone, and overlies some 15 feet of purple marly rock, directly under which is the nummulitic limestone. This limestone dips at 35° and 40° to the north on the hill side, and appears to be cut off by a small fault bringing it against the sandstones, &e., close by, west of the descent to the Kalar-Káhár bungalow. The bungalow at this place seems to stand upon an exposure of the - red salt-marl, which, strange to say, is seen in Salt-marl. È i QNI é connection with the nummulitic limestone, in a hillock over the shore of the lake just east of the bungalow, and is again seen among the gardens and vineyards near the police station to the west. The place abounds with fresh-water springs, which pro- bably indicate faulting of the rocks and exhaustion of any saline im- pregnation near their sources. Some brine-springs, however, issue from the marl close by the fcetid black muddy shore of the lake. Tracing this marl to the eastward, it is found at first between the limestone and the tertiary sandstone beds, but afterwards turning to the southward between apparently nearly vertical walls of the limestone, in a direction which would exactly coincide with the run of the fault up the Khärder arm of the Makräch glen. The marl is so weathered, recomposed, and cemented by calcareous infil- trations, that it is very hard to get a decent specimen of it, but its ( 182 ) MALÓT TABLE-LAND. 183 internal colour and the association of gypsum identify it with that of the south side of the range. At its last exposure in the Makräch direction, there are associated with the marl a few beds of friable, whitish and reddish, or purplish sandstones, probably of group No. 5, dipping to the northwards on that side of the marl at about 35°, and the upper portion of these beds is dark and shaly. The limestone on both sides of the marl dips also northwards, or east of north, at nearly the same angle, and the whole exposure has a width of a hundred feet or so. From the occurrence of these few beds of sandstone, it may be presumed that the marl (the softest rock of the series) was forced by pressure into an open fissure caused by disturbance along the western continuation of the Makräch ` and Choya fault. The water which flows by this fissure from the salt or salt-marl near the lake, is so strongly saturated, that an ordinary gurra full (more than two gallons) boiled down, yields two seers (4 lbs.) of salt, according to the account of the natives, and information supplied by Mr. Marshall of Sardi. Other springs on the same line of fracture and in the same association are, however, fresh. In some places where no limestone intervenes between the marl Junction with sand- and the sandstones of the tertiary series, the latter songs. are contorted, contain redder clays than usual, and dip sharply at the fault, while elsewhere, where the limestone does intervene, it is separated from the sandstones by smaller dislocations. Fig, 28.—Sketch Section, S.-E. from Kalar-Kahar. 1—Salt-marl; 2—Sandstones; 11—Nummulitic limestone; 12—-Tertiary sandstone series: all faulted. C R 184 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. The remainder of the lower tertiary sandstones in the vicinity are of the usual kind, interealated with red shales or clays, and the “red clay zone” passes just north of the lake, holding its east and west course along the northern flanks of the hills. Some coal has been mentioned as occurring at a place called Nurwa, north of Kalar-Kahár. This is in the overlying thick, grey, sandstones and orange clays, the coal being merely a few strings of lienite, the fossilized remains of trees or branches, and of no economic value, occurring at the base of a thick band of sandstones. So called coal. The Kalar-Kahár lake has a very small catchment area, receiving the surface-water of the hill-slope to the south- Kalar-Kahár lake. A N ward, and very little more; a considerable stream with which it is not conneeted passes close by to the north-east, and another within a mile to the westward. The lake would seem, therefore, to be principally supplied by springs, both fresh and salt, the water from which accumulates in a nearly circular sheet, a mile in diameter, but of only two or three feet in depth, or perhaps four when full. In dry weather, the water almost all evaporates, leaving deep black mud covered by a thin saline incrustation. The odour from this mud poisons the air in the vicinity, and, as might be expected, fever is said to be then very rife in the adjacent village. The salt naturally formed here is impure, of the kind called ‘kalar? by the natives. Five hundred grains of the lake water, according to Dr. Fleming (/. c. p. 250), contain 14°97 grains of saline matter, consisting of sulphate of soda and Its salts. chlorides of sodium and magnesium, with a trace of chloride of calcium. IX.—NÜrPÜR PLATEAU. This plateau, about twelve miles long by ten broad, presents some variety of structure, the tertiary sandstones over- Arens SURE ROS lying a large part of it, as well as being brought into faulted contact, with the limestone beds of the plateau, Faults also ( 184 ) NÜRPUR PLATEAU. 185 have caused the re-appearance of the salt-marl in situations as unusual as at Kalar-Kahär. Like other plateaux of the range, the surface undulates much, the . northern side being the highest by from 400 to Tertiary sandstones. á 500 feet. Everywhere, along the northern side, the tertiary sandstones and clays rise upon the flanks of the hills at angles of 20° and 25°, the lower greenish beds having a calculated thickness of 2,500 or 2,600 feet. The red clayey zone still maintains its place along the hill-foot, having very much its normal thickness of about 1,250 feet. The softer grey sandstones, and drab or orange clays, overlie these, and form the lower ground of the Potwár country. To the north- east, in the vicinity of Kalar-Kahár, the lower beds of the sandstone series rise upon the northern sloping edge of the plateau, and becoming horizontal extend to the southward, occupying a broad, open and nearly circular basin, one part of the edge of which impinges upon the western cliffs of Sardi gorge. A rough contour-line from this spot marks the boundary of the sandstone basin, the whole of which is occupied by good soil, the waste of these tertiary sandstones and clays, supplemented by rain-wash off the limestone, which rises out from beneath them. At the northern side of the basin the sandstones contain small fragments of bone particularly in pseudo-conglomeratic layers; and many of the beds are covered by patches of white saline efflorescence (kalar), which collects along the smaller streams in sufficient quantities to be gathered unmixed with the sand and earth. A long narrow strip of the tertiary sandstones, 60 to 150 feet in thickness, is let down below the level of the ad- Säheti fault, IE : joining limestone by a north-west fault from the head of the Nilawén ravine, passing by Säheti and to the southward of Vasnäl. Other denuded outlying masses of these rocks, once doubtless continuous with the faulted portion, overlie Z (918597) 186 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. the nummulitic limestone westward of the Nilawán ravine and just above its cliffs*. Near Bhál, almost the very lowest of these beds are red clays, above which bone-fragments occur in the sandstones. The rest of the plateau is mainly occupied by the nummulitie limestone, generally compact, sometimes cherty, and sometimes, as near Väsnäl, of a pinkish colour, with red veins. The lower beds are, as usual, nodular, marly, and lumpy. The fossils have a general similarity to those of more easterly situations, but occasionally occur in larger variety and somewhat better preservation, as at the edge of the cliffs overlooking the north-east corner of the Nilawän ravine, where several large Cypree, Echinoderms and other forms are found. From four to five hundred feet may be allowed for the average thicknes of the Ba ci NG DA nummulitie limestone on the eastern half of the litic limestone. plateau, its thickness increasing, however, to the westward. The long, narrow, flat valley, in which the village of Sar (or Surr) is situated, coincides in direction with the Säheti mul fault. It is occupied by cultivated ground and bounded by broken outerops of the limestone; but, from the appearance of some reddish sandstone beds in its northern cliffs it appears very probable that the limestone has been denuded, the floor of the valley being tormed by the sandstones of group No. 5. The lofty cliffed escarpment which bounds the Nürpur plateau to the Moules! edge of south is very complicated ground, owing to the poca huge disloeation and irregular and unequal sub- sidences which have taken place. It is only here and there, at the heads of valleys, that the cliff whieh rises above the broken ground is of sufficient magnitude to give sections through the whole series, and it * In one of Dr. Fleming's sections, tertiary sandstone outliers are shown upon both sides of this ravine. Although I crossed the ground where the eastern patch is marked, it may have escaped observation from darkness, and some fields there may be formed of its debris; nor could I see this outlier from higher ground in the neighbourhood commanding the place. (a86 9 GEOLOGIGAL SURVEY GF INDIA. Wynne: Salt Range. - Menvirs: Vol. XIV. PL XIX Naka 2651 = S. N. Fig. 29. Diagram to represent slipped face of Escarpment in Section South of Matan. 1, Salt marl. 2, Furple sandstone. 3, Siluri. t, Magresian. Sandagtone . 5, Speckled Sandstone. ll, Nunmulto Limestone, S.S.W, N.N.E. Fig. 30. Section of slipped ground South of Sar over the Escarpment., l, Sal&-merl. 2. Purple Sandstone. 3, Slurim. 4, Magnesian Sandstone. 5, Speckled Sandstone. 11, Mummultie Limestone. NÜRPUR PLATEAU. 187 is always doubtful whether the portions exposed on the spurs and lower eminences are în situ or not. In the Samli hills, south of Sardı and near Morghang, the talus of the ee acia dA PM nummulitic limestone cliffs conceals the beds immediately below them ; but a thick band of lilac and variegated clay, very characteristic of the upper part of the “speckled sandstone” group (No. 5) is exposed to a depth of 150 feet, and is even thicker to the westward near Matan. Beneath this are fully 300 feet of the speckled reddish sandstones, some of which are used for mill-stones, they are less alternated with red shale bands than to the eastward; a few of the rocks are white and conglomeratic, with hard quartzose and erystalline-rock pebbles, and ripple-marks are very common on the sur- faces of the finer beds. The magnesian sandstone group is also represented by about 150 feet of light-coloured sandstones and darker shales, overlying a black shaly zone of 90 feet, representing the silurian band. Under this are 300 feet of the purple sandstone series, and then, at the base of all, the salt-marl is seen. In this neghbourhood, the rocks beyond the escarpment have a slight cc cdinit to: tendency to dip towards the plains, but they have wards plain. all been so affected by slips that this appear- ance cannot be trusted as original. Over the lower hills, the harder grey sandstones and their fragments are more exposed than in the cliffs, while great masses of the nummulitic limestone and other beds have been transplaced, in some instances having slipped down to the very foot of the hills (see fig. 29, Plate XIX). The red marl is seldom seen'on the outer sides of these land-slips, alone the edge of the boulder-zone, but appears in the valleys between the fallen masses. The lines along which these slips have en taken place, though apparent enough upon the sur- face, can seldom be followed downwards so as to discover their “hade ” or throw, and in some cases the only apparent plane of transplacement ( wey.) 188 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. is one corresponding with the bedding of the rock, as in the case of out- lying patches of the nummulitie limestone (see fig. 30, Plate XIX). It cannot, of course, be assumed that the lines of slip are as regular or straight as those in the diagrammatic sections figured ; the irregulari- ties being concealed, these are only approximate indications. The general section between the Nilawän and Sardı ravines is thus :— Groups. Feet. No. 11. Nummulitie limestone, compact above, marly and nodular below .. 450 (Talus concealing the lower part of it). Lavender and variegated clays .. 160 Reddish and white coarse thick-bedded sandstones, sometimes conglo- Nee meratic, generally speckled and ripple-marked, alternating with red clay or shale bands .. 350 No. 4. Light-coloured and compact sandstones, frequently separated by bands of dark shale .. 150 No. 3. Black shaly and flaggy band (silurian) OO. No. 2. Purple sandstones, earthy below .. 3900 No. 1. Red, salt-marl, and gypsum T SOME At a short distance to the eastward of the mouth of the Nilawán een d ravine, the group No. 4 retains only the light group. colour which this band generally possesses, the dolomitie character is all but gone, and sandstones, frequently alternating with shaly bands, compose the group, which appears to be losing thick- ness rapidly towards the west, shales frequently replacing the sandstone portions. The silurian dark shaly group below has still much of its usual appearance, and occupies its usual position above Silurian. the purple sandstone. The grand gorge of the Nilawän (see sections on Plate XX) pene- trates this plateau in a northerly direetion for a Nilawän ravine. | : distance of more than five and a half miles, reach- ing up to Bháliál near Núrpur. Its depth is estimated at from twelve C IBS) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. Memoirs. Vol: XIV. Pl. X X. i N UL AWAN RITA AN E One and a half miles frome mouth. Fault Fault Prado One mile Horixontal. 1000 ft Vertical. Fig. 31 4 NAW AGN RA M1 NE teat ly three miles from mouth Tertiary Yanmdatorio Outlier E.2 5* s. 2 E.25°N. Fig. 32 Kr = 7 Laphi nr LIL = NA VAN RAVINE ATT = Ta N 7 NUS NEA Ehree and a half miles from, mouth An, L Ne I paa NIME MIS : y — I N === Carboniferous \ Y i : N - S = um IN \ M ERES d RZ: or ne E MAS 5 ILL. EE MAA US ERUS S = I A x x + + + + Se Ar Y Scales, two inches to amule horimortal & a - 1000f* Vertical Ww E Fif. 33. u 3n NÜRPUR PLATEAU. 189 to eighteen hundred feet, and its width, at one place midway up, is only three-quarters of a mile. Just within its mouth is a narrow throat or gorge, entering between high under-cliffs of the purple sandstone group, which approach so closely that there is no room left for the salt marl, although this erops out both before entering and after passing the throat. Beyond the narrow portion the ravine opens to a width of more than SCRI «i a mile, and above the purple sandstones of the eastern side, which are fully 400 feet or more in thiekness, and of lighter colour towards the top, the dark, lumpy, micaceous shales of the zone No. 3 are seen, with a thickness of 90 or 100 feet. Over this band are 50 feet of light-coloured sandstones, alternating above with three bands of dark shale having a thickness of some 80 or 90 feet, and an aspect very similar to those below. The thiek speckled sandstone and red shale group sueceeds, and then comes the talus, a high cliff of nummulitie limestone rising above all. Down in the gorge, just here, and in the narrow part beyond, there is evidence of extreme crushing, and a crooked bifurcating fault occurs, the displacement accompanying which does not appear to be great. The angle formed by the branching of this fault is occupied by the purple sandstone, on the left bank of the stream vertical, and striking west-north-west to north-west; while on the right bank it is nearly hori- zontal, dipping at a low angle into the hill. On the western side of the gorge, at the same place, the lower part WX EN of the section is, as before mentioned, the purple sandstone, which is somewhat contorted, and the group No. 4 only slightly represented, if at all, but high up beneath the limestone cliffs some of the intervening beds between it and the “ speckled sandstone? are exposed, a new member of the series having made its appearance. The same rocks occur also in the Bhál arm of the gorge at right angles to, and on the west side of, the main glen. (18377) 190 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. This new group, which first appears in the Nilawän, is the carboniferous Carboniferous in Nila- formation, occupying such an important and large ries A place in the geological series to the westward. The section at this place is as follows, chiefly from Dr. Waagen’s notes :— Ft. Ft. Groups. Average. ( Nummulitie limestone of the plateau, forming a compact B) limestone; cliff ... Doc on 200 | Thin-bedded grey nodular IE 000 000 50 Talus, black coaly shales and coal layers ... |^. 50—60 No. 11.4 Brown marls with hard concretions, and—Nummulites... 20 + 372 | Hard grey limestone, well bedded 00 .. 10—15 Grey nodular marls with irregular hard layers do 15 | Section obscure for 20 feet, blocks of limestone with | Ù Terebratule nearly in situ ... 000 oor 20 J ( Dark-green thick sandstone with granules of phosphate q of iron, many specimens of large Nautili, long slen- der spines of Cidaris, small bivalves and gigantic | No.10.2 Conus, a foot high (probably cretaceous) oda 15 ie 27 Pisolitic hematite ... ago We 500 6 | Coaly shales, very irregular, with some appearance of | U discordance to beds below ... Bae ooo 6 ) (Coarse sandstone, light yellowish grey, with Productus ^) | spinosus, bivalves and corals ... 000 S00 10 | No. 6.3 Coaly, sandy shale . d 000 10 t 70 Light greenish en with cae laminz, one bed of | U this sandstone is 20 feet thick 908 006 50 J / Lavender clay T 6 6 6) Greenish and blackish shales, many marl ed. } containing a yellow mineral (? an ore of lead) ae 60 Lavender clay and thick white and yellowish sandstone, H No. 5.2 interstratified — ... A o. .. 100 1 286 Red sandstone 000 doc oc 600 30 Lavender clay, dark-coloured ... oon 800 10 | Red sandstone with many alternations of red and purple U shale Ls Ls i um s0 Soft green sandstones with pebbles of crystalline rocks Nos. 3, 4. M shaly band... à UA E j eae Purple sandstones (200 feet, seen) abo E 400 0.2.4 Purple shaly lower portion sae un zr 470 No. 1. Red gypseous salt marl. i ( 190 ) NÚRPUR PLATEAU, 191 A little to the northwards the gorge again becomes very narrow, and there is much appearance of crushing, the purple sandstone again approaching on either side so as to leave little or no space to be occupied by the salt-marl; slips from above often conceal the true thickness of the rocks, and the purple sandstone in some sections appears earthy or shaly for nearly half its thickness, but for much less in others, The magnesian group, where separable, has a thickness of more than 50 feet, but the light sandstones are so inter- calated with dark shales that they seem rather to form a part of the shaly zone below, the whole hardly amounting to 100 feet. Above this the speckled and red-banded sandstone occurs, but can hardly be seen from the bottom of the narrow gorge, while the Group No. 4. talus of the nummulitic limestone cliff obscures the softer beds beneath that zone. In this narrow part of the gorge, as at Khewra, there is again seen the same sort of volcanic, lavender, ash-like rock DN TS with an irregular thickness of a few feet, under- lying a gypsum band just at the top of the salt-marl, and associated also with a decomposing layer of the more solid volcanic rock, the same as occurs, in quite a similar situation, at Khewra. Where this narrow part of the gorge opens a little, to the northwaré, Salt dinos part of 2 30-feet bed of rock-salt is seen at the surface gorge. on the right bank of the stream. It contains thin lamins of different colour, and forms four or five beds lying quite parallel to the stratification of the overlying purple sandstone close to the base of which it occurs, with a band of the lavender clay just noticed intervening. Rock salt is seen again a little further to the north, with two strongly marked white beds, and a thickness of 66 feet. It is also known to exist in very many other parts of the red N marl of this gorge, and the lavender clay and voleanie trap-rock occur pretty generally. The latter was found by Dr. Warth at one spot interposed between some thin layers of bad salt below, and a 30 to 50-feet bed of white gypsum (ALS) 192 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. above, just beneath the purple sandstone. The trap here was 15 feet thick, much decomposed, and contained a layer of tale. It would appear that the overlying gypsum band is of irregular thickness, and not con- stantly present, as at Khewra glen. | Where the narrow part of the gorge opens and joins the southern side of the Bhäl ravine, the purple sandstones appear to be faulted along a north-westerly line, and the beds are vertical. This disturbance would also seem to have affected the salt beds in some of the neighbour- ing mines, where Dr. Warth describes them as likewise vertical, having nearly the same strike and a thickness of 60 feet, two beds of 30 feet each being separated by a 10-feet bed of bad salt. On the opposite side of the stream in the Bhál gorge, and at a con- siderable height upon the foot of the spur between this stream and that from Bháliál, other old mines occur, in which the same observer found the rock-salt bearing north and south, nearly vertical, but dipping slightly to the east; and in another mine further northwards the salt beds were disturbed, striking south-east and north-west as far as could be made out. Hence it may be inferred that, notwithstanding the prevalence of steady horizontal or inclined stratification, all Disturbance. round the lower portion of the glen the softer salt marl has yielded to disturbance which has left much less impression upon the massive series overlying ; the lines of disturbance, too, coincide so nearly with the directions in which the glen has been excavated, as to suggest their having conduced to this result. In both this and the great Sardi glen (the two largest excavations of the kind) it may be a one ray From observed that the beds dip away from each side this and Sardi glen. towards the east and west as if there had been formerly an anticlinal arrangement of the strata; but this may with more probability have resulted from other disturbance, accompanied by slight dislocation of the ground out of which the valleys have been eroded. At the heads of both of these large glens the beds dip steeply to the northwards below, but are nearly horizontal above the cliffs, so that (92 NÜRPUR PLATEAU, 193 the two glens have a certain amount of stratigraphic resemblance; from this it may be inferred that similarity of conditions induced the denuda- tion to follow certain lines. The streams in the Nilawän drain by far the largest part of the Nürpur plateau, notwithstanding which the struc- ture of that plateau seems to indicate the former existence of an uptilted rim or edge along the whole of its southern side, which must have been broken through in order to allow the drainage to escape. This might have been effected by a fissure, coinciding with the Drainage. general course of the glen being either left open or filled with portions of the superincumbent beds, easily removable by denudation. Otherwise, it can only be supposed that the superior height of the limestone and underlying beds at the northern side of the plateau so influenced the general disposition of the formerly overlying tertiary sandstones, &c., that a southerly drainage was initiated. The Saheti fault with its subsidence of a couple of hundred feet obliquely crossing the direction of this southerly outflow may have increased the tendency, or, if conti- nued along the course of the future Nilawán, may have depressed a portion of the tilted limestone rim, so as to decide the point at which the erosion of the ravine commenced.* * In the case of the Sardi ravine, a longitudinal break coinciding with the axis of an anticlinal, or what would otherwise have been an anticlinal curve, seems even more likely to have taken place, for though the general inclinations are lower than down in the narrow part of the Nilawän, there is a very general dip away from the edges of the excavation. The drainage of the Sardi ravine also comes from a small basin to the northward, so small that it seems quite disproportioned to the size of the gorge, and it is possible that much of the eastern part of the Nürpur plateau may have discharged its rainfall into the Sardi ra- vine before the streams to the northward through the soft tertiary sandstones were deepened sufficiently to lead the water in that direction. Within little more than half a mile to the westward of the latter ravine, a parallel stream to that within it runs due north for nearly four miles, into the small basin above the head of the glen, and none of the water from above the eastern edge of the Sardi glen escarpment, except some small streams about Simbal, finds its way into this catchment basin. Here, too, the progressive destruction of once overlying tertiary sandstones and clays may have led the denudation along the line of the gorge; but if this denudation had acted in the same manner as in many other cases over the plateau country, it would have left the limestone surface of the anticlinal (if this latter existed) almost intact, instead of cutting a deep gorge right along the highest part of it. The probabilities seem all in favour of erosion along fissures, or else of unequal subsidence of the adjacent country around these glens, a2 (( 198, ) 194 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. The tertiary coal and its accompanying shales are seen beneath the ath high cliff of nummulitic limestone, along the face of which the patrol road has been carried up the ascent which leads out of the northern part of the gorge on to the Nürpur plateau. The coal is in very small quantity, and occurs in the shales.* The sides of the Bhál branch of the Nilawán are much covered by E RAN CNN debris below the nummulitie cliffs, but at the head of this part of the ravine, the carboniferous and loeally next overlying beds form a ledge on which a confused mass of great limestone blocks rest, concealing the basal portion of the nummulitie series. The way to this exposure lies through a fissure parallel to, and at the very edge of, the cliff south of Bhál. Descending this, the talusat the foot is reached, and a further descent leads to the ledge. The following is the section here, measured, where practicable, along the bed of the Chellintun stream. 13. Nummulitic limestone of cliffs and plateau .. 300 ft. (and upwards.) (Fallen blocks concealing the section, place for many feet of rocks). NUMMU- LITIC ( 12. Hard shaly calcareous beds ... Ms 7 11. Sandy dark limestone or highly M fet we 6 ,, | 10. Hard sandstone band MA d 9. Sandy and lumpy limestone with shark's "m Toro. E | ratule and Echinid spines . No ie 4 „ = 8. Dark-green ferruginous ln Sos all = 4 7. Pisolitic hematite ae from 4 to 8 ,, = | 6. Lenticular layer of lavender Sall obo EM 12M ja 5. White micaceous fine sandstone with black markings ... 15 „ 4. Hard blue sandstone with gypseous clay bands As 9 3. Soft-green sandstone be 00 ois do, L 2. Black shaly and ferruginous ind bedai. R 4d, A — EST: * Dr. Oldham’s Memo. “ Mineral Resources, Salt Range, &c.," previously noticed. + Visited by Dr. Waagen and myself together and separately. This section is taken chiefly from the notes of the former, as they are more detailed than my own. ( 194 ) NÜRPUR PLATEAU. 195 zo f 1. Hard thick-bedded calcareous sandstone full of fossils, S E ] Belerophon, Productus, Fusulina, &c., &c. .. 41 ft. (and upwards.) =: | More beds of the same group(?) concealed below by a M talus. From the mouth of the Nilawán ravine westward stretches the lofty re but greatly concealed Verála scarp. In the upper portion of this hardly any rock can be pronounced in situ among the masses of debris, but lower down, here and there, small exposures of the red marl, purple sandstone, and next overlying groups occur. Where seen, the rocks appear to have been much affected by dis- location, some of the fractures being probably connected with the large and fine springs of fresh water beneath the escarpment, called the Verála Chashma. Just above these, a portion of the limestone of the plateau has sunk along two small parallel north-north-west faults, through which water percolating and arrested by shaly beds below, might easily burst from the escarpment in the form of springs. In the neighbourhood of these springs many of the fragments are of sandy limestone, full of Fusuline, Spirifers, Crinoid rings, and other carboniferous fossils, the parent beds of which doubtless exist in the escarpment, and from the quantity of the debris would appear to form a strong band. Along a track leading obliquely up the escarpment from the Verála i escarpment to Pail, the dark shaly silurian zone Track to Pail. 1 $ f Y is exposed, and is seen still fully 100 feet in thickness in the face of some fine cliffs to the westward. The beds are micaceous, and more sandy and clunehy than in the east, and they con- tain conglomeratic bands with pebbles of crystalline rock. Many of the flaggy and thin sandstones are whitish and speckled, their surfaces being covered with ripple-marks and tracks like those of Annelids. In this neighbourhood, both the purple sandstones below and the speckled sandstones immediately above the silurian beds are largely developed, and of more than usual thickness. Further up the track, near the pass leading on to the plateau, the carboniferous beds show themselves in the escarpment to the right of the road, with a (295%) 196 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT-RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. thickness of about 150 feet. The Fusulina band here has a thickness of 12 feet, and overlies some 80 feet of sandy, massive calcareous beds. All the beds within reach of examination here were of very sandy limestone; soft, shaly beds were seen to overlie these, just beneath the nummulitic limestones, but none of the coal shales were visible. vom the crest of this pass towards Pail the path lies through a flat, narrow valley at about the level of the top beds of the carboniferous group ; two similar little valleys running off to the west-south-west, and the whole being closed in by considerable hills of undulating nummuli- tic limestone. The interval between the Núrpur plateau and the commencement Palace sak plc of the Sön country near Chamil may be considered country: as an extension of either, or a sort of lower step between the two. After descending from the Núrpur country over an escarpment of the N nummulitic limestone, the flat, cultivated, long and narrow valley of Badráris entered, extending in a north-easterly direction towards Vásnál. At the Badrár end the valley is divided into two by some hills of contorted nummulitic limestone, and between that village and Dheri the red gypseous salt-marl forms rounded hillocky ground, without any of the intervening rocks between it and the nummulitic limestone on one side ; but on the other, just below the escarp- ment, some rolling beds of the speckled sandstone group are seen. The dislocations which produced this exposure in such a place must have been both large and complicated, but unfortunately the cultivated flat ground renders it impossible to trace them, or to say which are the rocks in contact with the salt-marl. On one side the nummulitic limestone is steady, dipping at a low angle to the south-east; on the other it is considerably contorted, so as to suggest the existence of a line or lines of fracture, coinciding with the long valley stretching towards Vásnál, and meeting other faults intersecting the main fracture between Dheri and Pail. (O SN) NÜRPUR PLATEAU. 197 At the north-eastern end of this valley there is abundant evidence of d faulting, and the ground is greatly broken. One fracture coineiding with the direction of the valley forms the boundary line between the nummulitie limestone and the tertiary sandstones for a distance of nearly three miles. This fault crosses the mouth of the strange little oval valley of Vásnál, surrounded by high cliffs and broken hills of the nummulitie limestone, and occupied within by a mass of the red salt-marl, through which deep gullies and ravines lead out of the valley, beneath the high and conspieuous limestone peak of Tirwár. At the south-west corner of the valley only are there a few ledges of purple and speckled sandstone seen, linking the marl with its proper associates, and these appear to be, like the marl itself, eut off everywhere around the exposure by faults. ` The whole of the marl seen here is little less than a mile in length, and rather more than a quarter of a mile wide, so Salt marl. that it has an area of about a quarter of a square mile. No good salt beds are known to occur here, but in one place an impure saline portion of the marl is 30 feet thick. A strong fresh stream which traverses the marl, after rain, is said to become saline. Any appearance resembling stratifieation seen in the salt-marl is nearly horizontal, but the limestone surrounding the marl, though also generally horizontally bedded, is in some places a good deal disturbed. Tirwar Peak Vasnal E Vertwal.Scale escaggerated E.20. S. Horizortelly 1. Mile Fig. 34.—Section across Väsnäl valley. 1. Salt marl. 11. Nummulitie limestone. 12. Tertiary sandstone. In one or two spots the debris of some soft shaly beds is seen mixed with some broken portions of the beds above the salt marl, but hardly C 198 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. in a recognisable state. The lower part of the nummulitic limestone is as usual nodular and lumpy, and among its upper beds about Vásnál village are some peculiar, vesicular, ferruginous, and slaggy-looking layers; pink, compact, and red-veined limestone bands also occur. : The nummulitie limestone on the north-western side of the little valley is quite eut out, under Tirwár peak at the mouth of the glen, by one or other of the faults between which this limestone occurs, and the bedding both here and along the face of the peak is much disturbed, being in places quite vertical. The tertiary sandstones outside are in- clined sharply along the fault, but at a little distance assume their usual low northerly dip ; the lower part of this group being as usual succeeded by the red clay zone and other overlying beds. | Towards Jába to the west-south-west, the dip of the tertiary sand- stones is low, becoming more nearly horizontal as the table-land about Pailis reached, The slop- ing beds rise to this table-land forming a well marked escarpment north- Rocks of Pail country. wards, overlooking the limestone ground. The basal sandstones are very commonly greenish, and red earthy bands rarely oceur. Northwards of Badrár the nummulitie limestones form a broad dome-shaped mass, dipping in all directions ; but south-west of this, and north of Pail, the country is a wide level plain, bounded towards the Són district by one of those long narrow straight valleys in the nummulitie limestone, which look so muchasif they had been exeavated upon lines of fault. This valley strikes to the north-north-west, and immediately beyond it, the tertiary sandstones encroach still further upon the plateau ground, and form a mass of horizontally stratified hills. Close to Pail a fault, running a little to the east of. north certainly id occurs; for some of the tertiary sandstones form- ing a low ridge, dip towards the carboniferous limestones, which form the northern face of the hills, rising imme- diately south of the village. Here the carboniferous group has already inereased much, the slope of the hills showing a thickness of at least 250 feet of ferruginous, magnesian, and sandy limestones, dipping ( 198.) NÚRPUR PLATEAU. 199 south-south-east at 20° and 25°, and the upper beds containing numerous specimens of Spirifere and other carboniferous fossils. These beds are overlaid by the nummulitic limestone with a few intervening sandy and shaly layers, some of which may possibly represent the “ olive group,” or cretaceous beds of the Nilawán ravine. The nummulitie beds are at first parallel with the carboniferous, but soon undulate, and on the southern side of the hill, where they form an escarpment, dip to the northward by west. From the summit of this hill the complicated structure of the Structure of country Surrounding country can be seen to advantage. sean to ent. Northwards is the flat cultivated plain, bounded by the tertiary sandstone escarpment; to the left low undulations of the nummulitic limestone rise gradually from the flat to the margin of the long valley previously mentioned; to the right are swelling hills of the same limestone, and the complications about Badrúr and Dheri (where the salt-marl appears) divided from the Pail hill by cultivated tracts of low ground ; while the carboniferous group of this hill itself is covered by nummulitic limestone, and cut off to the west by a fault bringing it against tertiary sandstones. The closer relations of the carboniferous group must be connected with dislocation, but they are concealed by the earthy deposits of the plain below. Looking southward, another nummulitic limestone hill, covered by TREE. “sonhetta” (Dodonea Burmanniana) jungle is seen, divided from the Pail hill by a deep narrow valley, and by a similar valley from yet another, still further south, the Bieót hill, composed of the same limestone, which also caps the cliffs westward of the Verála searp. Both of these hills are formed of undulating and nearly horizontal beds, from which they receive a tabular appearance. To the left hand are the long escarpment lines of the Nürpur plateau, and on the right, nearly in front, a deep open gorge or ravine leading down to the southern plains, from the right hand side of which rises the bold escarpment of the Chámil nummulitie limestone. (001991 200 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. At the head of this gorge the beds are all much broken and slipped, imu Jun) dy and there are signs of water having been dammed Katta. up, in some black clays and whitish calcareous sandy beds containing sub-recent marsh shells. Further down, the car- boniferous beds protrude from the debris at the foot of the nummulitic cliffs, being still sandy, ferruginous, and calcareous, the most sandy beds occurring at the top and bottom of the exposure. On the talus beneath the cliffs, some dark, gypseous, shaly and heematitic masses indicate the presence of the coaly shales near the base of the nummulitic series. Ledges of the “ speckled sandstone” (No. 5) project from beneath the carboniferous group, and the greenish and dark micaceous silurian zone appearing under these speckled sandstones, shows white saline efflorescence ; it has still a thickness of a hundred feet or somewhat more. The purple sandstones come out from below this zone, and the section terminates below, as usual, with the red gypseous marl. From the situation of the latter group at the west or Chamil side of the glen, and the partial absence of the “ purple sandstone,” it would seem that the Pail fault is continued in this direction. There is also a decided appearance of another fault at right angles to this, crossing the middle of the glen and running eastwards up a deep ravine, so as to bring the lower part of the local series against the red marl. Near the mouth of the glen the arrangement of the lower rocks is complicated, either by faulting or slips, or both; a mass of the “ purple sandstones” being let into the marl longitudinally in the middle of the ravine. The hill rising above the left bank of this ravine exposes East of the mouth of the whole local section from the red salt marl up to ravine; the nummulitic limestone, including groups 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10 and 11; but these are much confused by landslips, particularly on the south or outer side of the hill. The ground to the richt slopes much more gradually southwards West of the mouth of towards the plains from Chámil scarp, and is u greatly concealed by masses of coarse debris, very ( 2007) SÓN PLATEAU. 201 much of which comes from carboniferous rocks. The “purple sand- stones” are seen in gullies, and further up the “ speckled sandstones ” crop out; but close to the scarp there is but little seen of the carboni- ferous and overlying beds till the nummulitic limestone, thick and massive, rises in bold cliffs to the edge of the plateau above. SECTION X.—S6n PLATEAU. The Són Sakesar plateau is the largest and broadest in the whole range; it includes the country about Chämil, Sodhi, the hilly tract near the latter place, to the southward, and the larger area, chiefly oceupied by the carboni- Situation. ferous limestone, between the southern escarpment of the range and the Sön valley proper. The principal place within the plateau is Naoshera, nearly in the centre. The table-land possesses this peculiarity, that while the northern half presents the greatest sameness and simplieity of geological structure (if the formation of the lake basins be excepted), the southern side, particularly beneath the escarpment, is one of the most complicated tracts in the whole range, owing to the heterogeneous disposition of the groups by reason of dislocation, land slips, contortions, and erosion. For 26 miles westward from the Pail country last described, the Tertiary sandstonesand Same relations prevail between the tertiary sand- o stones and shales and the underlying nummu- litic limestone. Within this distance the whole border of the Potwár plateau rises gradually, and throughout most of it the plateau of the range and that to the north are separated by a less marked and less abrupt declivity than usual. The tertiary sandstone ground being high, its excavation, where formed of the softer sandstones, &c., into gullies, ravines, and khud- dera, has necessarily been extreme; this chuddera ground always ending at the boundary of the nummulitic limestone. About Jäba where the softer beds encroach upon the limestone, more or less hori- zontality of stratification obtains; but further west, steeper, yet still B 2 C eL y 202 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. gentle, northerly inclinations at angles of 15°, 20°, and 30° carry the lower beds of the sandstone, &c., from the flanks of a long anticlinal of the nummulitic limestone, beneath the red, shaly, and clayey, tertiary band, above which the grey sandstones and orange clays of the next portion of that series constantly occur. In the Jába country the lower sandstones are very often of a greenish . . or grey colour and thick-bedded, sometimes pebbly, and with but few red bands. Calcareous pseudo-conglomerates occur, also a few beds of greyish shale, and some coneretionary beds, from which the small nodules weather out and strew the ground. The same characteristics, with slight and local variation, extend everywhere throughout the group on the northern flanks of the range. Either in the nummulitic limestone at the base of the sandstones, nee or in the lower 30 feet of the latter, traces of petroleum or rock-tar, in very small quantities, are to be found at three or four localities on the northern flanks of the Sön plateau. These places are,—three and a half miles north-east of Kabaki, two and a half miles north-west of Dhuddhur; two and a half miles north-west of Mardowäl; and a questionable locality a couple of miles east of a salt chowki situated northwards of Sakesar mountain.* Petroleum also occurs southward of this mountain in an outlying fragment of the sandstone beds. The quantities issuing from the rocks are small and worthless as sources of supply, but being found both in the uppermost beds of the limestone, and in the lowest of the overlying sandstones, the occurrence of this mineral oil may per- haps indicate continuity of deposition of these groups, rather than the existence of any marked break between them. The width of the lower sandstone and clay band is in many places greater than usual, but its thickness probably does not average more than 1,500 feet. The red earthy zone above may be rather more than * See Report on the Punjab Oil Lands by Mr. B. S. Lyman, pages 43 to 46. $ Nearly 1,000 feet greater than at the eastern end of the range. ( 202 ) SÓN PLATEAU. 2035 1,000 feet thick, but its upper and lower limits are not sharply defined, and the orange and grey overlying rocks must be enormously thick, extending far into the Potwár with northerly inclinations. The nummulitic limestone has everywhere the same aspect, the : same prominent light colour, compact and some- Nummulitic. à 4 times cherty texture above, but is always nodular and lumpy below ; soft and marly between the nodules, and of a warm yellowish colour. Its fossils also are still the imperfect casts of bivalves, large Gastropods, and Echinoderms and Nummulites throughout. It extends everywhere over the northern half of the plateau with a most irregular southern boundary, and occurs also as outlying masses. The increased contortion of the beds in this portion of the range becomes apparent even on the plateau, where the nummulitic beds roll along numerous east and west anticlinal axes, in bold, open or closer curves, which very generally coincide with the features of the ground, and sometimes form considerable hills. The country which exhibits most of this north and south compression is that around Sodhi. Along the valley of the Nursingphoár river and to the south, for some distance, a long rugged hilly strip of nummulitic rocks similarly contorted stretches from this Sodhi vicinity towards Sakesar, roughly dividing the plateau into nearly equal parts; while on the northern side of the table-land the limestone beds roll up in a great wave, some two miles wide, and then turning. over to the northward, rapidly disappear beneath the sandstone series. B The southern edge of the nummulitie limestone usually forms a bold escarpment with a gentle northerly inclination for some distance, and, unlike the Nürpur plateau, the northern side of this Són plateau is rather lower than the south, as a general rule. Numerous large and small outliers of the nummulitic rocks, frequently connected with dislo- cation, are to be found beyond its general southern escarpment, which maintains a very irregularly indented east and west direction. ( 208 :) 204 WYNNE : GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. At the western end of the plateau the nummulitie limestone beds rise rapidly with the broad anticlinal wave on the Potwár side, and form the summit and steeper acclivities of Sakesar mountain. Its thickness over the whole plateau may average 500 feet. : South of the east-and-west dividing ridge, and extending further j westward than the Sôn country, is a wide, elevated, Carboniferous. ; y and greatly undulating tract,* formed chiefly. of the carboniferous limestone, which has here its largest exposure. Deep valleys and ravines intersect this ground, all leading out upon the plains to the south, and all of them showing more or less perfectly the succession of the underlying rocks. In this country two new groups enter the series, and two which have a asa continued hitherto from the east disappear. The first which dies out is the cretaceous or “olive group,"f then the dark shaly silurian band. Within two and a half miles or so of the place where the former disappears, the triassic beds begin to show themselves, and ten miles further westward, these are overlaid by the commencement of the jurassic group, the only one wanting to make up the full number of the Salt Range sub-divisions and formations. Near where the valley from Pail towards Katta opens on the plain, but a little to the westward, is the mouth of the Nursingphoär defile, a deep cut, through which the stream from Sodhi escapes. Down in the bottom of this gorge, and Nursingphoár. a mile or more from the mouth of it, the red salt-marl appears, but is so slightly saline as not to render the water of the stream unfit for drinking. The groups above the marl are seen on both sides of the glen, first the * purple sandstone," lighter coloured at top; then the dark shaly silu- rian band, here about 80 feet in thickness, or rather more. Group * The “Patiál hills.” + Some beds doubtfully representing this group occur far to the westward at one spot, on the Katwahi road to Shähpur. ( 204 ) GEOLGGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. Wynne, Salt Range. Memoirs Vol XIV. Plate XXI. A A Pu J Schaumburg, Luh: CLIFF AT CHAMIL COAL LO CALLIES o SÖN PLATEAU. 205 No. 4 is no longer present. The coarse and often conglomeratic sandstones of group No. 5 are strongly developed and overlaid by nearly 180 feet of the upper lavender-coloured clays, the whole group considerably exceeding 300 feet. Above this is No. 6, the carboniferous group, limestones, &e., quite 300 feet or more thick, and the nummulitic limestones as usual form the high cliffs of the escarpments, having a thickness of about 300 feet also. A considerable fault extends along the m glen and turns with it above Nursingphoár. This fault has displaced a portion of the northern side of an east-and-west anticlinal curve, formed by the groups Nos. 2, 3 and 4, in the cliffs opposite to the Pir—a sacred and pieturesque locality where there are fine springs overlooked by some Fakirs’ residence and temple perched upon a ledge more than half way up the cliffs. On the left side of the glen the stream from the Chámil part of ae the plateau falls over the lofty vertical limestone cliffs of the escarpment into a small rock-basin, the sides of which expose a section in the basal beds of the nummulitic group (fig. 35, Plate XXI). The readings of the aneroid barometer (uncorrected for temperature), indicated a difference in elevation between the basin and the cliff-edge above of more than 500 feet, most of this being made up of the following section :—* Ft. In. Ft. In, ( Compact nummulitic limestone in two bands .. 200 0 A thin shaly band 000 des 010570 Thick limestone ... 000 006 ZO Earthy, thin-bedded, lumpy, and shaly limestone ... 50 0 a QUON | Black shales, part sandy, with a few coay layers belor 20 0 Sandy and shaly beds of dark or ferruginous colour, with pyrites 000 vee Coal from 6 inches to a foot Black sandy bed, carbonaceous and pyritous Black shales 600 300 ( Coal ... 600 500 dou Ju RL uL 2048778). 2: SS MIU LUND UU a * Part of this section also appears in Dr. Oldham's paper, “On the Mineral Resources of the Salt Range, Bannu and Kohat districts ;" previously noticed, Ot eK oo (er) Xe ep) Ce) (2) 206 WYNNE: GEOLOGY JF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. Ft. In. Ft. in. (Black, sandy, and lumpy shales, ferruginous and pyritous 7 6 Black shales, friable 3 6 : Hard calcareous sandstone 2:70 NUMMULITIC,— 4 Dark shales 3 0 Con) | Hard calcaredhs sandstone 10 Sandy shale dés 3 0 53 3 Lumpy dark-coloured limestone; Nummulites . 45 0 L 45 0 Greenish-grey calcareous sandstone wee .. 99 0 Ferruginous calcareous beds ... Hab LSO CARBONIFEROUS ... < Grey limestone EN Me w 4H O Calcareous beds with three beds of black shale; the thickest 3 feet ves ds ZOO 115 0 The uppermost part of the greenish-grey calcareous sandstones may represent the cretaceous series, but there is nothing here to warrant their separation from the strata beneath them. Other rocks of the carboni- ferous formation project below those of the above list, and the speckled sandstone group could be seen from above; but the cliffs formed by the lower part of the series were too precipitous to descend to the place of its exposure. Further to the west and still on the left side of the ravine below the temple of Nursingphoar, the following section was noted by Dr. Waagen :— Further into the defile. Ft. ( Part of the strong nummulitic limestone 500 e. 50 Yellow calcareous marl and marly limestone .., e. 50 Grayish-yellow marls with numerous Nummulites, also Fusus and other fossils de 000 500 ld Pao nen Black coaly shale wal 00 qud soo AD Brown sandstone with small Nummulites "e .. 2603 Variegated sandstones with interlaminated shales, also varie- |l gated ES 300 R 500 b Brownish-yellow limestones and caleareous marly beds with CRETACEOUS TR Terebratula Flemingii, Ostrea, and Echinids ZO Hematite, partly changing into pisolitic iron ore LO ( 206 ) SÓN PLATEAU. 207 Thin-bedded limestone with ıntercalations of black coaly Ft. shale; contains many carboniferous fossils. It changes into compact limestone, on the upper surface cavernous and CARBONIFEROUS... , corroded ... ae Tx sis .. 200 The carboniferous rocks are faulted here, and seen in the stream bed at the foot of the cliff. Further down the glen on its right-hand side, a stream course enters HRS ERU MIN from the west showing a httle of the red salt-marl and some slipping and crushing of the overlying rocks. The purple sandstones here appeared to contain, at the top of the group, a 50-feet bed of coarse conglomerate, the pebbles being all of old crystalline or metamorphic rocks. The dark, shaly silurian band is much obliquely laminated, contains fine black and white ribband layers of sandy shale with hamatitie nodules and some sandstone bands, the whole group having a greenish aspect. Thick and thin bedded speckled sandstones succeed, and are overlaid, first by the carboniferous and then by the nummulitie group stretching along the glen side up towards Nursingphoár. On this side of the glen, just after passing the gap through which the river crosses the * purple sandstone," Dr. Waagen found greenish thin-bedded soft sandstones, partly coaly, with a thick band of conglomerate of erystalline pebbles, the group being about 50 feet in thickness, and most probably the same as that just now noticed. Above this succeeded a great mass of thin-bedded reddish sandstones and red shales, over whieh eame about 100 feet of lavender clay, with sandstone and marlstone layers. In its upper part this lavender clay became coaly and black, and was overlaid by yellow and grey sandstones with Bellerophon, productus, &e., of the carboniferous group. The laven- der clays, hitherto very thick at the top of the “speckled and reddish sandstone ” series, here begin to grow thinner, but they are often subject to local variation in this respect. Further up the stream than Nursingphoär, and just where it bends from west to south-east, the fault is seen bringing Above Nursingphoár. Bi i : the nummulitie and carboniferous beds diseordantly (207 ) 208 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. together; the former only slightly fossiliferous, but containing in places numbers of globular Foraminifera, of about the size of peas, and the latter group being varied a good deal along the oblique line of fault at the contact with the newer rock. i Nurmmuluic umestone ifer ows g Car” 9 D = oT Time“ : SU jy gu eo greet poro y yr COU = S any be ds S by W Do fig. 36.—Diagramatic section, Nursingphoár Valley. At this place there are some slight traces of the black coaly shales beneath the nummulitie limestone, while just across the fault crinoidal earboniferous limestone is seen. On the opposite bank of the stream some ferruginous beds dip steeply (at 75°) towards the high ground above, and are overlaid.by two black shaly layers of about a foot each, separated by two feet of sandy limestone. Over these are 20 feet of greenish shales, succeeded by 80 feet of purple and white shaly beds, above which come greenish, arenaceous, and argillaceous limestones, the ordinary grey, or, bluish, compact, thick carboniferous limestone over- lying the whole and passing beneath the talus at the foot of the num- mulitie limestones which cap the hill. Somewhat further up the stream, the nummulitic limestone forms the left bank, and on the southern side of the glen Further up the glen. à l E ; ? white carboniferous, erinoidal limestone dips at a very high angle under a quantity of purple clays, alternating three times in the upper fifty feet with greenish sandy beds. A few hundred yards further, on the same side of the stream, the carboniferous group is formed of 180 to 200 feet of pale pinkish-white sandstones with cal- careous beds, containing in the upper part some carbonaceous and mica- ( 208 ) SÖN PLATEAU. 209 ceous black shaly layers, and near the top a purple clay band. In the sandy limestone-layers erinoid fragments and numbers of small Pusuline occur, while in the river bed are fallen masses of greenish weathered, cal- careous Spuifer-sandstones, and sandy beds with large annelid tracks. Still further up the stream the fault crosses it, cutting out the carboni- ferous beds obliquely in the hill side to the south, and the river runs between steep nummulitic limestone cliffs, exhibiting much crushing and disturbance, the beds being turned upwards towards the fault and dipping at angles as high as 50° from the northern flanks of the hills. The same limestone forms the country as far as Sodhi,* and it extends much beyond this place. Quantities of calcareous tufa fill the gorge southward of the Sodhi bungalow. Sodhi. At about a mile to the westward of the Upper Katta village, which is m situated opposite to the mouth of the Nursing- phoár gorge, there is a considerable salt-spring, conspieuous from a distance, on account of the quantity of calcareous tufa which it has deposited. It issues from the “ purple sandstone,” of which there is rather less than usual here, and the spring seems to come from the lower part of this formation, purple marly and shaly layers being seen in the vicinity. On the hill above this spring the following section is seen (taken from Dr. Waagen’s notes), the “olive group” or cretaceous beds being no longer present :— ' Feet. 1.—NUMMULITIC.. Nummulitic limestone capping the hill ... 280 to 300 NoTE.—Üpper surface of carboniferous beds much cor- roded on uneven surfaces, and white sandstone occurs in pockets covered by hematite. * There are two places of so nearly the same name, or one which sounds so exactly similar, that it is difficult to distinguish them. The other one lies a mile and a half west- ward of Katwáhi, and is spelled on the map Sothe. c 9 ( 209 ) 210 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. Feet. (Compact carboniferous limestone ES .. $860 Grey sandy marls, Bellerophon, &c. ae Bi) as ak Thin-bedded grey limestone with marly intercalations ... 8 Rusty dolomitie limestones qoo . 50 Hard grey sandstone with Fusulina, Spirifer and Pr. 6.—CARBONIFER- ductus spinosus .. ave dere ... 6to 10 OUS. Thick, soft yellow en fossils in places numerous, Fusulina, Productus, &c. ... ER ZO Reddish nodular sandstone 900 050 le Black coaly sandy shale en 309 ... 10 to 12 Yellow sandstone with many fish-remains and Spirifera... 10 Greenish sandy shales v e ves MO About "I5 Lavender clay with numerous irregular bands of grey 5.—-SPECKLED marlstone changing downwards into... 50 SANDSTONE. ) Red sandstones with many alterations of red marl or earthy bands ... 309 ss neo AO) 100 3.—DARK SHALY ç Green sandstones and shales, in places numerous pebbles HONS i of metamorphic rocks `... iss .. 60 to 100 2.—PURPLE SANDSTONE .. A 505 990 .. 200 There appear to be (doubtfully) two heematitic bands in the country Dolo de zones hereabouts, one above the carboniferous and of hematite. another at the base of the nummulitie series, but both are rarely present together; and where fragments only of one of them are seen, it is difficult to refer them to their proper place; besides, the vertical distance between the two being small, one might be taken for the other. The lavender clays of the speckled sandstone group are of irregular thickness, some sections showing them, as above, Speckled sandstones. f f only 50 or even 30 feet thiek, while others expose them with a depth of very much more than 100 feet. The sandstones of the same group are sometimes conglomeratic, sometimes not, and are generally much more developed than their representatives in the section (D | SÓN PLATEAU. - 21] given above. The greenish sandstone and shaly zone No. 3 appears to pass into the light-coloured top beds of the purple sandstone, and has lost all the characters which in its upper part to the eastward indicate the last extension of group No. 4. In the carboniferous group, which has here assumed considerable proportions, the thickness of different very distinguishable zones varies much, the strong limestone bands of some places appearing of much greater thickness than in others. These strong bands are often cherty or crin- oidal, and vary from thin-bedded or lumpy to thick solid limestone ; the associated greenish, variegated, pale pink, coarse, or ferruginous sandstones are evidently inconstant both in place and character. A great mass of the nummulitie limestone has slipped down the cliff on the south-western side of this Katta hill, and on the spurs below the “purple” and “speckled” sandstone groups are seen divided by the shaly zone No. 3, a little of Slip. the red salt-marl appearing here and there below all in the smaller glens. Other slips occur in the deep limestone valley west of Arára, and . among the debris lying heavily at the base of its enclosing cliffs. There are one or two small slipped exposures of the coaly shales below the nummulitie rocks ; two thin coal seams occur in these. The group beneath the carboniferous does not run far up this glen, but holds on westward into the northern side of the Sangal Wán* greatly covered with debris and obscured by land-slips along the cliffs: all the larger local groups are, however, seen. Coals. In the Sangal Wan, west of Katta, there is evidence of both disturbance and dislocation. On its left side Sangal Wän valley. À the purple sandstone and superior groups show themselves, but on the right, at its mouth, is a mass of white, splintery, compact carboniferous limestone, forming a horizontally bedded e * There seems to be rather a confusion of ideas as to where the Sangal (or Sungle) Wán really is. Its name is not marked upon the map, and the glen so called by natives of the country is not that west of Arára, but an east-and-west gorge nearly two miles north of Náli. 21 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. cliff 85 feet high. The beds soon begin to undulate, and some of the underlying speckled and red sandstones are placed by shps or faulting among the limestones. Further on along the north side of the Wan or glen, the lavender clay beds of the speckled sandstone group predominate, grey clays and ferruginous bands with white eftlor- escences appearing among them. At one spot the dark greenish shaly silurian zone is only 20 feet thick, the overlying “speckled sandstones” having an apparent thickness of only 40 or 50 feet. The hard sandy beds of the carboniferous group are seen in the little amphitheatre at the head of the glen, beneath lofty nummulitie lime- stone cliffs, the bedding of which rises rapidly towards the Kanda- wala peak, and the carboniferous rocks also cover the high ground between this and Náli. They are white, grey, thin and thick bedded limestone, with many strong beds of fossiliferous, drab, earthy and sandy calcareous rocks, separated by shale partings. The Fusulime here occur in grey compact limestone far down in the group, and also in more sandy beds at a still lower horizon. The “speckled sandstone” group below these limestones is more shaly than usual, earthy bands predomi- nating in its upper part, and occurring again within 30 feet of its base. On the side of the hill over Náli this group (No. 5) has a thickness of 150 to 200 feet, and is surmounted by an escarpment-cliff of carboni- ferous limestone, much acted upon by the weather, as is shown by a poised fragment 15 feet in height, which has been gradually separ- ated from the cliff by atmospheric waste. Fig. 37.— Balanced mass on limestene cliff, Náli. ( 218 ) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. Memoirs Val XIV Plate XXI. Y LOOKING DOWN THE WARRU NUSS.- ims s Sel. T Schaumburg. Lie: DISTURBAN CE IN DOKRI OR KAVHAD GLEN NEAR JABI Fig: 39. \ SÓN PLATEAU. 213 The hill side, from the speckled sandstone outerop downwards, is oe eovered with debris tn places, and where it is steeper, the rocks are found displaced, a dyke- like mass of the red marl being enclosed by parts of the purple sand- stone on each side. Westward of this village of Näli much confusion prevails on account of this dislocation. A talus of debris conceals all the beds immediately below the nummulitic limestone, except a band of white friable sandstone 20 feet in thickness; while about 80 feet of decaying brown sandstone below this slope is probably the highest part of the carboniferous group. This latter group and the speckled sand- stones beneath have here an estimated thickness of 300 feet each. Not only are the rocks disturbed by slipping, but they are affected by a strong though local anticlinal curvature, the Warru Kuss. : . ER . : axis of which appears to coincide with a line of fault or other dislocation in the Warru Kuss, three miles west-by-south from Náli. At the north of this fuss or ravine the beds are much dislocated, and a narrow strip of the red marl con- Salt. tains in 1ts upper part several beds of salt, dipping north-20°-west at 50°. The volcanic-looking, lavender, ashy clay of the Nilawán ravine, &o., re-appears here as a band of a few feet, just in the red marl beneath the purple sandstone group. The salt is much exposed at some height in the banks of the ravine; it is of good quality, and some 114 feet in thickness; much of it occurs “at daylight,” but the old mines have not been opened since the commencement of the English rule. This Warru glen has been excavated, like the larger ones of Sardi Anticlinal and fault and Nilawán, along the axis of the local anticlinal, or skp: and this nearly coincides with a line of slip or fault along the northern slope of the glen (see fig. 38, Pl. XXII). The uppermost 50 to 80 feet of the purple sandstone is here quite de light-coloured and massive, and a thin represent- erles. i FAR A 3 ative of the silurian shaly zone continues to ( 218°) 214 WYNNE : GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. appear above it. The speckled sandstone group (No. 5) is conglomeratic, containing also earthy beds both above and below, and there is a regular transition upwards from its variegated and dark grey clays (here 130 feet thick), throush 100 feet of black sandy shale, with hard muddy, thin, calcareous and cherty bands, into the limestones of the carbon- iferous group. At the head of the ravine this limestone forms a surface . wild and broken by small cliffs, crags and escarpments. The nummulitie limestone generally rises above the carboniferous in long scarps with outlying: portions here and there. On the sides of these outliers towards the plains, masses of the car- Fanta M E boniferous limestones stil occur, shaken and shghtly out of place. Between these masses the red sandstone group No. 5 is seen predominating towards the escarpment and supporting large slipped fragments and outliers of the limestone. Above the village of Morah in the broken limestone ground, the car- boniferous limestones are often fossiliferous, the weathered state of the beds enabling numbers of AAynchonelle, small Terebratule, and other Brachiopoda to be collected, as well as many corals; certain white lime- stones being crowded with Lithostrotion. Among the carboniferous fossils found here (and in other places also) there oceurs a peculiar form with a large flattish Peculiar fossil. A y palmate structure, having on one side a well-defined midrib, from which smaller deeply separated ribs diverge in opposite directions, sometimes at right angles, sometimes more obliquely placed. What this fossil is has not been discovered, but there is a similarity in some small curved specimens to internal casts of Belerophon decipiens, DeKonink. A great boulder conglomerate of crystalline blocks occurs here just above the now greenish shales of the silurian zone, and bands of light grey sandstone occur in the lower part of the purple group No. 2. Between Morah and the ghät (or ascent) on the road from Shähpur Country eastward of to Sakesar, the escarpment of the hills is greatly Künd Ghat. (RA broken. The speckled sandstones occur in force, SÖN PLATEAU. 215 buttheshalyzone No. 3 is very inconsiderable. The upper part of the carboniferous limestones are sandy, containing numbers of Producti, and there are fully 80 feet of sandy, calcareous, rusty and earthy beds overlying these and beneath the shaly base of the nummulitic series. - A cliff of the carboniferous limestone measures 230 feet, although it ineludes only a part of the group, which may be altogether over 500 feet in thickness. The speckled sandstones are some 350 feet thick, and tke purple sandstone group below, 300. The greenish shaly band between these two is scarcely 20 feet in thickness. The salt-marl is seen at the foot of the hills, its relations being much confused by slipping of the next overlying beds; and in one deep ravine or %uss to the east of the Sakesar road it contains the hard dolomitic layers found with the gypsum at Khewra, and here studded with nests of iron pyrites. On the ascent from the plains to Katwähi the “red marl,” “ purple sandstone,” “speckled sandstone," carboniferous Kund Ghat. J bo limestone, and nummulitic rocks are all seen. Land-slips have occurred, consequently some groups appear thicker than they really are. The section at this place over the crest of the pass and descending towards Shähpur is as follows, taken from Dr. Waagen’s observations and my own :— Groups. | Ft. In. Nummulitic limestone (part of) ... EE m 2nd 100 O No. 11. 4 Yellow nummulitie marls da Dac ss ..15to20 0 These change slowly into :— ( Brown marls with concretions and many fossils— Beloptera (?), Nauti- lus, Gastropoda, corals, and bivalves (cretaceous ?) ... 000 40 0 Variegated ferruginous soft sandstone ah e 500 30 0 Variegated clay or shale and grey shales ... 40 0 Band of limestone or hard marlstone with many fossils —Orbit- No.10?4 olites (?) or Nummulites (?) — ... 0 3 Grey clays, with large spheroidal concretions Se the Tu of min: Regis: calespar veins ; 15 0 Grey cavernous limestone, dark Down on " N filled with Orbit- olites (?) a 2 E 300 FE 30 0 | Hematitic irregular band Uc eur lo ..15t030 0 (IAN 216 WYNNE : GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. ( Bellerophon sandstone of the carboniferous upper beds, with Tere- ni No. 6 bratula, Producti, Gastropods, tubes like Dentalium, and small fragmentary fish teeth ae oac 500 000 100 0 ae chiefly ... Ves sce A A 200 0 Speckled sandstones and soft lavender and red clays, showing two No: i slips downwards ... oo Joh E ne 300 0 No. 3. Greenish shaly zone ... er 006 d 00 35 0 No. 2. Purple sandstones ... ER ned di La 250 0 No. 1. Red salt marl BER ae BH SR 200 to300 0 The red marl, in the glen opening on the road from the west, just where the ascent commences, alternates (unless the Alternation of lower i ; purplesandstoneand salt appearance is produced by slips) two or three vdd times with dark purple bands of exactly the same character as the lower part of group No. 2. The rest of the groups succeed in their regular order, but on the south side of this glen a mass of the carboniferous limestone has slipped, or is faulted, so as to conceal everything else, and to be in contact with the red-marl group. About a mile and a quarter northwards of the pass are the hamlet and serai of Katwähi, situated among hills of carboniferous and M nummulitie limestone. Some of the ground about the village is either flat or cultivated, so as to cause difficulty in defining the boundary lines, one hill being of one limestone, and another of a different kind, with here and there small patches of red beds, belonging to the group No. 5 below the carboniferous, appearing in an obscure manner. Where the road to Sakesar ascends a hill from the immediate vicinity of the serai, some coaly gypseous shales which are exposed in the sides of the road-cutting, belong, most probably, to the nummulitic limestone which forms the adjacent hill. The two higher hills, one to the southward and the other east of the serai, are both of nummulitie limestone also; but between their beds and the underlying carboniferous rocks, some greenish shales and calcareous Coal shales. beds, containing a few Ceratites, make their ap- Ceratite beds. j pearance ; these are some of the earliest traces to the eastward of a new (triassie) group which further west always aecom- panies the carboniferous rocks. (0021610) SÓN PLATEAU. 217 The southern hill is part of a great outlying patch or basin of the nummulitic rocks around the escarpment of which the carboniferous limestones appear, the two together forming quite inaccessible cliffs some hundreds of feet high in a narrow gorge south of Sodhi (or Sothe) and south-west of Katwáhi. At the head of this gorge, where it leaves the flatter ground between nummulitic limestone hills, there are the remains of a tolerably thick bed of purple gypseous clay associated with sandstone layers and blackish shales. The gypsum or selenite is in clear plates, and the beds are probably a fragmentary portion of the upper part of the speckled sandstone group brought into this position by concealed faults. The hills to the eastward are partly formed of carboniferous limestone : ,. aud partly of an extension of the main mass of the Hills east of Katwáhi. Sôn nummulitic limestone. At the base the latter is hard, grey, compact and lumpy, overlying 15 feet of white powdery sandstone. A small band of shales occurs below, and under these the heematitic clay bed which is often found near the base of this series. The layer is here 5 feet in thiekness, but is always rather irregular, and in this neighbourhood sometimes entirely absent. Below the hematite are dark and light grey triassic shales, with some gypsum and ferru- ginous nodules and bands, the whole being 20 feet thick. Near these, and apparently coming from beneath them, is strong erinoidal lime- stone of the carboniferous group, weathering quite red, overlying a mass of the compact fossiliferous limestones of this group. In a little valley between two carboniferous limestone hills here, and leading down to the Katwähi stream, close to the village, there isa green and red soft shaly band near the -top of the speckled sandstones, without the usual quantity of lavender or other clays that usually inter- vene between these and the carboniferous group. Some 60 or 80 feet of these sandy and red elay beds of group No. 5 are visible, but are obscurely exposed. The rest of the hills in this neighbourhood form very rugged ground, and the limestone beds are frequently sharply contorted. D2 ( 20% } 218 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. Between Katwähi and the village of Khüra (pronounced Khoora) to A the north-north-east, there is a small flat plain entirely concealing the rocks, but the carboniferous limestones rise in abrupt cliffs on its north-west side. Close to the west of the village a section is seen of the junction between the triassic group and the nummulitic limestone. The rocks dip west of north at 40° and 20°, and the section is as follows* :— Feet ( Compact nummulitic limestone, Alveolina beds soo, LO Precipice 50 to 60 feet high of compact nummulitie limestone oat Sas Me e. 50 Soft yellow marls, with Nummulites 008 60 to 80 Brown marls, with many corals bcn 15 to 20 No QUAE 4 Soft yellow sandstones, with Ostrea dia 30 MULITIC. White and yellow and red variegated soft casino with plant fragments, partly covered by debris ... 20 (?) Olive calcareous sandstones, with Conus, small shell fragments, and lumpy nodules je e. 90 [ Strong ferruginous soft sandstones e we 40 ( Greenish and grey shales, variegated, red, yellow and | blue at top; Ceratites ... Be 20 to 30 Nele Ceratite limestone ae 3to 4 L Yellow sandy calcareous beds, with ale 00 a ( Brown dolomite, like that at Pail Na: 900 3 Grey and greenish calcareous and micaceous sandstone, with limestone bands, weathering red in parts and containing Bellerophon, Productus, &c. 90 to 100 No. 6.—CARBON- , Compact carboniferous limestone very rich in fossils, OS Strophalosia Morisiana, Productus, Athyris, &c, 60 (?) Debris 500 000 000 000 Yellowish red sandstones and brown dolomitic limestones like those at Pail 000 (Gap ... bot 306 080 No. 5 .. Lavender clay appearing 00 It is possible that some of the beds above included in the nummul- itie group may be cretaceous; Conus is found to the eastward in other rocks, believed to be of this age; but these, for want of sufficient evidence, are not separated here as a different group. * From Dr. Waagen’s and my own observations. SÖN PLATEAU. 219 Eastward of Khüra the nummulitie limestones soon close in round Nummulitie east of the end of the small plain. Northwards, they Ebúra andito ihgmoríh- undulate, and at one place on the road to Sodhi are not only bent into a sharp curve, but also faulted, some of their underlying shaly beds appearing in the side of the road at the steep descent leading to the Sodhi valley and bungalow. The post-tertiary deposits of the upper part of this Sodhi valley have Bai ertian weonalo: been already alluded to; they are well seen near the merate. junction of the road from Khüra with the Sodhi and Sakesar road; where drab clay and coarse brown, soft, sandstone, with limestone pebbles, lying on the south slope of a nummulitic limestone hill, dip at so high an angle as 20° to Naoshera. south-by-west, and are unconformable to every- thing below. The same beds occur again in the country near Naoshera. Westwards from Khüra the upper carboniferous beds and overlying trias continue along the indented boundary of West of Khira. te the nummulitic rocks, a long narrow promontory of which juts out to the east-by-south for about four miles from their main mass; small outlying patches also occur. The direction of this extension of the newer limestone is almost exactly parallel to a large fault running from near Katwahi to the westward, and bringing the carboniferous, the nummulitic, and tertiary sandstone groups into abnormal junction. From this fault another is supposed to start in a south-westerly direction through some undulating or flat ground Kávhád. m EA i . till it reaches the Kávhád gorge, down which it passes out towards the southern plains. In the flat ground, of course, this fault is concealed, but nearer to the gorge nummulitie and carboni- ferous rocks are brought against everything lower than the latter. To the right of this Kávhád ravine the ground is hilly and covered with [11 broken masses of carboniferous limestone and the “ purple sandstone ” is seen overlying a large exposure of the salt-marl. On the left-hand side C RIO J 220 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. of the stream the carboniferous beds, slipped and faulted here and there, form abrupt ground several hundred feet higher than the bottom of the glen and are covered by the nummulitic limestone. Further down the stream, some of the speckled sandstone beds crop out on its left bank beneath the “‘ carboniferous beds," while on the opposite side of the stream these carboniferous limestones are in junction with the “red marl.” The latter ends suddenly, and for some distance the bed of the river is in the speckled sandstones, which, with the underlying purple group No. 2, diverge to the southward along a slip or fault, and again the carboni- ferous beds of the left bank are in discordant junction with “red marl,” ““ purple sandstone,” and “speckled sandstones,” while carboniferous lime- stones form the most of the right bank and steep hill side aboveit. These groups continue in a most shattered state nearly to the mouth of the gorge, where the stream bends to the south and the fault continues onwards up the right bank. The sketch (fig. 39, Pl. XXII) will convey an idea of the lower part of this glen, through which it is not often easy to trace the geological boundary lines. The ground to the right of the view is almost all of carboniferous rocks much displaced, that to the left above is of the same, while below are the “speckled” and “ purple sandstones” and the “red marl” in a most confused state. Old Sikh salt-mines were worked in this glen, and some of the compact thinly laminated, aus layers, observed elsewhere, recur here in the red marl. The escarpment country along the southern face of the hills, between Between Kánd ghat the Kávhád ravine and the road from Sháhpur to o gien, Katwáhi, is extremely disturbed, numbers of slips having taken place, and the rocks having given way generally along rough contours of the ground. Great sheets and scarps of the bare carboniferous limestone, thrown into curves and basins with various dips, form bold cliffs rising above the broken ground, and lower terraces are also covered with decomposing masses of the same rocks displaced ; while the deeper glens and under-cliffs show various complicated arrangements of the “red salt-marl” and the two overlying sandstone 22 0 SÓN PLATEAU. 22] groups. The slips and alternations of the rocks are too confused for close description ; much of the ground is covered by debris chiefly of the earboniferous group, projecting from beneath which, isolated por- tions of any of the local rocks may be found. There is here very commonly a zone of sandy, olive, micaceous beds 50 feet or so in thiekness at the base of the carboniferous formation, and the strong limestones above may be estimated at 500 feet at least, if not more,—the repeated step-cliffs making its depth appear much larger than it really is. The lavender and grey clays again form a thick band at the top of the “speckled sandstone? group; they are gypseous, and in places contain light olive, micaceous sandstone layers, ferruginous beds, and layers of black and grey shale. The thickness of this portion of the group varies from 50 to more than 100 feet, and the underlying red, white, and speckled sandstones and clays are from 250 to 300 feet. Between these and the purple sandstones below there is still sometimes an eight-feet greenish shaly zone on the silurian horizon; and in the red marl beneath, thin purple sandstone and grey gypseous and cherty-looking dolomitie flaggy layers occur. Great masses of white clay occur in the debris on the end of the less Jabi spur above the left side of the Dokri gorge. Some disintegrating nummulitie limestone near the place suggests that the clay may result from the decay and re-arrange- ment of its lower marly beds, but the local debris conceals the relations. About a mile north of Jabi, portions of the carboniferous rocks, Ammonite or Phyllo- slipped, fallen, and displaced, still retain sufficient ceras: (Waagen) continuity of relation to enable their former place in this series to be recognised. In a broken-down mass, belonging to the lower part of the upper beds of this carboniferous formation, Dr. Waagen found the oldest known Ammonite, or, as he has since determined it, PAyllo- ceras ; which unique and interesting fossil forms the subject of a short paper in the Geological Survey Memoirs, Vol. IX, p. 351. It was associated in the limestone with the following: Athyris Royssii, Productus costatus, (72217) 222 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. P. spinosus, P. cora, P, Humboldti, a Retzia described by Davidson, Terebra- tula Himalayensis, Fenestella, Macrocheilus, Goniatites, Ceratites, and many other carboniferous forms. From the mouth of the Dokri gorge a steep path near a salt chöwki leads up the cliffs on the right side of the glen to the undulating plateau above. From this path the broken and dislocated positions of re a the ‘several groups can be seen. Where the rocks north-west of Kavhéd begin to appear 7m situ at the cliffs of the escarp- and Dokri gorge. i 3 A E ment, greenish and thinly laminated flags occur ın the upper part of group No. 5, and the white and red variegated clays of that horizon are sometimes hard and jaspery, the beds with the harder layers being 50 feet thick. Over them are 55 feet of grey calcareous sandstone with a one-foot fossiliferous band containing Spirifera, Pro- ducti, small Bellerophon, Terebratule, Sic. Succeeding to this band are 10 feet of greenish clay, overlaid by 12 feet of sandy limestone, weathering brownish, with Fuszline. This limestone is overlaid by 30 feet of greenish micaceous clay, then 150 to 200 feet of solid limestone with corals, passing upwards into 120 feet of brown, rusty, thin-bedded Bellerophon limestone, forming the cliff-edge. Other rusty calcareous beds succeed and undulate over the neighbouring hilly plateau, the nearest prominent elevation of which is capped by the whitish-yellow disintegrating lower beds of the nummulitic series. Viewed from one of these heights, the plateau appears like a grey M limestone sea thrown into huge waves, some turn- iug over as if about to break, and the slopes of all * dressed," or rendered smooth, with detritus. Among all these grey rocks the whiter debris of the nummulitic limestone can be occasionally detected, and some smoother greenish slopes show where the soft triassie strata may be found. To the north-eastward the country between the Kávhád gorge and Between Jalár and Jalär Kahár is most peculiar. Itis, as usual, hilly Haxhed: and covered with the detritus and masses of the carboniferous limestone in such a state that it is almost impossible to (C2225) SÓN PLATEAU. 223 say which ground is formed of rock ¿n situ, and which merely of debris ; in fact one form so closely resembles the other that no hard line of demarcation exists. Over this ground are scattered patches of the num- mulitic limestone which have to a great extent undergone degradation and yet retain much the appearance of being in situ. One tract north- west of Sothi is covered by the triassic beds, generally much broken, but in places actually ¿n situ resting on the upper beds of the car- boniferous limestone ; while some of the hills and all the deeper valleys show the “speckled sandstone ” exposed by denudation. Near Gogra the underlying “purple sandstone” appears with patches of the “red gypseous marl,” all in a very confused condition, the nearest rock to the marl being sometimes its proper associate, the purple sandstone, but sometimes the nummulitic limestone or one of the other groups. This confused and much disintegrated ground extends north-westward in and along the valley of astream which runs from near Nanga west of Jalär into the larger gorge near Kávhád. Towards the upper part of the stream, and between it and Nanga, nummulitic limestone in an almost detrital state prevails; but the red sandstones, &e., of group No. 5 are seen in the stream bed, In the neighbourhood of the village and so-called fresh-water lake (which is, however, saline) of Jalär, the carbonifer- ous limestone forms hilly ground to the south, and chffs to the northward, of a little plain, which ends at a complicated and deep clay Ahuddera to the eastward. There seems to be an east-and-west . fault passing along the foot of the northern limestone cliffs, and exposing some of the underlying speckled and reddish sandstones here and there. To the north of these cliffs and rising obliquely on the north- erly slope of their beds, a narrow (triassic) Jalär. Trias. An Ceratite band is occasionally seen, succeeded by the nummulitie limestone. The whole of the latter is present, dipping . also northwards at 55° and overlaid by a long Tertiary sandstones, &c. a A ; narrow basin of the lower tertiary, bone-bearing, greenish sandstones, etc., with a few red clay bands. These sandstones, (aaa) 224 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. some 200 feet in thickness, are very soft and friable, and consequently eceupy the bottom of a valley. The basin is incomplete, being faulted in an east-and-westerly direction against a narrow strip of the Bellerophon beds of the carboniferous limestone, which forms an escarpment overlaid by the triassie and nummulitic beds. This locality was visited by Dr. Waagen, whose notes on the detailed section are given below :— 4 Feet. ( Compact nummulitic limestone MAR | Yellow marls with Nummulites on .. 380 to 50 NUMMULITIC ... 1 Brown marly layers with a few traces of corals ... | Grey and yellowish clays with concretions and Vulsella-like bivalves ane ... 20 to 30 ( Hematite ... Sec . 6to10 Hard limestones with cilc: 550 . Ato 5 Thin-bedded hard limestone with different species of Ceratites S. LET J. 10 TRIAS Pe j Brown sandstone with Ceratites Flemingi Sr 10 ı Brownish and light yellow sandstone with few Ceratites. In the upper part of these sand- stones is the Bellerophon bed of this Ceratite ! group... Bob oon 000 80 Ceratite marls and hard thin Ceratite limestones ... 20 CanBoxirERous, ¿ Brown sandstones and sandy limestones of the Bellerophon group, very thick ... ... 100 to 150 Northwards from this the nummulitic limestones undulate with a good deal of northerly dip into the Sôn Sakesar Kahar basin. To the east- ward they are more violently contorted, and in the hills behind Naoshera they are covered by unconformable detrital beds (similar to those of the head of the Sodhi valley) dipping northwards at low angles generally of about 10°. Westwards of Jalär the carboniferous limestone cliffs which LAM overhang the lake extend for several miles, and are more palpably faulied along their base. The limestone is overlaid by the Ceratite zone, and this by a new group of white, red, and yellowish soft sandy and variegated beds, the commence- ( 224 ) SÓN PLATEAU. 225 ment of the jurassic group. Here in their first exposures the jurassic beds are thin, faulted, and much concealed. South of Nanga (to the west of Jalär lake) there is a considerable hill (beyond the broken belt of disintegrating nummulitie limestone) at the base of which carboniferous limestone appears; and further up the triassie Ceratite band, overlaid by a few sandy beds representing the jurassie rocks, and capped by nummulitic limestone with a southerly dip. These beds are cut off by a west-north-west fault bringing them against the carboniferous limestone, here forming a wide hilly tract, its beds dipping both to the north-east and south-west, and its chief lines of hill and valley trending west-north-west. South-westward of this tract, and westward from Virgál, is a Virgál. narrow elongated basin formed by a synclinal curve in the carboniferous limestones, but occupy- ing high ground. Within it, the triassie beds, a few jurassic layers, and an outlier of the nummulitie limestone, lie, each surrounded by its adjacent lower group, their outcrops forming escarpments on the north- eastern side and south-eastern end of the basin, but being overtopped by higher limestone hills in other directions. The north-east side of the outlier presents the following succession according to Dr. Waagen :— Feet. ( Compact nummulitic limestone, over yellow nummulitie marl- ! stone .., ... odo 5o . 20 NUMMULITIC ...4 Gray clays with very much gypsum, hard concretions with | fossils ... $i ar iis S: 12 (Hematite ... 5d dos 00 pon 4 ( Variegated sands and sandstones ... 000 ys 10 TORNE i Brown sandy marls with Turritella od .. 5to 6 | Soft red sandstone with greyish and greenish d pyritous L and gypseous God ae 2 .. 15 to 20 f Grey limestone with numerous Bivalves Aet $5 2 Thin-bedded hard sandy limestone, no fossils ... ioe 6 Tus ı Ceratite sandstone, thin-bedded soft yellow sandstone with Mu gypsum; a Bellerophon bed in the upper region ibe 50 Green Ceratite marls ... Vue ... 60 to 70 | Thin-bedded limestone with Ceratites 2 500 8 226 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. Feet, f Grey sandstone layers ... wee 000 "m 6 Black coaly, shaly beds, micaceous.. 4 9 to6 Thick light grey concretionary satius vith nests of CARBONIFEROTUS ...4 fossils, small Producti, Bellerophon, and Gastropoda ... "6 Brown sandstone and limestone with Bellerophon, Productus costatus, and a Dentalium _... d .. 200 (?) L Compact limestone with corals... ae 08300 I found some of the Ceratites in the shaly beds on the south-west side of the basin to be of large size, occasionally measuring thirteen inches across. At this side of the basin there are also seen some 30 feet of white sandstones above the hematite zone, succeeded by 20 to 30 feet of dark-coloured shales beneath the yellow marly beds of the nummulitie limestone. At another place the hematite band measures 15 feet and is overlaid by 25 feet of white sandy beds, both being displaced ; and at the south-eastern end of the basin an old pit was shown to me in what appeared to be a dislocated fragment of the hematite: from this pit-alum shale was reported to have been raised. Alum workings are not, however, now carried on here. The grey limestone with numerous bivalves, marked as 2 feet thick in the above table, is nearly 10 feet on the opposite side of the trough, and the shaly beds are covered with saline efflorescence. The high hill south-west of this (3,408 feet) is scarped towards the basin and formed of the hard fossiliferous (carboniferous) lime- stone, folded so as to add much to its apparent thickness, which would be great even if undisturbed. The limestone of the carboniferous forma- tion is frequently dolomitic in this neighbourhood, in the lower country along the escarpment of therange. In the neigh- bourhood of Choya (Chua) more than the usual amount of disturbance and dislocation prevails. Choya. On the right side of the Dokri gorge, within a mile from its An mouth, there are four large and many minor ground slips, one of which is probably along a continuation of the Kävhäd fault. Further west the entanglement of ( 226 ) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA Wynne. Salt Range. i Memoir s .Vol:XIV.Flate.XXIT. Mouth of Gorge DS ; about i000. £* ; AA E A Scale 1 man vo a Mile Horizontal, Neree South. North Fig, 40. Section on right side of Choya gorge and upto Triassic & Nummulitie outlier, 1, Salt marl. 2, Purple sandstone. 5, Speckled. sandstone. 6, Carbonıferous limestone. T, Triassic shales 9, Jurassic sandstone . U, Nummaulitic limestone. Fig; 43. Greemsh banın Red marl Varcha__Glen. a,Gypseous vers in dark greenish gray clay. b, Purple and greerash flaggy shale. e,Reol marl. South, Fig:44. Top of Kangar awala Hill, SÓN PLATEAU. 227 the rocks from the same cause becomes intensely complicated. The succession is the same, but the “purple sandstone” is much less seen, except in the cliffs nearest to the main escarpment, where it still retains its thickness of about 250 or 300 feet. Even here there is occasionally a thin, greenish, shaly, micaceous band, between it and the “ speckled sandstone,” the thickness of which last appears much to exceed that of the former groups. Along the foot of the hills the “red marl” and the “purple sandstone” are frequently but not well exposed underneath the debris. In the Choya gorge many singular complications occur, the lower teins te ` rocks of the overlying series Baus slipped MOV, wards over the salt-marl, sometimes producing the appearance of alternation, whilst sometimes nearly isolated masses from above have reached the bottom of the glen. The “red-salt marl” is N much exposed, and crops out on the shoulder of the spur between the gorge and the village of Choya, at a considerable elevation above the latter. The water is all salt with the exception of a small driblet, issuing at the left side of the mouth of the gorge from the gypseous red marl; a hollow which might hold a pint having been formed to receive the supply around this, a cluster of the village children stood waiting their turn to obtain a tardy lotah- ful, warm and not particularly good when gained. The “red marl” has a more stratified appearance than usual owing to the prevalence of gypsum, the layers dipping at high angles on account of much dis- turbance of the rocks (see fig. 40, Pl. XXIII). At some distance within this glen, bands of the grey cherty-looking Dienste Gres aut dolomite and grey (weathering greenish) clays or digi leya mn men shales with ferruginous strings, occur quite ver- tically bedded in the salt-marl, the flaggy dolomite bands alternating frequently with dark brownish grey thin shales. .At one place these beds measure 50 feet, and present in their regular stratification a stroug contrast to the adjacent marl, 228 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. Further on, the stream runs through the sandstones, &c., of group No. 5, and between masses of the carbon- Slip fault. t ; : à iferous limestone, that on the right side of the stream being displaced, shaken, and brought against the “ purple sand- stones” by a fault along which the lavender clays of the group (No. 5) are erushed into contact with the lower purple sandstone beds. The stratifieation of the rocks at the head of this glen is well seen, Hei GE Dh pin whe purple” and “speckled” sandstone groups and ascent to the north. dipping at 50° to the northward and rising into a high hill overtopping the plateau country. The northern slopes of this hill are on the dip of the bare rocks, lessening with the descent, until nearly at the foot they pass beneath an outlying patch of the carboniferous limestone, partly horizontal and partly taking the opposite inclination of a synclinal curvature. Two or three streams meet here ; following the most northerly over rough ascending ground, the “purple sandstone ” and overlying groups are passed, and a curious narrow, deep, winding cut, which can be touched at once on either side, leads through the carboni- ferous limestone cliffs, up over a “ bad step” and into the basin occupied by the triassic and overlying groups of the Choya section (fig. 40, Pl. XXIII). Immediately over the village of Choya, much “red marl” and several hetereogenous, fragmentary patches of the other groups are exposed. To the westward in the gorge between the village of Choya and Gorge between Choya Varcha (often called Wurcha) the red salt-marl is auc! MEE again largely exposed; here it contains salt and produces a white efflorescence from saline portions called by the natives tur. It is much cut up by slips, but there appears to be an 80-feet band of purple marl and thin sandstone below the uppermost 50 feet of the red marl; the gypsum in this causes it to retain some traces of stratification in the neighbourhood. The lower 60 feet of the overlying purple sandstone group is unusually argillaceous, and this appearance of an alternation between an upper band of the red marl and the lower portion of the purple sandstone is also seen in a few other places in the vicinity. (. 228) "eqoreA Ivou [Je]N Peu I:S elus yoy S 9uUÁM SÓN PLATEAU. 229 Just in the neighbourhood of Varcha (Wurcha) the rocks are again tremendously broken and slipped, great shifted Varcha village, te , disintegrating masses of the carboniferous lime- stone directly overlying the red marl, and portions of the other rocks being entangled with this marl, at many points, without any of their consecutive relationship being preserved. "The shaken and displaced limestone overlying the salt-marl can be continuously traced into connexion with that which is still i situ, horizontally undulating over the higher ground, the transition from one condition to the other being imperceptible. Open fissures and chasms, of ereat depth but in- considerable width, occurring in the limestone are probably due to the instability of the underlying salt marl. Between the village of Varcha and the Varcha gorge to the northwards Between Varcha village the “red salt-marl” is seen, forming a part of the ead zorge. Varcha exposure of the Saline group, one of the largest in the western part of the range. The red marl here is conspicuous from the plain at the foot of the escarpment, and fills a small rugged valley. Gypseous interstratifications occur, and parts of the formation appear in many places to have subsided. The marl lies very high, entirely forming hills, which measured by aneroid 740 feet in height above the plains (see fig. 41, Plate XXIV). Crossing these hills into the Varcha gorge the same marked appearance of interstratification at its junction with the purple beds above, was again observed, there being more than one alternation of bands each about 50 feet in thickness. The ground in this neighbourhood is, however, greatly dislocated, so that some doubt attaches to the occurrence of alternations ; an appearance which might very easily be caused by subsidence along concealed lines of slippage. Within the Varcha gorge itself there is again much disturbance and dislocation ; portions of the purple sandstone are so Varcha gorge. slipped or faulted on the left-hand side of the gorge ( 229 ) 230 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. as to be entirely included in the marl, giving with the doubtful interstra- lesenation fat Upper tification mentioned the appearance of at least three part of salt-marl. alternations of “red marl” with the lower beds of the “ purple sandstone."* Besides this, masses of the “ speckled sand- stone ” group have subsided between portions of the latter rocks, which appear much thinner than usual, and both at the mines and towards the head of the gorge, complicated landslips cause the carboniferous lime- stone to rest on the “ salt-marl,” with only the intervention of the upper lavender clays of the “speckled sandstone” group. At one place on the right side of the gorge, northwards from the mines, there are some greenish sandy beds intercalated between the * purple ? and “speckled ” sandstones in the place of group No. 3, which as a continuous band disappears far to the east- ward about Khünd Ghat on the road to Sakesar from Shähpur. Greenish sandy beds. Above the speckled sandstone and its lavender clays, the carboni- ferous limestone appears everywhere on the heights surrounding the glen. Near its mouth, faulted or slipped and disintegrating masses of the same rock in imme- diate junction with the salt-marl form the low outer hills. Carboniferous. The thickness of the purple sandstone may be partly concealed by slips here, but at the head of the glen it seems to have diminished to 150 or 200 feet. The speckled sandstone group is also apparently thinner, the sandstones being from 100 to 150 feet, and the clays above from 50 to 80 feet, or for the whole group from 130 to 250 feet. The thickness of the carboniferous limestone, from its manner of exposure making differently sized cliffs in different places, is not very easy to estimate, but the hard cliff limestone may be about 250 feet or less, having some 50 feet of sandstone beds below, and 80 to 100 feet of other sandy calcareous beds with Bellerophon, &e., above, making the whole group 350 to 400 feet. * These appearances, at one place on this left side of the glen, certainly have very much the aspect of natural and successive alternation, ( 230 ) Wynne. Salt Range Sica js A o: BS PAS S x QE J. Schaumburg, Guh: S de EOS GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF SHAFT VARCHA INDIA MINE. æ. SÓN PLATEAU. 231 The Varcha salt mines are situated on the right side of the gorge, not far from its mouth, the entrance to the mines Mahe Sark having been excavated through the lavender clays at'the top of the speckled sandstone group. For 100 feet into the mine these beds and purple clays, or marls, are passed through, too irregularly stratified to afford much information, but the general dip is to the west at 30°. Within, the mine is worked in the usual salt and salt-marl : it is a very extensive excavation which follows a 20-feet bed of salt dipping at 20° to west-20°-north, and also to the north-west, the angle growing steeper as the salt bed descends. The general strike is from east-north-east to north-east, and the length of the mine is some 450 feet. - The salt is of the usual reddish white colour. In one part of the mine old workings exist, without pillars, to support the roofs of the large and dangerous chambers left by the old miners. Atthe north-eastern end of the mine is the old Sikh entrance, and near it are some large vertical natural shafts with curiously fluted or moulded sides, showing the great thickness of the salt. (See fig. 42, plate XXV.) Salt is also known in other places in the glen, but on its left side, just opposite to the mines, the salt bed (if present) is concealed, probably by land-slips. At some distance up the gorge beyond the mines, the flaggy and Flaggy beds in red Shaly, grey gypseous and dolomitic bands occasion- marl; ally met with in the red marl, appear more fre- quently than is usual, and at one spot, though contorted and slipped, close on the bank of the stream, they have the following arrangement (see fig. 43, plate XXIII) :— Variegated purple clays 000 000 ... 10 feet. Gypseous layer Ves $00 có God Lu n EG Purple and green and grey clay ... 500 1005/07 Strong rugged bands of white gypsum 000 M Greenish grey clay shale, black where wet, weathering whitish Ae Bee she .. 5 4, 2 inches. (? 10 feet if not slipped.) (281 ,) 29 32 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. Hard dolomitic flaggy bands alternating with thin grey shales, having yellow partings ono 3 to 5 feet. Dark grey gypseous shale Ser oar 000 | Red marl again underneath u 000 AR) Still further up the glen a similar group of beds is again- seen with a 25-feet band of salt immediately above the upper purple portion of the saline marl; the same kind of greenish beds, but without the salt, re- appear where a stream from the east enters the main channel. As there is a large quantity of the salt-marl exposed here, and these thin-bedded bands are generally seen in the lowest situations, it might be inferred that they oceupy a low horizon in the group, but their association in this place with rock salt, which is usually found near the top of the marl, and the possibility of slips having taken place, render the relation of the flaggy layers a matter of doubt. The large glen of Varcha is separated from an upper and smaller one by a cliff of the carboniferous limestone, which Upper glen. must have subsided considerably, for the underly- ing speckled sandstones are slightly visible, forming the floor of the upper valley. On both sides of the smaller glen the carboniferous beds are fossiliferous, containing, with other forms, some fine specimens of a large Streptorhynchus. In the upper part of this glen, where crossed by the EUN road to Uchäli (hardly passable), the greenish trias beds occur in a synelinal of the carboniferous rocks, the latter being much folded about this part of the Sön plateau. Between the mouth of the Varcha glen and that of the Ámb valley Between Varcha and there is another large oval exposure of the “ salt aus marl,” the “ purple” and the “ speckled” sandstone, and the carboniferous groups, evidently much dislocated and not in consec- utive order. At the north-western side of this exposure there is again the appearance of some of the red marl overlying a lower portion of the purple sandstones, but the country is so slipped that appearances cannot be trusted. Between these two glens the red marl is very generally traceable along the base of the hills. ( 232 *) SON PLATEAU. 2098 North-west of Vareha is the extensive, wild, and beautifully owes situated glen af Amb. The ean glen runs from the low plains in a curving north-easterly direction up to the southern foot of Sakesar mountain. It isa deep rocky gorge buried among lofty hills and joined at different points by three other valleys from the south-eastward. In this glen, its sides and its branches, the whole of the Western Salt Range series is to be found ; but so intense is the dislocation from which the rocks have suffered, that in no place is a regular unbroken section observable. In addition to the difficulties caused by faults and very numerous landslips, violent con- tortion has in places affected the rocks. The * red marl” is seen in many places in the main gorge, and in Cu that branch in which Ámb village is situated; but only one place was indicated by the natives, at about half-way up the main glen, where salt is said to occur, and there are no mines open. The “ purple sandstone” is capriciously distributed; there isa good deal of it seen about the mouth of the glen, and immediately within the sorge, but further up it is either absent or very thin in comparison with its usual development. In the gorge, too, just above this group, are some greenish shaly beds in the place of group No. 3, but only locally present. The “speckled sandstone" group is largely present, having an as- sumed thickness of 300 feet, and showing some slight local changes of character, the lavender clays still forming its upper zone. The car- boniferous limestones are sometimes magnesian, and are often inter- calated with sandstone beds and even in places with coaly shale bands; and in these limestones the most remarkable contortions in the glen occur. The triassie beds appear either in isolated faulted exposures, or in their proper place in the series, on the southern side of Sakesar, where the. overlying jurassic rocks are also exposed. The nummulitie limestone surrounds the head of the main glen, and stretches along its r2 (233) 234 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. northern side, forming the higher part of Sakesar mountain. Far to the south, in one of the small tributary valleys to the left of the gorge, an isolated, faulted, and subsided fragment of these rocks occurs, associated with some of the coal-shales beneath, and in junction with a remnant of the overlying petroleum-bearing tertiary sandstones, the manner of their exposure being singular, and the connexion between their present position and their original mode of occurrence not easy to trace. Of many faults in the glen the principal one runs down the left vo bank a the anion SHIRE) GLOSS it zonin, Gu Amb, and obliquely ascending the opposite side of the glen. This fault appears to be a continuation of that at Jalär. Another runs up the branch glen beneath Amb village, and there are others besides. Two or three principal lines of land-slippage coincide with the general run of the main glen, former cliffs having slipped - down the south face of the Sakesar mountain; while nearer the mouth of the glen, the number of these dislocations and the variety of their directions give the whole mass of the rocks a most confused arrange- ment. The hill to the east of the mouth of the gorge is capped by the Hill east of gorge Carboniferous limestone, undulating or dipping mouth. northward. This limestone is surrounded by its ” purple sandstone,” own debris, below which the **speckled sandstone, and “red marl” groups appear. Towards the gorge the two latter alternate along nearly north and south lines of slippage, none of the groups being entirely exposed. On the opposite side of the glen's _ mouth, gently rising ground is covered with a. limestone fragments, but further up portions of the speckled sandstone and carboniferous limestone appear, none of which, perhaps, are in their proper situations. High up on this ground a narrow shifted band of the salt-marl crosses out from Amb glen, and runs along to the west, partly occupying high ground and partly the first depression behind the outer hills, It 1s associated with numerous ( 234 ) SON PLATEAU. 235 broken portions of the speckled and reddish sandstone or carboni- ferous groups, one little triangle being occupied by triassic beds. Just within the mouth of the gorge the erushed and broken rocks exhibit some most complicated folding, and the Within mouth of gorge. fs beds above the “purple sandstone” differ some- what from the usual aspect of the “speckled sandstone” group; the following succession being observed :— Groups. Feet. (Bright red aluminous beds 50 . 30 Greenish, greyish, and white flaggy sandstones and dag No. 5. 4 shale with some red bands ... d .. 100 (?) ¡ Hard white sandstone and grey shales ode e. 90 No. 32. Greenish grey, sandy, shaly, soft beds $s e. 50 N Dull purple sandstone coc oot 80 to 100 Purple shaly and earthy part of the group .. 60 to 80 No. 1. Red salt-marl jar 500 000 80 This is on the west side of the gorge. A little further on, an isolated block of the carboniferous limestone, 40 feet in width, projects from the red salt-marl. Near this place, where the bottom of the gorge is oceupied by the red marl, the purple sandstone forms the lower part of the right bank, and a slipped or faulted portion of the same oceurs on the left, running in between masses of the carboniferous beds, which in this part of the gorge almost everywhere form its left side. The second stream of any size above the mouth of the gorge on this side, enters the main one from a little valley, the south-west side of which is formed of the carboniferous limestone, dipping north-east at E and 50°, and the opposite side chiefly of limestone debris. About 1 three-quarters of a mile up this smaller valley is Salgi coal locality. the Salgi coal locality.* * Described at page 15 o£ Dr. Oldham's “ Memorandum on the results of a cursory examination of the Salt Range, &c.," previously referred to. ( 498970) 236 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. Here the isolated mass of the nummulitic limestone, before men- tioned, occurs on the right bank of the stream for about 100 yards. At the north-western end it is in contact with some of the greenish triassie shales, the limestone being overlaid (instead of underlaid as might have been expected) by a 4-feet bed of white sandstone, succeeded by a conglomerate of possibly recomposed nummulitic limestone pebbles. Resting upon this are a few beds of tertiary sandstone of two kinds, purple, and grey pseudo-conglomeratic, coarse, soft, or speckled sand- stone. The coal-shales beneath the nummulitic limestone are greatly crushed, the coal being very bad, rather a highly carbonaceous shale with a few plant fragments, and the most coaly portion varying from 3 inches to a foot in thickness. Beneath these shales Dr. Oldham “seems to have observed some of the salt-marl, which may probably have been subsequently concealed by the stream deposits. It occurs, however, a little way north-east of the nummulitic limestone, away from the stream. A few yards further up the course of this, some more beds of the tertiary sandstones come in over the limestone, the section being as follows, and the beds dipping east-north-east at 30° :— (5. Red clay. : Feet. T m 4. Grey soft sandstone boc 000 . 30 TI ee N Brown sandstone 2A M 21030 (2. Grey sandstone.. 48 Qu e. 35 1. Limestone dE ate ics ds boo, |, call NUMMULITIC (? f () (An original rock or recomposed from Aba DE From the brown sandstone, No. 3, a small quantity of mineral tar was i oozing out and running down the bank for 15 Mineral tar. \ i 2 feet. The rock is very tough and strongly im- pregnated with the petroleum or tar, which burns with a red flame, sputtering much, doubtless in consequence of the presence of water. Beyond this the carboniferous limestone forms both sides of the valley, but to the north-east of the coal and tar locality, within a mile, denú- dation and dislocation have exposed some of the “speckled sandstone " * This conglomerate may perhaps represent the similarly placed detrital junction- rock at the top of the nummulitic limestone of the Nast Salt Range, on the hills south of Phadiäl. See p. 108. (1236) SON PLATEAU. 237 beds and the “red marl” beneath. Returning to the main gorge, the lower portion of it still exposes the red salt-marl, rising considerably above the bed of the stream, the occurrence of salt being indicated by a chowki. Here the path to Ámb leaves the bottom of the glen and ascends a steep hill of limestone (the ascent having given a barometric depression of ‘6 of an inch by aneroid); after which a slight descent leads into the smaller valley within which that village is situated. The fault which longi- nite tudinally traverses this smaller valley branches in the neighbourhood of the village so as to include a wedge-shaped mass of the “speckled sandstone” group, having on one side the “red marl” upon which the village stands, and on the other a portion of a basin of the jurassic, triassic, and carboniferous rocks. The red marl is gypseous and stratified, dipping towards the north-east at 40° to 50°, and just above it only the lower or shaly portion of the “purple | sandstone" is represented. The succession of the beds at the village is as follows:— 6. C ABBONIFEROUS...Carboniferous limestone. Feet. ( Grey cla ys, yellow partings ... Sus oso LUE | y clays, y p S ( White sandstones, weathering greenish ... 5149 5. SPECKLED SAND-" ren Greenish shaly layers and conglomerates of meta- Ù morphic pebbles 3s 600 ... 50(2) Sip e f Grey lumpy, sandy, skale ae 000 000 dl STONE ... Dark purple and greenish clay Joc 80 to 100 L Purple fiaggy shale 500 RO ... 100 f Compact white gypsum des aah boo | AS) 1. SALT-MARL ...4 Grey and red shaly marl . ... 900 w 4 t Red salt-marl, gypsum veins ... bh sce (RO) The representatives of the “ purple” and “ speckled” sandstones (No. 2 Change in the Purple And No. 5) extend up the valley in an eäst-south-east SEES ORG group direction, until they disappear beneath the car- boniferous limestone. A fractured segment of a basin containing newer rocks than these lies below Amb, along the stream on the northern side of which the village stands. From the heights above the village the carboniferous limestones may be seen on the opposite hill-side dipping in northerly directions, and passing beneath the newer and softer beds along the course of the stream. (10227009) 238 WYNNE : GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. The instructive section which this valley affords is as follows (accord- Section inside valley img to my notes and those subsequently made by below village. Dr. Waagen) :— : Feet. (Nummulitic alum-shales with few fossils (same as 11. NvwMvLITIO 4 atChichälipass, Trans-Indus) Turritella, Trochus and little corals. White soft sandstone with numerous fragments of lignite ... ak 2n BU 6 Jurassic (?) ... ao ay thicker than above and with more pyrites ... eco 008 P 50 (Strong red ferruginous sandstone with Ostrea, 3 Exogyra, some indistinct Gastropods and frag- ments of unsymmetrical Echinide ; section not quite clear, and part seems as if some grey Nes 50 sandstones came in above these ferruginous ones. 9. JURASSIC ...4 Grey and variegated sandstones and shales, coarse yellowish flaggy sandstone with numerous Terebratule J Variegated red shales 600 300 a. } Thick white sandstones 260 Soc ... +100 to 150 (Variegated shales, blackish, grey and red ... 560 j (Hard limestones, numerous species of bivalves, cal-) careous sandstone with spinose Ceratites, sandstones | with C. Flemingú, Bellerophon bed of the Ceratite . TRIASSIC... í 3 group with many Ceratites... Vo labo | | J 160 Ceratite marls, grey and green ... { Lower Ceratite limestone (Soft white sandstones intercalated with coaly bul fossils numerous, Bellerophon, small bivalves, &c.... 100 Compact carboniferous limestone ai a 200 Yellow dolomitie sandy limestones s .. 150 to 200 Grey sandy brittle layers with numerous ne 6. CARBONIFEROUS 7 and Leptene ... ; S ws 6 Rusty-brown, coarse, D sandstone, Spir ifer, &c. | 15 Fine white sandstone with Fusuline, Orthis, dic. sii Black coaly sand or sandstone, with much pyrites and e many fossils, Aulosteges, &c. f Lavender clay So 080 300 500 10 5. SPECKLED SAND- 4 Red and white sandstone un too de 30 STONE 606 Eras clay 000 300 6c We (BSH SON PLATEAU, 239 The rocks are so disturbed and overrun by debris in some places, that a fairer estimate of their thickness could not be formed. Besides this, the sections are often oblique, giving an apparently greater thickness, while slips and slight local changes in the beds make the order appear somewhat different in different places; the above table, however, gives a general idea of the succession. The alum-shales at the top of the section are divided into two bands by a zone of white Alum-shales. . : sandstone, and though this might be merely an accidental occurrence, the arrangement coincides with the fine Chicháli section Trans-Indus, suggesting the possibility that these two zones of alum-shale may represent the larger bands of Chichäli, and that the intervening sandstone may be of eretaceous age. A break or irregularity in the succession which is seen Trans-Indus is not, however, observed here, and the similarity, so far as it extends, must only be taken for what it may be worth. East-north-east of Ámb village, a track leads by some Buddhist n ruis up to Kángrawála summit, a lofty hill of Qc ur earboniferous limestone, 3,920 feet above the sea. The strata of this hill are most curiously arranged in an inverted fold, the outcrop being to the north and producing fine cliffs of 400 and 500 feet high at least (see fig. 44, plate XXIII). At the summit of this hill, too, there are some strange natural funnels; these when visited, late in the evening, were emitting volumes of hot damp Exhalations. P : o air, the moisture of which condensed upon mosses and other damp-loving plants which surrounded their mouths. The reason of this occurrence was not clear; some decomposing pyritous beds, whence heated air or gases might ascend, may have been caught in the fold, or may exist in the limestones ; the weather was hardly sufficiently warm or the evening sufficiently cold to have produced the difference of temperature and an upcast draught, supposing the air had access below. To the east-by-north of this hill, a long fault, apparently the con- tinuation of that passing north of Jalär, separates the carboniferous from the nummulitic limestone along a line parallel to the course of a (72897) 240. WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. rocky stream. At the point where this fault enters the Ámb gorge, Ted A some nummulitic limestone forms a crag, resting against the foot of a lofty cliff of carboniferous limestone, and near this crag about 150 or 200 feet of soft sandy beds be- longing to the jurassic group are also crushed against the limestone; some of the same beds as occur in the neighbourhood of Ámb being thrown into a nearly vertical position, close to a place where old alum- works were reported to have existed. At this point were seen— Feet. (* Black shales, gypseous and pyritous ... aoo De | 3. Lumpy lower nummulitic limestone... 27 NuMMULITIC ...4 (Variegated red band with some flaggy shales Gating here.) ' L2 White sandstones with black shales — ... ooo As) JURASSIC ... 1. Crimson clays and soft white sandstones ... 50 And in another place close by— (6. Lumpy nummulitic limestone ooo Ilol Ae na indistinct. | 5. Variegated red band, flaggy beds and Nu óc Feet. NUMMULITIC ...4 4. Very black shales 660 000 baa 4 3. Dark grey shales ves 000 soo. 18 (2. Rusty-shaly beds 000 600 .. 30 JURASSIC ... 1. White sandstone 366 ood .. 100 'l'he difference between these two small portions of the series shows how these beds are liable to vary and how little their detailed character is to be depended upon, their identifieation in the absence of fossils being only determinable from general features. Round the head of the glen, faulted against the nummulitie lime- stone by an east and west fracture not far from the main fault, and also reappearing among the hills of the nummulitie country between this and Ucháli, the white and red, sandy and argillaceous, jurassie beds may be seen cropping out from beneath the whiter nummulitie lime- stones, and they also appear along the main Jalár fault southward of the last-named village. The triassic beds below are also occasionally visible. These jurassie and triassie beds pass also from the head of the N Mr nee Amb elen along the southern brow of Sakesar the Sakesar. mountain, the variously coloured bands of the ( 940 ) SON PLATEAU. 94] jurassic series forming a sort of escarpment below the talus of the nummulitie cliffs, while the underlying triassie rocks are more concealed. The carboniferous group forms another ledge of 200 to 300 feet in depth, below which the “speckled sandstones” appear, with a thickness of 250 to 300 feet, the lower 50 being of coarse white sandstones. The “ purple sandstone ? below 1s but slightly represented, and it is doubtful if in some places here that group is not entirely absent. Where represented it sometimes consists of 90 feet of dark shaly conglomerate with metamor- phic pebbles. Beneath the “speckled sandstone” group the lower slopes are greatly confused by the long lines of slipping already mentioned, but the “red salt-marl” is frequently seen. The stream at the bottom of the glen flows for more than a mile among vertically bedded, craggy, displaced masses of the carboniferous limestone, forming a hard bar in the valley, and extending together with a part of the triassic beds, to west-by-south along the Sakesar side of the main fault. On the opposite side of this the “speckled sandstone” and “ red marl” come together, with but a small representative of the “purple sand- stone” between, or in places without any of it at all. The main stream having left the vertical part of the carboniferous limestone, erosses the sandstones and marl, then crosses the Amb village fault, and flows between banks of carboniferous rocks again; below these it has the limestones on the left and the “red marl” on the right down to the place where the rocks on its banks have been already described. High up above the glen of Amb and on the opposite side from Amb village is the small hamlet of Sirän-ki-dok, situated on a spur from Sakesar. Hereabouts the higher ground is all formed of nummulitic limestone, undulating or dipping to the northwards, towards the nummulitie synclinal of Sakesar peak, while in a north-westerly direction these beds dip at high angles to the north-east. This nummulitic limestone sends out a tongue to the southward from the village (nearly on the watershed between the Amb glen and the Bazár Wan) around which both the jurassic and triassie G2 ( 241 ) Sirän-ki-dok. 242 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. beds crop out, resting on the carboniferous limestone, the whole series passing off on one side along the Amb glen, and on the other along the north-eastern side of the Bazár Wan. From the high ground looking in the latter direction the four groups, Nos. 6, 7, 9 and 11, can be well seen striking steadily off to the north-west, with much less of the confu- sion and concealment occurring on the northern side of the Amb valley. The following succession occurring in the vicinity of Sirán-ki-dok is taken from the notes of Dr. Waagen and myself, many of the details being from the former :— , ( Nummulitie limestone a As PY Alveolina beds ‘as ee 300 3 L disturbed. Nummulitie limestone te cog ie ) Feet. Yellow nodular marls, Nummulites 525 UNE 20 o SN Brown marls, upper part heematitic ses 009 15 Grey nodular marls, no fossils... ah ... 8109 Variegated cavernous sandstones ... : 000 25 | Hematite 08 Jod oh 400 10 79 Feet. Inches, alternations of brown sandstone and hard yellow marl 12t015 0 Brown coarse sandstone 500 500 900 30 0 White cavernous sandstone ... 000 000 3 0 Coarse rusty sandstone, conglomeratic in parts x» 45 to50 White sandstone ob 608 400 6 0 Hematite 900 00 466 5 0 Yellow sands and sandstones with leder SS 6 0 White sandstone, many ferruginous spots... 300 50 0 JURASSIC ... 1 Liver-coloured sandstone ... AR an 10 0 Soft rusty sandstone : . 8told 0 Light rust-coloured sandy eee ann Een or concretions of grey marlstone | 2 6 Soft sandy bed o 1 0 Liver-coloured sandstone with ripple- a wae 2 0 Rust-coloured soft sandy beds... TREO: ( Hard sandstone, ripple-marked 1 6 199 0 SON PLATRAU. 243 Feet. Inches, Very hard rusty limestone with numerous sections of Ceratites or Ammonites, gastropods and bivalves... 3 0 Soft yellow sandy beds 3 0) Hard rusty-coloured layer 1 6 Grey cavernous sandstone y 3 0 Very hard grey limestone, glauconite, aad Diva ds 6 0 Soft yellow sandstone ibo ce xo GR) 0 TRIASSIO m à : Serre : Thin bed of sandstone with many indistinct bivalves ... + 0 3 Hard brown bed with numerous pebbles of limestone... i 6 Grey limestone with numerous bivalves ... 300 3 0 Thin-bedded limestone with Ceratites ... LO 0 Sandstone and limestone with Ceratites ... ZO 0 Ceratite marl, badly seen 553 oc SO 0 i Brown conglomerate bed 5a he oc 1 6 147 9 [ Rusty dolomite ... 6 0 Light coloured sandstones, ILIO P p 1 CARBONIFEROUS 4 a RE i About Compact dolomitic, sandy and fossiliferous, grey, car- ale 350 0 boniferous limestone foa ac 000 \ Sandy and ferruginous beds MAE BAND- \ Speckled sandstones with coarse white sandstones below } 300 0 Pau di SAND { Purple sandstone, conglomeratic shale Veh a 100 0 SALINE GROUP. Salt-marl 508 obo 200 |. _ Uncertain. Sakesar mountain rises above everything else in the Salt Range or fec adjacent country. It has somewhat of a crescent- shape in plan, the convex side being turned to- wards the south ; a spur to the north-east connects it with the most lofty portion of the antielinal lying in that direction; and high ground, but gradually declining, stretches away as a narrow ridge to the north- west. From the higher points the stony ridges of the nummulitie limestone country and the Son plain with its salt-lake are overlooked to the eastward; more abruptly broken country to the south; the long valley, between nearly parallel chains of hills, called the Bazár Wán, to the westward ; and to the north long undulating slopes, broken here and there by crags, lead the eye downwards to the great Potwár plateau. ( 243 ) 244 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. The nummulitie limestone of the summit of the mountain does not form a horizontal cap, but is bent into anticlinal and synclinal curves, having an east-and-west direction or following the crescent-shaped form of the hill; valleys having been excavated and minor ridges left between, with only a very slight relationship to the contortions of the strata, On the crest of the mountain the nummulitie limestone beds dip generally southwards, but are so curved, at some distance down the hill-side in that direction, as to crop outwards from the surface. On the northern slopes the beds are inclined with the ground, but they have been cut through by denudation, leaving some of the basal nummulitic hematite exposed, as well as one large and several smaller patches of the jurassic rocks. The latter are here chiefly white sandstones and rusty-yellow earthy beds with calcareous layers containing Terebratule, Belemnites, &e. ; they are conformable to the nummulitic beds, and dip with the northern slope of the ground. At the foot of the mountain in this direction and for some distance up its flanks, the surface is covered with debris of | the nummulitic and tertiary sandstone groups, the latter rocks being exposed in the deeper stream-courses at a considerable distance from the limestone of the mountain side.* The structure of Sakesar and adjoin- ing ground will be seen from the section, fig. 45, Plate XXVI. Near the base of the red earthy zone overlying the lower tertiary sand- stone beds and in a direction north-by-east from Sakesar summit, is a salt watch-house placed to guard some saline streams and efflorescence similar in character to that which frequently occurs in the lower portion of these tertiary sandstones and clays, but in larger quantity than usual. Salt chowki. * Some very good bungalows have been built near the summit of Sakesar to supply the want of a sanitarium for Shahpur and Miawáli stations. A good road leads to these from the Son plateau, and a very bad one down the northern slopes vi Miawáli Dok to Namal. The situation is lofty but bleak, there being little vegetation, and supplies have to be brought from Uchäli, a distance of several miles, (244) fe pene nn et one — keri or bods (See Ae. 46, Plate XXVII.) Wynne: Salt Memoirs. Vol: XIV. Plate XXVI | | petere. Fig:45.jat Summit to W. of North. | | Near Nawa village. RNN MUS a. E A NE. and SW North, East. mosses are also. p sued Ee L 4s] ra MET r- mn on nn er c» wuwu O UOIAWAIA- (o Deren SE Fig 45.Sectim across Sakesır and over Eastside of Glen Amb nearly on natural Scale of 1inch to a mile; elevations estimated and Section deflected at Summit to Mt Sakesir 5010. Bungalow Bulgıe Petwolcurn & Coal Locality 1Saltmarl 2 Purple sandstone 5.Speckled sandstone 6. Carboniferous lunestone 7. Trias 9.Jurassie Jl. Numomuilitic Limestone 12. Bertiany sandstone | W. of North Part of Treáran Hill. llag Ru. Swas village. SÓ - Near Nawa village Section denerahzedhere ke, Fig. 49 Secton from Swas tothe NE. across the hills. Scale, horizontal 1. Inch =1.mile,vertucal# Inch=1000 feet. Heights bemg exaggerated tnıdusses are also North, East. u A nn AR e D Lr — 3 E "m NT i A Us Dn CHIDERÚ HILLS. 245 fv SECTION XI.—CHIDERÜ HILLS AND NARROW PART OF THE SALT RANGE. The hills to the westward of Sakesar are divided into two principal groups by the rugged valley of the Bazár Wán Hills west of Sakesar. 7 i A d : running in a north-west direction towards Müsa- khel. Both of these groups are closely connected with the Sakesar mountain, the north-eastern one being a continuation of it and the other united by the spur of Serán-ki-dok. The latter group has been alluded to as the Chiderú hills. These are in places lofty, one summit rising to within a foot of 3,000 feet, and the group has a general north-west and south-east extension. All over SR these hills the carboniferous limestone is largely exposed, the beds rolling or contorted, dipping in various directions ; the rocks consisting of the usual light-coloured com- pact or crinoidal, and sometimes magnesian, limestone, some more sandy rocks and shaly beds. Beneath these the “speckled sandstone ” group, with its coarse conglomeratic sandstones, grey and lavender clays, and red ferruginous shales, very frequently makes its appearance. The “ purple sandstone” group is thinner and more fugitive in its occurrence, and the “ red salt-marl" is seen in very many places, both among the hills and along their outer portions. Above the carboniferous limestone near Chiderü, there is a considerable development of the triassic rocks, and at one spot on the opposite side of the hills from that village a small fault-enclosed patch of the nummulitic limestone occurs in the Bazár Wan. Two considerable but irregular lines of fault traverse these hills and i. coincide generally with the direction of the ranges on either side of the most lofty ground ; there are also, both in the lower outer regions and within among the hills, very numerous dislocations of the character usual along the whole southern face of the range. These dislocations are most numerous and most com- plicated from the opening of the Amb glen to the hills above Golawála- keri or Dhoda. (See fig. 46, Plate XXVII.) 2446 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. Near the latter place the outer slopes of the hills are covered with UN M denas and pd masses of ue carboniferous limestone, and in the gorge opening there upon the plain, the rocks are much affected both by slipping and by contortion. The dark greyish purple conglomeratie shale representing the “ purple sandstone” in places in the Amb glen is so entangled with the red marl as to appear to dip beneath it; and near this, for 80 or 100 yards, vertical white and purple sandstone, red shaly bands and liver-coloured sandstones, are crossed by the stream. In a slipped mass perhaps somewhat inter- nally disarranged, the following succession occurs :— Shaly clays and white sandstone layers of the “speckled sandstone" group, thickness obscure. (Slip or fault.) Feet. (8 Greenish grey, hard, sandy shales or clays with TRIASSIC p00 orange bands (very like some > i the upper tertiary L rocks) Bob 858 ter .. 200 ( 7. Sandstones and silicious limestone 000 we ? 6. Dark limestone and shales — ... .. 100 5. Dark grey compact limestone with shale bandi W 90 | 4. Black shales at Boc 000 aa 12 CA 3. Coarse sandy limestone with occasional black shale patches, corals and crinoid fragments ... 5 2. Black shales, with yellow partings, and small white L sandy layers — ... 400 000 500 15 en SAND | 1. Purple and grey shales or clays. From this it would appear that the carboniferous group is growing . Lower part of car. thin. Amongst the lowest of its beds here are a Be rons. few dark-coloured sandy limestones with large Producti, Fusuline, &e., underlying a thirty-feet rusty, silicious, band with Spzrferi. The junction with the upper part of the underlying “speckled sandstone” is thus:— Feet. (Dull earthy compact limestone, with spines of Echi-\ CARBONIFEROUS | 4 " 4 & j LIMESTONE. 3 noderms, Bellerophon sections, &c. ». f about 280 White crinoidal limestone ( 246 ) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. Wynne. SaltRange, Memoirs .Vol: XIV. Plate XXVII. IN EAST BRANCH OF GOLAWALA GORGE. Fig: 46. Baines J. Schaumburg Lith: PEACE OF MAE COAL SIHAEES IN: GAK HR ANZEN TER Eg 4T. CHIDERÚ HILLS. 247 Feet, (Soft, white, crumbling sandy beds and hard bluish CARBONIFEROUS | micaceous sandstone ses vss Ax 50 E MM 3 Rusty limestone... E. Zn et 30 (Greenish sandy earthy beds ... nec es 30 SEEE A ah Lavender clay p4 DE E partly exposed. Within the hills northward of the village a large broken tract Hu Ne. of ground, lower than that on either side, fol. | : lows the direction of one of the faults previously mentioned. In this tract there is much of the red marl, some purple sandstone, and a broad space is occupied by the “ speckled sandstone” group, the red marl cropping out into the Bazár valley. Westward of this ground, the carboni- ferous beds have been a good deal eroded, allowing the speckled sandstones to appear even high up among the hills. Bazar Wan. Between Golawäla and Chiderü the outer hills are often formed Pr of the carboniferous limestone, behind which Golawála to Chiderü. | stretehes a narrow crooked zone of the salt-marl, associated with about 150 feet of the “ purple sandstone ” and portions of the overlying sandstone group supporting other masses of the carboni- ferous limestone. East of the village of Chiderú these groups occupy the outer face a of the hills along the upper part of which the carboniferous limestone forms a well-defined line of cliffs about 250 feet in height, and on the slopes behind there is a thick mass of the triassic beds sloping downwards into a longitudinal hollow among the hills. The following is the succession across these beds, part of the list being extracted from Dr. Waagen's notes. The “red marl" “purple sandstone,” “speckled sandstone,” and carboniferous limestone occur here north-east of a fault. South-west- wards of the same fault are— Feet. { Greenish grey marls ... 000 500 on y 7. TRIASSIC ,.. 3 Rusty-coloured dolomites ion 53 oco f 30 LGreenish grey marls ... ide 50 J 948 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. Feet. Hard limestone with many bivalves and fragments of Ceratites des Doc 000 coc 10 Greenish ferruginous sandy marls and sandstone with Gervillie, Ceratites, and Orthoceras bso uS 10 7. TRIASSIC— Hard sandstone with spinose Ceratites See e. 5 to 6 contd. Greenish sandy shales and sandstones 060 500 50 Bellerophon bed, calcareous sandstone As ET 1 Soft greenish sandstone 500 5% 900 20 Green marls SON 000 000 ... 20 to 30 (ower Ceratite limestone 650 us oo -10 (¡Brown dolomitic sandstone with Bellérophon Ae 100 Calcareous layer with numerous fossils, Producti and Ceratites 000 doo bac 300 10 6. CARBONI- 3 Yellow dolomitic sandy beds... B5 as 30 FEROUS. Grey clays oo 000 wee Se 20 White compact limestone 300 000 000 200 ( Debris... 000 dea odo s ( Lavender clay ES ac 500 || 5. SPECKLED | Red, grey, and greenish N with all masses | 450? SANDSTONE. of yellow quartzite; light-coloured sandstones and shaly, | j U flaggy bands ni 00 e SJ 2. PURPLE { Deep purple sandstones Sie Ves de 200 SANDSTONE. | Purple shaly lower part js ¿de co «= LOW 1. Gypseous salt-marl ... $us m 250 to 300 The salt-marl disappears beneath the boulder-zone of the plains beyond the faulted lower groups named immediately before this list, the ground is chiefly formed of carboniferous limestone the whole way across the hills to the Bazar Wán. East-by-north of Chiderú in a country likewise mainly occupied : by carboniferous limestone, the following section Triassic section. GERN: across another part of the triassic beds was noted by Dr. Waagen :— Feet. Debris. ( Variegated sandstones 000 noo 000 10 Prruars base or | White sandstones ... 080 Ye RS 3 JURASSIC. | Purple and red ferruginous sandstones with sulphur- L coloured stripes ds e Ben 10 ( 948 ) CHIDERÜ HILLS. 249 Feet (Hard rusty dolomite, with a Cardinia and Anoplophora 3 Green marls oc Sot onc sac 6 Rusty dolomite — ... Soc 500 036 3 Green sandy marls, with thin sandy layers and gypsum 20—30 Hard limestone with many bivalves 3 Rusty sandstone, fucoids ie 630 3 Grey sandstones with Ceratites, Gervillia, Orthoceras ... 3 Rusty sandstone, with fucoids.. $$: 060 2 7. TRIassic 4 Grey marls with flaggy Imestone bbc Sor 2 Grey marls, nodular marls, and hard limestones, with spinose Ceratites Sao 660 300 50 Ceratite sandstone, not clearly seen, with extremely large species of C. Flemingti ... T PE 10—20 Green Ceratite marls Ga boc .. 60—80 Flaggy lower Ceratite limestone om 008 8—5 Grey sandstone So ala cct 6 | Green marls sae 500 doc 5. 4—5 1 Yellow soft sandstones, with concretions; filled with fossils, 6. CARBONIFEROUS 2 Bellerophon, Athyris, Dentalium Herculaneum, ke. L (Top of the carboniferous limestone group.) Some of the grey and rusty beds in this patch of the triassic rocks very much resemble the upper tertiary sandstone beds, and the white and variegated beds at the top of the series detailed may be probably the base of the jurassie group. To the north-west of Chiderú the carboniferous rocks cover nearly all A the hilly ground, and form besides a small outlying North-west of Chiderú. hill, opposite to the mouth ef the Bazár Wán, in which the following succession of beds was observed :— Feet. (8. White crinoidal and grey compact thin-bedded limestone... 36 7. Red marbled vesicular limestone ... dos RO, | 6. Light-coloured compact limestone, with Echinus spines and Bellerophon we Be 508 Soa f 5. Compact limestone... bcc Be Se AO) CARBONIFEROUS. | 4. Cherty limestone coc sec wa RS: 3. Reddish limestone ... 00% dee E rea 2. Cherty, yellowish, magnesian limestone e ale 1. White erinoidal and coral limestone, 6 feet seen, but e may be ... 6c 500 500 e. 60 He Dane ( 949 ) 250 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. In the dry stony channel here the banks expose many slips, and some of the limestone is brecciated-looking and Mouth of Bazár Wan. : e z magnesian, certain beds on the left side of the channel near its mouth being crowded with finely-weathered corals, &c. Just beyond this a fault, or perhaps two, are marked by the wedging into the section of a small mass of the speckled sandstones. Further up the stream on the side of the hills next the open stony flat of the Bazár valley, the red salt-marl is exposed, and here some old salt-mines are said to exist but to be inaccessible, Small portions of the purple and speckled sandstone groups are also seen, much cut up by faults (or slips), and the hills above the right side of the Wän are covered by contorted carboniferous limestone. The Chiderú group of hills ends in some small isolated elevations rising from the stony zone east-by-south from End of these hills. ^ ) : r Músakhel. The same limestone in these is contort- ed, in places rusty, cherty, and magnesian, or pink, whitish, erinoidal, or grey ; the hard rusty-coloured bands having small ferruginous project- ing pieces of corals, erinoids, or Echinid club-spines; and the grey beds containing sections of Bellerophon or Goniatites and some other fossils. The Bazár river between these Chiderú hills and the narrow part of the range from Sakesar north-westwards does not seem to flow out at the natural mouth of the valley, but turns to the south and escapes through the hilly country towards the Thar and the Indus plains. On this side of the glen at the upper waters of a tributary branch of the main stream, is the small mass of the cherty nummulitie limestone previ- ously mentioned, faulted into the carboniferous limestone and nearly surrounded by it, without any appearanee of the intervening beds. Whatever the process by which this mass became so placed, it must have undergone considerable disturbance, for its layers are much con- torted, being in some places vertical and 1n others horizontal. Where this Bazär river-valley becomes contracted and hilly, the Where valley becomes stream flows between high banks of the carboni- OS ferous limestone above which, on the side of the CX — CHIDERÚ HILLS. BR glen forming the north-western extension of Sakesar, the triassie, jurassic, and nummulitie formations dip at high angles to the north-east, the following being the general arrangement of the rocks :— Feet. mme limestone 000 200 .. 900 to 400 11. NUMMULITIC Soft light-coloured calcareous clays... 5 55 ( White and red and rusty sandstones alternating with purple and heematitic shaly beds occ .. 230 to 300 Yellow earthy beds 200 000 900 90 Dessen Light-coloured sandstone and red shale,. Pan 100 Rusty-yellow sandy and clayey beds — ... er 25 | White coarse and fine sandy beds 064 dB 120 masse 12 | Green shaly and flaggy limestone and sandstone beds occ one 2b ... 300 to 350 CARBONIFEROUS. Carboniferous limestone... was ... 250 to 300 The groups below the carboniferous where this valley opens Teer present a different appearance from those to the Namal, eastward of Amb. The red salt-marl is succeeded by dark brownish-purple splintery conglomeratie clay; the pebbles being of red granite, quartzite, amygdaloid, trap, and so forth, the metamorphic varieties predominating; so that it would seem as if the * purple sandstone ” was not only growing thinner to the westward, but pao opin also changing its character in a north-easterly sandstone group. direction, the usual type of these beds being generally found along the outer or southern side of the hills; but the conglomeratic shaly mass (for there is but little stratification in it) being developed at a distance of a few miles, and more within the hills. It must, however, be observed that no good example of transition has been detected, even though the conglomeratic shale occurs close to some of the “purple sandstone” beds at Golawäla; hence I cannot assert that these conglomeratie shales are absolutely a part of the lower purple sandstone; they might just as well belong to group No. 5. Just above these boulder-beds, which vary a good deal in thickness, being sometimes 100 feet or even more, there is frequently a fifty-feet (02200) 292 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. band of green conglomerate, likewise formed of crystalline fragments, p. and above it, here and there, are seen peculiar black, powdery, carbonaceous, shaly or coaly ers from a few inches to nearly a foot in thickness, These are again overlaid by the lower coarse white sand- General observations. stones and red earthy alternations of group No. 5. The carboniferous limestones succeed; the upper lavender clays of the inferior groups are not so strongly represented as to the east; and the overlying limestone is frequently dark and thin-bedded, the whole carboniferous group being apparently thinner than previously. The triassie beds present their usual character, with perhaps less of the greenish marly shales; but the jurassic formation has increased, its strong white sandstones contain quartz pebbles, and its more flagg beds many obscure plant fragments. The lower soft white beds of the nummulitie limestones are strongly developed, the whole group is much contorted towards Sakesar, and the junction of the. nummulitics with the overlying sandstones is concealed. From the place where the Bazär valley commences to open, onwards to where the narrow part of the range is crossed by the Bakh ravine between Namal and Müsakhel, the red salt-marl is but little seen, and the overlying rocks show a M úsakhel. tendency to form an anticlinal curve, the lower strata on the south-west side of the+ridge being more or less nearly horizontal, but the dip increases as the ridge is ascended, until at the crest (which partly coincides with the lower boundary of the nummulitic limestone), the whole of the beds dip at 45°, 50°, and 55°, to the north-east. Above the left bank of the Bakh ravine, the summit of the ridge is formed by the jurassic beds here containing bands of limestone, in addition to the rocks above mentioned. The nummulitie rocks still keep their high angle of dip, and the lower parts of the tertiary sandstones run apwards on their steep slopes. These two last groups form a deep longitudinal valley with almost inaccessible sides, excavated along the strike of the softer tertiary beds. The north-east side of this long valley is capped at a ( 252 ) "0A UN LUON) 7) i POUN RUOAL 492M—/72/240A7 'edpix auosaWwLT onrpmuumN agar burn quiroyos p COMMISIT A EN ZEITEN Coe NA IRK AI LONAS ALO SNE “VIONI1 JO ASAYNS 121901039 Pd e ME CHIDERÜ HILLS. 22 height of about 1,150 feet by a thick unconformable pateh of eoarse conglomerate of much more recent aspect than the grey and greenish tertiary sandstones underneath it, and probably of post-tertiary age, The escarpment of this conglomerate, which is more sandy below, forms cliffs of nearly 100 feet close to the town of Namal, which is built upon it, and a smaller portion of the same deposit, showing the uncon- formity still better, rests above the opposite bank of the stream (see Plate XXIX). The Bakh ravine here gives an interesting and complete section through all the beds forming the narrowest part Bakh ravine. of the range, from the carboniferous limestone upwards. It is not, however, practicable to follow the stream the whole way through the gorge, on account of the precipitous character of its channel. On the Namal side the highest rocks seen are the unconformable conglomerates just mentioned. Underneath these is a thickness of 1,200 feet of grey and greenish tertiary sandstones, with the usual argillaceous beds, dipping north-eastward at 60°, in immediate and . parallel contact with the upper surface of the nummulitie lime- stone. Rather lower than half-way down in this limestone is a strong band of black, coaly and pyritous shales (see fig. 47); and the underlying part of the limestone is as usual lumpy and nodular. Just at the base of the group are some beds filled with fossils of the Val Ronca eocene type,* very few of which can be extracted from the rocks. Below these are ferruginous white and purple sandstones, yellow mud-stones, yellow earthy limestones and coarse sandstones of the jurassic rocks underlaid by the greenish shales and flagey limestone beds of the trias, the carboniferous limestone forming an anticlinal arch below all. The section is as follows (see fig. 48, Plate XXVIII) :— A Feet, 13. Mur } Strong sandy conglomerate ae oe ... 80 to 100 Unconformity. E ( Grey and green sandstone with some reddish and P. 1,200 SANDSTONE. ) clay bands : * According to Dr, Waagen, ~ 4S2 Or Co WH 254 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. Fest, f White and pink marble ar nella Jb. 100 Thin-bedded white cherty limestone SS dos 80 White limestone with black chert à “as — 50 White and grey calcareous shales, fossils scarce, Gastro- pods and crustacean fragments m 066 100 Black pyritous and coaly shales 150 Darker limestone;and grey shales with ites beds Tee below and one sandy bed: about Nee oe 60 11, NUMMULITIC Y Yellow and white sandstone, no fossils he sco. KD. NG, Grey clay with three layers of brown sandy limestone, small Nummulites very scarce, Nautilus, Nerita, Turri- | tella, Natica, Crasatella, &c., difficult to obtain Ws 15 Cavernous brown sandstone, no fossils Ade SUME 6 Grey clay with gypsum, large oval concretions and hema- titic veins EO vue M vas 40: Hematite aus | 000 ale Rae 6 617 f White and yellow splintery limestone with many small) fossils, Nucula, Natica, &c., 15 feet doo Variegated reddish and light-coloured sandstones, dark M 2060 grey shales and flags with plant-remains in bad pre- | servation o TE cao T Yellow limestone, grey inside, crinoidal below, earthy and 9, JURASSIC ...4 magnesian in places zre 060 Š 150 Grey and variegated hard sandstone, thick white doa ous and banded sandstone dm a 80 Dark micaceous flags and soft and hard wies sandstone, conglomeratic in places; dark grey and yellow crinoidal | limestone bands in the above; grey, white, and purple U sandstones, limestones, shales and flags ... SEO 100 530 (Thin grey limestones AnS 606 BR 6 Sandstones SUR NIE ben vod 8 7. TRIASSIC ...J Thin grey limestones with Ceratites 660 699 13 Caleareous sandstones and gypseous shales, weathering \ green, Ceratites a 200 cod od 250 277 GEOLOGIGAL SURVEY OF INDIA. Wynne: Salt Range. = Mouth of Ravine Bakh Ravine. Upper watersof Ute. Carboniferous Fig. 48. Seclion through the Bakk Ravine, about natural scale, 3 inches = 1, mile. Swas. Po C Fig. 50. Rough sketch of a section close by Swas_to show contortion. > [Zo Fig. 51. Another rough sketch of a section near Swas. CHIDERÜ HILLS. 255 Feet. f Thin-bedded limestones and shales, sandy limestones, thick- EC | bedded black and dark-coloured limestones, with a few RBONIFEROUS Ms nun la ` shales, Goniatites, Orthoceras, Spirifer, Productus, L Fenestella, Terebratula, Crinoids, &c. as ... 250 to 300 The principal differences between this section and those of the coun- try previously described are, that in the jurassic formation a strong bed or zone of limestone is present, and the coaly shales of the nummulitic group, instead of occurring near its base, are at a considerable height in the formation, showing a lateral change in the earlier conditions of that period. The hot and sulphurous springs of this Bakh ravine have been already mentioned (page 48) ; they do not seem to be directly connected with the presence of any particular formation, as they occur “in three of these—the carboniferous, jurassic, and nummulitie groups— in different parts of the ravine. The tertiary sandstones north of the ravine have a white, saline efflorescence, which may also be observed where the stream traverses the jurassic beds. At a height of 450 or 500 feet (by aneroid), over the right chff-bank of the gorge, rounded river-pebbles were found in sufficient quantity to suggest their having remained there since the stream ran at thas level. For about nine miles in a north-westerly direction, along the North-west of Bakh Namal ridge,the nummulitic limestone retains its ravine: steep steady dip to the north-east (fig. 47, Plate XXVII), and its hard beds form scarped projections overlooking longi- tudinal valleys cut out of the softer bands to the south-west. High ground on the western sides of these valleys is occupied by the jurassic rocks, and below these the triassic and carboniferous groups are much disturbed, broken, and concealed, small masses of the “salt-marl” and adjacent sandstones being introduced by faults among the sandy and compact limestones with Fusulina, &e., of the carboniferous group. To the eastward of the ridge the ground forms part of a wide, flat plain, in which, for want of fall, £4udderas have not been excavated by the atmospheric waters. Behind the village of Budi-khel the gypseous “ salt- marl" forms a hill 350 feet or so in height, at the back of which is a ( 255 ) 256 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. considerable quantity of the dark conglomeratic shale, with metamorphic pebbles, forming or replacing the lower part of the “purple sandstone ” group. The water used at this village is brought from a glen about a mile u. and a half to the northward, in which the thin. bedded, brown, rusty, fossiliferous and grey lime- stones of the carboniferous group are seen, resting immediately upon the upper clays of group No. 5, here brightly coloured and variegated, a band of grey clay coming next below the limestone. In this glen also some of the red gypseous salt-marl is directly in junction with beds of the “speckled sandstone” group, all the rocks being much dis- turbed. In the hills above, the white and grey shaly clays of the. nummulitic group have again hard limestones both above and below them; and in the jurassie group below, ferruginous, purple and white, flagey or solid, fine and coarse or conglomeratic sandstones alternate with hard yellow marls, or lithographic limestone bands, containing brown crystalline hematitic nodules. The triassie group occurs in its usual place, and a large tract among the interior hills is occupied by the carboniferous limestones, &c. In an angle of the hills about two and a half miles north-west of NE Búdi-khel is the Shuriwäli glen, round which the Shuriwáli glen. f M N ; : carboniferous, triassic, and jurassic formations bend in a horse-shoe form. Beneath the carboniferous limestone some 500 feet of the “speckled sandstones ” crop out. They are dull crimson and white, variegated and grey, with purple bands above, while the lower part is a mass of dark conglomeratie shales and clays, with green layers and | black carbonaceous bands. The junction between Carbonaceous bands. : > 5 these beds and the underlying highly eypseous red “ salt-marl” is very indistinct, and there are indications of one or two narrow bands of the red marl alternating with the lower part of the blackish conglomeratic shale. Itis, however, hard to speak with certainty of so incoherent and soft a mass in'a country where dislocation prevails to the extent which it does all along the outer hills of this neighbourhood. ( 256 ) TREDIAN HILLS. 257 An old mine occurs here, said to be in red salt, but it has not been worked for many years, and the ground having Salt. : V eod. > slipped, the mine is inaccessible. The rocks around this glen dip at high angles on all sides away from the excavation. Section XII.—TreDIAN Hırs. The ridge from Namal expands where it joins the Tredian hills, and the nummulitie limestone which forms the steep Tredian. : eastern slope of the former spreads out with many undulations and contortions over the higher ground. At the termination of the Namal ridge west of Thámbawáli, a narrow, sharp, anticlinal j curvature of these limestones occurs, a synclinal The heights. ; E between this curve and the main nummulitic mass being occupied by the tertiary sandstones faulted against the latter. On the opposite or western side of this mass faults also occur, dropping portions of the nummulitic limestone among the jurassic rocks, which here, partly from increased thickness and partly from undulating hori- zontal extension, occupy a much greater space than they do anywhere else on the range. These rocks consist of coarse conglomeratic red and white sandstone, red and variegated clay, ferruginous sandy beds, with obscure plant fragments and yellowish or grey calcareous mudstone or fine-grained earthy limestone, like lithographic stone. (The red and white and ferruginous rocks of the Tredian hills present striking litho- logical similarities to the jurassic rocks of Kachh (Cutch).) Some hard limestones in these beds form a horizontal escarpment overlooking Büdi-khel from the north-west, and Towards Swas. , ; s among other obscure traces of fossils contain a few fragments of strongly-ribbed Ammonites. At the foot of the escarp- ment the Ceratite beds of the trias occur, following the sinuous margin of the jurassie group to the north-west, and surrounding some out- lying patehes of that formation resting on the carboniferous limestone hills over Swás. The outer edge of the latter formation, the whole way from the Suriwáli gorge to Swás, is greatly broken and dislocated, some- 12 (om, E) 258 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. times extending outwards to the plain and sometimes interrupted, allowing the “ red salt-marl ” and the overlying “speckled sandstone ”’ groups to appear below it; but the “purple sandstones,” unless represented here and there by the dark conglomeratie shales with crystalline blocks (as at Swás village), are entirely absent. (See section, fig. 50, Pl. XXVIII.) In the neighbourhood of Swás the whole of the rocks are greatly N contorted ; they are very often vertical or even inverted, the carboniferous limestone here making some of the roughest and most impracticable country in the range ; but the general succession and the dip of the rocks is from south-westward to the north-east and north-north-east. The trias is less strongly developed than before, and much less in thickness than the jurassic group. The carboniferous limestone hills are often capped by the lowest beds of the trias, and fine precipices are composed entirely of the former. The “speckled sandstones” still have their accompanying clays above, while beneath them is a mass 150 feet in thickness, of the purplish black conglomeratic clay with metamorphic pebbles, associated with and underlying which is the gypseous red salt-marl. (See sections, figs. 50 and 51, Plate XXVIII.) Further north-west the triassic beds may average only about 100 feet in thickness. The carboniferous limestones below often contain much chert, both black and white; while grey conglomerates and sandstone bands occur in the dark Succession near Ghari. conglomeratie purple clay above the salt-marl. In this dark conglomer- atic mass near Ghari some grey limestone pebbles were observed, and also layers of a calcareous nature with thin shaly bands, the dark earthy lower portion being 188 feet thick. Immediately over the earthy part is a large boulder-conglomerate containing blocks of granite, syenite, and other crystalline rocks two feet in diameter; this conglomerate, if it has not slipped upon itself, may be 155 feet in thickness. ‘The speckled sandstone succeeding is not particularly well exposed. The carboniferous limestone is thinner-bedded and of darker colour than usual; it is magnesian in places, and contains brown sandy bands (025513) TREDIAN HILLS. | 959 and a fine dark shale in its lower parts. Producti, Spiriferi, Corals, and several other fossils occur in 1t. Overlying this group are 100 feet or so of flaggy limestone crowded with sections of Ceratites, Bellerophon, &e., and passing upwards into 80 feet of shales, weathering to a greenish clay, and containing thin layers of limestone and flaggy sandstone, hard and rugged, with annelid tracks and other markings on their surfaces. Among these some more prominent bands of sandstone also occur, the whole representing the triassic group. In the lower part of the jurassie beds, a thick, rusty, soft sandstone contains carbonaceous markings, and a few plant fragments sometimes resembling fronds of ferns. These are more numerous, though still indefinite, in a two-feet bed of shale which overlies the sandstone and passes beneath some hard calcareous bands, the whole, so far, being about 110 feet in thickness. Above these beds are 230 feet of grey and yellowish, compact, splintery, cherty limestone, overlaid by the upper, sandy, flaggy, rusty and variegated beds of this jurassie formation, in which contortion and crushing often obscure the succes-. sion. In the very highest part of the group are 60 or 70 feet of dark, compact, fossiliferous limestone, full of bivalves, succeeded by 10 feet of lumpy, grey, compact limestone containing Corbule, and divided by a few bands of greyish calcareous sandstone. A small blank space then occurs in the section, above which are red heematitic and blue shaly bands, passing up into 30 feet of thin, earthy, nummulitie limestone, immediately sueceeded by 300 feet of the more solid beds of that formation, whieh seems in this vicinity to have much more than its usual thickness. One of the wildest glens in the country* 1s that called the Bargír Bargír kas and as. [Itis not practicable to ascend this ravine neighbouring hills. from its mouth, the way being barred by cliffs of * The hills on the south-west side of the Tredian group between the neighbourhood of Ghari and that of Swás seem, im addition to numerous others given them, to possess the two names “ Jella” and © Bargir.” ( 259 ) 260 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. the carboniferous limestone which near this runs out upon the plain, but the upper part may be reached by ascending over some “red salt- marl," up a slope of the “speckled sandstone," No. 5 (the intervening “purple sandstone” being absent), edged by cliffs of the carboniferous beds which dip towards the valley, and support the shaly and flaggy beds of the Ceratite-bearing trias. The latter being passed, the variegated and calcareous beds of the jurassic formation are reached, the section, so far, being as follows, according to my own observa- tions and some notes of Dr. Waagen’s made in this neighbourhood :— Groups. Feet. Variegated beds of the jurassic much broken up .. 200 to 300 Yellowish marly layers ... do Ren 500 15 Compact splintery limestone, dolomitic, brecciated, light grey, yellowish or reddish (this rock would make a pretty marble) 100 Yellowish red sandy limestone or calcareous sandstone, con- No. 9. torted a RN T 000 occ 50 Juss beds of rusty anne aod js ER 6 White sandstone, flaggy in upper part ee es 30 Grey and rusty limestone with many bivalves ... 000 10 Thick-bedded red sandstone dod 000 vos 15 to 20 Whitish thin-bedded sandstone S00 000 Se 3 Glauconitic pisolitic limestone, the grains of lime not iron, Ceratites and Rhynchonelle 900 o an 10 (In this band is a bed of conglomerate, mostly of large lime- New stone fragments, some of crystalline rocks.) Greyish-green sandy marls iss > A 50 Lower Ceratite limestone indistinct and mostly concealed by a— Fault. Upper carboniferous, very slightly developed but full of fossils 6 to 10 Compact carboniferous limestone, more than ... a 100 DO Dolomite... oc wa m 50 Lower carboniferous, ee full of fossils ... pane ? No. 5. Lavender clay. Further up the ravine leads through a natural tunnel made by the stream through a mass of the carboniferous limestone, introduced by faults or slips. Beyond it the jurassie rocks are again reached, oceupying one side of the valley, while high up on the other is the ( 260 ) TREDIAN HILLS. 261 escarpment of the nummulitic limestone. Among the highest of the jurassic beds here the following were observed, dipping at 65% to north- by-east :— Group. Feet. Variegated red and white sandstones oon 000 130 Yellow clay rock Vs Me Vis wat 12 Cherty compact limestone not See .. 150 to 200 Soft sandstones with black shale layers, carbonaceous mark- No.9. ( ings, and yellow partings aoo 066 60 15 Yellow brecciated limestone oca 6 508 16 Blue shale with grey flaggy layers ... 00 = 3 Hard calcareous sandstone and limestone, magnesian, yellow and crinoidal - oc 000 000 20 Soft white sandstone, blue-black and grey shales 000 5 From the upper part of the above list there was room for 200 feet of beds before reaching the base of the nummulitie limestone, in which space only a twenty-feet band of red clay was exposed. Blocks of grey gypseous clay or shale, probably from the lower concealed nummulitic beds, lay about the ground. It is very probable that some part of this section is represented in that previously given, but the whole of the jurassic group may be fairly estimated at from 550 to somewhat over 600 feet. The trias formation was estimated in this country at 90 or 100 feet ; it is composed of dark grey or greenish shale, and thin limestones as usual, the junction with the jurassic beds in another place being as follows :— Feet. Inches. ( light-coloured purplish sandstone alternating with dark-grey shales nie = 0m 0 h shell f No. 7. rova] Lumpy thin limestone with she ee Le) PART oF Juras-3 Black shale with a lenticular bed of sandstone ... 2 6 SIC | Black shales, grey flags, and white sandstones, flaggy parts with obscure plant remains .. 20 0 LGrey shales and flags... cer 29209000 No. 9. TRIASSIC ... din limestone, shaly and flaggy with Ceratites ... 50 0 Shaly and flaggy beds... 00 .. 60 0 Comparing this with the foregoing sections, it will be seen that within short distanees these jurassie beds are hable to a considerable amount of change. Although not prominent in the ground so far described, there (MIO) 262 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. is still to be noticed a thin calcareous band of golden oolite, entirely resembling that found in Kachh, and here also fossiliferous, with indefi- nite bivalve shells. This band lies between soft, white, red or yellow sandstones, with many obscure plants, and some compact limestone, with red and yellow hard argillaceous bands. It was found over the right bank of the Bargir 4as, not far from the place where the passage up the glen is first interrupted. North of the latitude of Ghari, the whole series of the Tredian hills strikes north-west out upon the plains, the boundary of which here takes a northerly direction; but a faulted local anticlinal curva- ture of the rocks towards Khyrabad again exposes Khyrabad. PRS ! below the prevalent nummulitic rocks, the jurassic, triassic, and some of the carboniferous beds. The axis of this anticlinal has an oblique direction differing by some 15° from that of the margin of the hills, so that the lower beds are exposed along the outer edge of these for a couple of miles, the carboniferous strata making a feeble effort to form the usual cliffs capped by the triassic and jurassic formations, overlaid in turn by the nummulitic beds. The section seen here* is— Feet. No. 11. NUMMULI-( Nummulitic limestone (coaly beds not seen, perhaps TIC i covered by debris at junction). ( Yellow and brown marls, badly seen m. .. 50 Variegated sandstone Ed. EE oho) AD Glauconitie sandstone, with numerous Belemnites cu Gryphae i in lower portion... 000 aoi SÙ Grey clay, badly seen, canaliculate Belemnites abo 6 Grey and yellow limestone, with irregular lenticular No. 9. JURASSIC...2 masses of golden oolite, Rhynchonelle, Terebratule, Astreæ, Ammonites (fragmentary), and canaliculate Belemnites Bu bs à bog i BD Variegated sandstones boc c goc 3 s Yellow and grey limestones, with numerous fossils which cannot be got out . om ZO ( Variegated M with ae mands jon ZO * This section is taken from Dr. Waagen’s notes. TREDIAN HILLS. 263 Feet. ( Yellow and brown sandy limestone, with irregular layers of golden oolite within ten feet, Rhynchonelle and Belemnites ; fossils rare s 500 ches E52 Yellowish fine sandstone 000 ove LO. No. 9. JURASSIC, — N White coarse sandstones 607 Doc 5:12:20) contd. | Red and purple coarse sandstones 50 Brown and reddish splintery hard toas cti e partly dolomitie ... an coc LO Grey vesicular dolomite, with casts of small bivalves and E gastropods 560 50 Space of a quarter of a mile ipei by Oean > ; soft orange and greenish sands and marly beds exactly like some upper tertiary beds: place and relations obscure: thickness fifty to eighty feet. Variegated sandstones and marls (jurassic ?) faulted. Very hard, brown sandy limestone and sandstone .. 100 Space covered by debris. Glauconitic limestone, with Ceratites 2s 6 to 10 Nos Au Sandy marly bed .. ode coc dos il Thin-bedded brown limestone, with Rhynchonelle and Ceratites 3 Grey sandstone, with een and pue elie No. 6. CARBONI- seen. FEROUS. Carboniferous limestone, compact and full of fossils, which in the upper portion are very difficult to extract. On the western side of the hills here, particularly along the Barkı a Ida nulla, there is a thick deposit of rubbly stream- ' like conglomerate and clay, forming cliffs 200 feet high, the fragments being of the local rocks. A couple of small mound-like hills near Khyrabad are formed by brecciated (and magnesian ?) limestone, with some sandstone and shales of the jurassie group, indieating the direction in which these rocks pass into the plains. The mass of the hills here is cut off from those towards Mári, by the open valley of a nameless river coming from behind the hills towards Jába. On the south-eastern side of this gap the massive, thin-bedded, and lumpy layers of the nummulitie limestone are seen to dip pretty steadily towards the east-north-east at 30^, underneath heavy masses of light, drab-coloured, gypseous clay, which lie along the (10289. 3) 264 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB, north-eastern flanks of the hills. The origin of this gypseous clay is not clear. It appears again in the neighbourhood of faulted ground, on the northern side of the gap which separates these hills from those near Mári, and it may be traced at intervals on the north-east flanks of the Tredian hills as far as the petroleum spring behind Jába (west). The north-eastern aspect of the Tredian hills is generally abrupt North-eastern side of and steep, the undulating nummulitie limestone Mediam Hio dipping at high angles beneath the tertiary sandstones of the Potwár or Ráwalpindi plateau. The latter rocks are exposed at several places close to the flanks of the hills, those beds nearest the nummulitie limestone being as usual greenish and grey sand- stones; in plaees containing small pebbles, purple pseudo-conglomerate and red and greenish-grey shales, of the (loeally) lower division of the tertiary sandstone group. These beds extend with many alternations along the base of the hills;* they are about 1,000 feet thick and are overlaid by the red, soft, clayey zone, here having a thickness of 1,200 or 1,400 feet. The softer grey sandstone and orange clay beds succeed, occupying the rocky portion of the neighbouring plateau and forming the sides and mass of many of its £hudderas. Towards the base of the red tertiary zone 1n the lower sandstones and pseudo-conglomeratic beds, only imperfect fragments of bone and one part of a reptilian tooth were found, the search for fossils in these rocks being generally almost fruitless. In the neighbourhood of Jába west, on the north-east side of the Tredian hills, and five miles from their termination, Petroleum. dno are the two petroleum localities referred to by others and fully reported upon by Mr. Lyman (Report on the Oil Lands of the Punjab, p. 38 et seg.). The oil comes from that part of the * Detailed sections of these rocks measuring about 1,000 feet each are given by Mr. Lyman and Mr. Theobald, the former near Jába west, the latter near Jabbi (see Mr. Lyman's report, p. 39, and Mr. Theobald’s paper, p. 671). As the word “alternation ” expresses almost the whole character of sections in these greenish-grey and red sandstones and clays, time was not taken up in measuring them. ( 264 ) ES Ze "IH WW YVAN SOONI 490 MNVS 14337 1HVIN LIYS NI ANIAVY “SUV NOVA GS SEM S19! NIS TMO vis v. 3 “XXXVI ATX TON S Towa a FUE ATE 9 OTAM ZIEN J39 FAN UNS SIEVEOIUO9IOSIOSIS, TREDIAN HILLS. 265 nummulitie beds which forms their last undulation before passing downwards at a steep angle beneath the plateau. The petroleum issues out of a zone from 50 to 150 feet below “the top of the lime rock” according to Mr. Lyman; but when I visited the place, it seemed to spring from a position nearer to the uppermost layers of the limestone. How deep-seated the sources might be, there were no means of deter- mining. The oil is at first green, afterwards changing to black, and the amount capable of being collected here from both localities was little more than one gallon daily. The springs are situated at the edges of the channels of the Chota and Bara Katta brooks, as they leave the hills, and just where these hills rise steeply from the lower ground. The oil-springs are so near the water—on which, indeed, much of the oil floats—that when these streams are in flood the whole accumulation of it is washed away. The oil does not issue by itself, but accompanied by water, and the locality would be a good one for making trial borings, as suggested by Mr. Lyman, though the existing springs are ill situated on account of the loss occasioned by floods. (See fig. 52, Plate XXX.) The bed of the sandstone series which immediately succeeds the num- mulitic limestone is itself calcareous and concretionary, containing a few nummulites and bearing more or less resemblance to the pseudo- conglomerate layers higher up in the series. Native sulphur was formerly collected at Jaba from gypseous clay deposits close in the vicinity of the petroleum springs, the water of which is charged with sulphurous gases; but when I visited the locality, the places pointed out, on being dug into, yielded only microscopic grains of a yellow mineral which might have been sulphur. The presence of the sulphur here and the gypseous nature of the superficial clay suggest the agency of sulphurous springs as a cause for the similarly gypseous condition of the great clay mounds before mentioned along the base of the hills north-by-west from this place. Between Khyrabad and Mari the older rocks form only low and not continuous hills along the margin of the plains, the largest being the salt-hill of Märi, and the x 2 ( 265 ) Mári neighbourhood. 266 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. principal elevations of the neighbourhood being well-marked escarpments of the tertiary sandstones cropping to the south-west and dipping in an opposite direction at angles of 20° and upwards to 45°. The whole space is traversed by complex and often obscure faults, abnormally placing fragmentary portions of the series inconsecutively among others. The continuation of the range is here indistinct, the highest ground being a parallel ridge, three miles to the north-east, formed of the tertiary sand- stones, &c., dipping in that direction, generally at low angles. Coming, as it were, from beneath these to the south-west are various red and grey sandstone and earthy beds, among which the red pseudo-conglomeratic bands contain small bone fragments and sometimes fragments of croco- dilian teeth. These were observed at the foot of the ghät, on the road from Mari to Niki, eastwards of Súmbla-ki-Vándi. In the neighbourhood of the latter village the beds of the tertiary y red zone predominate, undulating at low angles, Súmbla-ki-Vándi. : A: s and being cut off near Ainwa by a fault from the Indus towards the village of Khyrabad. This fault appears to be a com- pound fracture made up of many breaks, and enclosing within a mile southwards from Ainwa a little of the “red salt- Nummulites in lime- DR stone-pebbles of tertiary marl” containing some rock-salt. The lower part conglomerate. à of the greyer sandstones westward of this fault is much contorted, and contains bands of conglomerate in which lime- stone-nebbles full of nummulites occur. Further southward along the run ofthe fault is a high mound of the drab gypseous clay previously noticed, appearing reddish near its base; and yet further on, near the mouth of the Súmbla-ki-Vándi valley, the fault seems to include a broken brecciated mass of the nummulitie limestone, forming a small hill. Just near this place, towards the plains, are some small exposures of the gypseous salt-marl containing rock-salt and associated with reddish sandstones, like those of group No. 5, and dark conglomeratic shale or clay with the usual metamorphic pebbles. Here the earthy matrix of ( 266 ) TREDIAN HILLS. 267 the pebbles weathers and breaks up very much as an earthy trap- rock might do. These older rocks are faulted on one side against tertiary sandstones, &e., and un the other against low, reef-like, brecci- ated masses of the nummulitic limestones bordering the plains. Northwards of this faulted area the low ground is edged for a mile or so by the tertiary sandstones and red or reddish clays, but beyond this distance the road into Mari leads through a defile, on the eastern side of which are high cliffs of the same sandstones, &c.; while on the west is a narrow, broken, ridgy mass, a mile and a half in length, of the lower nodular nummulitie limestone with some of the jurassic beds. These rocks are strangely smashed and wedged on their eastern side among the tertiary sandstones and clays; they are bordered by a stony low bank of debris towards the plains to the west, while they abruptly ter- minate to the north against the salt-hill of Mari, with the intervention at either end of the line of junction of small fragmentary portions of the tertiary sandstone group. The Mári salt-hill is an isolated mass of red rock-salt and gypseous marl, having an area of somewhat more than half asquare mile, and rising from the left (or south) bank of the Indus to a height estimated at between 500 and 600 (more nearly 540) feet. All round the hill, salt and gypsum are seen at Salt-hill, Mári. intervals in the marl, the stratification of which is extremely obscure, but indicated here and there by certain hard flaggy or thin-bedded dolomitie zones with dark shaly partings, these being nearly always highly contorted and impossible to trace for more than a few yards. In the harder of these bands, cavities are sometimes seen, perhaps formerly occupied by cubical salt-crystals, or erystals of pyrites; and sometimes the beds contain black, apparently carbonaceous, markings. These flaggy zones are generally associated with gypsum layers and sometimes with beds of salt, but they appear more frequently below than above the salt-beds. They are often several feet or in places even a few yards in thickness. The salt-beds vary considerably, up to 20 feet; they are of the usual red or white salt, and in many exposures seemed to be earthy ( 267 ) 268 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. or impure (Kalar). On all sides of the hill the stratification, where seen, appears to be greatly crushed and folded; besides which, slipping of the roeks has evidently taken place frequently, so that it is impossi- ble to be certain whether the greater part of the hill is formed of salt and gypsum, or whether contortion and slippage have not multiplied the appearance of one large and important group of salt-beds. At the time . the place was visited no salt-mines were open, but there was abundant evidence of old workings and an enormous quantity of the mineral showing at every side of the hill. The atmospheric waste of the salt, and consequent displacement and confusion along the outcrop, make many parts of the ground not alone difficult to understand, but fre- quently inaccessible. (See fig. 53, Plate XXX.) At many places on the hill, but by report in some more than in others, the gypsum contains numbers of small bi-pyra- Quartz crystals. n e : midal crystals of transparent or slightly reddish quartz, frequently of great beauty and regularity. They are sometimes known by the name of Mari diamonds, and are used for ornamental pur- poses by the natives. The quantity of these must be enormous, to judge from the extent of ground at the foot of the hill which glitters with reflected light from their facets. Near the summit of the hill, and lower down on the Mari side, are some old Buddhist temples in ruins, having a more than usually antiquated appearance in consequence of being built of blocks of calcareous tufa, which occurs in situ not far off, and which probably hardened on exposure to the atmosphere; otherwise its dura- bility would appear strange. On the opposite bank of the Indus be- neath this hill the continuation of the salt-marl may be seen at the base Kélabégh bank of the Of a much higher elevation, and the thin flagg Lain. and shaly zone, vertical and greatly twisted on the Märi bank, as far as ıt can be followed by the eye on the other side of the river, seems to form an open, contorted, synelinal bend, beneath a thick but broken band of salt, partly concealed and not continuous. Immediately overlying this salt and its associated marl are soft, greenish- grey and orange, sandy and clayey tertiary beds, thrown into bold ( 268 ) A ES du RO d Y KCN SEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA Memoirs „Vol, XIV . PL, XXXI. | Grey dolomitie leye 5 Conglomerate (Siwalk?). 6 Concealedfault.7 Dangote ty Intervening Tertiary beds. (9.2 Red Marl. 3 Rock Salt.4 Tertiary Sandstones, Orange Series . — 5 Fig 54 Rough Sketch of Kalabagh Side of Indus Gorge & mountam above. Fig 55.Sketch Section in the Chichah Pass. 2» Khanola Inversion JULAS SLC Cretaccots Nummulitic Tertiary eas nd $ TREDIAN HILLS. 269 eurves, cut off above by a line inclined to the east, comeiding with the base of a thick unconformable capping of coarse conglomerate, chiefly composed of limestone pebbles. (See fig. 54, Plate XXXI.) The sketch, fig. 53, Plate. XXX, will serve'to show how little stratifi- KERI cation generally appears in the marl, and how Stratification of marl, h $ / strongly this shows itself when the thin-bedded dolomitie bands and shales are present. "The nearly horizontal beds, to the left over the salt-chowki, within a short distance further on in that direction, become vertical and bent baekwards upon themselves, as may be seen at the edge of the Indus, where the vertical layers are eut across by a horizontal plane. In places along this bank of that river, large quantities of air or gas bubble up from under water, and a portion of the sandy, hard, river-bed, when the water has retreated, sounds hollow beneath the feet of men or horses, as if salt had been dissolved and removed from below. The ground along the edge of the plains just outside the salt-hill Plains side of the salt- 2nd the limestone ridge near it is formed of regu- hill. larly stratified red and green sandy alluvium, or debris, perhaps taking its colours from the preponderance of the same tints in the neighbouring tertiary sandstones, &e. The latter beds rise above the side of the little valley of Mári, opposite to the salt-hill, and indeed approach this hill within a few yards in some places. Ascending the River Indus from Mari, orange and brown clays and grey sandstones, some of which are very thickly bedded, Up the Indus. T alternate repeatedly, dipping to the east-by-north at 45". About two miles up the stream the rocks are seen to be faulted E sandstone beds, alternating with redder clays, coming against those with the brown or orange clays between. Further on near Dangot (called Dundhöt) cliffs, thick sandstones weather into cavities, and the cliffs are formed of extremely thick-bedded grey sandstone, a few pebbles occurring in thinner beds below. What could be seen of this magni- ficent cliff, nearly 2,000 feet in height, appeared to consist entirely of ( 269 ) 270 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. sandstone beds without any bands of clay. Clay bands occur again between the sandstones further up stream, and within the next couple of miles two or three other faults occur, one of which lies in the bed of the river. Beyond this the stratification undulates at more gentle angles, and the cliffs are capped here and there by the debris of conglomerates formed of crystalline pebbles, among which grey syenite is most abundant; but the conglomerates themselves do not occur in the river until near the town of Makad. In the bed of the Indus, within a mile or so below Kálabágh, gold is washed. At one spot, pointed out by the Malik of this place, the bank in which it was sought was at some distance out in the stream, and the material to be washed Gold. was taken from a coarse sandy layer mixed with large pebbles. The gold- washers were not at work, but their ¿rooms (or cradles) and a few other rude implements were lying on the bank. The success attending the washing was said (as usual) to be very various, and when great a man might obtain from three to four annas a day. The entire neighbourhood of this village of Mari is most peculiar, oia ci the very lowest and some of the highest rocks of Mari. the range being here brought into contact. Dr. Fleming (report, page 252) at one place saw some tertiary strata dipping as if they would pass beneath the salt-marl; but the general arrange- ment is different. The strong escarpment of the tertiary sandstones faces the salt-hill, but the dip is in the opposite direction. These tertiary beds within the Mári valley frequently strike towards the hill, but with- out showing any inclination to underlie it. That the main features of the present arrangement of the rocks here are the result of violent dislocation, rather than the tranquil change of conditions marked by unconformity, appears to be proved by the occurrence of some fragmentary portions of older groups than the tertiary sandstones, in close proximity, evidently parts of once larger developments of these rocks, which existed in their proper places C 210) TREDIAN HILLS. 271 before the dislocation occurred. Though this is the case at Märi, on the opposite side of the river the salt-beds and red marl are directly overlaid by decidedly unconformable tertiary sandstones and clays, in a way which is difficult to explain by land-slip only; and it is equally difficult to imagine the thick nummulitic, the jurassic, triassic, carboniferous and “speckled sandstone” groups all to have died out naturally at one spot, while they are each represented at distances of from two to eight miles Cis-Indus, and some of them occur again in the neighbouring country Trans-Indus. It is also as hard to suppose that such a thickness of these beds can have been removed by denudation from one small tract, while the softest of the whole series—the red marl, &c.—had stability enough to resist that agency. The presence here of the great river Indus might do something to explain the peculiarities of the place so far as the upper (possibly fresh water or lacustrine) deposits are concerned, for an original line of water-discharge and removal of material might have existed here ata remote tertiary period ; but any influence this could have had with regard to the disposition of the strata could not have obtained during the deep-sea deposition of the nummulitie period, or during the older marine conditions of the jurassic, triassic, or carboniferous times; so that there is nothing left to be supposed but that there was here dislocation so intense that the traces of the exact or progressive manner in which the results were effected have been destroyed.* * If the salt-rocks of this locality could be looked upon as a newer deposit belonging to the tertiary period, the general relations might be more readily understood; but against this there is their identity, in most characteristics, with the salt-rocks of other parts of the range, and their association at no great distance on both sides of the river with other rocks of the Salt Range series, while the apparently newer salt beds to the northward differ decidedly in colour and association from those of this locality. 272 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. XII1.—APPENDIX: Trans-Inpus Huis. Although the Júd or Cis-Indus Salt Range terminates at the Mári Geology of country bank of the river, it may be briefly mentioned linsel nole that, in the mountains on the other side of the Indus, the geological structure is very similar to that of the western part of the Salt Range. The southern escarpment of the latter continues in a more strongly pronounced form, but no longer always presented to the southwards. The cliffs are still contrasted with more gentle slopes in the opposite direction, and these slopes, instead of sinking into an open plateau, like the Potwár country north of the Salt Range, face a mass of hills, some of which are lofty, and all towards the Indus possess a rather defined east-and-west arrangement. These hills are not distant from the Trans-Indus continuation of the Salt Range, and approach it so nearly as to coalesce in the vicinity of Kálabágh ; but further west they are separated by the whole of the wide valley on the further side of which Bannu is situated. At a little distance from Kálabágh the geology of the Trans-Indus regions presents some new features, the principal Near Kálabágh. à of which are—a larger development of the num- mulitie and jurassie rocks, the latter being now more calcareous, and the intercalation of a distinctly eretaceous band between these groups a few miles to the westward. There are also among the newer formations some apparent unconformities unknown or, if present, concealed in the Salt Range proper. Disturbanee can hardly be called a new feature, yet its intensity appears to be even greater beyond the Indus, and the succession is so much broken that, in the small part of the ground as yet examined, incomplete sections only could be found. Unfortunately when the officers of the Geological Survey visited Mari or Kálabágh, at three different and considerably separated periods, (ar) TRANS-INDUS HILLS. 273 severe sickness prostrated them, and limited their labors until it was. SER found necessary to leave the place. During one of these visits, however, Dr. Waagen, with difficulty, made his way to the mountains north-east of Kálabágh and noted the following succession* :— (Nummulitic limestone (part of) ... E .. 50 to 60 feet. Soft grey marl Ms 3 da 006 20 ,, Thin-bedded marlylimestone ... > T. 15 „ Ashy grey calcareous marl with numerous A 20 to 30 ,, Alum-shale, inferior quality, with a little coal and many NUMMULITIC un fossils oec oec ooc 3oc .. 20to30 ,, Yellow nodular limestone irregularly bedded: many Nummulites 555 E 10 „ Alum shale with Nummulites (many ds but Pe a few beds workable) ond 0 os 50 „ ms us. M ies e. E 105% ÜRETACEOUS ..Dark grey glauconitic sandstone with Belemnites, aay seen 353 NE boc 000 ho 10255 UNCONFORMITY. ( Grey clay with gypsum in thin beds, numerous canali- culate Belemnites and Pleurotomaria Bie O) torto Yellow marly limestone, numerous Mytili and other bivalves 2o s Ran nee 20105 Ashy grey nodular aut 55d T ac 6 „ White hard splintery limestones ... 50 Y 10 ,, Yellow thin limestone with Pecten and ‘ indistinct ELSE Myaeites ... 00 500 ooo tes 50 ,, Variegated sandy clays ... sus coc dde 10 5 Sandstone and limestone in alternating layers 500 30 ,, Soft yellow sandstone with whole beds of fossils; Nerinea, Cerithium and bivalves Sha Ome Variegated sandstones and shales with thin coaly Dd L and alum-shales on three horizons A in 300 ,, * Portions of this section are three times repeated by faults and contortions. Besides the unconformity and irregularity it shows, there is also the unconformity of the tertiary sandstones upon some of the above beds in other places, and upon tbe salt-marl on the right bank of the river at Kálabágh. 12 (205.0 274 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. Along the Lún nala (or *Drung Gorge’ of Dr. Warth’s report, and Gossai nala of Dr. Jameson) which comes from the north-by-west behind the Kálabágh hills, down to the Indus opposite Märi, the salt of this locality has been traced for a distance of about two miles from the Indus, and is reported to occur again nine miles upthe valley. The salt is being worked at day- Lün (or salt) nala. light in open quarries or small drifts, and was observed to dip at angles of 40° and even higher towards the westward. From Dr. Warth’s report it appears that the worked seams vary from 4 to 10 or 20 feet, and that there are generally three alternations of good and bad salt, some of the working-places having been abandoned on account of the crystalline nature of the mineral. This erystalline salt was, however, being exten- sively raised wben I visited the place, many beautifully transparent cubes, of several inches on the side, being observed in the heaps awaiting ship- ment across the river to Mari. As to the salt nine miles up the glen, if it exists, it is as yet unknown whether it may not belong to the saline series of the Kohat district rather than to that of the Salt Range. A great fault is believed to exist crossing the River Indus and extend- ing up this Lun valley, letting in masses of the carboniferous lime- stone and other rocks along its course, and also extending some way into the Märi glen ; but as this fault traverses in the low ground, its exact place is concealed. The reason for.inferring the existence of this fault is, that- there is not room for the Salt Range series to intervene between the red salt-marl and the tertiary sandstones seen on opposite sides of the Lún glen, the discordant strata belonging to the latter series, occurring on the hill to the west, being apparently newer than the tertiary beds on the east side of the valley, and being themselves capped by a mass of very recent tertiary or post-tertiary conglomerate. The coal of Kälabägh is mainly jurassic, but thin coaly strings occur also in the nummulitic alum-shales. That from the jurassic beds continued till lately o be raised and sold in small quantities for the use of the river steamers. The alum is obtained from the black shales near the base of the nummulitie rocks. q ema) TRANS-INDUS HILLS. 275 At a distance of about nine miles to the westward of Kálabágh, the southern escarpment of the continuation of ee the Salt Range is intersected in a north and south direction by the fine gorge of the Chichäli Pass, at one part of which, where it crosses the nummulitie limestone (called the * Darwaza,’ or gateway, by the natives), the shallow stream finds its way over a bed of flat sand between vertical rocky walls 250 or 300 feet high, and only 14 feet 6 inches apart at the narrowest place. In this gorge near its mouth there is a good section exposed, showing extraordinary disturbance, and to a certain extent inversion of the strata (see sketch section, Fig. 55, Pl. XXXI). At the entrance, crushed, contorted, and faulted beds of the purplish-grey tertiary sandstones and dark-brownish red clays (Nos. 16 and 17) are seen, and the passage into the glen lies between vertical masses of the nummulitic limestone (No. 14) occupying a space of 150 yards across; parts of this limestone show the most intense crushing and compression within the mass. Black, flaggy, and olive-weathering alum-shales (No. 12), containing limestone-nodules, and nearly vertical, are next met with; then another mass of nummulitie limestone (No. 11), the strata of which, inclining at a high angle to the north, are faulted against some reddish-purple eretaceous sandstones (No. 9), with carbonaceous patches. These are inverted so as to dip steeply underneath dark-greenish olive sandy clays with Gryphaa and non-canaliculate Belemnites (No. 8), associated with which are some greenish sandstones with Ammonites and Belemnites, apparently underlying and passing into black alum-shales (No. 7) with canaliculate Belemnites. These, by reason of a reversed, crooked, angular, fault, partly underlie thin-bedded jurassic limestones (No. 5), with Pectens, &c., and these beds are again obliquely faulted and brought beneath more thin-bedded impure jurassic limestones and dark shales, red clays, and white sandstones (No. 4?) containing a few fossils such as Gervillia. Another fault, yet more oblique than the last, nearly coincides with the axis of an inverted anticlinal fold ars) 276 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. in the adjoining beds, which are the lowest of the whole section, but still jurassic.* Above this point in the glen, the section is regular without inversion, and the following is the description of the series arranged in natural order, the thickness given being partly estimated and partly measured or calculated :— Red el n creen] 1 - NUR ARE SAND. ed clays (17) and grey and greenish tertiary sand STONES, &C. ... stones (16), with some beds of pseudo-conglome- rate (15) containing bone fragments ... .. Very thick, 14. Strong compact light-grey nummulitie cliff-lime- stone of the darwaza i 500 feet. 13. Nummulitic marls and (12) dark Mal Bu ? 150 ,, 11. Lower nummulitie lumpy limestone ... 150 to 200 „ 10. Alum-shales resting parallel on an eroded sur- face of the beds below 000 .. 90 to40 ,, NUMMULITIC SLIGHT UNCONFORMITY. 9. Strong light-coloured sandstone eroded at top, CRETACEOUS lower third black |. ... 60 ,,. (NEOCOMIAN) ... ) 7. Dark, blackish-green, sandy and TD bed, icut inside, passing down into ( 9. Dark olive sandstone and clay with Oolitie patches (equivalent to upper band of golden oolite P) contain Rhynchonella, large planulate Ammonites, Belemnites, &c. age ie 1370» 5. Splintery hard, white limestones odo 500 180 ,, Shale band 7 4 Calcareous shaly and sandy beds and yellow lime- stone 300 08 Bon JURASSIC ..4 Grey limestone.. 000 acd doc Brown marly Re 000 doo 3. Shales with thin sandstones ; a two-feet bed con- taining fucoids :—sulphuretted hydrogen spring Hard sandy limestone and shales, Rhynchonella and fish teeth. 2. Lower golden oolite, variegated sandstone and thin 400 „ coaly shales. L 1. Grey and blue thin limestone and grey shales. J * A quantity of carboniferous limestone is shown at this pointin Dr. Fleming’s section, None, however, as he observes, occurs in the glen ; nor do me triassic beds appear. ( 276 ) SUMMARY. 277 The lower part of the cretaceous band and the upper part of the jurassic seem to form one thick bed of 137 feet, the Ammonites and Belemnites from the upper part having a neocomian character, while those from the lower part of the zone are jurassic.* Two chief bands of alum-shales oceur, one above and the other below the lower lumpy nummulitie limestone; and there are other less distinet bands besides, in the lower variegated part of the jurassic series, near No. 3 in the section. Alum is manufactured from the lower nummulitie bed at a village within the mouth of the glen. SUMMARY. Having now described, with some attention to details, the various local relations of the rocks along the Salt Range, a few brief general observations may be added with a view to conveying a comprehensive idea of the series as a whole. Notwithstanding that the Salt Range geology is peculiar and differs greatly from that of neighbourig countries, so far as they are known, and that the series comprises various consecutive paleeozoic, mesozoie, and tertiary formations, and even includes among the older rocks a group of silurian age, there is a remarkable degree of continuity preserved throughout the deposits. Though many pages of the record are doubt- less missing, the succession is absolutely more continuous and complete than in many other parts of India itself, or in many equal areas of distant countries; and further there are indications that throughout the lone lapse of time during which the successive stages of the series were formed, some very similar conditions obtained, resulting in the reproduction of the same kinds of rock. Thus, so far back as the formation of the group Cone next u D the sse in the western part of the district, abrasion of old metamorphie rocks and transport of their detritus to this region must have been * From Dr. Waagen's field determinations while we were examining the glen together. Cain) 278 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. taking place, an action which was continuous or repeated through all except the more highly calcareous formations. Conglomerate or con- glomeratic bands of similar metamorphic blocks and pebbles are found largely in group No. 2, or in its place; in less quantity, in the silurian band No. 3, and in No. 4; frequently in No. 5; in one place in the triassie No. 7 ; in another in No. 8; occasionally in the jurassic No. 9; again largely in the eastern portion of No. 10 (eretaceous?) ; while in parts of the tertiary beds No. 12, erystalline pebbles, of different aspect collectively, and probably derived from different sources, occur on several horizons and form very massive bands in some of the upper Siwälik beds. Again, the conditions necessary to the production of coal and car- an bonaceous rock have not been confined to one group of the series, such bands being met with in the gypsum with the salt-marl of Khewra; in rocks but a short way above it, mentioned in Section XI; in the upper part of the speckled sandstone and lavender clays No. 5 at Nursingphoár; in the carboni- ferous, jurassic, and cretaceous formations; and so largely as to Bam anal beds in the nummulitic group. Certain varieties of lavender-coloured argillaceous rock, generally iba oe yeng rapidly to the atmosphere, are also distributed. They occur in the salt-marl, as- sociated with its layers of volcanic rock ; in many places and with a very similar aspect in the “speckled sandstone series,” notably at its upper limits; in the carboniferous limestone group, in the glen of Nursing- phoär; in the probably cretaceous beds of the Bhäl branch of the Nila- wan ravine; and associated with the hematitie or lateritic band frequently but not always present at the base of the nummulitic group. Nor are heematitic bands confined to one horizon. They prevail in the situation just mentioned (below the nummulitic), Hematite. í but occur also frequently in the supposed creta- ceous rocks, more rarely in those of jurassic age, and in other situations. (S) SUMMARY. 279 A circumstance which is not peculiar to the Salt Range alone may be mentioned in connection with these hematites, namely, that they appear to mark places where some cessation or interruption of deposition took place. For instance, although there is no unconformity strong enough to be conspieuous at the base of the nummulitic formation, the probably eretaceous rocks beneath are but feebly represented; and if the presence of the lateritic heematite is indirectly connected with the want of eretaceous deposits, the occurrence of a heematitic band here and there in these rocks and in the lower groups may represent a greater development of strata on the same horizons in other places. At all events, where some slight appearance of discordance, hardly amounting to unconformity, occurs, between the carboniferous and the succeeding (cretaceous?) formation at Nursingphoär, and again at the top of the carboniferous beds near Kutta, hematite in the first instance, and with a little white sandstone beneath in the second, is the rock immediately supervening. Salt is characteristie of the lowest group, but traces of saline materials in the form of efflorescences are to be found in Salt and Gypsum, 5 < places in every succeeding zone (except perhaps the strong limestone bands), and in the newest formation of the whole series the sandstones and marls of the tertiary rocks are sometimes sufficiently saline to impregnate the water of the streams. Gypsum, too, occurs in the clays of group No. 5, in those of the trias, and in some quantity in the nummulitic coaly band. The presence of lime and i magnesia dates back to the time of the red salt- Lime and Magnesia. marl, and the same substances are found again in group No, 4, the magnesian sandstone series; but calcareous and magnesian rocks prevail most largely in the carboniferous, western trias, western jurassic and tertiary (nummulitie) formations. The hard silicious and aluminous rocks of most paleeozoic formations are but poorly represented, slates and such common accessories as quartz veins being here entirely unknown, notwithstanding the pressure and disturb- ance which the strata have in many places suffered. (ON 280 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. The absence of igneous rocks, too, with the exception of the vol- canie-looking varieties occurring in a few places Igneous rocks. . > to the eastward, though unusual in such disturbed paleeozoie rocks, may be very possibly connected with the continuously tranquil deposition shown by the general parallel conformity of the strata. From what has been already said, it will be seen that there is considerable difficulty in conjecturing under what Early conditions. 4 circumstances the salt-marl was accumulated. For the stratified portion and its associated layers, however, estuarine or lacus- trine conditions may have prevailed. The succeeding purple sandstone group contains no organisms to indicate its orgin, which, nevertheless, may have been marine. The next group contains a few marine (silurian) fossils. The “magnesian arenaceous group” and the “speckled sand- stone group” may also have been deposited in sea water, subject to land floods, bringing down earthy matter. The carboniferous group and western portion of the trias are certainly marine, while the beds supposed to form an eastern representative of the latter group may have been deposited in an isolated tract of saline or of salt water. The jurassic, cretaceous, and nummulitie groups were also marine, or largely so, some plant beds in the first and the leaf-bed at the base of the latter, together with those bands in which coal or coaly shales predominate, being by . po means necessarily exceptions; and the great mass of tertiary sand- stones and clays have furnished nothing to contravene the supposition that, notwithstanding their great thickness, they were deposited under fresh or brackish water conditions. The Salt Range rocks then form a continuous series, embracing A alternations of calcareous, earthy, and arenaceous deposits, chiefly marine, but possibly in part of fresh-water origin—a series (including the more recent beds) compris- ing thirteen main divisions, of which nine are distinctly referable, each to one of the thirteen principal formations known to geology; and the ages of four are less accurately ascertained. Two of the latter are as ( 280 ) SUMMARY. 281 old as silurian, if not older; and two others, if not of this age, or car- boniferous, must be intermediate. From the top downwards, seven of these thirteen groups are syn- chronous with the five newest systems of the geological scale; the permian is not represented, but the carboniferous is largely developed in comparison with some of the others. Of the two groups immediately beneath the carboniferous formation, there is no reason why either should be called devonian or “ old red sandstone." The lowest, however, appears to have a close relation, in some parts of the range, with the silurian zone beneath; and of the remaining two, nothing can be said as to whether one or both may be silurian or older. Of this series, there are no close petrographic representatives known Relations to neiehbour- 11 the neighbouring parts of the Punjab hitherto ing geology. s inspected, if we except the tertiary sandstones and clays. The nummulitic limestones differ considerably from the large development of these rocks to the north. The eretaceous beds are dif- ferent, both in character and fossils, from others met with, as are also the jurassic rocks; the mixed and variegated arenaceous, argillaceous, and calcareous group of the Salt Range bears no similarity to the Spiti-shales of the mountains on the outskirts of the north-west Himalaya. The triassie rocks with their abundance of Ceratites are also different from the strong limestone series of the latter region ; and the underlying groups have no representatives around, so far as known, until the countries of Kashmir and Spiti are reached.* In the former, the carboniferous rocks have yielded to Captain Godwin-Austen some balf a dozen or eight fossil species, known already to occur in this formation in the Salt Range; and from Dr. Stoliczka’s Memoir on the North-Western * The resemblance of the purple sandstone group to some red sandstones below, or in, the trias near Abbottabad, is much too slight to rely upon as any proof of their identity ; and the carboniferous rocks mentioned as occurring near Abbottabad, in Dr. Verchere's paper, previously quoted, have no existence. See Memoirs of the Geologieal Survey of India, Vol. IX, part 2. M2 Geely) 282 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. Himalaya it appears that four carboniferous forms are common to the formation as known there and in this Salt Range district.* When the Survey collections made in this country have been examined, it is possible that not only the carboniferous, but also the newer formations, may be found to contain other Himalayan forms. The development of the whole Salt Range series is not at any place complete, the groups changing along their outerop, in thickness, if not also in character; and the same series, from the fourth to the seventh group (in ascending order), or omitting the eishth, from the fourth to the ninth, extends westwards, Trans-Indus. The tenth group does not extend recognisably to the west; the eleventh covers all below it, except in the extreme east or west; and the twelfth (or part of it) is super- imposed throughout. The latter group includes some representatives of the “ Sub-Himalayan divisions of Mr. Medlicott's Memoir “On the country between the Ganges and the Rävi;” but it is doutbful whether the Subäthu rocks northward and eastward of the Potwár plateau are represented to any extent along the range except by a few thin layers in its eastern sections. Even though some similarity in the Bakrála ridge has been pointed out, the close identity of the lower tertiary Salt Range sandstones with the Nahan group is not at present strongly insisted upon, while there is sufficient reason to suggest it. The Siwálik beds above these have been lately shown to belong to the same group both here and in the country extending hence to the Sub- Himalayan area. * Captain Godwin-Austen’s specimens, similar to those of the Salt Range, are Athyris subtilita, Spirifera Moosakhailensis, Rhynconella pleurodon, Streptorhynekus crenistria, Productus semireticulatus, and P. Humboldtii (See Mr. T. Davidson’s list in Part I of this Report; and Note on the carboniferous Brachiopoda collected by Captain Godwin-Austen in Kashmir, by Mr. Davidson, Quar. Jour. Geol. Soc. Lond., Vol. XXII, p. 29). Dr. Stoliczka’s specimens, identical with Salt Range ones, are Spirifera Moosakhailensis, Productus longispinus, P, semireticulatus, P. Purdoni.—Memoirs, Geol. Survey of India, Vol. V, Part 1, page 27. ( 282 ) ECONOMIC RESOURCES. 233 Economic RESOURCES. The economic resources of the Salt Range are numerous and varied ; several of them are of minor importance, but one, the rock-salt, for which it is famous, occurs in a quantity and possesses a value which may be called incalculable. These salt-deposits, together with those of other parts of the Punjab, are some of the largest and purest in the world, yet their origin is equally with others involved in obscurity. In Mr. Baden, Powell's “ Economie Products of the Punjab,” all the mineral economic resources of the Salt Range and its neighbourhood are alluded to, though the references are to be found amongst matter relat- ing to building materials, salt, &c., from other places as well. A passage given as an extract from this work,* in the preliminary copies of the Punjáb Gazetteer, mentions the following minerals as oceurring in the range: “salt, coal, sulphur, petroleum, . . . . copper, gold, lead, and iron, the latter as rich hematite very abundant in some parts, to such an extent that the rocks containing it prevent by their attraction the indications of the magnetic compass.” ‘This passage gives a very exaggerated idea of the products of the range. The coal of the Salt Range is not great in quantity; it is poor in places and pyritous and shaly, besides being difficult to work. The sulphur occurs in the smallest quantities, native and otherwise. The petroleum is likewise very limited indeed, as may be gathered from the several reports on the subject by Mr. Lyman (see List of Authors). The copper men- tioned at page 9 of Mr. Powell’s work is quite inconsiderable. The stream-gold yields but a scanty return for much labour. The lead (pages 11 and 12) occurs only as small disseminated crystals of galena in the peculiar dolomitie rock of Karangli Hill. The iron, so far as I am aware, occurs generally as common hematite, forming inconstant * Gazetteer of Jhelum District; Geographical and Physical Section, Geology of the Salt Range. Extract from Mr. Baden-Powell’s “ Economic Products of the Punjab,” pp. 131-135; end of extract, p. 15. 984. WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. layers, often so earthy as to resemble laterite, and I never found it affect the magnetic needle of my compass. In his introductory chapter (foot-note, p. xii, and again at p. 8, para. 33) Mr. Powell mentions a new discovery of a first-class iron-ore in hills belonging to the Salt Range, made by Dr. Henderson, Civil Surgeon of Shahpur, who had procured from it bars of the metal. This ore was obtained from the Korána (Kot Kerána) hills, previously men- tioned, not from the Salt Range itself. “ The ore was very abundant in several of the hills, and attempts to work it appeared to have been made.” Dr. Henderson believes it to contain at least 70 per cent. of iron, which was favourably reported upon by Mr. Boequet, of the Punjab Railway, and Mr. Harrison. Dr. Henderson only smelted a few maunds of the iron, with a primitive apparatus, as fuel was scarce in the vicinity, and he estimated the cost of production at Rs. 7 per ewt.* SALT. The places of the occurrence of the salt, its composition, position, S sand general relations, have been noticed in the preceding pages, and reference has been made to the memorandum by Dr. Oldham, to the reports of Dr. Fleming, to the full report of Dr. Warth (the latest published), and those on the admi- nistration of the Inland Customs Department, in all of which much de- tailed information may be found. Where so much has been already written, it seems superfluous to add further remarks upon the salt-mines of the range; some general idea of them may, however, be briefly conveyed, rather than that they should be left altogether unnoticed ; mining details are taken from Dr. Warth’s reports. It appears that the mines were formerly much more numerous, and under native management merely consisted of small openings at first, * Information kindly supplied by Dr., Henderson, under date Röwalpindi, September 10th, 1877. ( 284 ) ECONOMIC RESOURCES: SALT. 285 afterwards unsystematically enlarged, until they became dangerous. Since the annexation of the Punjáb, it has been found useful for facility of collecting the revenue, to lessen their number greatly; and still further reduction has been proposed or lately carried out. The mines open during the progress of the Survey were those of Khewra, Sardi, and Varcha on this side of the Indus, and the open quarries of Kälabägh beyond that river. Besides these, an experimental driving was being sunk (and is intended to be carried on from time to time) beneath the southern cliffs of Mount Tilla, in order to prove the existence or absence of workable salt within reach, that point being so much nearer than the others to the Northern State Railway—not yet completed, but in progress. Up to the latest information the salt had not been reached. The largest mines of the range are the Mayo mines at Khewra, so j called to commemorate the visit of a late Viceroy. Mayo mines. In these, vast but dangerous chambers had been left by the old Sikh workmen, who either knew or cared so little how or where they worked, that two heavy pillars supporting the roof of one excavation were left resting upon a thin crust of salt, spanning another large chamber below. It has been remarked that most of the roof- falls of the mines took place at night, and the miners, who work only in the day time, may have relied on this poor chance for safety. As it was a matter of great uncertainty how long these pillars would remain supported, instead of supporting the roof above, their removal was ordered, when suddenly on Sunday the 5th of June 1870 one of them - broke through, carrying with it a large part of the roof, and forming a crater on the hill in which the mines are situated. The fallen mass of salt and marl was estimated (by Dr. Warth) at half a lakh of maunds, from which the damage that might have been done had there been miners at work beneath may be imagined. The present state of these mines differs widely indeed from that which existed during the earlier visits of the Geological Survey Officers to the ( 285 ) 286 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. place, and still more from the state of things described by Dr. Fleming and Mr. Theobald or previous writers. When I was going through them first with the Deputy Collector formerly in charge,* his kindly warnings not to remain in certain places were repeatedly given; but now, even though the mines are far from being everywhere safe, the alteration in them is so great that an air of security is derived from the regularity of the new works, and the business-like manner in which the operations are being carried on. Since Dr. Warth took charge, this great improvement has been effected, though improvements upon the old systemless plan of working were of course in progress ever since the British rule began, as evidenced by the very names of workings like “Thompson’s drift,” << Purdon’s tunnel," ** Matthew’s drift," Sc. Only a few years since, entrance to the mines was gained down a slippery incline or through an adit, but now one can drive in upon a tramway, through a spacious passage, and observe a system of regular pillars and openings, with various inclined and other drifts, leading toa main passage, through which the salt is taken out of the mine in trucks. In former days, the two principal mines here (the Baggi and Sujewál mines) were discon- nected, and both of them ill ventilated: a passage has now been opened from one to the other, which not only gives a fine rush of air through the mine, but offers an additional means of escape for the numerous workmen in case of danger. The old chambers, however, still remain to contrast with the new system, and when lighted up the effect of these great caverns is very picturesque, particularly under the influence of coloured lights or that from the magnesium lamp; but it is only in very strong lights that the brilliant reflections from the facets of crystals become at all prominent, though frequently spoken of by previous writers, before blasting powder was so much used; nor are stalactitic masses so common as one might expect. * The late Mr. Mathews, ( 286 ) ECONOMIC RESOURCES: SALT. 287 The method of working in these Baggi and Sujewäl mines is described by Dr. Warth in his first paper previously referred to, from which the following is condensed :— The miners work in three different ways in the Bagoi mine. First, forward from a certain floor into the rock salt. Thisis called the Zatti (kuttee), and is the most troublesome. Itis nearly as hard as cutting drifts, there being a good deal of pickwork before the men can blast. As the Zatti is carried forward, they gradually work the roof down, sitting upon tripods, some of which are 25 feet high. This is called chhat (chutt*) work. When they have advanced with the Zatt and chhat, they begin to work from behind downwards. This is called the par (pur), or deep working. This par ought to be very easy work, but it is not, because from want of space it cannot be carried on in regular ad- vaneing steps; instead of this, the miners work the par down directly over are as marked out to them, both in Baggi and Sujewál mines.+ Dr. Warth proposed to operate in a contrary manner, namely, to work the katti on the roof of the salt seam, and the remaining salt down to the bottom as par by steps. The improvements are being gradually carried out, and the appearance of the mine is yearly changing in consequence, so that in course of time there is little doubt the system will become as perfect as possible. Not very long ago, gunpowder was never used; now its advantages are fully felt, and Dr. Warth has fired some large blasts, separating hundreds of maunds of the salt at once with perfect safety. From one of the smaller mines called Phurwalla, men, women, and children had carried full 40 lakhs of maunds of salt up a narrow steep and crooked drift, and from the whole Mayo mines Dr. Warth estimates the * From the word pronounced * Chutt," meaning roof, or ceiling. + The Khewra miners use the following names: Salt, Loon. Impure earthy salt, Kuller. Crystallized salt, Sheesha. Red marl, Lal muttee. Cracks across the salt, Unge. Red lines marking the stratification, Purree. Small salt, Soor. Waste salt, in small pieces, Malba. Fallen salt used for sale, Kunnee. Dangerous state of roof, Chiddhur. Drift, Saan. These are spelled here as they are pronounced. ( 287 ) 288 WYNNE : GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. gross amount of salt removed at 300 lakhs of maunds; but notwith- standing the length of time these mines have been extensively worked, and though each season adds a concentric belt to the excavated area, they show as yet no signs of becoming exhausted.* j In order to facilitate the cariage of the salt from the mines, Dr. Warth’s tramway has been extended to the mouth of the gorge, and ^ thence a wire-rope tramway has been constructed (under the superintend- ence of Lieutenant DeWolski, R.E.) to the village of Chak Nizám, on the southern bank of the Jhelum, above Pind-Dädan-Khän, and ten miles from the Khewra gorge. This has been for a few months completed and is occasionally in working order, but difficulties have had to be contended with in the unusual length of the line, and the effect of the water of the country upon the boilers of the engines that supply the motive power. When fairly at work, this tramway will be an important aid in the rapid distribution of the salt by means of the Northern State Railway. The Sardi mines to the west (ten miles or so north-westward from Pind-Dádan-Khán) are smaller and less favourably situated for working, - being sunk below the bottom of the glen instead of in a hill side like those of Khewra. They were more recently opened than the latter, and were originally constructed on a better plan, flights of steps being cut out of the salt, and the roofs supported. Owing to their low situation they have been at times stopped by access of water, and I believe they are now altogether closed. The Varcha (or Wurcha) mine is in the hill on the right-hand side of the Varcha gorge, about thirty miles west-north-west from Shahpur. The mine is at a considerable elevation and is large, though only about 20 feet of salt are excavated out of a bed of much greater thickness, the remainder of which is not sufficiently good for commercial purposes * For very full descriptions of the mines, modes of working, outturn, etc., Dr. Warth’s papers, noticed in Chapter L may be referred to. + Dr. Warth remarks that the salt mines of Cheshire are being excavated in the same thickness as the Varcha bed,—20 feet. ( 288 ) ECONOMIC RESOURCES: SALT. 289 at the Salt Range. There are large remains of old Sikh workings and great natural shafts or vertical water-courses, a sketch of one of which has been given (see Pl. XXV). The old workers here, as elsewhere, left the roof unsupported, and it is falling in, but in the modern mine this is provided against. While the salt-bed continues to dip, as it at present does (20° to N. W.), no alternation in the mode of working (according to Dr. Warth) will be needed. The mine is well ventilated and clean, and has two modes of ingress, but no low-level water-escape. The Kälabägh workings are all “at daylight,” in a thick group of salt-beds, ranging from 4 to 10 or even 20 feet each. They run alone the right side of the Lún or Gossai Nala (or Drung gorge), the salt being found to extend from the base of the hill as high up as 200 feet ; but the beds are not all sufficiently good to be worked, 20 feet being the largest known thickness of a workable salt-bed here. All the beds dip west at nearly 70°. The salt outcrop extends for some two miles up the glen, and there are fourteen working places or quarries.* Besides those mentioned there are numbers of old mines, about which nothing is known, while some that have been inspected were found to pro- mise large supplies of salt. Several of the old mines occur in the Jutäna and Küsak beats, four in the Makräch beat, three in that of Malot; eight in Sardi beat, four in the Nilawán ravine, three in the hills about Müsakhel, and several at Mari. The old Jutäna mines were being worked when Dr. Jameson visited the Salt Range in 1843, and had then been open twenty, thirty, and thirty-five years. The descent into the body of the mine was accomplish- ed by steps cutin the salt, and the workings seem to have been large, but as Irregular as usual in the Sikh excavations. The salt was removed in masses, two of which werea load for a camel; also in smaller pieces with which to load oxen. The miners were paid one anna per maund for ex- tracting the salt, and this was sold fora rupee per pucka maund. The * Dr, Warth’s Report, already quoted. x2 ( 289 ) 290 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. price of a camel-load was Rs. 6 to 8, and before it reached Umballa, paying hire, duty, &e., it cost from 8 to 20 rupees.* The best idea that can be given of the quantity of salt produced by the Salt Range mines will, perhaps, be obtained from the value according to the subjoined abstract of the receipts for four years (taken from the report on the administration of the Inland Customs Depart- ment for the official year 1870-71, page 14). The rate at which the salt is sold at the mines is Rs. 3-1 per maundT :— Receipts from the Salt Range Mines. NAMES or MINES. YEARS. - TOTALS. Mayo. Sardi. Vurcha. Kálabágh. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. 1867-68 ... | 28,97,530 1,91,819 2,83,783 2,16,189 35,89,321 1868-69 Sa 29,10,338 2,50,506 4,16,292 2,03,445 37,80,581 1869-70 ang |) real 4,26,485 3,99,856 1,61,946 44,91,458 1870-71 xS 27,99,092 2,20,686 4,45,040 1,99,584 36,64,402 Toran ... | 1,55,25,762 This total is equal to £1,552,576, or an annual average amounting to the large sum of £388,144.} It appears from the same report, page 15, that the average amount of salt cleared from the depots during the above years was 12,91,148 maunds. With regard to the continuity of the salt-beds, the indications, so far as can be judged at present, point to the occurrence of several sets of beds, rather than the extension of any one group, and the quantity of salt, as now known or exposed, probably bears only a small proportion * Dr. Jameson’s Report quoted ; see list of previous publications. T Rs. 3-1=six shillings and one and a half pence. A maund is equal to 82 lbs. t This is the average taken from the above figures; that given by Mr. Wright, the former local head of the Salt Department, is smaller by nearly £5,500, but he may have deducted some working expenses of the Department. ( 290 ) ECONOMIC RESOURCES: SALT. 291 to that which is concealed or which may have been destroyed. Mines have been worked along the range from periods so remote that their date SEE. cannot be ascertained,* and very much of the salt has been both naturally and artifieially removed, yetif the present outturn were increased many times, the supply might still be considered inexhaustible, so far as quantity is concerned. The salt-marl appears so frequently that its continuity, for a distance of 134 miles, more or less, can hardly be doubted, and it occupies a breadth which, on the same sort of evidence, may be fairly assumed at from four to five miles; while its reappearance on the north side of the range in two places would indicate its underlying the mountains everywhere, with a breadth of from twelve to sixteen miles, or it may extend to a much greater width. Allowing a breadth of five miles, this estimatet gives an area of salt-bearing marl 670 square miles in extent, in which the salt-zones vary from nearly 100 to 275 feet in thickness; separate beds or groups of beds of salt, where the size of the bands collectively is least known, having thicknesses of 20, 30, and 40 feet. Excepting for about twelve miles in length, at the eastern end of this area, salt is seen or known to exist within almost every mile where the marl is fairly exposed, so that although little or nothing is known as to the manner in which the salt-zones are laterally extended or ter- minated, the quantity of the mineral present must be enormous if it is considered that (a roughly shaped cubic foot of salt weighing about 136 pounds) the solid contents of a bed of salt, only 30 feet in thickness and one square mile in area, would amount to over 50,778,514 tons. ae _ ___ _ _ _—_——— * “Dr. Fleming records that the mines were first worked in the reign of Akbar, and mention is made of them in the Ain-Akbari, but this is all the information existing upon the subject. The native tradition is that Akbar was informed of the existence of the salt by a certain Asp Khan on condition of his receiving, as a reward, during his life-time, a sum equal to the whole of the wages of the miners employed in digging it. Salt was sold in Lahore during the reign of Akbar at the rate of 6 annas per maund.”—Panjdb Govern- ment Gazetteer, Jhelum District. + A smaller estimate was made previously in order to be well within the mark (see Chapter III, p. 81). (092915) 292 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. | The detailed accounts of the mines given in publications already referred to being very copious, it has been sought to convey here a fair general impression of the deposits, rather than reiterate all the details previously published. NN The new facts ascertained by the latest explorations are chiefly these :— (1.) Where the workings have been most carefully surveyed, the salt has been found in zones, consisting of several distinct beds, within distances of about 600 feet, 200 feet, and less, of the top of the marl and gypsum. (2.) That the arrangement and thickness of the beds, and the quantity of marl and gypsum (more or less intermixed) intervening between the salt-zones, and between the group superior to the marl and the salt itself, indicate more variability than sameness of the exact horizon upon which the salt is found. (3.) That there seems to be a larger development of so-called bad salt in the western than in the eastern part of the district (which bad salt would, however, in other districts be extremely valuable). (4.) The recent and most detailed explorations by the Salt Depart- ment have been chiefly confined to the old workings, and other beds of salt have not been sought for, except at Mount Tilla, where none has yet been found. Without regular prospecting operations it would be impossible to hope for information about the salt-rock in this or other directions, partly on account of the tendency which the marl has to conceal the enclosed salt ; and whether the lower part of this “red marl ? does or does not also contain valuable beds of salt is quite unknown. Should it ever become necessary, the best place, perhaps, for ascer- taining this would be the ground about Chambal hill (west) between the Jutäna and Küsak Beats. Though the method of mining the salt is being improved, and arrangements for its transport by wire-tramway and rail from Khewra ( 292 ) ECONOMIC RESOURCES: COAL. 993 are in progress, the old system of carriage still exists elsewhere, together with the waste this occasions. The salt is reduced to rough spherical lumps, to prevent the corners being rubbed off during its rough transport in open nettings or hair-cloth bags. So long as the merchants prefer, and can obtain, the salt in blocks, it does not seem likely that any steps will be taken to utilise the enormous quantity of valuable salt now wasted. Coat. The coal of the Salt Range has formed one subject of a detailed report by Dr. Oldham in the memorandum on the mineral resources of the district, already noticed. It occurs at eighteen or twenty localities, including Kala- bágh, but at only a very few of these in fairly workable quantity. The coal of the Salt Range proper generally comes from near the base of the nummulitie rocks, and is most largely developed at a short distance from Bhäganwäla. It has been worked here, at Pid, and to the westward at Samundri, besides small quantities being raised at other places. The coal is not of bad quality in some places, but the amount of the best kind is very small and becomes deteriorated by mixture with the more sulphurous and shaly portions of the beds, so that the fuel obtained falls to pieces and it is liable to spontaneous combustion. Coal. The Kálabágh coal or lignite is of jurassic age and of better quality than the former; it is composed of portions of trees in a fossilised state, not forming a bed, but distributed in both shales and sandstones, from the former of which the coal collected for sale has been obtained. As to quantity, Dr. Oldham estimated that there might be raised at the Bhäganwäla locality 16,20,000 maunds of coal, and at Kálabágh some 45,000 maunds. It appears from the mineral statistics by Dr. Oldham, in Vol. VII of the Memoirs of the Geological Survey, that (293) 294 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. the following quantities of coal were raised at the Salt Range (the localities not being given) :— In the year 1863 ... 000 008 hos 199 maunds. NEA ORGAN. Ms M oot it A d da: o DR o DER HIRE Op. o ir Md op Hee OTS Bg S s PANI YO. 52,775 maunds, or 1,937 tons, 11 cwt. In nearly all of the localities given in Dr. Oldham’s list (see below), and in a few besides, the coal of the lower nummulitie beds was found to be so dull and weathered on its outerop that it was only by cutting into the beds the mineral could be seen. In some spots the waste-heaps had spontaneously ignited, but this did not appear to have occurred in the beds. At no locality were works being carried on, and the largest of the abandoned excavations were those at Pid and Samundri, where bun- galows had been built; that at the former place was occasionally used, but the house at the latter, to which there were but faint traces of a road, was fast falling into a ruinous state. It is supposed that these were the places whence the nineteen hundred and odd tons just men- tioned were extracted. Everything connected with these deposits of coal and shale which has been ascertained during the examination of the ground, tends to show that they have a very general but not continuous existence, and there are cireumstances to the westward which show either the occurrence of a higher band of coaly shales, as at the Bakh ravine, or that, from increase of the lower portion of the nummulitic limestone, the place of the band has been shifted higher up in this group. Westwards of this place, the basal portion of the nummulitic beds is still earthy, and the form of the talus, at the foot of the cliffs in which the limestone terminates, shows the beds to be soft, the rocks next below the num- mulitie group in this region, when seen, being often earthy and shaly. Some traces of gypseous clay, and the gypseous nature of the lowest ( 294°) ECONOMIC RESOURCES: COAL. 295 nummulitic beds at the Bakh ravine, as well as the occurrence of the heematitic zone near that place (and further westward), would indicate the continuance of the same characteristics at the base of this series. In very many, or perhaps in most cases, the debris at the foot of the nummulitie limestone cliffs conceals everything just below it, but several sections, given in the foregoing pages, will skow the local absence of these coaly shales, or else that their importance and coal-bearing character is locally diminished. The frequency of their occurrence and the larger development of the coal layers towards the eastern parts of the range, render it very probable that if it were ever worth while to institute trials, the coal would be found in many places now concealed over that country. The fact, however, should be borne in mind, that the soft shaly nature of the associated rocks and the occurrence of the hard nummulitic lime- stone, more or less nearly horizontally extended over the coal-bearing beds, would always present much diffieulty in carrying on mining operations. From Dr. Oldham’s memorandum (being a report to Government) the following particulars are abstracted to supplement those already embodied in this Memoir :— Bhaganwalla.—Extent of coal along outerop, two miles; thickness, three feet six inches. Coal greatly cracked and jointed; when exposed to the atmosphere, disintegrates and falls to pieces. Crystals and flakes of gypsum common in fissures of coal, and iron pyrites, which, decomposing, gives rise to spontaneous ignition of the coal. Much care needed, if the place (or any of the Salt Range coal) be worked, to keep galleries quite clear of dust and small coal. Good masses of bright coal can be obtained from this place, to work which, successive galleries would be required, one over the other. Locality inaccessible, but improvable in this respect. 2. Keora (Khewra).—Above the gorge, coal poor, full of iron pyrites, and with layers and irregular masses of clay interbedded. Thickness two feet eleven inches. Coal divided into two by a layer of shale. 3. Pid.—On side of hill facing the south. Dip to north, 60° or 64°: thickness of coal, three feet when pure. Good bright fuel; falls into fragments after exposure to the air. Not quite so much pyrites here as in other places. Locality close toa good road and easily accessible; probably a fair amount of good fuel here; a thick covering of debris prevents its being traced. 4. Dandot (No. 1).—Coal seen on edge of a fault or slip; coal two feet six inches ; only a small fallen mass of rock and coal, useless as a permanent source of fuel. ( 295 ) 296 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. 5. Dandot (No. 2).—A mile further north, in a fallen under-cliff, thicknesses of two layers fifteen to eighteen inches and from ten to twelve inches. Beds squeezed out to south and cut off to north; fuel not bad; coal divided by a band of sandy shale. 6. Dandot (No. 3).—Further to the north and west, same general character; no greater prospect of successful exploration. 7. Nila.—Coal poor in quality, dip 30° to 35° to south-east; coal more than fifteen inches thick ; eight feet of blackish shales below it with thin layers of flaky coal. . 8. Karuli.— Coal slipped with the rocks on which the village is placed; useless as well as very limited in extent. 9. Nurpur (Nilawan).—Northern end of main gorge under high cliff, along which patrol road has been carried ; little prospect of any successful working. 10. Sowa Khan.—On the edge of a slip fault, which has brought the nummulitic limestone into contact with the red and purple marly beds of the salt series. Section concealed to a great extent by debris; only a portion of the rocks, far removed from their natural position. 11. Deiwal.—A little patch of coal and coaly shale in one of the lower spurs of the hills a few miles from Deiwal village, but said to be within its boundaries, perfectly use- less as a source of fuel. The coal occurs in a heap of debris of all kinds, only a few feet inlength, and varies from an inch or two to nearly two feet in thickness. 12. Katta.—At the base of a large cliff of nummulitic limestone under the Chamil hill, near its base, both limestone and coal broken. No prospect of any continuous supply. The bed of no thickness. 13. Chamil.—Under the lofty scarp of the nummulitic limestone at the north- eastern corner of the line of cliffs which form the southern face of the Chamil plateau; coal and associated shales in their true position unfallen, dip 12° to north 5° west. Two coal seams, one from six inches to ten or twelve in thickness, the other fine jetty coal, six inches. Place not very difficult of access, but no workable quantity of coal. 14. Sungle Wan.—Or one mile west of village of Arar, close to Diliali hamlet, at level of water in bank of stream. Two thin seams, upper six inches, lower ten to twelve inches, dip south-east 30°. Beds a small patch under a large talus of debris; at foot of high scarps of limestone, one mass of broken debris. Same heds again seen not far off; much broken up; no prospect of being profitably worked. 15. Amb or Umb.—The Sulgi coal locality; coal of no value and no extent (see detailed descriptions foregoing). 16. Kalabagh.—Irregular strings and patches of coaly matter in the alum shales, especially in the lower group of the shales, not extracted. (This is not the place whence the Kalabagh coal is taken, the latter being jurassic ; this is nummulitic.) 17. Kotli.—Southern end of the Chichali Pass, similar to the nummulitie locality of Kalabagh. Specimens of the coal have been analysed. It is for the most part rather diffi- cult to ignite at first, throwing out a large quantity of dense smoke (in most cases with a (000290600) ECONOMIC RESOURCES: PETROLEUM. 297 marked sulphurous odour), but when ignited it burns well with abundant flame ; does not cake much, and, with ordinary care, yields but little clinker, Tried practically in the loco- motives of the Punjab Railway, both at Lahore and Mooltan, it proved very successful ; it was found to answer well, both in getting up and maintaining steam for an ordinary train travelling twenty-five miles per hour. It answered well at Mooltan, but required screening and foreign matter picked out. There was dust from its brittle nature, and the fire-bars required attention. It was tried in the steamers on the Indus, and favourable opinion of its quality was given, it having been calculated to be, weight for weight, four times as effective as wood. “The coal would prove a very effective fuel, though it cannot be considered a first-rate coal, one maund of it being equal in effective work to 2°5 to 4 maunds of ordinary wood,” PETROLEUM. The position and circumstances of the petroleum and mineral tar LAN situated in the western part of the range have been mentioned in the foregoing descriptions, and all but one locality have been fully reported upon by Mr. Lyman (see List of Authors). This is the Sulgi coal locality, where the rocks which contain the tar are only an isolated and widely separated mass of the tertiary beds, the exact continuation of which it would be impossible to point out. The quantity of the tar exuding here is not commercially valuable, but the saturated sandstone rock, if continuous beyond what can be seen at the surface, could easily be quarried. The petroleum near Jába at the Chota and Burra Kutta glens comes to the surface in greater quantity than in most other places in the mineral oil region of the Upper Punjáb (the workings near Fatehjang of course excepted), the natural supply being about four and a half quarts a day. The localities are in some respects well situated for boring, and the distance from the Indus at Kálabágh, where water-carriage could be had, is only about nine miles. A tolerable foot-road exists hence to the vil- lage of Jába, less than two miles from the springs. The oil is dark green, and the water which accompanies it evolves sulphuretted hydrogen. The other localities produce such trifling quantities of petroleum as to be of little or no economic value. 02 ( 297 ) 298 WYNNE : GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. BUILDING-STONES. The stones chiefly used for building along the range are the smooth fine-grained sandstones of the purple sandstone group. These dress well, but being often soft and sufficiently saline to take up moisture are not so good as some other rocks which are less easy to work. It is stated that these furnished the material used to raise the memorial obelisk on the battle-field of Chilianäla (com- monly called Chillianwalla). Building-stones, A white sandstone, seen on the ascent from Pind-Dädan-Khän to Pid, just after leaving the plains, seemed likely to make a good and handsome building-stone. Many beds of the dolomitic sandstone group appeared also well fitted for use, though not likely to dress so well as the purple sandstones. The limestones of the carboniferous aud nummulitic groups, and, indeed, some of the more regularly bedded triassic or jurassic lime- stones, would furnish excellent building materials. Putting aside the softer sandstones, and the more shaly or saline beds of any of the sub-divisions, there is hardly one group of rocks above the salt-marl in which durable and easily worked building-stone could not be found, and a mixture of the many different-coloured stones procurable would form handsome ashler walls. Blocks of large size could be obtained from many of the sandstones of the dolomitic group No. 4, or from the - formations containing limestone. The group No. 8 furnishes good flags, some of which have been used in the new fortified barracks at Räwal- pindi. Lime can be obtained from one or other of the formations almost _ everywhere. Although there is no scarcity of strong building-stone, the builders of the ancient Salt Range temples (probably Buddhist) generally disregarded all others in favour of the calcareous travertine found in many parts of the range, This, although brought from a distance, seems in some cases to have been preferred to any material nearer at hand, This ( 298 ) ECONOMIC RESOURCES : ORNAMENTAL STONES. 299 lieht and porous stone was probably easily cut while fresh, hardening to a certain extent on exposure. It is not, of course, calculated to retain fine seulpture or tracery, but it appears in exposed situations to have withstood the action of all weathers wonderfully well. The blocks are rough and often much decayed in places, but still they retain their positions in the body of the buildings, being, perhaps, more closely bound together by calcareous infiltrations. The material at best is liable to decay (less so, perhaps, in the Salt Range climate than elsewhere), and from its porous nature can oppose little resistance to crushing force ; hence it would be unsuitable for large modern works, ORNAMENTAL STONES. The variegated and banded concretionary limestone of the num- S MNA Ed mulitie rocks on the plateau above the head of Sardi glen has been a good deal quarried for ornamental purposes. Knife-handles of various kinds and paper-weights are made of it, and the church of Shahpur is said to be flagged ^ withit. When polished, the curved laminz of the stone are plainly seen ; thin, purple, and yellowish or grey lines often simulating the structure of fossil wood. Some of this stone is also reported to have been used in the construetion of the houses of wealthy natives along the southern face of the range and at a distance towards Lahore. The stone is also said to be found 1n one or two other places in the neighbourhood, but the exact localities could not be learned. Another stone used much in the same way as the variegated limestone is a part of the heematitic band at the base of the Hematite. is o . : nummulitic limestone; portions of this when polished exbibit red, greenish, and white markings which often resemble sections of amygdaloid. The chert or flints of the limestone-beds, partieularly of the ed nummulitie limestone, are used as chak-maks to procure fire, and the Sikhs are reported to have made gun-flints from them. ( 299 ) 300 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. fle bi-pyramidal quartz crystals either transparent, reddish, or more opaque, found in quantities in the gypsum Mari diamonds. of Mári salt-hill, are worked into necklaces by the natives, consequently those longer than usual or more regular are valued to some extent. The mine in which the best are said to occur was closed when Mári was visited. Dr. Jameson (Report, page 206) says they were also found in the rock-salt; but this has not been confirmed by any recent observations. . Some of the opaque salt is often turned or cut into ornamental Salt. utensils. GYPSUM. The gypsum of the salt-marl exists in enormous quantities, and much smaller developments of the mineral are to be found among some of the other groups, chiefly as selenite in the shaly beds associated with the coal. It is, generally speaking, a pure sulphate of lime, and the only uses to which it is known to be applied are for mixing in a powdered state with mortar Gypsum. (as mentioned by Dr. Fleming); some of the more compact varieties near Sardi are turned to form plates or other rude ornamental utensils. Some use must, however, be made of the transparent variety, for it is reported to fetch Rs. 3-14 per maund at Lahore. LAVENDER CLAY. The lavender clay-ash or decomposed rock found with the volcanic © ay rock of Nilawän, &e., is used by the natives as i soap or to assist in washing. GALENA. A small quantity of galena, in little nests and crystals, is found disseminated through the dolomitie sandy rock of the escarpment at the top of Karangli hill. Here a sort of mine, some yards in length, leads out to the face of the ( 300 ) Galena, ECONOMIC RESOURCES: ALUM. 301 eliff, on which side it is inaccessible, and to enter it a descent of several feet has to be made by the help of abranching portion of a tree. The galena, when collected, sells for Rs. 4 or 5 per tolah,* to be pounded up and used as 44o% for blackening the eyes of the natives, who call it by the rather loosely-applied name súrma. It is also said to occur in the same rock on the right side of Khewra gorge, near a temple. (Dr. Fleming’s Report, page 256.) ALUM. The manufacture of alum is not now carried on in the Salt Range . proper, but formerly alum was made at a place Alum. . o about two miles westward of Virgal, on the Son- Sakesar plateau, and also beneath Sakesar mountain, at the head of the Ámb glen. In both these places the alum was obtained from the black shales at the base of the nummulitic limestone. It is probable that these would have answered the purpose in other places, but the experi- ment apparently has not been tried. Trans-Indus at Kálabágh, and again in the valley of the pass of Chicháli, there are alum works in active operation, the shales being: the same as those Cis-Indus. Interesting and detailed accounts of the manu- facture of the alum west of the Indus may be found in Dr. Jameson's (page 212) and Dr. Fleming’s two reports (pages 522 and 335, respect- ively). The process appears to be the same everywhere, and is effected thus: A layer of brushwood (Tamarisk or Dodonæa) is spread on the ground, on which are placed alternate layers, each about a foot thick, of alum-shale and brushwood. The heap so formed is ignited from below, and fresh layers of shales and brushwood are added above until a large heap in a state of ignition is formed. This is left for several months, and when thoroughly roasted, the red burned shale or rol is lixiviated * This, from local information, ( 301 ) 302 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJÁB. in vats with water. The solution obtained is drawn off and allowed to deposit any mud it may hold. This process is repeated, and then the liquid is boiled with an impure alkaline salt called yamsan obtained by lixiviation from fudler, the sulphate and carbonate of soda efflorescence so common in the country. It is afterwards allowed to settle and slowly crystallize, the crystals being removed, washed, dried, and melted in iron pans in their own water of crystallization; the fluid is then transferred into earthen ovoid jars for eight or ten days to re-crystallize 5 after this time the mass, which is generally hollow, is tapped and the unerystallized alum solution drained off, when the jars are broken and the alum is ready for sale. This account has been abbreviated from Dr. Fleming’s, which, on comparison, was found to possess his general accuracy of observation. Kaur Mimi. A shale containing sulphate of iron and alumina, probably from the Chita Wan, near Ghari, in the Salt Range, is mentioned in Mr. Baden-Powell’s work already quoted. It is most likely that these shales are part of the soft alum shale group just below the nummulitic beds. At all events, some shales associated with the black alum-shales are said to contain silky crystals of anhydrous protosulphate of iron. The shale is pounded and mixed with the mother liquid from the crystallization of the alum, after which the mixture is allowed to dry in the sun and again treated in the same way, the substance thus obtained assumes a tawny yellow colour, and consists of a mixture of alum and sulphate Kahi mitti. of iron, the latter largely predominating. This is called Za%z, and is used in dying leather or cloth grey or black.* The black mud of the sulphurous springs in the Bakh ravine is also used (in this way probably) by dyers. * Economic Resources of the Panjab, p. 67. Mr. Baden-Powell (l c., p. 11) gives the price at 7 tolahs 10 mashas to 10 tolahs per rupee. ( 302 ) ECONOMIC RESOURCES: GOLD. 303 In Mr. Powell’s book there are several references to ochre from the SEN Salt Range, &e. ; the only instance, however, in which the use of any of the ochreous beds of the district came under notice was in the colouring of cotton cloths of a dirty red, by soaking them in the muddy water of pools upon the red ground, formed of the flaggy and shaly group No. 8, in the eastern part of the range, near Sadand, above Jutána. GOLD. Gold is washed for in the Indus at Kálabágh, sometimes also in the est: Bunhär river bed at the other end of the range, and in several small streams along its northern flanks; the present source of the precious metal being the tertiary sand- stone formation, and apparently among the beds of the Lower Siwálik group. The process is not continuous, being only carried on after heavy falls of rain in the smaller streams, and in the Indus when floods permit. The amount realised can hardly be closely ascertained, for as the industry is taxed, it is the interest of the operators to conceal their gains. According to the best information obtainable, these fluc- tuate from 3 to 4 annas worth a day per man, this being generally thought rather above the average measure of success. CONCLUSION. I cannot conclude this record of the results of the examination of the Salt Range without acknowledging the valuable assistance received by the Officers of the Geological Survey, from the Political Officers of the Jhelam and Méawáli districts; from the Salt Department Officers— Mr. Wright, Mr. Matthews, Dr. Warth, Mr. Hickie, Mr. Weldon, Mr. Bolster, and others; as well as from Lieutenant DeWolski, R.E., on duty connected with the wire-rope tramway. ( 303 ) Fd I INDEX. A Page. Abnormal position of salt marl 150 Absence of organisms in salt series. 84 Accumulation area of salt limited 83 Age of salt marl : ZO Agha Abbas on Salt Range . : 6 Alluvium 114, 115, 125 silts older than 114 Alternations of salt marl and purple sandstone . 216, 230 Altitudes of range . ; er Alum, 277 ; factories, 7; shales, 239, 973 Amb glen 233, 240 —— village 237 Ammonites in carboniferous forma- tion 95, 221 Analysis of salt UT, Anticlinals near Sardı . 179, 192, 193 —— of Bakrála 121 A o Makräch 169 — of Mount Tilla . 11,12 Appendix, Trans-Indus hills 272 to Inland Customs Report 29 Area of Nürpur Plateau. 184 of salt exposures 81, 291 Arrangement of rock groups 65 Ascent from Khewra to Pid 163 Ascesines River 14 Assistance from District aid Salt Officers A 303 Atmospheric influences 60 Auriferous sands 115 B Page. Baden-Powell, references to Salt Range 2227 Básanwála . 137, 140 Bakh ravine 253 Bakrála ridge 38 Banded limestone 181 Bargir Kas . 259 Bazár Wán . 250 Beds below coal shales .. 106 dipping from axes of. Nilawán and Sardi ravines 25192 Belief that the saliferous masses had been produced by eruptive agency. 15 Between Jalár and Kávhád . 222 — Kánd ghat and Kávhád 220 - Varcha and Amb 232 - andthemines gorge 229 Bhäl carboniferous rocks . . 194 Blanford, H. F., Upheaval of Salt Range 232 Bone beds near Rolás 126 Boulder clays . . . 114 - zone . 125 —- at Nara glen . 129 ————-- large erratic at Khewra . 117 near Baganwala : ; lA Büdi Khel 256 Building-stones 298 Burnes, Lieut. A., account E Salt Range . : : . 5 ( 305 ) 306 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. Page. © Calcareous Tufa 119 Captain Strachey 10 Carbonaceous bands, Shuriwäli 256 Carboniferous formation 12 m limestone 93 ———- associated beds 93 —— sandy beds 93 ——— fossils 93 ————— sections 94 ——— — —— divisions by Fleming, &c. . 94 ——— ——— orthoceratites and ceratites . 1. 94 — ammonite 68, 95 — —— — —— magnesian rocks 68, 95 — —— ——— ground, features of . 96 ——-—— ——- commencement of 95 ———————— at Varcha 230 —— ————— — north-west of Kavhad 222 —— of Son plateau 204. appearance of, in Nil- awán , 190 Ceratite beds, Katwahi 216 _ carboniferous . 95 Chak Shuffi, series near 155 Chambal scarp 132 — section at 133 ——- dislocated ground near 133 ————- Mountain . 100, 107, 135 - — west 53, 149 Changes in purple sandstones series 237, 251 Characters of salt-erystal zone 98 Chél Hill : 144 Tertiary fossil leaves near 144 Chideru section 247 ——— Trias near . : 248 —— country north-west of 249 carboniferous . 249 ( 206) Page. Chideru hills, end of 250 Chichäli Pass : : 275 Choya-Ganj Alı Shäh valley 145 Choya-Saidun Shah . . 148 - valley 147 ———— ——— south-west of 148 Choya, west A 226 — Gorge and salt marl o 227 Classification of rocks of Salt Range 69 by Dr. Flem- ing . 13, 94 ————————— by Mr. Theo- bald X 17 — by D’Archiae and Haime 16 —————— — — byDr.Warth 29, 30 of Sub-Hima- . layan rocks Clay, lavender Cliffs near Bátli N Dandöt . : ————— Dangöt . ———— — sections Sardi —— Karüli ——— south of Núrpur plateau escarpment south of range Coal of Salt Range, Dr. Oldham on at Pid ——— so-called, of Nurwa — and coal shales — — Shales of Chámil — series of Makrach Karüli : of Báganwála, and section west of Arára. at Khewra Shales, fossils of - Katwáhi Color of copper shales 20 300 156 164 269 180 . 178 186 39 295 162 184 278 293 105 205 169 178 138 211 157 106 216 91 on AA INDEX. Page, Commencement of speckled sandstone 90 Composition of salt marl 71 of magnesian sandstone 88 of potash salt . 80 Conditions of production of salt 82 Conglomerate bands in silurian 87 — near Mari 266 — zone, Siwalik . 125 Conglomerates ea Connexion of Salt Range ith outer Himalaya N i - 2 Copper shales : Cost of carriage of salt in 1837 : 6 Country each side of Bakrála ridge. 122 above Makrách 214 ————— west of Khewra 219 ——— on each side of range 42 east of Künd ghat . 214 Cretaceous formation : . 108 - passage beds to west 103 — western beds, fossils 104. —-_—— distribution, where seen . 104 —- at Chichäli Pass, 276 Crushing and dislocation, eastern plateau 145 Crystalline boulder eae 87, 104, 117, 258 Crystals, pseudomorphic, after salt . 98 D Dandöt cliffs 164, plateau 41 coal 166 D'Archiac and Haime on Salt Range fossils AS Davidson, Mr., ditto. 15, 20, 21 de Koninck Salt Range fossils 22 Devonian, so-called . 12 Diagram of Salt Range series 69 Difference of carboniferous sections. 94 307 Page Difference of Salt Range nummuli- tic from that of other nummulitic areas : : 107 Disappearance of range at Indus 40 Diljaba Mountain : 123 Discovery of carboniferous ammon- ites , : : 05 Disintegration south of range 59 Disparity between Salt Range and Himalayan series . : 64 Distance of voleanie sources from area of salt marl . 83 Distribution of cretaceous 104 —— of salt marl BI P Disturbance . . 52, 102, 192 north of Jalálpur 131 Dolomite in gypsum o e oL TA in salt marl .133, 231, 277 Doubtfully two zones of hematite . 210 Drainage, Sardi glen . 193 —- of Salt Range 43, 45 E Early acquaintance with importance of Salt Range : : 1 ——- conditions of accumulation of salt marl . E : . 280 Eastern part of range 52 plateau 40 termination of Mount Tila. 124 cretaceous . . 108 limestone of Kahán plateau 170 Economic resources o . 283 Effect of rain (foot-note) : . 143 Elevation of Korána hills 14 of Salt Range 32, 56, 57 Elphinstone's Caubul : 4 Eocene 69, 105 Epitome of een Salt Range geology at Mount Tilla 130 CRS OA) 308 Page, Erosive agency al Erratie blocks . -117 Escarpment structure 59 at Jalälpur 136 west of Bäghanwäla 140 Essential features of the range 36 Exhalations, Kängrawäla hill 237 Extension of nummulitic 107 F Falconer, fossils determined by 18 Faults . 53, 54, 55, 56 — Bakrála ridge 121 near Jalálpur 135 ——— Mount Tilla . 127 ——— Warru Kas . A 213 — Makrách 174 -——- Pail . 198 ——- Varcha 234 Sakesar . 245 Features of Salt Range 36, de. — of carboniferous ground 96 First appearance of carboniferous 97 Fleming's Reports, &c. 9, 14, 14 and Theobald’s sub-divi- sion of carboniferous formation 94 Formation of salt pseudomorphs 100 Fossiliferous beds : 68 Fossils determined by de Verneuil’ 27 —— D'Archiac an Haime : RLO of carboniferous beds 93, &c. of jurassic beds 102 of Ronca type 103 of cretaceous beds 104 of lower nummulitic 106 leaves near Chél hill 144 Fresh springs 47 From Rotäs towards Tilla 126 Jalálpur eastward 38 Cam WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. Pags. G Galena . 300 Gamthála Kas (Gadala) 148, 169 General description tertiary sand- stones : 3 . 108 section near Karúli . . 178 Geographical situation of SaltRange 2 Geological examination of Salt Range 2 Geology, stratigraphic, of Salt Range 50 of country trans-Indus 210272 Glen leading from Pail to Katta 200 Golawäli Keri section 246 — to Chiderú 247 Gold 303 in Indus bed 270 Goragali Pass 122 Gorge between ee and She 228 229 Greatest contortion in west of range 52 Gredi hills o 42 Greenish sandstone, Varcha gorge 230 Gypseous band in Dandöt cliffs 166 Gypsum ‘ 4 : 73, 308 semi-anhydrite in ale — between Nilawän and Sardi 188 H Heematitic concretions 99 —— in Jurassic 101 Head of Choya gorge . 228 of Amb glen . 240 Height of salt marl at Gaal W.. 150 of Tredian hills 257 Hill shading ‘ : : 2 Hills near Katta 200 east of Katwahi 217 — west of Sakesar 245 Hot springs . 48 INDEX, 309 Page. Page. I Karängli hill and south-west of 146, Igneous rocks : 280 147 Important character of range " 1 Keraian: Dr. 9 Incoherent jurassic beds 102 | Karüli au : * - 177 Intensity of disturbance at Indus 53 | Katta section, &c. 209, 210 Interior of Mayo mines 77,285 | Katwähi 216 - Varcha mine . 931 Khura section 218 Im 283, 284 Kharián hills 135 Irregularity of speckled sandstone . 92 Khewra valley . 168 mU undaies 141 | Khuddera : 37, 115 Khyrabad hills section 262, 203 J Kieserite > E 80 1 Kohistan of Sind Saugur Doab 2 ee N reelle Ee 220 Jalálpur 134, 136 Küsak 156 Jalär trias . = 22822 jura à ; 224 Lake 63 L Jameson, Dr. ; 5 EN: 7 | Lacustrine or estuarine trias 101 - his reports. . f 8 | Lakes, Son plateau . 62 Jogi-ka-Tilla 3, &c. | Land slipping 187 Jood mountains " 3 : 2 | Large erratic blocks 138 Junction of tertiary sandstone and — size of marl exposure 149 nummulitie at Kalar Kahár 182 | Lavender clay 278 — of salt marl with tertiary 183 | Lime and magnesia , 279 -——— —- of jura and trias, Ghari 261 | Limestone nummulitic 105 Jurassic > , : 101 | List of previous publications x - lower part of 101 | — of fossils, Dr. Falconer's 18 - upper limits OZ || === - by de Koninck .- 23 ——- disturbance of 102 | —————-— by de Verneuil 15, 24 -— commencement of . 103 | —— — by Mr. Davidson 20 = thickness of 103 | Lithological similarity of trias to carboniferous 2 120907, K Local differences in salt-crystal zone. 99 ** Kahimitti” 302 - thickness of ditto . 130 Kahán plateau . Al | —- of salt pseudomorph Kalabagh salt workings 268, 289 zone , : 130 sections : 272 | Lower part of carboniferous , 246 up the Indus from . 269 - Siwalik - 210 Kalar Kahár 182, 184 | Lowest tertiary sandstone, Nahan . 109 Kängrawäla hill 239 | Lün or Gosai Nala . 274 ( 309 ) 310 Page. M Magnesian sandstone 87, 89, 90, 128, 142, 145, 155, 181 beds in trias 97 Major Vicary : SEO Makrách 169, 172, 173 salt marl . o 173 —— mines 174 Malót plateau 41, 175 Map used . ! : 4 2 Mariäla coal locality 167 Mari and neighbourhood 265 Marine erosion S OZ Mass of salt sent to Vienna exhibi- tion 131 Mayo salt mines 158 position in series . 159 section of ¿ 2005705 — relations of salt series near o 60 Medlieott, H., on Salt Range 19 Mines. 1, 5, 6, 11, 28, 77, 141, 150, 158, 162, 167, 174, 191, 231, 285, 294: Most easterly salt . . 141 Mount Jogi-ka-Tilla 3, 38, 124, 127 Mouth of Bazár Wán . 250 Munshi Mohun Lal . : PAIR Murree beds 124 Müsakhel 252 N Náli 213 Namal : 252 Naoshera post-tertiary 219 Neighbourhood of Kálabágh 270 Nila coal locality and rocks . 168 other rocks near 168 Nilawán ravine, silurian 188 - series west of gorge 189 — earboniferous beds appear- ing in 190 al ) WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. Page. Nilawán sections in . 190 — magnesian groups . 191 — volcanic rocks in œ ib. — salt in gorge B ib. — salt mines 1n ib. —— —-— disturbance in 192 ——- beds, dipping from . ib. — drainage of 193 — coal in ; \ 194 — Bhál carboniferous beds . 20. North-east of Tredian hill . 264 Northern slopes of range 53, 115 North-west of Bakh ravine . 255 Nummulitie limestone - 105 thiekening 139 ————— large development of . 105 —————— coal shales below ib. ——— other beds below 106 ————— — thickness of ab. — ——————— extension of 107 ———— differences of ib. ————— west of Bághanwála 142 — — — ——— of eastern plateau 143 —— — —— cliffs 175 —— — — — of Son plateau . 208 — ——-— — north of Khüra 219 —— pebbles in other terti- ary beds 266 Nürpur plateau 41 Nursingphoár 204, : fault . , 205 seetions at O Obolus or Siphonotreta Observations on Salt Range series . Ochre : Older silts than alluvium Oldham, Dr., on Salt Range —— on silurian salt Olive group sections : 206, 207, 208 INDEN. 311 Page, Page Organic traces in magnesian sand- Q stone : - - 88 | Quantity of sea-water necessary for Origin of rock salt . . . 8 the formation of Salt Range salt . 84 Ornamental stones . 299 | Quartz, bi-pyramidal crystals 268 —— in salt-pseudomorph 100 E NM S j : Rainfall 61 Orographic position of Salt Range . 51| i : a Range, variety of form of 37 Outer hills of Khewra valley 158 i Recent accumulations 113, 115 Outline of eastern plateau to east 143 ig OF No. 5 group 177 Red sandstone near Mariála 168 SR —- salt pseudomorph group 143 P —- salt marl O : —— composition of . a Pail 195, 196, 198, 199 A S T Bgm Passes and valleys of the Salt Range 43 | PEST UOTE TR OILS INTR ; ae : —- distribution and age of AS Peculiar position of strata, disloca- à i A on Veh a minerals in : ZO : : Relations between form of ground - markings on magnesian and structure 22059 sandstone. 153 x Himal 2 fossil of carboniferous lime- E is WEE DE 1 » dame. | 234 wi E ouring geologi- — shale band in purple . sand- se SEDES 281 at Mayo mines 160 stone 5 164 R SEI AER Peculiarities of copper shale. 92 : So i " “a ae s Petroleum of Salt Range 27, 48, 264, 297 T NP o Vu Pent m Phylloceras, carboniferous ZUR s a i 39 : Revenue from salt mines 290 Physical features 36 ; > Pid 162 Ridge from Sakesar to Namal 251 Ed Sera couse tel | Book x ed M us Plateau of salt range A * s ah 02 silt 116 Rocks of Bakrála ridge 120 above Dokri gorge . 222 R 2 QOL cou 198 Post-tertiary Ts len zuo a Tu Potash salt. Sons) WSC ST Sine 16 Powell, Baden, Mr., on Salt Range 27, 284 S Previous publications ; . 3 | Sadowál 152 Pseudomorphic salt-crystals . 98 | Sáheti 185 Pubbi or Khárián hills é 6 3 | Sakesar hill . . 243 Purple sandstone group 84 | Saliferous system . 7,10 exceptional shale in . 85 | Saline series . TE) thickness and distribution 86 | Salt 12, 13, 76, 213, 231, 284 unfossiliferous character of . 2b. structure of 78 ( su) 312 WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF Page. Salt, composition of—see Analysis 77 -—— lakes 46 —— of lakes 279 springs 48 — hill of Man 269 —— and sypsum . . 279 ——— deposits, size of 81 ——— of Sardi 180 — of Shuriwäla glen 256 series at Kusak . 155 of potassium 32, 80 of range not connected with that of trans-Indus salt region 3 of Mayo mines 285 Sardi mines 288 Varcha mines . ib. —— Kalabagh workings 289 at old Jutána mines ib. —— receipts from mines 290 supply of 291 —— — mines, new information 292 marl : 151 marl, stratification of .: 269 —— — —, Varcha 228, 230 among nummulitic and tertiary rocks 182 — sudden development of 149 of Khewra 58 Saltpetre . : s at, Samundri coal locality 167 Sangal Wan. 211 Sar valley 186 Sardi : : 178 Schlagintweit, R. de o . 24 Series above salt-marl 184 —— - of the Salt Range, d’Archiae and Haime . 16 in escarpment of Bághanwála 140 Sections in carboniferous 249 Dandót : 165 — of Sardi cliffs 180 ( 312 ) THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB. Page. Sections in Chellintun stream 194 — across Vasnál valley 197 — at Nursingphoár 208 — at Warru Kas AR 213 — Sulgi coal locality . 235 — at Amb (two) 238 — south of Sakesar 240 — west of Sakesar 245 — at Sirán-ki-dok 242 — at Bakh ravine 253 — at Bärgir Kas 260 — another at Kas 261 — at Chichäli Pass . 278 Short arrangement of groups of range y 65 Shuriwála glen : y .' 256 Silieified wood 140, 141 Silurian . 86, 161, 188 Similarity of its rocks to Murree beds . 124 Siphonotreta 87, 142 Sirán-ke-dok 241 Situation of Bakräla ridge 119 : and length of Salt Range. 3 Slips, Choya gorge 228 Sodhi : I 209 Solar evaporation theory to account for formation of salt ISS Son plateau 41, 201 Southern slopes of range 37, 171 — escarpments of range 53 South-east slopes of Diljaba Mt. 123 South-west extension of Mt. Tilla 129 Speckled sandstone . 90, 210 Stoliczka, F. 25 Strachey, Capt. : : 10 Sub-Himalayan rocks 20 Sudden development of salt-marl 349 Súmbla-kí-Vándi ; 266 Supposed glacial period : . 16 Sylvine 80 INDEX. 313 Page Page. T Trias salt-pseudomorph group 98 Table of Salt Range series 69 en 20a Tar rock : : 202 U Tendency of rocks to dip towards Up the Indus from Kálabágh 969 plains 187 Upper Siwalik 111 Tertiary rocks : . 69 | — glen, Varcha . A 232 sandstones, &e. 132, 140, 170, 16111854201 o2 | M —— —- and silurian in junction 134 Verlag da Kosa On Und vues = silicified wood in Tao les er Theobald, Mr. : 16 ERN Me his classification 17 iiis en Thickness of groups near Mt. Tilla 128 Naar eus of nummulitic limestone 186 WwW Thil and to the west . 136 | Warru Kas . 5 ENS Trap and volcanic 75, 161 | Warth, Dr. 28, 287 rocks overlying o. Kon his classifications 29, 30 Trias 65, 69, 223, 232 | Water parting 45 Ceratite group 96 | Wychler cliff 156 ( 313 ) Ms a; % ES xml IE VRR PR) LEY PAIS Ner MR YR Vins i ^T na T HAD N JON X LEN ' E Ba EN Te ap UA PLU V, WOES ECT. LN Y a >] m YEN W aa A i i , s E he) a wt Tut EAS rar P. N i we” ^ RAM: T CA y. P M. y | EA MA | M "b NE TUA M Ms i IDA A ^ joa f. No Y Rn Y x à alld MALUS ba" LN tery TAY APN ee y AO ; ; TON : 5 AUN AERA PAS s a MIS MS ey ARH a EN PRIN) Wyme: Geology of the Salt Range GEOLOGICAL SURFEY a ] Ft a Kot | Y EN I hol au TR X SS SEEN N i N o goma lata SS (Lio Me Jivatu Kart. S SA i —Dfooretaf c i NEN lar aS Lie sw - Wf % 19710 < ee = SA ^ / N Art T 5 / > IE M | yc es MON J i T , * Ec AN i \ LL N Rorate d ^ | iU poy ali Drato? 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S wald, © Boredfeanee 3 = o > Pp y K 3774 N = i e Jun Bun la Tibbee » + Es p zu Bun Zu =< N di : ZN Bukshoowalas o \ o Meenayec = E la. >) D ne ^ e — Ñ, > A ^ \ a ee s AJ \ : DU ax ; \ sii he Mir EN : / = a BERN I, D her X Moondawatd -— : : / = n y à E - Y UN 3 rdi ^ \ = p = = , ai | torwa | / ET $ 3 SEE j Es : s AN 4 h Yee \ Poorana Dfogrt s x | à M E f Xe T NS S NES oen ac ; E p o. 4 Puto), E ue ed oPindee Z| Sajeewnda > e Van Buchs camping Ground E Waher } E ^ ` N: / z 3 | : NA » > Bhurkum / NS > ) ces "4 ¿Dhok: Sukratee f \ N NOT. izin Mulkkvarwala / » ‘ Apt Eun oNvorwalle Fliebükshwala Glew Uu o, oShadeenw? | Minara or Kadshahwakı X > 2 v a > ae, \ : Dulloo na a” as Nis x. 2 Shadean \ as 2 a bare = a © Dhiralanwala 9 x P. " Hulkfemwala 7 pa T E 4 R lá Akbar m N dtadhara / N E 7 / o oora 3 a: = E Dad Khewa 3. ruliala (Tow: Ninabrala / \ / ger f A j y = a E E N = Turkanwäl: / Y / Sundra == p ©Soollanewala on / S nar. Shu Bor OBERT: oSkadeewala, > A \ / Noorwanuh au > E Y ^ q > x S A : / FEE rU AUN 2 y ee - ud ; ; N a \ o Hubeebwala. SN A SEN of = ES erkennen E i ) / @wherds Houses N \ ©. Tibba Ran Faluk Oosmaravala., 1 / o DurgaA ERSTEN S y lekewazi s Wan kyla T ba \ = Es de Dala P Fecrklags kee Sokan 2 Kucheewaluhi E Kylekewan Wan Kyla To bah . SE ; Uhucttee Batra sl cm s à ¡Wan 3 TES. o o Vovrawhla if ®Loharwala E Shaheedanwala Tami T$9' N Cunmvala> ula: Bory Jeendawala = y N | A 2 Bukhur 1 : y Drellzewala © 79 Rx mhosainwala $ & NE, 7 V USAN RN ex MU Shahwala N za \ \ _— Parana. Hadilee ð \ \ e p Malhawala = mvalz Wide E 5 Tobah Lalwala ~ E: * us | MITTA TOANUB | 0 = = = SS d — = 7, El ae = S 712 Calcutts, January Taken trom Sheets Nos, 16 and 29 of the Atlas of Indis. \OF INDIA Memoirs. Vol. XIV, e fona © Haddla ! Mochal o Shaik oKoomar XL Mis nal E Qu d Bulkobgarh D SEN a ox N N N, us. B DEN S uleelp! a mi 0 ee os N > D «A my NS TAE EN SV = A N) AQ SRR a lo Rac&Chund Coeur, N S \ ss ma aq E US SD Hodia orinbur Esawal ardo Tahur: Jemmwalah, 97999. efhukoree 2 Noon. have ree Thundo Svod. Mamowaly ° = N / AN zz | S aj e Tinjan us Ina Kot Ooinbar y Ka ; NZ ON u cineris idus Toorak á 1 ar E Noor Jernal Barnali 7711 Theyy poU y Chak Yandran A / hadi oor Obelisk: \ / Pee Cheelee; \ / GL ID ERR Dem \ ‚ala 2 i aee INGUH LCS Thich DPhingwat Det Med S f Spr L | ES iowa > an ke o : Ket Adinana Ag. A adowal, d e 9 o HH Kapoor a Pee A Y PE á — I ESA INDEX. GAS Vr i FA huk Duddan b West Salt-Range. East Salt-Range. Rypoor s fian Kane, EN Kalus. C EN —— S p mE Alluvium & Sub-Recent Jet = Conglomerate \ D ) Que Cuttee Pa = E etaik > | Cuore M REANEES — z Canet Roshunpoor 3 Upper Tertiar: DS Longer dcc pp y Ahmedab > \ ; I^ Puharee Kuslee Middle Tertiary 4 Fort | c BHERAH 25 : ^ 92 Lynpooro Lower Tertiary Nummulitic: Subathu, Hummulo _ = Coal band at base GEOLOGICAL MAP T. "Onde OF THE E TÉ Triassic S Sea Triassic f Dhoddee D D S D Sudda Kumboh U N J N) a P 5 a a Magnesian Sandstone EU IE 7] Carboniferous : Obolus- or Siphonetreta-band: Silurian Seale 4 Miles — 1 Inch. Unicos Seda Sandstone 1:253440 2 Lower or Purple Sandstone Í -Redmarl & Gypsum with Rock-salt t — má GENERAL'S OFFICE, 1879. : LIBRARIE SMITHSONIAN INSTIT TION INN DI | IN 3 9088 4 5936 01311 et