we ^ v MPa mim i ЕЕ SQ Tr Qn n s rit o | | [ nte Memor Were tem at شاوی‎ ЄЗ pri MEMOIRS GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. MEMOIRS OF THE CROLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. VOL. XVII. PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR GENERAL OF INDIA ; IN COUNCIL. CALCUTTA: PRINTED FOR THE GOYERNMENT OF INDIA. SOLD-AT THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OFFICE, OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF GOVERNMENT PRINTING, : AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS, LONDON: TRUBNER & CO. MDCCCLEAXXX. 14 48! CALCUTTA : OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF GOVERNMENT PRINTING. 1880. CONTENTS. ArT. 1.—The Geology of Western Sind, бу W. T. BrANFORD, A.R.S.M., F.R.S., &c., Deputy Superintendent, Geological Survey. Е PART I.—GENERAL DESCRIPTION. CHAPTER —I.—Introduetory . D II.—Physieal Geography » III.—Geological Formations PART II.—DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS. CHAPTER IV.—The Khirthar Range from the northern extremity of Sind to the Nari Nai : з : : V.—Hills near Sukkur and Bo‏ و " VI.—Southern Khirthar, Bhit, and Badhra Бон; УЙ the Sein. bourhood of Manchhar Lake Ха VIL—The Laki Range, including the Disco. ikon Turn Meri Lohi, Daphro, Eri, and Surjäna Hills, together with the country between the Range and the Indus, the H ydera- bad Hills, and the tract of hilly country near Jhirak and Tatta . » VIIL—The south-western: nen of the КОО @ ates odi ing the Upper Báran Valley, west of the Laki Range, the Habb Valley, and the country north-east and east of Kará- chi as far as Bhule Khan's Thána and Jungsháhi AÀPPENDIX— . Note on the rocks seen near the Coast between Karáchi and Sonmiáni BART Lin; CHAPTER IX.— Economic Geology . Distribution of the Fossils described by Messrs. р Акснтлс and Harme in the different Tertiary and Infra-Tertiary Groups of Sind, by Е. FEppEN, A.R.S.M., F.G.S,, Geological Survey of India У А { 101 108 189 197 vi CONTENTS. Акт. 2.—On the Trans-Indus extension of the Punjab Salt- Range, . We by А. B. WYNNE, F.G.S., &c., Geological Survey of India. CnarrER — IL—Introductory .. ground IIT.—Geology 33 PART II.—DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS. SECTION I.—Neighbourhood of Kálabágh II.—The Chichäli range and mountains to the north . III.— The Maidan range IV.— The double chain of the Marwat did Kháso: Hills V.—Shekh Eudin Günd VI.—The Bhattani Hills $t 39 3 1I.— Relations between the structural geology and the form of the Prate І. п. ПІ. IV. WAL LIST OF PLATES. Frontispiece.—View of the northern extremity of the Laki range from the Indus near Sehwan. (From a drawing by Mr. Wynne.) To face page 25.—Sketch map, showing hill ranges, rivers, and division into the sections described in different Chapters. To face page 87.—Sections of Khirthar and Laki range— Ете. 1.—Section of the Khirthar range at Bandoji Kabar. . 2,—8Section of the same at the head of the Salärı Nai. „ 3.—Section across Sulphur spring ravine, Laki. » 4.—Section across Dháran range at Dháran Lak. 39 To face page 89.— General section of the Khirthar range on the northern bank of the Gaj river. To face page 129.—Sections of Laki range— Fig. 1.—Section at Jakhmari peak. 2.—Section through Barrah Hill. 3.—Section through Bor Hill. 4.—Section from Pokran to Ranikot. 39 25 » To face page 157.—Sections in South- Western Sind. Fre. 1.—Sketch section of hill range west of Baran Valley near Bachiäni. , 2.—Sketch section from the Bil scarp to the Gabbar plain. _ 3.—Sketch section from the Miher to the Mol plateau, across the Kand Valley. 2 22 Prime T. II. TIT. IV. Uo Poena LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. MAPS. Рай. General map of range. Neighbourhood of Kálabágh 5 : 5 254 Shekh Budin Hills 298 VIEWS. Shekh Budín Hils, from the south (Frontispiece), The Takht-i-Sulemán, from Paniála 991 The anticlinal at Mulla-khel 5 : s; 995 The Darwáza, Chichali Pass ` 955 The Harma Kas, Muila-khel 962 Siwalik conglomerate and sandstone, Basti Algad 270 FIGURES. Sketch section across part of Kálabágh Hill at Pakli Kas E Sketch section north of Kálabágh 956 Sketch section in the Chicháli Pass . Section over Chicháli (Shingarh) range : 5 А : Sketch section of the hills near Mulla-khel ° А 1 Sketeh section north end of Khasor range : Junction of the conglomerate and underlying beds of Basti Algad at the petroleum sources . : с 2 : Junction at Ghulámi between carboniferous and boulder eae : Section of the Kingriáli cliffs : x Section over Shekh Budin 5 ; ; Diagram east end of Shekh Budín Hill : Д : Diagram of a small section near the Pezu ascent to Shekh Budín 290 293 MEMOIRS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. MEMOIRS OF THE CI OLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. VOL. XVII, Pr. 1. 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: TRUBNER & CO, MDOCCL XXIX, CALCUTTA : OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF GOVERNMENT PRINTING. 1879. CONTENTS. Paar Part I.—GENERAL DESCRIPTION. CHAPTER I.—Introductory . б ; х 5 : ; k А і 1 » II.— Physical Geography 5 . : о : ; 5 22 5 IIT.—Geological Formations . : i | е Я б е, Part II.—DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS. CHAPTER IV.—The Khirthar Range from the northern extremity of Sind to the Nari Nai . : ó : : 5 ) : s T М V.—Hills near Sukkur and Rohri : : s 101 J VI.—Southern Khirthar, Bhit, and Badhra Ba with he in bourhood of Manchhar Lake Д . 108 » VIL—The Laki Range, including the БОО, бен, Tiyún, Meri, Lohi, Daphro, Eri, and Surjána Hills, together with the country between the Range and the Indus, the Hyderabad Hills, and the Tract of hilly country near Jhirak and Tatta . 122 » VILIL—The south-western portion of the Karachi Collectorate, including the Upper Báran Valley, West of the Laki Range, the Habb Valley, and the Country north-east and east of Karáchi as far as Bhule Khan's Thána and Jungsháhi . А : . 155 APPENDIX— Note on the rocks seen near the Coast between Karachi and Sonmiani à К 3 А j х 3 . 189 Part ILI. CHAPTER IX.—Economie Geology . : Е ; f Р 5 : . 192 Distribution of the Fossils described by Messrs. D’ArcHıac and Haime in the different Tertiary and Infra-Tertiary Groups of Sind, by F. FEDDEN, AsR.S.M., F.G.8., Geological Survey of India . : : ; ; Уу PLATE I. III. IV. VI. LIST OF PLATES. JFrontispiece.— View of the northern extremity of the Laki range from the Indus near Sehwan. (From a drawing by Mr. Wynne.) To face page 25.—Sketch map, showing hill ranges, rivers, and division into the sections described in different Chapters. To face page 87.—Sections of Khirthar and Laki range— Fre. 1.— Section of the Khirthar range at Bandoji Kabar. », 2.—Section of the same at the head of the Salári Nai. » 9.—Section across Sulphur spring ravine, Laki. » 4.—Section across Dháran range at Dháran Lak. To face page 89.—General section of the Khirthar range on the northern bank of the Gáj river. | To face page 129.—Sections of Laki range— Fra. 1.—Section at Jakhmari peak. ^.» %.—Seetion through Barrah Hill. » 9.—BSection through Bor Hill. » 4.—Section from Pokran to Ranikot. To face page 157.—Sections in South-Western Sind— Fie. 1.—Sketch section of hill range west of Bäran valley near Bachiäni. » 2.— Sketch section from the Bil scarp to the Gabbar plain. » 3— Sketch section from the Miher to the Mol plateau, across the Kand valley. EN бЕр, ШУТ Del кл P CLEA 1o 2 E Tho" Ev "NYMH3S LY SNAN! JHL NO prr “Ўхтпашпеуз р maa auulM TV тла MAX ‘TOA strove yy А. paogpusg[g ХАЛШ HU AON hs. vee) OO a 4 MEMOIRS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. Tus Groroey or WESTERN Sinp—By W. T. BLANFORD, A.R.M.S., F.R.S., &c., Deputy Superintendent, Geological Survey. PART I. GENERAL DESCRIPTION. CHAPTER I.—INTRODUCTORY. The area to be described in the present memoir comprises that portion of the province of Sind or Sindh! which Area described. З à р lies west of the Indus, and especially the hilly portions of the Karáchi and Shikárpur Collectorates, together with the curious isolated ranges of limestone hills to the east of the Indus in Northern or Upper Sind near Rohri, and in Southern or Lower Sind near Hyderabad. Eastern Sind, and especially the district of Thar and Pärkar, lying north of the Ran of Kachh (Cutch), has not yet been examined 1n detail. | Before proceeding with the deseription of the province of Sind, a few words are necessary to show how important is an accurate knowledge of the geology as a guide to that of other parts of British India.. It is unnecessary to recapitulate here what has been explained fully ! The names of the province of Sind and of the river called the Indus by Europeans, are really identical; and Hindu, Hindustan, and India itself are all derived from the same source, the letters S. and Н. being interchangeable, and the last frequently disappearing in the process of representing Oriental names by European equivalents. The old name of the Indus is Sindhu. There is а Muhammadan story about the name of Sind being derived from Sindh, the brother of Hindh and son of Noah. ү Б.) Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, Vol. X VII, Art. 1, 9 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. in the recently published Manual of the Geology of India' further than Difference between to recall the circumstance that there is a wide dis- ee = Tadia, tinction between the geological formations found in the Peninsula of India and those occurring in the neighbouring regions, and that the two areas have had a very different geological history, the peninsula of India having probably been land ever since middle palæozoic times at least, whilst the extra-peninsular regions have frequently been covered by sea. In several parts of these extra-peninsular regions—in Burma, the Assam hills, the Himalayas, the Punjab, and Sind—tertiary rocks occur in great profusion, and in most of the regions named some of these tertiary beds contain marine fossils. This is pre- maaa Ge Sind eminently the ease in Sind: not only are fossils geology. abundant, but it has long been known that more than one formation is represented, and it has for years past been suspected that a much fuller series of marie tertiary beds exists in Sind than in other parts of the British possessions in India. This suspicion has been fully verified by the examination of the province. Two other advantages are offered by the country west of the Indus— the absence of the forest, which renders surveying so difficult and uncer- tain in many parts of India and Burma, and the cireumstance that large collections of fossils from this region have been carefully examined and described by competent European paleontologists. The fossils, however, although well figured and described, have hitherto nes of Sind т been almost кзз аз à gn to the relations a certain. the beds containing them in various parts of India, because the formations in Sind remained unclassified, and it was uncer- tain from what part of the series particular species had been obtained. In the great French work, to which numerous references will be found in the following pages, the ** Description des animaux fossiles du groupe nummulitique de l'Inde," by Viscount D’Archiae and M. Jules Haime, Sub-divisions of ter. ib was clearly shown that fossils from several Ату ремен BUONO: sub-divisions of the tertiary series were represented 1 Introduction, pp. ii, vii, xi, &c. INTRODUCTORY. 5 amongst the Sind collections. The examination of the country has proved that these sub-divisions are even more numerous,and extend throughout a greater duration of geological time, than was suspected. . Unfortunately the detailed examination and de- scription of the large collections made by the survey from the Sind rocks have only been commenced, and only the Examination of fossils. more common and conspicuous species have hitherto been clearly identi- fied, and their position in the series determined. Stil the knowledge of the position oceupied by characteristic species of foraminifers, corals, echinoderms, and mollusks in the sequence must aid in the correlation of fossiliferous beds in other parts of India. Another advantage of Sind is that it is nearer to Europe than most Neighbourhood of Sind parts of India, and that the rocks form the eastern rocks to European form- à В : : ations. prolongation of a tract of tertiary beds believed to be eontinuous with the well-known formations on the shores of the Mediterranean. For these reasons it has for many years past been desirable that the Previousarrangements geology of Western Sind should be examined in a, о detail. The maps of the province were completed by the Revenue Survey in 1870, but before they were quite complete, all the most important areas had been mapped, and it was proposed to commence the geological examination of the province in 1869. Owing, however, to still more urgent demands upon the survey party at first selected for the work, the seasons 1869-70 and 1870-71 were devoted to some of the eoal-fields in the Central Provinces. In 1871, I was again directed to commence the survey of Sind, but the work had once more to be postponed, in consequence of my being appointed to accompany the Perso-Baluch boundary commission. Finally, at the close of 1874, Mr. Fedden was despatched to the usas Gies tn provinee, and I joined him early in 1875. The BHEVey whole of the three working seasons, 1874-75, 1875-76, and 1876-77, were devoted by Mr. Fedden to the examination of Central and Western Sind, and I was engaged in the area during the (3) 4 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. greater part of the same time, a portion of the season 1875-76 being employed by me in a traverse of Eastern Sind and of the desert inter- . vening between Sind and Rájputána. The greater portion of Lower Sind, comprising the larger area, was mapped by Mr. Fedden; the hills of the Shikárpur Collectorate, and a few detached traets in Lower Sind, such as parts of the Laki hills, and the Habb valley, by myself. The present memoir has been eompiled from Mr. Fedden's reports and my own. Besides his work in the field, Mr. Fedden has compared and deter- Comparison of fossils mined a large proportion of the fossils collected. collected. Professor Rupert Jones, one of the highest living authorities on Foraminifera, very kindly examined a series of the num- mulites and some allied forms, so that most of the identifications of this most important but diffieult group may be depended upon. Professor Martin Duncan has been so good as to undertake the examination and description of the corals, but it is to be feared that the results of his labour will not be received in time for use to be made of it in the present memoir. The identifications of Mollusca and Echinodermata are by Mr. Fedden and myself. Two notices of the principal results of the Geological Survey of Published notices of Sid have already been published in the “ Records survey results. of the Geological Survey of Indial,” and a general description of the geology 18. given in the Manual of the Geology of India? The preparation of this Manual has, however, taken so much time that the present memoir has been delayed until two years have elapsed since the survey of the province was eompleted. Although much has been written on the geology of Sind, the number of previous observers, before the examination by the Geological Survey commenced, was small, and most of the published observations related to the paleontology alone. The first, and for many years the only, deseription of the geology of Previous observers. * Vol. ix, 1876, p. 8, and Vol. хі, 1878, p. 161. ` * Pages 445 to 476. INTRODUCTORY. 5 Sind published was that by Captain N. Vicary,! who in 1845 made a journey from Karachi to Sukkur, and visited on the way some of the ranges west of Sehw4n and the outer hills of the Khirthar range at the Gáj river. Unfortunately his visit to the Gáj was cut short by want of supplies, and his intentions of re-visiting the section, the importance of which he recognized, were frustrated by the news he received of the preparations for the Punjab campaign. ‚ Captain Vicary, in his paper, described the rocks around Kar schi, and especially the * arenaceo-calcareous rock ” found in the vicinity. This he correctly recognized as of later date than the nummulitic limestone. He was, however, mistaken in supposing that the rocks around Munga Peer (Mugger Peer) were nummulitic, and he was apparently under the erroneous impression that the “nummulitic limestone of the Hala range” extended to Cape Monze. From Karachi he marched to Kotri by a road passing for part of the distance near the course now followed by the railway, but running much more to the northward near Jung- shähi. At first he appears to have identified the rocks correctly, but in the neighbourhood of Kotri he evidently confounded the infra-nummu- litie beds (Ranikot) with the upper nummulitic yellow limestones (Nari), From Kotri to Sehwán he traversed the low hills and the plain alter- nately, never going far from the river Indus. He gives a section of the hill range at the Laki hot spring, but he is again mistaken in his identi- fieation of the rocks near the spring with the groups overlying the typical nummulitie limestone. From Sehwän he went to Tahäni (Treenee), on the Manchhar Lake, which he supposed to have been excavated by the Indus in former times, and thence he marched vis Shah Hassan, at the western end of the lake, to Gáza Pir. He gives an excellent description of the remarkable tufa deposits formed by the hot spring near that locality, and appears to have identified the rocks near Gáza Pir, and especially the miocene beds (his Vicary, 1847. 1 Note on the geological structure of parts of Sind. Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. 1847. Vol, iii, pp. 334 to 349 ; reprinted in Carter's Geological papers on Western India, p. 501 m) 6 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. No. 6) correctly. From Gaza Pir he traversed the alluvial plain to the Gáj (Gauj), where he examined only the outer hills composed of pliocene (Manchhar) conglomerates, clays, and sandstones, and noticed that they rested on the non-nummulitie formation, which he correctly identified with the rock of Karáchi. He found bones in the conglo- merates, and made an aeute remark upon the resemblance between the beds in Sind and those of the Siwalik hills, near Náhan. From the Gáj he marched to Sukkur, across the alluvium of the Indus. | The following is the classification adopted for the formations in Sind А by Captain Vicary, a classification which has ts A repeatedly been quoted in geological works. The series is given in descending sequence, and opposite to each group is marked the supposed equivalent in the system adopted by the survey :— Groups of Captain Vicary. Geological survey groups. 1. Conglomerate . : 5 : © А 2. Clays and sandstone 3. Upper bone-bed : Manchhar (pliocene and per- 4." Sandstone ; fossils rare : , 200, haps upper miocene). 5. Lower bone-bed 6. Coarse caleareo-arenaceous rock with Cy- therea exoleta and C. exarata; Spatangi, ~ Gáj (miocene). no nummulites. 7. Pale arenaceous limestone with Hypponyces, у Nari (?) (Oligocene or upper nummulites and Charoidee. 3 Eocene). 8. Nummulitic limestone of the Hala range . Khirthar (Eocene). 9. Black slates, thickness unknown з n (?) Considering how rapid was Captain Vicary’s march, and how small a time—less than two months—he devoted to an examination of the country, it is remarkable how good an idea he formed of the relations of the beds, That he should occasionally have failed to identify the groups correctly, was only to be expected in a hurried journey through new formations, many of them very ill-exposed, for he was unable to follow the groups, or even to keep to the parts of the country where the rocks were well seen. It is indeed rather surprising, in the face of his repeated and perfectly accurate observation as to the position of his о) INTRODUCTORY. FEET group No. 6, that the presence of this distinctly miocene formation should not have been recognized by palzontologists earlier than was the case, and that its characteristic fossils, such as C/ypeaster and Breynia, should so long have been classed as eocene. Captain Vieary's No. 7 is much less distinctly identified. It is difficult to tell what fossils he referred to as ‘< Hypponyees ;" but from a remark of his at page 343, that portions of some broken specimens were ene inch and a half in thickness, it is not improbable that he was alluding to shells of Nerita schmideliana, the upper surface of which is patelliform.! As the species is not found in the Nari beds, it 1s evident, as indeed is manifest from other facts, that Captain Vicary confounded part of the Khirthar group, and also some beds of the inferior Ranikot formation, with the Nari group, which is certainly his No. 7 in places, e.g., at page 339. His group No. 9, “ black slates,” must, I think, have been some of the dark-coloured shales which are interstratified in places with the nummulitie limestone. One part of Captain Vicary’s observations was singularly unfor- tunate. Misled by the imperfect maps of the period, which represented one range of hills extending down the right bank of the Indus from the Punjab to the sea, he seems to have confounded every hill he saw to the westward of his journey with a mythical ‘ Hala range.’ He thought he saw this range running out into the sea at Cape Monze; he observed it again west of Kotri; he climbed to its summit at Gaza Pir; and he penetrated its outskirts at the Сај river. Now, this Hala range was as utter a myth, as the mountains of the moon, and instead of one great range of nummulitie limestone, as Vicary seems to have supposed, there are several ranges entirely distinct from each other, and not always com- posed of the same rocks. Moreover, not one of these ranges is now or ever was known in the country as the Hala range. Had the matter ended here, it would have mattered little, but this mythical Hala range has a charmed life in geological works, and, with the Hydra-like vitality of error, will doubtless survive, in association with the imaginary 1] formerly (Rec. б. S. I., 1876, ix, p. 10 note), having overlooked the remark quoted. above, suggested that the Aypponyces of Captain Vicary might be Lunulites. (abro 8 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. voleano of Denodhar, in Cutch, to amuse future Indian geologists. At least one-half of the fossils collected by Vicary, and perhaps by others, appear to have been labelled < Hala range, and all hope of discovering whence they were obtained is consequently lost. Even within the last few years I have heard some of my own collections described as from the Hala range? by European geologists. An earlier paper of Vicary’s, entitled a “ Geological Report on a portion of the Beloochistan hills, refers to the ranges north of Jacoba- bad inhabited by the Bugti and Marri tribes. This tract is beyond the area described in the present memoir. The only two contributions of any great importance to the geology of Sind besides Vicary’s are, the first mainly, the second purely, compilations, so far as the geology itself is concerned, the only important original work in both being paleontological. The first of these is contained in a series of papers by Dr. H. J. Carter, published, for the most part, in the Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatie Society. It will be as well to notice these papers in order. "The earliest, entitled * Geological observa- tions on the composition of the hills and alluvial soil from Hyderabad, in Sind, to the mouth of the river Indus,"? published 1n 1844, merely contains а few notes on the rocks, and is accompanied by poor figures of a few fossils, Nautili, Nummulites, $c. The next paper, “ On Foraminifera, their organization, and their existence im a fossilized state in Arabia, Sindh, Kutch, and Khattyawar,"? appeared in 1849. This paper relates solely to the structure of the organisms described, and in no way treats of their geological relations. Omitting notice of some other papers on Fora- minifera, the next in order is a short “Note on the pliocene deposits of theshores of the Arabian Sea,”* published in 1853. Some specimens of the “ strata from the neighbourhood of the harbour” at Karächi, collected by Major Turner, showed that the rock consisted of blue clay, with lignite, Carter, 1844—1861.. ! Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc., 1846, ii, p. 260. ? Jour. B. Br. Roy. As. Soc., ii, pp. 40—43. ? Jour. B. Br. Roy. As. Soc., iii, part I, pp. 158—173. * Jour. B. Br. Roy. As, Soc., iv, pp. 445—448. INTRODUCTORY. 9 upon which rested conglomerate, and Dr. Carter pointed out that a similar formation occurred throughout the whole western coast of India, and was found also in part on the'south-eastern coast of Arabia and on. the African coast and islands opposite. Some of the formations thus classed together have since been shown to be of a very different age from others, and it is not quite clear whether the blue clay of Karáchi belonged to the pliocene Manchhar beds, or whether it was a sub-recent deposit, no details being given as to its mode of occurrence.! It will be best to notice together Dr. Carter's two eise] papers on Sind Foraminifera, although there is a wide difference between the dates of publication, the first having appeared in 1853,? the second in 1861, after the publication of D’Archiac and Haime’s monograph of the genus Nummulites, noticed below, in which (pp. 342 and 343) some of Dr. Carter's earlier identifieations are reviewed and corrected, and of that of Dr. Carpenter's papers on Foraminifera, published in the Philosophical Transac- Dr.CartersSind Fora. tions.“ In Dr. Carter's papers the genera noticed minifera. are Nummulina or Nummulites, Assilina, Operculina, Alveolina, Orbitoides, Conulites, nov. gen. (= Patellina), Orbitolina, Cyclo- lina —(Orbitolites), Heterostegina, Cycloclypeus, Orbwulina, and Orbitolites. The species described from Sind are the following :— 1. Operculina, sp. subsequently named O. tattaensis by D’Archiac and Haime. Specimens agreeing with Dr. Carter’s description, and procured at the same locality by Mr. Fedden, who identified them, are considered by Prof. 1Tf, as appears far from improbable, the clay was obtained from the bore at Ghizri, made by Major Turner, of which a section is given in a later paper of Dr. Carter’s (Jour. B. Br. Roy. As. Soc., Vol. v, p. 300), the formation was Daun miocene (Gäj), as it was classed by Dr. Carter in the latter paper quoted, 2 «Description of some of the larger forms of fossilized Foraminifera in Sind, with observations on their internal structure’—Jour. В. Br. Roy. As. Soc., v, pp. 124—141 ; Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Series 2, Vol. xi, p. 161; Geological Papers on Western India, p. 533. ` 3 Further observations on the structure of Foraminifera, and on the larger Fossilized Forms of Sind, &c., including a new genus and species,— Jour. B. Br. Roy. As. Soc., vi, pp. 31—96; Annals and Magazine, Natural History, Series 3, Vol. viii, pp. 246, 309, 366, 446 ; Pls. xv, хут, XVII; the plates, which are of great assistance in determining the species, are omitted in the Bombay edition. 41856, pp. 181, 547; 1859, p. 1; 1860, p. 535. 9 i) 10 =ч Ф OQ ص © 10. ДЕ, 14. 19, BLANFORD : GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. Rupert Jones to be a form of Nummulites spira. They are, however, a very marked and peculiar variety, and may perhaps retain the name tattaensis. They have only been found in lower eocene (Ranikot) beds. Assilina irregularis, Carter. This is, according to D’Archiac and Haime, Num- mulites spira, a view accepted by Dr. Carter. А. sp. This is Nummulites exponens, according to D'Archiac and Haime, a view accepted by Dr. Carter. А. obesa, sp. nov., described in the second paper. This is very near Nummulites granulosa. Nummulina sp. Nummulites carteri, D'Archiac and Haime. N. obtusa, Sow. N. perforata, D'Orb. Dr. Carter, in his second paper, records his belief that N, obtusa is not distinguishable, a view which is probably correct. N. biaritzensis, D'Archiac and Haime. N. sublevigata, D’Archiac and Haime ; doubtfully identified in Dr. Carter's earlier paper with Nummularia acuta, Sow, (N. scabra). Insome remarks on the localities and geological position of this species, Dr. Carter notes that it is found in yellow limestone in Sind, and at Muscat and Masira in Arabia, and he suggests rightly that this yellow limestone (Nari) is newer than the great: white limestone (Khirthar). It is curious that Dr. Carter appears not to have met with N. garansensis, the constant associate of N. sublevigata. Fasciolites elliptica, Parkinson,— Alveolina elliptica — Alveolina ovoidea, D'Orb. Alveolina melo. A. (Melonites) spheroidea. Dr. Carter, in his second paper, considers both these last species as varieties of A. elliptica. Messrs. D’Archiac and Haime appear to doubt the occurrence of the first. Two forms of Alveolina are found in Sind, one much more common than the other. Orbitoides dispansa (Lycophris dispansus, Sow.). О. (Lycophris) ephippium, identical with the last. О. pratti. This is also identified with О. dispausa ; but if this is correct, the species is probably not the true Orbitolites pratti of Michelin. Orbitolites mantelli, H. J. C. The species thus identified is Orbitoides papyracea, (О. fortisi). This might be gathered from the description, but it is conclusively proved by the cireumstance that the species is said to be found in yellow lime- stone with Nummulites sublevigata. O.sp. Subsequently considered a variety of the last. Itis the large form of О, papyracea, so common in the Nari beds. Conulites cooki, gen. et sp. nov. Patellina cooki,—see Carpenter’s Introduction Foram., Royal Society, 1862, p. 229. Orbitolina sp. From Buran (? Báran) river. 1 Prof. Rupert Jones, to whom I sent specimens of N. obtusa, marked them N. perforata, var. obtusa. ГА i \ 10 ) INTRODUCTORY. je 20. Cyclolina peduncalata, Carter. An Orbitolites, as subsequently recognized by Dr. Carter, and distinet from O. complanata, Lam. included by D'Archiac and Haime with doubt in the Sind fauna. Dr. Carter’s most widely known contribution to the history of Sind geology is, however, that contained in his * Summary of the Geology of India, between the Ganges, Indus, and Cape Comorin," originally pub- lished in 1854,! and reprinted with additional notes in 1857.2 Western Sind is of course outside of the area as defined, but still the rocks are repeatedly mentioned, and all the information then existing about them is quoted. "The information was not extensive, and in fact was little more than that supplied by Vieary. The occurrence of nummulitic limestone at Hyderabad, Rohri, Dajikote (Kot Deji), Sukkur, near Karáchi, and in the Hala range, is noticed, and Vicary’s section quoted; “lower blue clay,” referred to miocene in the original paper, but subsequently, in deference to D’Archiac and Haime’s views, classed as eocene, is said to be found at Karáchi, a section at Ghizri being quoted; and Vicary’s bone- beds and gravels are classed with the ossiferous conglomerates of Perim Island, the Nerbudda, the Godavari, and the Jumna, and placed with the blue clay in the first edition, but removed from it and considered apparently as pliocene in the second. The rocks described at Minora by Vicary are called pliocene, and it is suggested that the hills at Jhirak (Jerruck), which rest on blue clay, may be of the same formation (they are really lower eocene or Ranikot). Some post-pliocene sands, conglomerates, and clays at Karachi are also noticed. It is unnecessary to do more than refer to a few remarks on the “ evidence of volcanic disturbance and effusion sub- sequent to the deposits of the eocene and miocene and pliocene formations,” since the whole argument is vitiated by the incorrect idea, derived from Grant, that the traps of Cutch are, in great part at least, of later age than pliocene. Of the physical geology of the country scarcely anything accurate was known at the time Dr. Carter wrote; his compilation was, however, invaluable as a record of the imperfect knowledge existing. 1 Jour. B. Br. Roy. As. Ѕос., v, рр. 179—334. ? Geological Papers on Western India, pp. 628—776. (pb) 13 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. The third principal contribution to our knowledge of Sind geology, D’Archiac and Haime, although purely paleontological, far exceeds in 1893. importance any of the others. It is contained in Messrs. D’Archiae and Haime’s Description des animaux fossiles du groupe nummulitique de Inde, published at Paris in 1853. It is not too much to say that this work exceeds in value and importance any other on Indian paleontology. ever published in Europe, and it is scarcely necessary to add that up to the date of its publication nothing approaching Messrs. D’Archiac and Haime’s work in amount of informa- tion and thoroughness had appeared in India. The authors brought to the work an extensive knowledge of Européan tertiary fossils, and the superb plates of figures, amongst which most of the common fossils of the Sind lower tertiaries were represented, have ever since been of the greatest service to all geologists engaged in investigating the tertiary rocks of India. Nevertheless, several of the conclusions drawn from the imperfect knowledge of the rocks then available have since required modification, and in one respect at least, in classing all the marine fossils from Sind and Cutch as lower tertiary, and in overlooking the presence of a large miocene fauna, the authors fell into an error which has largely affected subsequent researches. Messrs. D'Archiae and Haime’s work is too well known to require detailed description. All that is necessary here is to review those parts of it especially relating to Sind. The book is divided into two parts—the first consisting of a monograph of the genus Nummulites extending to 164 quarto pages, with eleven plates, and the second of the description of Indian nummulitie fossils (pages 165—373 and Plates XII—XXXVI). The first part is general, and of the species of nummulites described the majority have not been found in India; it is with the second part that we are especially concerned. This commences with a Résumé Géologique, containing a very full summary of all that had been written by Indian observers, up to the date of publication, on the geology of the Indian 'The Résumé in question is chiefly taken from D’Archiac’s Histoire des progrès de la Géologie, Vol. iii, page 195. (er) INTRODUCTORY. 13 nummulitie rocks. For convenience in this and in subsequent portions of the work, the nummulitie formations of India are classsd in four regions—the first comprising Cutch, Sind, and part of Baluchistan ; the second the northern part of the Sulemán range and the whole Salt Range of the Punjab; the third the Subáthu country, near Simla; whilst the fourth includes “some points in the very centre of the Himalayas, and others more distant towards the east." In this last region are comprised two tracts at an enormous distance from each other—the Upper Indus valley," and the Khäsi (Khossya) hills with Sylhet. It is not quite clear why these should be associated in one region, especially as it is noticed that the nummulitie rocks appear to extend from the second region in the Punjab, both north-east and north-west, in which direetion “they sur- round the high valley of Kashmir." The importance of the first region, comprising Sind and Cutch, is shown at once by the fact that it fur- nished 336 out of the 415 species of fossils noticed in the work. A brief account is given of the geological descriptions by Burnes, Grant, and Vicary. The fossils procured from Cutch by Grant, and described by Sowerby, appear not to have been compared by Messrs. D’Archiac and Haime, although many were identified by their figures with species found in Sind and elsewhere. The most important change effected in the classification by the French paleontologists was to unite the forma- tions distinguished in Cutch by Grant under the names of nummulitic and tertiary, and in this they were partly right; for the “ tertiary ’ É fossils of. Grant comprised numerous nummulitie species, and there had doubtless been a great admixture, in his collections, of fossils from eocene rocks with others from a higher horizon. "The collections of Vicary furnished the bulk of the materials for the nummulitie fauna 1 The only recorded observation is that of Dr. T. Thomson, who is said to have found a bluish-grey limestone, containing Alveolina melo and Nummulites ramondi, on the top of the Singhe-la (Singhi Pass), at an elevation of 4,875 metres (16,000 feet) between Zánskár and the Indus valley. On this subject see the foot-note by Mr. Medlicott to the Manual of Geology of India, p. 644, where it is shown that grave doubts exist as to the locality having been correctly recorded by Messrs. D'Archiac and Haime. (N. B.—Information has just been received from Mr. Lydekker, since the preceding remarks were put in type, that he has examined the locality, and that no nummulitie beds exist there.) Кав) 14 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. of India. Several of the species common to the nummulitie rocks of Europe are noticed towards the end of the brief geological summary, in which the works of different explorers are noticed. After the geologieal Resume comes the description of the different species, occupying 162 pages. Then there is an appendix in which several species are added to the list, and this is followed by a Résumé Général and a Tableau de la Faune Nummulitique de l'Inde. The Resume Général treats of. the relations between the Indian and the Euro- pean nummulitie fauna, and between the fossils from different regions in India, and it also contains a eritieal notice of several papers on Indian tertiary geology not reviewed in the preliminary Resume Géologique. The “ Tableau” gives a complete list of all the Indian nummulitic fossils known, with their distribution and references. In the Resume General, the authors again express their conviction that all the marine tertiary fossiliferous beds of Cuteh and Sind belong to the lower tertiary “terrain,” and that all should be comprised in the “nummulitic group.” Dr. Carter's classification of Grant’s tertiary beds of Cutch in the miocene is objected to, and it is shown that several of the characteristie fossils oceur elsewhere associated with nummulites. This is quite correct; for, as already mentioned, several of Grant’s tertiary fossils are from eocene beds. Messrs. D'Archiae and Haime add this very important sentence :——“ We consequently continue to begin the middle tertiary formation here only with the lowersbeds containing bones of large mammals.”! But still it is shown that the distribution of dif- ferent kinds of nummulites may aid in establishing a succession of different beds amongst the Indian tertiary rocks ; and 1t 1s suggested that the Nummulites ramondi and N. leymerie? with Alveolina ovoidea and Operculina canalifera, which abound with casts of Nerita schmideliana, may characterize, as ш Europe, the lowest bed ; that Nummulites lucasana, ! This conclusion of Messrs. D'Archiae and Haime has unquestionably had a great influ- ence in inducing European geologists and naturalists to class the Siwalik fauna as miocene, in opposition to the views of Indian geologists. It is strange that the miocene age of the Siwalik fauna should be still so strongly urged, although it was shown years since that Messrs. D'Archiae and Haime were mistaken in supposing that miocene marine rocks were wanting in Western India. (^4 ) INTRODUCTORY. 15 N. guettardi, N. granulosa, and N. exponens may perhaps belong to a rather higher horizon, and N. garansensis mark, as in the neighbourhood of Dax, the latest period of existence of these animals. At the same time, some of the fossils of Sind are arranged, in accord- ance with the nummulites found associated with them, in three categories, the two lower of those already mentioned being united, and a third being formed of those fossils with which no nummulites are found, it being considered uncertain whether the last is higher in the series than the two others, or ıntermediate. It ıs, however, observed that the absence of nummulites in specimens of fossils is merely accidental, and insuffi- cient to prove that such specimens are from a distinct bed. Lists of the species found associated with different forms of nummulites, &e., are given, and the majority of these are correctly classified and have been found in the positions assigned. Of course Messrs. D'Archiae and Haime were unaware that, besides the beds without nummulites overlying the nummulitiferous formations, there were other beds at a lower horizon in which nummulites were scarce or wanting. They appear, moreover, not to have attached sufficient importance to Vicary’s recognition of a formation without nummuhtes above the other marine beds. The works already quoted contain, with one exception only, all the information of any importance with reference to the rocks of Western Sind before the commence- ment of the survey. The exception is the recognition of distinctly miocene fossils in the Sind collections by Professor Martin Duncan and Other writers. Mr. Jenkins. The following 15 a list, arranged in order of time, of, so far as is known, all papers and works in which the geology of any part of Western Sind is described from observation, The list might of course be indefinitely extended by quoting every writer who published an account of his travels in any part of Sind, or who referred to the observ- ations of others. There are, for instance, several itineraries in the Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, but none of them add to the geological knowledge of the country. It may even be questioned whether some of the writers quoted below can be said to have described the geology of the province. — me 16 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. A paper by Lieutenant (afterwards Sir Alexander) Burnes “ On the Geology of the banks of the Indus," &c., was read to the Geologieal Society of London in 1833. Of this paper an abstract was printed in the Geological Transactions, Series 2, Vol. iii, page 491, and in the Proceedings of the Geological Society, Burnes, 1835-38. Vol. ii, page 8. Brief mention is made of some of the rocks observed on the banks of the river in Sind in the “ Cabool,” by the same author, page 40: the hot spring at Laki and the abundance of fossils in the lime- stones are noticed. In a “ Report on Upper Sind and the eastern portion of Cutchee,” by Lieutenant J. Postans, Assistant Political Agent, published in the Journal of the Asiatie Society of Bengal, Vol. хі, page 29, under the head of minerals, the - occurrence of sulphur and alum in the Marri and Bugti hills is men- tioned, and of limestone at Sukkur and Rohri ; but the want of stone in Upper Sind is noticed as the great peculiarity of the country. ‘Surgeon C. F. Collier published a paper, in the Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, Vol. ix, page 99, entitled “ On the nature of the soils of the Bombay Presidency.” This paper comprises, page 108, a few remarks on the rocks around Hyderabad and on the road thence to Karachi vić Tatta. The next paper is one by Dr. Buist, entitled “The Volcanoes of India,” Postans, 1843. Collier, 1850. and is also published in the Transactions of the Bom- bay Geographical Society, Vol. x, page 139. The hot-springs at Mugger Peer and Laki are mentioned, and a crater is described as having been blown out in the “ Minora hills” 2 miles west of -Mugger Peer. Three views of the supposed crater are given, Plates VI, VII, VIII. No igneous rocks are known in the locality, and from the figures it is probable that the supposed crater is due to denuda- tion of a peculiar form, very possibly affecting a hard bed resting on Buist, 1852. softer strata. “ A report of the disastrous consequences of the severe earthquake felt on the frontier of Upper Sind on the 24th Merewether, 1852. dA à К January 1852," by Lieutenant (now Sir М.) E19) INTRODUCTORY. 17 Merewether, appeared in the Transactions of the same Society, Vol. x, page 284. This is an account of a severe and destructive earthquake in the Marri Hills north of Jacobabad. A notice of other оиа felt in Sind and its vicinity in the year 1851 is added. In the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society for 1853, Vol. ix, page 349, there is a letter “On the Geology of a part of Sind,” written by ee H. ey (now Sir Bartle) Frere, to Colonel Sykes: 5 | In this letter mention is made of a collection of bones of mammalia procured by Mr. Arthur Young, Deputy Collector of Sehwán, from a locality “in the hills south-west of the Manchhar Lake and Sehwán, and about half-way to Sháh-billáwall, but on the east side of the Habb river." A few notes are also given of the rocks seen on the hill road between Karachi and Sehwán, and a section of a nummulitie range, showing an, anticlinal of nummulitic limestone, on one side of which, resting on the limestone, are * variegated marls and. shales, or indurated mud beds," and on these again ** beds of gravel and sandy con- -glomerate.” Each of these groups is shown to be unconformable to the other. With the exception of the unconformity, which is rather unusual, and perhaps is due to an error on the part of the draughtsman, similar sections do occur in many places on the road mentioned, and the relations of the rocks are precisely as shown in the figure. The locality for mammalian bones has not been re-discovered, and it is impossible to avoid suggesting whether some mistake may not have been made about its position, and whether the bones did not really come from the Laki range. In all probability the Mr. Young who collected the bones is the same as the Dr. Young mentioned below as having presented a collection to the Asiatie Society of Bengal through Dr. Spilsbury, who made an extensive collection in the Nerbudda valley. Some “ Contributions to the Geology of Central and Western India ? by Dr. H. J. Carter, in the Journal of the Bombay т Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. v, include (page 628) a notice of Messrs. D'Archiae and Haime's work on the num- mulitie fauna of India, and several additions to the previous account of b CE) 18 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY. OF WESTERN SIND. the geology by the author. Several of these additions and corrections refer to Sind ; but all are embodied in the second edition of Dr. Carter's summary of the geology of India, which has already been noticed. In the “ Descriptive catalogue of the fossil remains of vertebrata from the Sewalik hills, &e., in the Museum ofthe Asiatie Society of Bengal," by | Dr. Н. Falconer and Dr. Walker, pages 256 to 259, Falconer, 1859. М several specimens of bones and teeth of mastodon, rhinoceros, crocodiles, &е., are enumerated from Sind. Apparently the history of these specimens could not be traced in the Society’s Journal, for the reference to the volume and page has been left without the numbers being filled in, and no notice of any Sind fossils can be found in Piddington’s Index to the Geological, Mineralogical, and Palzonto- logical papers. The specimens are said to have been presented by Dr. Young through Dr. Spilsbury, to have been brought from ** Sehwán, on the north side of the Jukkeo (? Laki) hills," and to have been found in a low range of sandstone breccia composed of angular pieces of nummu- litie limestone cemented with clay. The colleetion was probably part of the same as that noticed in tbe preceding paragraph. The only species identified was Mastodon latidens. Two notices published in 1861 refer to the discovery of lignite at Leilan, or Lynyan, near Kotri. The first oceurs in a second series of “ Contribu- tions to the Geology of Western India, including Sind and Beloochistan,” by Dr. Carter (Jour. B. Br. Roy. As. Soe., vi, page 182), and is entitled “ Discovery of coal deposits in the Lyneah valley, Sind,” by Captain F. Phillips. The note, however, is evidently written by Dr. Carter. It contains sections by Mr. Inman of the rocks on the sides of the valley in which the so-called coal was found, and of the shafts sunk to cut the seam. Dr. Carter comments on the uncon- formity shown in Mr. Inman’s section between the nummulitie limestone and the beds associated with the lignite, and evidently doubts whether any such unconformity exists,—a doubt, it may be added, which has been perfectly justified by the result of further examination of the ground. He also points out the close similarity between the beds under- Ае Carter, 1861. INTRODUCTORY. 19 lying the nummulitie limestone and some found at Jhirak, in Sind, and at Muscat,in Arabia. Here also, so far as the Jhirak deposit is concerned, at all events, Dr. Carter is perfectly correct, the beds at the last-named locality being identical with those of Lainyan. The second note is a brief communication on the quality of the coal from Lainyan, also by Dr. Carter; this occurs in the Proceedings of the same Society for June 1857, and is also published in the sixth volume of the Journal, Appendix, page xxxvi. The coal is shown to be similar to that of some other tertiary formations. The next two papers referring to Sind are those to which allusion has already been made as affording the only important addition to the paleontology of the country since the work of D’Archiac and Haime on the nummulitic fauna of India. The first of these papers, 1n order of ap- pearance, was one by Mr. H. M. Jenkins “ On some tertiary mollusca from Mount Sela, in the Island of Java" (Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc., xx, page 45). In this a species of Vicarya was described as closely allied to the type of the genus described by Messrs. D'Archiae and Haime from Sind. The fossils occurring associated with ` the Javanese Vicarya, however, pointed so unmistakeably to a later age than eocene, that Mr. Jenkins was led to enquire into the question whether some of the Sind fossils might not also be derived from a higher horizon, and he found that several, having the same matrix as Vicarya verneuili, were Jenkins, 1864. miocene forms in Europe. "This probability of the existence of miocene beds in Sind was confirmed by Professor P. Martin Martin Duncan; 1864. à : : : : MA Dunean, who furnished a note for insertion in Mr. Jenkins’ paper (l. e., page 66), and who shortly after published, in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History, for April, 1864 (Ser. 3, xiii, page 295), descriptions of a considerable number of Sind corals not noticed in MM. D'Archiae and Haime’s work. These descriptions raised the number of corals known to occur in the tertiary rocks of Sind from 17 to 42, and a large proportion of the additions belonged to genera unknown below the miocene, some indeed having pliocene or recent affini- ties. Several of the fossils were from Karächi, and: the only fossiliferous Юа) 20 BLANFORD : GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. rocks near the town are of Gáj (miocene) age. Indeed, fossil corals are extremely abundant in the Сај beds near Mugger Peer." <“ А report on Dhur Yaroo, in the Shikárpur Collectorate,” by Assist- Lu en ant Surgeon J. Lalor, published in the Transactions of the Bombay Geographieal Society, Vol. xvii, page 302, mentions briefly some of the rocks of the Khirthar range near the locality described. In the Geological Magazine for 1866, Vol. iti, page 433, Mr. John ЕА Evans deseribed some flint cores, from which flakes had been chipped, obtained by Lieutenant Twemlow, R.E., in the bed of the Indus. 'The cores were remarkable for their regu- larity. In a note to Mr. Evans, accompanying the specimens, General Twemlow stated that the cores imn question were obtained “three feet below the rock in the bed of the river (Indus).” In a subsequent letter (Geol. Mag., 1867, 1v, page 43,) General Twemlow, 1867. ; t Twemlow gave a section on the river Indus near Sukkur, showing that above nummulitie limestone came a mass of flints covered by a recent silt deposit. 'The cores were found in the flint beds. The subject will be found more fully discussed in a note by the present writer, published in the Proceedings of the Asiatie Society of Bengal for 1875, page 134. Large quantities of flint cores have been found near Sukkur and Rohri, and there is a good collection in the Geological Museum, Caleutta. A very good Gazetteer of Sind was published in 1874, compiled by Mr. A. W. Hughes. The geology, however, was Gazetteer, 1874. р scarcely referred to, and the few notes upon it are by no means always correct. | Lastly, the Survey contributions to the geology of Sind commenced with a paper, by the author of the present report, Survey, 1867. } , ‘On the geology of the neighbourhood of Lynyan and Runneekote,” published in the Memoirs of the Geological Survey of ! It is needless to give lists of the corals described by Professor Martin Duncan, as it may be hoped that full descriptions of the much larger collections made by the survey will shortly be published by the same naturalist who has undertaken their description. ( 80 ) INTRODUCTORY. DR India, Vol. vi, page l. This paper contained the geological observations made on a hurried visit from Kotri to Lainyan and Ranikot, to ascer- tain the prospects of additional discoveries of coal. "The position of the rocks at both places was ascertained, but nothing more was done to investigate the series of rocks occurring in the province. Two notices, as already mentioned, have also appeared in the Records of the Geological Survey—the first in Vol. ix, pages 8— 22, the second in Vol. ХІ, pages 161—173— embodying a brief summary of the results of the present survey. | | Of descriptions relating to the geology of neighbouring districts, Papers on neighbour- the mest important are the following :—A paper ша шай: by Dr. Cook, entitled “ Topographical and Geolo- gical Sketch of a portion of the province of Jhalawan and the eastern division of Mekran,” published in the Transactions of the Medical and Phy- sical Society of Bombay for 1860, Vol. vi, pages 1—45. This paper was noticed, and several additional details of the fossils collected were fur- nished by Dr. Carter, in the Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. vi, page 184, under the title of “ Geological Discoveries in the valley of Kelát and surrounding parts in Beloo- chistan." To the northward of Sind the only information available is to be found in Dr. Cook’s “Geological Report on a part of Beloo- chistan” (Transactions, Med. Phys. Soc. Bombay, v, 1859, page 105), relating to the Bolan pass ;. Captain Vicary’s “ Geological Report on a portion of the Beloochistan hills? (Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc., ii, page 260), describing the Marri and Bugti ranges north of Jacobabad; and Mr. Balls * Geological notes made on a visit to the coal recently discovered in the country of the Luni Pathans, south-east corner of Afghanistan"— Rec. Geol. Surv. Tnd., 1874, Vol. vii, page 145. The formations of , Cuteh are deseribed by Mr. Wynne in the Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, Vol. ix. "The tertiary rocks of the Indian peninsula, including Kattywar and Cutch, are briefly described in the Manual of the Geology of India, Chapter xiv; the post tertiary formations in Chapters xvi, xvii, and xviii; Sind itself in Chapter xix; and the Wes- tern Punjab in Chapters xx and xxi. О) 29 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. CHAPTER II.—PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. The province of Sind consists of the alluvial plain bordering the SAM WERE TRIN lower course of the Indus, of the hill ranges to Sind. the westward of that stream, and of a great sandy traet to the eastward, part of the Indian desert. The country lies between the 23rd and 29th parallels of latitude, and extends from. a little west of the 67th to a little east of the 71st meridian of east longi- tude. It is about 360 miles in length from north to south, and 275 in extreme breadth ; the average width from east to west being about 170 miles. Inclusive of Khairpur and of Thar and Párkar, the area of the province is stated in the Official Gazetteer to be 57,145 syuare-miles. On the north and west, Sind is bounded by Baluchistan; on the "erste SE EB by Baháwalpur, Jaisalmir, and Maláni, the ince. last-named a district belonging to Jodhpur ; and on the south by the sea and the Ran of Cutch. On the north-east alone, and for only a short distance on the right (west) bank of the Indus, is the boundary formed by a part of the Punjab. No physical features mark the limit of the province to the east, north-east, and north, though in the last direction the Bugti hills are not far beyond the boundary of the frontier district ; but the western limit of Sind is formed to the northward by а lofty range of hills, the Khirthar, and to the southward by the river Habb or Hab, which runs into the sea west of Cape Monze. For administrative purposes, this tract of country is divided into three colleetorates—Shikárpur to the north, Karachi to the south-west and south, and Hyderabad in the centre—and comprises in addition the frontier district of Upper Sind, (ruled from Jacobabad), the distriet of Thar and Pärkar (chief town Umarkot) east of Hyderabad, and the territory of Khairpur, a native state lying east of the Indus and south of Rohrí. The collectorate or division of Shikárpur is divided into the districts of Rohrí; Sukkur, and Shikárpur, Larkana, and Mehar ; the Karachi colleetorate comprises Political sub-divisions. 1 They are miscalled the Hala range on many maps. (212) PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 23 Sehwan, Kohistän, Karachi, Jhirak (Jerruck or Jhirruck), and Shäh- bandar; and Hyderabad consists of the sub-divisions of Naushahro (Now- shera), Hála, Tanda or Tando, Muhammad Khan, and the Hyderabad Taluka. As already pointed out in the last chapter, the present memoir deals Avia reed OE in URS only with Western Sind and some hill tracts in шешш the middle of the province. Eastern Sind, and | especially the Thar and Párkar district, is beyond the limits of the tract here described. The plain of Sind is part of the immense alluvial flat which is - watered by the Indus and Ganges and their Indus plain. | з ; E 4 | tributaries, and which divides peninsular India from the rest of Asia. This plain is of course far inferior in geological importance to the small, hilly tracts of the province. The surface of the Indus plain consists of alluvial soil deposited by the Indus, or by streams from the mountain ranges; but large tracts to the eastward and smaller areas to the west of the river are covered with blown sand. Тһе central portion of the plain in Upper Sind, that traversed by mn the present course of the Indus, is higher than j the country to the westward, and than part of the tract to the eastward, and consequently a belt of marsh extends from north to south at some distance from each bank of the river; that to the eastward being traversed by a stream, the eastern Nära, fed by the overflow of the Indus flood-waters in Baháwalpur and the Rohri district of Upper Sind, whilst the western belt of marsh lies not far from the foot of the Khirthar range, and terminates to the southward in a shallow lake, the Manchhar, about 12 miles in length from W.N.W. to E.S.E., and 6 to 7 broad in the dry season, but much larger when filled by the floods of the Indus. West of this marsh, and also along the northern boundary of the province, there is a very flat plain, having an imperceptible slope from the hills, in parts absolutely destitute of vegetation, but generally bearing scattered bushes of lana (Anabasis multiflora) and other plants. This plain is ( 23 ) Manchhar lake. 94 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. locally known as ‘pat’; it is highly fertile when irrigated, but is usually I barren for want of water. The surface consists dis of a fine light-eoloured loam deposited by streams running from the hills. At the base of the hills themselves there is a slope of gravel corresponding to the Bhäbar at the base of the Himalayas, and composed of detritus washed by water from the surface of the rocks : this slope frequently attains large dimensions. The southern portion of the Indus plain eonsists of the delta, the head of which is generally placed a little above Hyderabad, where the Falaili (Fuleli or Phuleli) Channel leaves the main stream. The tide ascends the river almost Delta of Indus. as far as Tatta, or 60 miles from the sea in a direct line. The portion of the delta near the sea, extending 20 miles from the coast, is very low, and it is flooded when the river is atits greatest height in the monsoon, large tracts being overflowed at every spring tide. | Within the area of the Indus plain, and even within the limits of Isolated hills in Indus the delta, there are some isolated tracts of low plain. limestone hills. The most northern of these ex- tends from the neighbourhood of Sukkur to the southward for nearly 50 miles, and is 17 miles broad where widest, near Kot Deji or Diji. It rises about 150 feet from the plain in the neighbourhood of the Indus. East of the Indus, in Lower Sind, there 1s a second smaller area of low hills, on the northern portion of which the town of Hyderabad is built. This traet of hills extends 21 miles from north to south, by about 6 miles wide. A third ridge of high ground occurs close to Tatta, and is 18 miles long from north to south, and 4 from east to west. In all these eases portions are detached and separated by alluvium from the main range, and there are some other small and unimportant patches, none of which are of any size, near the edge of the alluvial area. One of these, near Jhirak, is situated on the east bank of the Indus. The rock area near Sukkur is chiefly remarkable for being intersected by the channel of the river Indus, which, strange to say, has cut its way through the limestone range between the towns of Sukkur and Rohri, ( 34 ) GICAL NS OR INDIRA So NATE SENAN ASAE TT GEOL О Blanford Mera oir SKELETON MAP. of WESTERN SIND. / MIT | ARKHANA 2J) о; KHAIRPUR | . \ Shewing the hill ranges, rivers, I and he subdivisions dos ori-/ A a bedin dıfferont chapters of; ‚ І I the present report. NB the Roman numerals refer to the chapters in which the areas O NOWSHERA thus numbered are described I p » Mohan N Ran g e 2.S.K.He On Stone by Aminulleh. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 95 instead of pursuing а course through the alluvial plain to the east or west Intersection of rock Of the hills. The fortified island of Bakhar, or area by Indus. Bukkur, in the middle of the river between the two towns, is also of rock. Nor is this all, for at Aror, 4 miles south-west of Rohri, there is another break in the limestone range, and this gap is said, on what appears to be good historical evidence, to have been a former bed of the river deserted for the present channel rather more than nine centuries ago. The present memoir, as already noticed, does not deal with Eastern Sind, where, however, the rock areas which occur Hills of Western Sind. x | are mere Isolated exposures, greatly concealed by an expanse of blown sand. All the principal hills of Sind lie west of the Indus, and nearly all consist of north and south ranges. On the accom- panying sketch map (Plate II) the various ranges are represented by lines. Near the river, north of the town of Káshmor, the southern spur of the Sulemán range, which forms the western boundary of the Punjab, comes within the limits of Sind ; but this small tract of rock has not been examined, as it 1s far distant from the other rock areas of the province, and is a part of a range included in the Punjab. The most important of i the Sind ranges is the Khirthar, commonly, but Khirthar range. 3 incorrectly, called the Hala range on English maps. This range, commencing just north of the north-western extremity of Sind, forms the western boundary of the province as far south as Lat. 26° 15', south-west of Sehwán, the general direction being nearly north and south; but, turning somewhat more to the eastward opposite Sehwán, the chain finally terminates within the province in Kohistán, ыйы үнс ы nearly north-west of Hyderabad. The area of Lower Sind, south of Sehwán, and west of the Indus, comprises a number of ranges of hills, the greater portion having a general north and south direction, and all being much inferior in height to the Khirthar. The general height of the КОО to the west of the Lárkána and Height of Khirthar Mehar districts, is between 4,000 and 5,000 feet, TRES the highest peak, Kutta-jo-Kabar (the dog’s tomb), | (8) 26 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. being marked on the survey maps as 6,016 feet above the sea. The Gáj river rises to the westward of the range and cuts through it by an impassable gorge west-south-west of Mehar. South of the Gáj the Khirthar again rises to a height of nearly 5,000 feet, but soon sinks to alower elevation, and to the southward rarely exceeds 3,500 feet in height. The main ridge is composed of nummulitic limestone, but there are several minor parallel ridges of newer bedsto the east of the main range, and the best sections of the tertiary formations are seen on the banks of the streams draining the range. It has already been said that Lower Sind west of the Indus consists of Minor hill ranges of & hilly tract of country. Perhaps more correctly Кеси: the area may be described as consisting of parallel or sub-parallel ridges of hills, with broad undulating plains between them. It will be well to enumerate the ranges in detail; the more so as but few of them have definite names. In Sind, as in many other parts of Western India, names are given by the inhabitants of the country to all peaks and prominent hills, to passes, and te small hilly tracts, but not to ranges as a whole, and in describing such ranges it frequently becomes necessary to adopt, for the whole, terms applied by the natives of the country to only a portion. The most important range of Lower Sind, from a geological point А of view, is that commencing at Bhagothoro, Laki range. i, ; just south of Sehwán, and extending thence to the southward for about 80 miles, until it terminates to the south of Bula or Bhule Khán's Thána. Particular portions of this range are known by various names,—Dháran and Tiyun to the northward, Dáphro and Eri farther south, and Surjäno to the eastward of Bhule Khän’s Théna,—but no general term for the whole range exists. The northern portion, however, is frequently called the Laki range by Europeans from its passing close by the town of Laki (Lukkee), and this term will be applied in the present memoir. The Laki range divides an undulating plain to the eastward, known in part as the Vera plain, from ( 86 ) | PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 27 the broad valley traversed by the so-called ^ hill road” from Karachi to Sehwán. The highest hills of the Laki range are near the northern extremity, but none attain an elevation much exceeding 1,500 feet above the sea. West of Mánjhand, the eastern portion of the range is traversed by a small stream called Mohan (Runneewaree and Sanwari of the map), and on this stream is situated a large fortified enclosure known as Ranikot (Rani-jo-kot), or Mohan Kot. | West of the valley traversed by the hill road from Karáchi to Sehwán Ae ene and south of the Manchhar lake there is a rather high ridge of limestone, nearly 30 miles long from north to south, and joining the Khirthar range close to the southern extremity of the latter. This range is called Badhra (Budhra) on the survey maps, and consists of a great anticlinal roll of nummulitie | limestone. To the west of this, again, is a smaller Bhit range. 2 d Ў ridge of similar formation known as the Bhit range, likewise joined to the Khirthar on the south, but only about 20 miles in length and 2,790 feet in elevation where highest. A low name- less ridge, chiefly composed of miocene rocks, runs from north-west to south-east, parallel with the south-western shore of the Manchhar lake. ) Al the ranges hitherto noticed are on the eastern side of the Country east of Laki Khirthar range, the Laki range alone extending range. to the southward beyond the termination of the Khirthar. East of the Laki range there are no hills of any eleva- tion, although there is a considerable tract of broken hilly country near Kotri, and extending thence northward to Mánjhand and southward to Jhirak and Tatta. The Khirthar terminates to the southward close to a small police post called Karchát, near the banks of the Báran river. South of the Báran, a comparatively low ridge of nummulitie limestone runs north and south for about 20 miles, terminating near Bhule Khán's Thána. The next ridge to the westward is known as Dumbär, and is of no great Dumbár ridge. elevation or length; 16 runs for about 15 miles north and south, west ( 22 ) 98 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. of Tong. A much higher range, that of Bidür, farther to the west- ward, forms the eastern watershed of the Habb Bidür ridge. : с river, and extends for a long distance to the north- ward, but it lies nearly throughout west of the Sind frontier. South of this the country assumes a different appearance. The Habb valley is a wide plain, not alluvial, but Habb valley. i ANGE undulating, and containing low hills of sand- stone in places. To the east of the Habb valley are several broad flat plateaus of moderate -elevation, composed of miocene beds and divided from each other by lower plains. Two of the prineipal plateaus амора. aE known as Mol and Miher, or Mahr, the latter teaus. lying to the west of the former and not extending so far north. To the southward these plateaus sink into the plain, or are broken up into low ranges of hills in the country north and north-east of Karáchi. One of the best marked of these ridges runs . from near Mugger Peer, north of Karáchi, to Cape Monze. West of the Habb river there is a much higher range, rising to upwards of 3,000 feet in places, known as the Pabb range. As will be shown in the sequel, nearly all the ranges e are Pabb range. Geological structure of of peculiarly simple geological construetion, many IUD age: of them being merely anticlinal rolls of num- mulitie limestone, from which the softer overlying beds have been removed by denudation. As a rule, the anticlinals are steeper on one side, generally the eastern, and they frequently consist of a double anti- clinal fold with a small synclinal between. The general direction of the ranges, as already noticed, is nearly north and south. Faults and dislocations are of rare occurrence, and those which occur are frequently parallel to the axes of the hill ranges. The rivers of Sind (see Plate II), apart from the Indus and its Rivers of Sind. Habb branches, are unimportant, and the majority are iger dry after rain. The largest is the Habb, which rises in Baluchistán, much farther north than it 1s represented on the maps, ( 88 ) PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 99 and after forming the western boundary of Southern Sind, falls into the sea west of Cape Monze. The only other stream of any length in Lower Sind west of the Indus is the Báran, which rises in Kohistán close to the British frontier, north of Tong, runs past the south end of the Khirthar range, and then turning southward traverses the broad valley west of the Laki range to the neighbourhood of Bhule Khän’s Thana; it then turns eastward, Báran river. euts its way through the Laki range, and, after traversing the Vera plain and the low hills west of Kotri, falls into the Indus some miles Layéri, Malir, and Mo- south of the last-named town. Other streams are zii. the Layäri, an unimportant water-course, dry, except after heavy rain, draining the country north of Karáchi and run- ning into the harbour ; the Malir, another similar but rather longer water- course, a little further east ; the Mohan, or Rani, already noticed as running from the Laki range, and joining the Indus at Sann, and three streams, which run from the valleys of Kohistán to the plain of Upper Sind, near the Manchhar lake. These are the Chorlo, west of the Laki range, a stream called Nie Naegh! on the Revenue Survey maps between the Badhra and Bhit ranges, and the Angyi stream, west of the Bhit. | The water-courses running from the Khirthar range, commencing ai the north, are the following. The Sain,? which drains the western side of the main range, north of Dharyáro, and runs into the Shadihar stream at the northern termination of the range. The Kenji is the first 1 The orthography of the inch and quarter inch Revenue Survey maps is so peculiar, that it is not always easy to know what the sounds intended are. Thus the word Nai (in Hindi, Nadi), a stream, is variously spelt Naee, Nye, Nyel, Nie, and Neigh! This is a good instance of what the opponents of any reform in the spelliag of proper names call “spelling the name in English as it is pronounced." Even in the +5 inch map, from which that accompanying the present report is copied, some streams are called Nai, others Nie, al- though great pains have evidently been taken to correct the orthography. 2 Sainwali of map. The addition of wali or wari to the names given to streams appears to me unnecessary, as it is not generally used; indeed, so far as I could ascertain, the айх is exceptional, ( 29 ) 30 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. stream of any size running from the west of the range. 16 15 joined from the south, inside the outer range, by the Mogrio and the Trappen. South of these come in succession the Sita (Tooneewaree of map), Mazaräni, Sahär, Radha, Bürri, Salári, Khürbi, and Maki Nais. Next comes the Gáj, which rises west of the Khirthar, nearly under Dharyáro, and, as already noticed, cuts through the range after receiving the drainage of a considerable traet to the westward of the hills, so that it is by far the largest stream flowing from the Khirthar. The only im- portant water-course running from the Khirthar farther south is the Nari Nai, which drains a considerable hill tract, but does not come from beyond the main water-shed, and there is a smaller stream, the Letan Nai, between е Géj and the Nari. The map employed as a basis for the geological lines 1s that prepared Topographical map! of by the Revenue Survey, and, lke most maps pro- PEE duced by the same survey, the object having been rather the demarcation of village boundaries than the preparation of a topographical representation of the country, the wilder and more hilly parts of the province, which are of small value and yield but little revenue, have not in general been mapped in detail. Even in the more ` populous parts of the country, the topography of the map is far from perfect—a circumstance perhaps due, in part, to the practice, in many parts of Sind, of changing both the locality and the name of villages ; but still there are errors not to be thus explained. The mapping of the hills is very unequal. In the neighbourhood of Karachi and of the Habb valley, the map is good and correct, and the hills are properly laid down. The same is the case throughout part of Kohistán. The Khirthar range is less well mapped; the general lines are shown, and many of the ridges properly represented, but neither the streams nor the hills are accurate m detail. The worst part of the map is that representing the Laki ranges and the low hills near Mánjhand and Kotri. These are all very imperfectly represented. In the geological map nothing like minute detail has been attempted, and, with a few exceptions, the reduction herewith published on the (. 30 ) GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 3l small scale of 16 miles to an inch, represents only the main features of the geology. The large areas remaining to be mapped in India, and the want of detail in many of the topographical maps available, prevent the devotion of time sufficient for a close examination of any region, unless the presence of valuable minerals justifies a departure from the general rule. This is not the ease in Sind. On the other hand, the geology of the Sind hills is singularly simple; many of the ranges are perfect geological diagrams, and from the absence of vegetation and the clearness of the atmosphere, the outcrop of formations, such as the nummulitic and miocene limestones, may frequently be traced for many miles on the hill-sides, with absolute certainty, from a distance. In some places the want of population, and even of water, throughout considerable areas, renders surveying difficult, and very possibly this drawback accounts for some of the deficiencies of the Revenue Survey map, especially in the case of the Laki range. In some seasons no rain falls in parts of Sind, and then whole tracts of country become only accessible by the troublesome and expensive process of carrying water from a distance. Fortunately, in the years 1874, 1875, and 1876, heavy rain fell in most districts of Sind and rendered the examination of the wilder tracts comparatively easy. . CHAPTER III.—GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. The following is a general section of the formations found in Western Section of formations Sind. It must be recollected that the whole и Western SIRd: seetion is not found in any single place; that the lower Khirthars, seen on the western flank of the Khirthar range, are not actually exposed. within the province; and that they are very possibly represented by the Ranikot beds of the Laki range. The list is in descending sequence. 1 This chapter is copied, with a few alterations, from that published in the Manual of the Geology of India. Оз) 32 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. List of geological formations occurring in Western Sind. BELLE, Approximate Supposed Groups, Sub-divisions. TNC! geological age. REMARKS. 8. ALLUVIUM, &C.... оза ? post-tertiary. [аррек e cs 5,000 pliocene ... | Unfossiliferous ; apparently | representative of the fos- 7. MANCHHAR... | siliferous Siwalik group. lower eee ... | 3,000 to 5,000 | lower pliocene or | Fossiliferous, containing upper miocene, chiefly Vertebrata. 6. Gas MNT Verses 1,000 to 1,500 | miocene ... | Highly fossiliferous; marine; no nummulites. upper A ... | 4,000 to 6,000 | lower miocene? ... | Unfossiliferous, 5, NARI .. lower ... ..| 100t01,500| upper eocene or | Fossiliferous; upper lime- oligocene ? Stone with nummulites. upper B ..| 500 to 3,000 | eocene ... | Nummulitie limestone, 4. KHIRTHAR { lower ph E. 6,000? eocene -.! The lower beds unfossili- ferous. Base not deter- mined. SPBANIKOY.. xs» eS 2,000 lower eocene ...| Fossiliferous. Nummulites still common. 2. TRAP Ж, ROI i a rane M 4 40 to 90 lowest eocene or | Representative of the Dec- upper cretaceous. can and Malwa trap. (a. Cardita Beau- 350 to 450 upper eretaceous or intermediate between | monti beds eocene and cretaceous. I 1. Orzracrous ... |4 Р. Sandstones ... 700 eretaceous | c. Limestones with [ 320 Base not exposed. U _ hippurites. On the river Са], a thickness of at least 25,000 feet of strata is exposed, none of the fossihferous beds being of older date than eocene ; but some of the unfossili- ferous rocks towards the base of the section beyond the Sind frontier corre- spond so well with the description given by Dr. Cook! of strata in which he found mesozoic fossils (Ammonites, &e.) in Kelat, that these bottom beds on the upper Gáj, which are only seen west of the British frontier, may very probably be of cretaceous age. There is, however, no resemblance between Total thickness. ! Trans. Med. Phys. Soc. Bombay, 1860, vi, pp. 1, 45; Carter, Jour. Bombay Br. Roy. As. Soc., vi, p. 184. ( 32 ) GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 99 any of the lower beds on the Сај and the eretaceous rocks of the Laki range. | 1. Cretaceous beds.—The only locality in Sind in which beds of older date than eocene have been identified, is in the Laki range. South- west of Amri on the Indus, a number of very dark-coloured hills are seen in this range; they contrast strongly with the cliffs of grey and whitish nummulitie limestone behind them. These dark hills consist of Cretaceous rocks of Cretaceous beds, but the lowest member of the Laki hills. series is only exposed in a single spot, at the base of a hill known as Bárrah, lying about 10 miles south-west of Amri. The whole range here consists of three parallel ridges, the outer and inner composed of tertiary rocks (see section!) ; while the intermediate one consists of eretaceous beds, faulted to the eastward against the lower eocene strata, and dipping under them to the westward. Close to the fault some whitish limestone is found, coripact and hard ; the lower portion pure ; the upper portion, often containing ferruginous concretions, is sandy and gritty, and forms a passage into the overlying sandstones. The base of this limestone is not seen; the whole thickness exposed is a little over 300 feet, and the length of the outerop does not exceed half a mile. The limestone is fossiliferous, and contains echinoderms and mollusca, but it is so hard and homogeneous, that nothing that has been obtained from it can be easily recognised, except one fragment of a hippurite. Tbis fossil is, however, Limestone with hip. Of great importance, because it shows that the purites. white limestone may very probably be an eastern representative of the hippuritie limestone so extensively developed in Persia, and found in numerous localities, from Tehran to east of Karman, in. longitude 58°, just 10 degrees west of the Laki range in Sind. Of course the same formation may be found in the intervening country, the geology of which is unknown. The precise position of the Persian hippuritic limestone in the cretaceous series has not been deter- mined, but the European formation, which is very similar and probably identical, is of the age of the lower chalk (turonian). 1 The section is represented on Plate V, fig. 2, Chapter VII. ? Eastern Persia, ii, pp. 457, 485. е (Созу) 34 BLANFORD : GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. The sandstones resting on the hippuritic limestone occupy a consider- able tract around Bárrah hill, and extend forabout NN 3 miles from north to south. They are also seen at Jakhmari, about 5 miles south of Laki to the northward, and in one or two other places in the neighbourhood. They are gritty and conglomeratie, frequently calcareous, and they include a few bands of shale, . usually of a red colour. The prevailing tint on the weathered surfaces is dark-brown or purple, many of the beds being highly ferruginous. On the top of the sandstones is a thick bed of dark-coloured impure limestone, containing oyster-shells, and occasionally large bones, apparently of | reptiles; none, however, have been found sufficiently well preserved for identification. In one place a bed of basalt, about 40 feet thick, has been found interstratified in the sandstones, and it is possible that the band may exist elsewhere. The position of this bed of basalt on the face of a hill called Bor, a little south of Bärrah, and about 13 miles north of Ränikot, is at an elevation of 300 or 400 feet above the base of the sandstones, and about twice as much Interstratified basalt. beneath the main band of interbedded trap, to be described presently. The highest sub-division of the eretaceous formation consists of soft ERBEN... olive shales and sandstones, usually of fine texture. | The sandstone beds are thin, and frequently have the appearance of containing grains of decomposed basalt or some similar voleanie rock, or else fine voleanie ash. A few hard bands occur, and occasionally, but rarely, thin layers of dark-olive or drab impure lime- stone. Gypsum is of common occurrence in the shales. The olive shales are highly fossiliferous, the commonest fossil being Cardita beaumonti!, a peculiar, very globose species, truncated posteriorly, and most nearly allied to forms found in the lower and middle cretaceous beds of Europe (neocomian and gault). This shell is extremely abundant in one hed, about 200 to 250 feet below the top of the cretaceous series, but is not confined to Paleontology. 1 D? Archiae and Haime, An. foss. Groupe Num. de l'Inde, p. 253, pl. xxi, fig. 14. ( 34 ) Gr -" GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 3 this horizon. Nautili also occur, the commonest species closely resem- bling N. Zabecheil of Messrs. D'Archiae and Haime, but differing in the position of the siphuncle. This form appears undistinguishable from N. bouchardianus, found in the upper cretaceous Arialur beds of Pon- dicherry, and at a lower cretaceous horizon in Europe. A second Nautilus resembles N. subfleuriausianus,” another eocene Sind species, in form, and is also allied to some cretaceous types. Several Gasteropoda occur, especially forms of Rostellaria, Cyprea, Natica, and Turritella, but none are very characteristic. Two forms of Ostrea are common—one of them allied to the tertiary O. flemingi? and to the cretaceous O. zitteliana*, but distinct from both. The only mollusk which certainly passes into the Ranikot beds is Corbula Larpa. Two echinoderms have been found—one is an Epiaster, an almost exclusively cretaceous genus, only one or two tertiary species having been found; the other is an aberrant form of Echinolampas. Two or three corals complete the list of invertebrate fossils found in the olive shales. These corals have been examined by Prof. Martin Duncan, and found to be tertiary forms, not cretaceous. In the lower part of the beds, with Cardita beaumonti, however, some Amphieclian vertebre amphicelian vertebre were found, which Mr. OF ошаш, Lydekker has ascertained to be crocodilian.6 All amphicclian crocodiles are mesozoic, and the present form must be one of the latest known, So far as it is possible to form an opinion from very fragmentary materials, the vertebrz in question appear more nearly allied to the Wealden Suwehosaurus than to any other form hitherto des- cribed. It has, however, been shown,’ in the ease of the Gondwána fauna, that the distribution of Reptilia in past ages was not the same in India as in Europe. | D'Archiac and Haime, £. c., p. 338, pl. xxxiv, fig. 12. Ibid., p. 337, pl. xxxv, fig. 1. Ibid., p. 275, pl. xxiii, figs. 14, 15. Stoliezka, Pal. Ind., Ser. VI, p. 478, pl. xliv, fig. 7. D’ Archiae and Haime, f. c., p. 236, pl. xvi, fig. 8. Lydekker, Pal. Ind. Ser. IV. vol. i, pt. 3, p. 81° Manual Geol, India, Introduction, p. xxxiv, and pt. 1, p. 100. ча © = > о ю ы 36 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. The fossils of the Cardita beaumonti zone require much fuller examin- ation and comparison than they have hitherto received ; but sufficient has been ascertained to show that they have a distinetly eretaceous character, but that nevertheless they have strong tertiary affinities. A bed of very similar mineral character, the olive group of Mr. Wynne,! occurs at the base of the tertiary formations in the Punjab Salt Range, and the fossils, amongst which Cardita beaumonti is also found, have for the most part,in Dr. Waagen's opinion, a tertiary facies, but include one Olive group of Pun- Species of Ammonite. There is every probability 3: that the olive group of the Punjab corresponds to the Cardita beaumonti beds of Sind, and although in the preceding table the latter group has been classed as cretaceous, this classification must beunderstood as only temporary, for the thorough examination of the fossils may show that the preponderance of affinitiesis really very ancient eocene, or absolutely intermediate between the oldest tertiary and the newest cretaceous formation hitherto known. No corresponding group has hitherto been recognised in Baluchistan or in the Western Punjab south of the Salt Range. Ja 2. Deccan trap.— Mention has already been made of one bed of basalt . interealated in the sandstones above the hippuritie limestones : a much more important band of the same igneous rock has been traced, resting upon the Cardita beaumonti beds, throughout a distance of 22 miles from Ranikot to Jakhmari about 17 miles south of Sehwán, wherever the base of the Ranikot group, the lowest tertiary formation, 1s exposed. Position and thickness The thickness of this band of trap is trifling, and ® age varies from about 40 to about 90 feet. Ap- parently 1n some plaees the whole band consists of two lava flows, similar in mineral character, except that the upper is somewhat ashy, and contains scoriaceous fragments; the higher portion of each flow is amygdaloidal, and contains nodules of quartz, chalcedony, and caleite, and in places the nodules are surrounded by green earth, as ! Mem. Geol. Sur., India, xiv, p. 108. ( 36 ) GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 31 is so frequently the case in the Deccan traps. Another characteristic accessory mineral, common also in the traps of the Deecan and Malwa, is quartz with trihedral terminations. The basaltie trap of the Laki hills is apparently of subaérial origin, although it rests conformably on the marine (or estuarine ?) Cardita beaumonti beds; at least there is nothing in the igneous bed to indicate its having consolidated otherwise than in the air. Mineral character. The evidence that this band of basaltie rock is interstratified and Evidence of interstra- DO intrusive, is ample; throughout the whole dis- аа tance the trap is found in precisely the same position between the lowest beds of the Ranikot group and the highest eretaceous strata, and apparently perfectly conformable to both. The close resemblance in mineral character and the similarity of geological position at the base of the tertiary beds show that this band must be, in all probability, a thin representative of the great Deccan and Malwa trap formation, and the occurrence of a second bed at a lower horizon, interstratified with rocks of cretaceous age, tends strongly to confirm the inference drawn from the relations of the traps to cretaceous and tertiary rocks in the Narbada valley, that the great volcanic formation of Western India must be classed, in part at all events, as upper cretaceous. The Deccan and Malwa traps had already been traced as far as the western portion of Cutch before their occurrence in Sind was discovered. Their existence west of the Indus extends the area in which they are known to occur by about 150 miles, the distance between Lakhpat, in Cutch, and Ranikot, in Sind. 3. Ranikot group. —The name of tle lowest tertiary sub-division is derived from a hill fortress of the Sind Amirs, situated in the Laki range of hills, and known as Rani-jo-kot, or Ranikot, and also as Mohan-kot, from the Mohan stream, which traverses the fortification. "The Ranikot group is much more extensively developed in Sind than the underlying cretaceous beds, for Care) Derivation of name. 38 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. although it is confined to Lower Sind, and although its base is only seen in the Laki range, north of Ranikot, its upper strata occupy a consider- able tract of country, about 26 miles long from north to south by about 19 in breadth, north-west of Kotri and another even larger exposure, about 36 miles long, occurs, extending from north of Jhirak (Jhirk, Jhirruk, Jerruck or Jurruk) to Tatta. In the Laki range, the Ranikot beds are seen for about 35 miles, but the outerop is never more than 2 or 3 miles broad, and one small Extent. inler is exposed to the west of Ranikot. All the lower portion of the Ranikot group, including by far the | greater portion of the beds, consists of soft sand- Mineral character. stones, shales, and clays, often richly coloured and variegated with brown and red tints. Gypsum is of frequent occurrence ; some of the shales are highly carbonaceous ; and in one instance a bed of coal (or lignite) nearly 6 feet thick was found, and a considerable quan- tity of the mineral extracted." The quality was, however, poor, and, from ` the quantity of iron-pyrites present, the coal decomposed rapidly, and was liable to spontaneous combustion when exposed, whilst the deposit was found to be a small patch, not extending more than about 100 yards in any direction. Some of the more pyritous shale is used in the manufaeture of alum. The only fossils found in the lower portion of the Ranikot group, with the exception of a few fragments of bone, have been plants; some dicotyledonous leaves, hitherto not identified, being the most important. All the Ranikot beds, except towards the top of the group, have the appearance of being of fresh-water origin, and are probably fluviatile. A variable portion of the group, however, towards the top, RR of highly fossiliferous marine limestones, often light Fossiliferous beds. : : > < or dark-brown in colour, interstratified wıth sand- stones, shales, clays, and ferruginous bands. These are the lowest beds in Sind containing a distinetly tertiary marine fauna. The brown lime- stones are well developed around Lainyan, Leilan or Lynyan, east of Band 1 Mem, Geol. Sur., India, vi, p. 13. (ав) GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 99 Vera and north-west of Kotri, and throughout the area of. Ranikot beds near Jhirak and Tatta. In this part of the country there appears to be a complete passage upwards into the overlying nummulitie limestone (Khirthar) ; but in the Laki range, the upper marine beds of the Ranikot group are poorly represented or wanting, and it is evident that they were removed by denudation before the deposition of the Khirthar lime- stone, for the latter is seen at Hothian Pass resting upon their denuded edges. The greatest thickness of the Ranikot group in the Laki range, where alone, as has already been explained, the base of the group 1s visible, 1s about 2,000 feet, but generally the amount is rather less, about 1,500. It must, however, be recolleeted that in this locality some of the upper marine beds are Thickness. wanting, and as these marine limestones, and their intercalated shales, sandstones, &e., are 700 or 800 feet thick, in places north-west of Kotri, it is evident that the original development of the group exceeded the 2,000 feet seen in the Laki range. The following are some of the commonest or most important fossils of the Ranikot group. The large collections made by the Geological Survey have as yet only been partially examined, and the lists of fossils given can be consi- Paleontology. dered only preliminary,! many of the commonest species being undes- cribed forms :— CEPHALOPODA. Nautilus subfleuriausianus. | Л. forbesi. N. deluei. 1 As in other lists in this chapter, most of the names are taken from D'Archiae and Haime’s “ Animaux fossiles du groupe Nummulitique de l'Inde." As already stated, p. 4, I am indebted to Prof. T. Rupert Jones for the names of the Nummulites, and of some of the other Foraminifera, which he very kindly compared and determined. The Mollusca, Echinodermata, &c. have been determined partly by Mr. Fedden, partly by myself, the greater share of the work having been done by Mr. Fedden. سے cs‏ eo‏ — 40 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND, (XASTEROPODA. Rostellaria angistoma. Voluta jugosa. R. prestwichi. Natica longispira. R. fusoides. ES E Nerita (Velates) schmideliana. Terebellum distortum. Turritella ungulata, var. T. plicatum. | Т. assimilis. LAMELLIBRANCHIATA. Corbula harpa. | Ostrea flemingi. Vulsella legumen. O. vesieularis Spondylus rouaulti. BRACHIOPODA. Terebratula, cf. subrotunda. ECHINODERMATA. Schizaster, sp. Echinolampas, cf. subsimilis. ` Hemiaster digonus. Temnopleurus valenciennesi. Eurhodia morrisi. Salenia, sp. Prenaster, sp. Phymosoma, sp. | Toxobrissus, sp. i Porocidaris, sp. (spines). Conoclypeus, sp. Cidaris halaensis. ANTHOZOA. Trochocyathus vandenheckei. Montlivaultia jacquemonti. Cyclolites vicaryı. i FORAMINIFERA. Operculina canalifera. Nummulites irregularis. Nummulites spira var. (Operculina N. leymeriet. tattaensis). In the above list most of the forms, such as the Foraminifera, the majority of the Echinodermata and Gasteropoda, are lower tertiary, but still there is a very distinct admixture of species with cretaceous affinities, such as the Jaw, all of which are connected rather with cretaceous than with tertiary types, the Terebratula, which cannot be distinguished from one of the common- est upper mesozoic species, and forms of Salenia, Cyclolites, Se. Cor- 10%) Affinities of fossils. GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 41 Quia harpa is the only form hitherto recognised that is also found in the upper eretaceous olive shales ; but a variety of the same shell is also found in the Nari beds. Cretaceous and lower tertiary rocks of Baluchistan.—All the rocks described in the last few pages as occurring below the nummulitic Infra nummulitie rocks limestone or Khirthar group are found in Lower of Baluchistan. Sind, and, so far as is known, are confined to a tract near the right bank of the river Indus. Farther to the westward the series of older tertiary and upper cretaceous rocks has not been thoroughly examined, but the information hitherto obtained appears to show that the strata below the nummulitic limestone are very different in character from those found in Lower Sind. In Baluchistén, west of the frontier of Upper Sind, lower beds crop out from beneath the massive Section of Upper Gáj nummulitic (Khirthar) limestone, forming the E erest of the intervening range of hills, and on the banks of the Gáj river, which traverses the range south-west of Mehar (see Plate IV, Chav. IV), a series of more than 10,000 feet of strata is exposed below the Khirthar group. The following is a rough section of the rocks thus exposed, the thickness being merely an approxi- mation :— Feet, 1. Massive nummulitic limestone, forming the crest of the Khirthar range . . . 1,200 | 2. Shales, marls, and clays, mostly UU in KHIRTHAR colour, abounding in Nummulites . . . 500 4 . Hard grey limestone, with Nummulites . . 60 а limestone, shales and clays, olive and bluish-grey in colour, abounding in Nummulites 400 (5. Unfossiliferous olive and bluish-grey clays and nodular shales, no limestone bands . А . 1,500 6. Pale-brown sandstones in thick beds with vege- | table markings д : ; 5 . 1,000 Lower KHIRTHAR «| 7, Fine greenish-white sandstone and hale, some } of which is carbonaceous . : 2 : : 500 | 8. Dark:brown limestone and dark-green argillaceous j | beds, with Nummulites . o ; ! : 100 L 5,260 (AT 49, BLANFORD : GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. Feet. Brought forward . 5,260 9. Pale-grey argillaceous limestone, with but few LowEr I fossils; one band towards the base Contains RE Nummulites and Alveoline . : : 2 200 (10. Fine dark-coloured shales, unfossiliferous . . 3,000. | 11. Very fine grained homogeneous thin-bedded А | limestones, white, red, grey, or ochrey in colour, P CRETACEOUS. 4 unfossiliferous, forming а conspicuous range . 1,200 | 12. Hard grey shales with calcareous bands from an L inch or two to a foot in thickness . : . 2,500 The base not exposed. | 12,160 About this section the first point to be observed 1s that none of the beds below the Khirthar resemble those seen in Lower Sind sufficiently to enable any of the strata of the two localities to be identified with certainty. The sandstone No. 6 may correspond to the sands and clays of the Ranikot group, but there is no great similarity, and nothing in Difference from beds the above section appears to represent the fossili- of Lower Sind. ferous brown limestones of the Ranikot group, the Deccan trap, the olive shales with Cardita beaumonti or any other of the eretaceous beds in the Laki hills. So far, indeed, as the section on the Upper Gáj river is concerned, all the rocks exposed might be refer- red to the tertiary epoch and classed as lower eocene; no marked break intervenes anywhere, nor are there any fossils below the argillaceous limestone with nummulites, No. 9, to show the age of the beds. But, further to the westward, near Khozdar, in Baluchistän, Dr. Cook has discovered Ammonites! in some argillaceous beds, passing upwards into red and white limestone, and it appears probable from the description that Section near Khozdar, the latter is identical with the fine-grained thin- FE bedded limestone, No. 11, of the preceding section, whilst the argillaceous beds may be the same as No. 12. ! Jour. Bombay Br. Roy. As. Soc., vi, pp. 186, 188. ( 42 )- GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 43 The following. section, abridged from that given by Dr. Cook, shows the nature of the rocks between Kelat and Khozdar, the latter place lying about 70 miles north-north-west of the section on the upper Gäj river :— Feet. [1. Compact white or reddish-white limestone containing Nummulites, Orbitolites, Orbitoides, Alveolina, &c. (This is doubtless the Khirthar limestone.) Thick- ness unknown; probably more than . . о c 1,000 EOCENE 3 2. Limestone strata, differing in character, compact, sub- (KHIRTHAR) ў P x porr crystalline, saccharoid, at times cretaceous, containing Nummulites (Assilina), Alveolina, and minute indis- 3 | tinct Foraminifera, and passing downwards into Í coloured argillaceous strata : 5 о о . ? 200—500 L f 3. More or less compact fine-grained red and white lime- stone, interleaved with slabs of flint or chert, the upper part containing one or two massive strata of an exces- sively hard limestone, abounding in Orbditoides, Orbi- gillaceous and shaly, and containing (rarely) Ammonites ? 2,000 Mesozoic . J tolina, and Operculina, the lower strata becoming ar- | 4. Dark-blue fossiliferous limestone containing strata yield- | ing lead ore (galena and carbonate of lead) : e ? 2,000 l 5. Clay slate . д a ; } Д К а Mes ? 2,500 Itis true that the precise relations of many of these beds are far from clear. "Thus, in the valley of Kelat the red and white limestone appears to underlie strata containing Orthoceratites. This may, however, be due to faulting or mversion. It is probable that several different groups of beds occur near Kelat, for amongst the fossils, besides Ortho- ceratites, Ammonites of jurassic types, Ceratites, Crioceras, Scaphites, and Belemnites occur, and whilst some of the forms are typically cretaceous, others can scarcely be newer than triassic. It 15 not impossible that the limestone bands in No. 3, containing Orbitoides and other Foraminifera, may belong to the tertiary series, and i Bombay Med. Phys. Soc. Trans, 1860, vi, p. 100. The bed numbered 2 in the section is called upper cretaceous by Dr. Cook, but with a mark of doubt. This was perhaps in accordance with the views as to the classification of the beds beneath the nummulitie lime- stone formerly held by Dr. Carter, but subsequently modified by him.—See Jour. Bombay Br. Roy. As. Soc., iv, pp. 93, 95; v, p. 635; and * Geological papers on Western India,” pp. 623, 626, 699, 700, foot-note, &c. ee) 44. BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. not to the group with which they are associated. "The banded fine- grained white or red and white limestone is a conspicuous and important bed, and is probably widely developed in Baluchistan. It was found by Red and white lime. ‘Dr. Cook at several places south and south-west stone. of Kelat; it occurs, as already shown, on the upper Gáj river west of the Khirthar range, forming a range of hills known as Parh, and a rock of precisely the same mineral character appears 130 miles further south on the coast, at a small hill called Gadáni, about 25 miles north-west of Karachi. If, as appears probable, this peculiarly fine hmestone or calcareous shale (for the rock in places appears argillaceous) belong to the upper portion of the eretaceous series, it will serve to mark that horizon in Baluchistan and facilitate the recognition of the indistinct limit between mesozoic and tertiary. There is, however, a great appearance of passage between all these formations. Returning to the beds of the Gáj section, the gradual passage up- Khirthars of Gáj sec- Wards from the shales, marls, and clays, with tion. Nummulites, Nos. 2, 3, and 4 of the section, into the massive nummulitic limestone, is worthy of notice. A similar passage takes place locally in Lower Sind, and it appears best to consider the shales and marls as the lower portion of the same group as the limestone. The 6,000 feet of rocks remaining between the nummulitic shales and the banded limestones of supposed cretaceous age may be classed as lower Khirthar ; they very possibly represent the Ranikot group, but, as already noticed, there is no distinct mineralogical or paleontological connection. The nummulites found in No. 8 in the middle of this lower Khirthar group comprise N. obtusa, N. granulosa, N. leymeriei, N. spira, and other species common in the Khirthar limestone itself. It is probable that the beds below the Khirthar limestone extend throughout a large tract in Baluchistan, on the Probable area of lower : i б АКА. tertiaries in Baluchis- west side of the Khirthar range, for similar Deds tán. . © are seen from the crest of the hills cropping out to the westward as far north as Dharyáro and Kutta-jo-Kabar (the dog's tomb), the eulminating point of the range due west of Lárkána. (dd) GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 45 Again, west of the Habb river, forming the boundary of Sind near the sea, the whole Khirthar formation appears composed of shales, marls, and sandstone, closely resembling in character those of the lower Khir- thar group west of Upper Sind, and an enormous thickness of similar beds is found extensively developed in Makrän.! 4. Khirthar group.—Although this group, named from the great frontier range of hills already noticed, is, when the underlying shales and sandstones are excluded, inferior in total thickness to several other sub-divisions of the tertiary series in Sind, it comprises by far the most conspieuous rock, the massive nummulitie limestone. Of this formation all the higher ranges in Sind consist. It forms the crest of the-Khirthar throughout, and all the higher portions of the "RA et Laki range, of the Bhit and Badhra ranges south- Distribution, west of Manchhar lake, and of several smaller ridges, and consists of a mass of limestone, varying in thickness from a few hundred feet in Lower Sind to about 1,000 or 1,200 at the Gáj river, and probably 2,000, or even 5,000, further north. The colour is usually pale, either white or grey, sometimes, but less frequently, dark- grey ; the texture varies from hard, close, and homogeneous, breaking with a conchoidal fracture, to soft, coarse, and open. Ordinarily, the nummulitie limestone is tolerably compact, but not crystalline, and chiefly composed of Foraminifera, especially Nummulites, whole or fragmentary ; corals, sea-urchins, and molluscs also abound, but the two latter very frequently only weather out as casts. Throughout Northern Sind, except near Rohri, no beds are seen beneath the Khirthar limestone, and the rocks which crop out west of the Sind frontier from beneath the main limestone band have already been described. The remarkable range of low hills, surrounded by Indus alluvium, and extending for more than 40 miles south from Rohri, 5. ИА beds in Rohri Consists of nummulitie limestone having a low dip hills, to the westward, and beneath the limestone forming the eastern scarp of the hills, on the edge of the alluvial plain, 1 Eastern Persia, Vol. ii., pp. 460, 473. 4.6 BLANTORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. a considerable thickness of pale-green gypseous clays is exposed, with à few bands of impure dark limestone and calcareous shale. No Foramini- fera have been found in these clays, although Nummulites abound in the limestone immediately overlying ; several species of mollusca occur, but none are characteristie, and it is far from clear whether the green clays and their associates are merely thick bands intercalated in the limestone, or whether they belong to a lower group. Probably these argilla- eeous beds of the Rohri hills represent some of the marls, shales, and clays forming the lower portion of the upper Khirthar group on the Gäj river. The nummulitie limestone of the Rohri hills is softer and whiter than that of the Khirthar range, a difference doubtless due to the much smaller amount of disturbance that the rocks have undergone in the former instance. A somewhat similar, but greater, difference has been shown to exist between the Nummulitic limestone of the Salt Range and that of the Himalayas in the Punjab. In some places west of Kotri, a band of argillaceous and ferruginous rock is found close to the base of the Khirthar group. This rock weathers into laterite; it is mainly composed of brown hematite, and : appears to be found over a considerable area near Laterite band. g о ра . Kotri and Jhirak. It is impossible to avoid suggesting its identity with the ferruginous lateritic bed found in a simi- lar position in Guzerat, Cutch, the Salt Range, and the Sub-Himalayan region. It has already been mentioned that in the Laki range the nummu- litie limestone rests unconformably on the Ranikot group. The Khir- thar group here cannot be much more than 500 or 600 feet thick, and consists entirely of limestone. To the south-east, towards Kotri and Tatta, there is no unconformity between the Ranikot and Khirthar groups, but on the contrary there is an almost complete Relations between Khirthar and Ranikot passage between the two, and the limestone of the Toups. Я u latter becomes much split up and intercalated with shales and sandy beds. This is even more the case further to the ( 46 ) GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 47 south-east in Cutchl, where the whole group consists of comparatively thin beds of limestone, interstratified with shales. To the south-west, near the Habb river, the massive limestone dies out altogether, and although it is well developed in the southernmost extremity of the Khirthar range, near Karchát, about 50 miles south of Sehwán, it disappears within a distance of 25 miles,? Disappearance of Khir- З thar limestone to south- and in the ranges on the Habb river is en- pui tirely replaced by shaly limestone, shales, and thick beds of sandstone. Some rather massive beds of nummulitiferous dark-grey limestone, very different in character from the pale-coloured Khirthar limestone, are found west of the Habb, but their precise position in the series is not known, and the rocks appearing from beneath the Nari group, in the place of the Khirthar limestone, consist of shales and sandstones, with some caleareous bands abounding in nummulites, and closely resembling, both in character and in the species of Foramini- fera they contain, the nummulitic shales beneath the massive limestone on the,Gáj river. It is not known to what extent the typical Khirthar Khirtharsin Baluchig. limestone is developed in Baluchistan ; around gus Kelát, to the northward, this band appears to be extensively exposed, but to the westward, near Gwädar, the rocks sup- posed to represent the older tertiary beds consist of an immense thickness of shales, shaly sandstones, and unfossiliferous calcareous bands, resem- bling the lower Khirthars of the Gáj and the beds of the Habb valley, and limestones with nummulites are of unfrequent and local occurrence. It is thus evident that the Khirthar limestone, although it is so conspi- euous in most parts of Sind, and although 1t attains a considerable thick- ness, is not by any means universally distributed. 1 Mem. Geol. Surv. India, Vol. ix, p. 77. ? In the “ Manual,” p. 458, the distance was stated to be 12 or 14 miles. This was under the supposition, which is highly probable, that the shaly beds of the Piro range near Bail, west of Dumbár, represent the massive limestones of the Khirthar range. There is, however, a possibility that the shaly limestones of Baili, like those of the Laki range to the east of the Khirthar, are only the uppermost beds of the group, and that the massive lime- Stone may occur below. So far as is known, however, on the Habb, the massive limestone is wanting. : A great thickuess of Khirthar beds is exposed, but all consist of shales, marls, and sandstones. (ya) 48 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. The most characteristie fossils of the Khirthar group as Nummulites and Alveolina ; neither the genera, nor, as a rule Paleontology. А 4 the species, are peculiar, but the extraordinary abundance of individuals renders it usually easy to recognise even small fragments of the rock by the organisms preserved in it. The following is a list of the:commonest or most important fossils :— GASTEROPODA. Ovulum murchisoni, and other species. -Nerita schmideliana. Cerithium сї. giganteum. LAMELLIBRANCHIATA. Pholadomya halaensis. Astarte hyderabadensis. Corbula subexarata. Crassatella sindensis. Cardita mutabilis. C. halaensis. C. subcomplanata. Vulsella legumen. Lucina gigantea. Ostrea vesicularis, var. (O. globosa, Sow.) EcHINODERMATA. Brissopsis scutiformis. Amblypygus, sp. B. sowerbyi ? - Conoclypeus pulvinatus. Schizaster, sp. Eurhodia calderi. -Eupatagus avellana, Echinolampas discoideus. Fibularia, sp. E. sindensis. FORAMINIFERA. Orbitolites pedunculata. Nummulites ramondi. Orbitoides dispansa. N. biaritzensis. Patellina cooki. N. beaumonti. Alveolina ovoidea. N. vicaryi. A. spheroidea. N. granulosa. Nummulites obtusa. N. leymeriei. Many of the species named, and the foraminifera especially, are characteristically eocene, and there can be no question that the num- mulitic limestone of India is a continuation of the same formation in Europe. Several species pass from the Ranikot beds into the Khirthar group ; indeed the principal paleontological differences between the two (AS) GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. ; 49 may be due to a change in conditions, the Khirthar being apparently a deeper water deposit than the Ranikot group. 5. Nari group.—The series of tertiary rocks above the Khirthar nümmulitie limestone is superbly developed and very well seen in the hills on the frontier of Upper Sind, the culminating ridge of which is known аз the Khirthar. The names of the two tertiary groups overlying e o IE the nummulitie formation have consequently been derived from places in this range, and the Nari group takes its title from a stream! which traverses the lower portion of the range, here composed almost entirely of Nari beds, for a consider- able distance, and issues from the hills nearly west of Johi, and west-by- north of Sehwán. The. present sub-division comprises at ће base the up- permost bands of limestone containing Nummulites; the species, however (N. garansensis, and N. sublevigata?), being distinct from those so com- monly found in the Khirthar sub-division, and the limestone itself being Distinction from Khir- usually distinguished from that of the Khirthar ш group by its yellowish-brown colour, and by being in comparatively thin bands interstratified with shales and sandstones. Several other fossils, too, besides the nummulites, differ from those in the Khirthar beds. Not unfrequently, however, there is an apparent passage from the white or greyish-white Khirthar limestone into the yellow or brown Nari rock, and the two groups appear, in general, to be perfectly conformable, but no intermixture of the characteristie species of nummu- lites has been detected, and the division between the Khirthar and Nari beds, wherever they are fossiliferous, can be recognised by the fossil evidence. In some places the lower Nari beds consist almost entirely of brown and yellow limestones, but more frequently the limestone bands are СРЕ subordinate ; dark shales, and brown rather thinly- bedded sandstone forming the mass of the rocks. The limestone bands are often confined to the base of the group, and 1 This stream rises close to the peak called Sulimáni, and runs first north, then east. ? D’Archiac and Haime, 7. c., pp. 101, 344, pl. iii, figs. 6, 7. 3 Thid., pp. 106, 180, pl. iv, fig. 8. d QUT 0 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTEKN SIND, л always diminish in abundance and thickness above, although they are occasionally found as much as 1,500 feet above the top of the Khirthar. The shales and fine sandstones, with occasional bands of limestone, consti- tute the lower Nari beds, and pass gradually into the coarser, massive, thick-bedded sandstones forming the greater portion of the group, and attaining a thickness of 4,000 or 5,000 feet on the flanks of the Khirthar range. With the sandstones a few bands of clay, shale, or ironstone, are interstratified, and bands of conglomerate occasionally occur. The Nari beds in their typical form extend throughout the eastern flank of the Khirthar range, and occupy a belt of varying width, from one or two to as much as 10 miles in breadth, between the underlying Khirthar and the overlying Gaj beds. On the western side of the Bhagothoro hill, 4 or 5 miles south Break in Nari beds Of Sehwán, there is a break in the Nari beds, den zur and some variegated shales, clays, and sand- stones, richly tinted in parts with brown and red, and representing the massive sandstones of the upper Nari group, rest unconformably on the denuded edges of the lower Nari brown limestones and shales. The break is evidently local. In the neighbourhood of Jungshahi, 50 miles east of Karachi, and for some distance to the northward, also, „. there appears a well-marked distinetion between Break near Jungsháhi. hae the upper members of the group, comprising a yellow calcareous sandstone with Orbctoides papyracea, and the lower Nari limestones with Nummulites garansensis and N. sublevigata, and a few miles north of Jungshéhi the former overlap the latter and rest upon the Khirthar limestone. To the east of Ње Laki range the Nari beds are entirely. Nari beds wanting Wanting, and it appears very possiblethat they have жан AS scene never been deposited in this portion of the Indus valley. From the neighbourhood of Sehwán to Jhirak, Manchhar beds rest, with more or less unconformity, on the Khirthar, a very faint and imperfect representative of the Gáj group occasionally intervening. But west of the Laki range, throughout Lower Sind, the Nari beds are found exposed almost wherever the base of the Gäj group is seen ; they inerease ( 50 ) = GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 51 in thickness to the westward, and the Habb valley, from the spot Present in Lower Where the river first forms the boundary of British and. territory to the sea, consists entirely of these strata. There is, however, in this part of the country, no longer any such marked distinetion between the sub-divisions of the tertiary series as is found in the Khirthar range. The disappearance of the Khirthar limestone has already been mentioned, and with it the lower Nari limestones with | | Nummulites garansensis and N. sublevigata also dis- Passage into Khirthar. oU A appear, so that it is no longer possible to draw a distinct line between the two groups, for the shaly beds at the base of the Nari group are undistinguishable from similar rocks in the Khirthar, The calcareous shales, with the characteristic Khirthar nummulites, below, and the massive Nari sandstones above, are stil recognizable, and the two groups can consequently still be traced, although the dividing line between them is obscured. Beds of brown limestone, too, full of Orgi- toides papyracea (О. fortis?) ,—a fossil closely resembling a nummulite, and associated in abundance with N. garansensis in the typical lower Nari limestones,-—occur in the Nari beds of the Habb valley ; but instead of being found at the base, they appear in the middle of the group. Again, just as at the base of the Nari beds there is a difficulty in distinguishing them from the Khirthar, so the beds at the top of the former group can only be separated by an arbitrary line from the overlying Gáj beds. In c Ut eh the uud range, the upper boundary of the Nari group, although there is no unconformity, is distinet and definite, limestones with marine fossils of the Gáj group resting immediately upon the upper Nari sandstones. But in Southern Sind bands of limestone, or calcareous sandstone, with marine fossils, some of which are well-marked бај species, occur in the upper part of the Nari group, whilst limestone bands with the Nari Orbitoides papyraces are found in the Gäj. | The sandstones, which form so large a portion of the Nari group, have hitherto proved destitute of animal remains, and in the typical area m Upper Sind, no beds with marine fossils are intercalated in (ek) 53 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. the upper portion of the group, but the occasional interstratifications of shales and clays often contain fragments of plants, Palaeontology. c В n and some ill-marked impressions, probably due to fucoids, have been found in the sandstones themselves. There ap- pears a probability that these sandstones may be of fluviatile, and not of marine origin. In the limestones towards the base of the Nari group, many marine fossils have been obtained, the following being some of the more important :— GASTEROPODA. Terebellum obtusum. Natica patula. Cyprea nasuta. N. sigaretina. Voluta jugosa. Siliquaria granti. V. dentata. Solarium affine. Triton davidsoni. Trochus cumulans. Phasianella oweni. LAMELLIBRANCHIATA. Corbula harpa. Pecten labadye:. Venus granosa. Ostrea flabellula. Cardium triforme. ECHINODERMATA. Schizaster beloutchistanensis. Clypeaster profundus- -Eupatagus rostratus. Celopleurus forbesi. Echinolampas, sp. Cidaris verneuilli. ANTHOZOA. Trochocyathus burnesi. Montlivaultia vignei: FORAMINIFERA. Nummulites garansensis. | Orbitoides papyracea. N. sublevigata. Although some species pass from the Khirthar, and even from the Ranikot group, into the Nari beds, the fauna is chiefly distinet, and indi- cates a higher horizon. The most marked change is perhaps in the Fora- К; GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS, 53 wminifera, because they are so abundant and characteristic, yet every Difference from Khir. Species is distinct from those occurring in the thar fauna Khirthar group. Whole beds of limestone towards the base of the Nari group are entirely made up of Nummulites garan- sensis, N. sublevigata and Orbitoides papyracea, the last-named fre- quently of large size, some specimens being 2 to 3 inches in diameter. One of these species of Nummulites, N. garansensis, is of importance, because it occurs in Europe, as in Sind, in the highest strata character- ized by the abundance of the genus, those beds being at the base of the miocene. Nummulites sublevigata is peculiar, so far as is known, to India. Several of the Mollusca and Echinodermata of the Nari beds also, such as Seliquaria granti, Solarium affine, Venus granosa, and Clypeaster profundus, show distinctly miocene affinities, and some of these pass up е y into the Gáj group. But at the same time Miocene affinities. there are so many eocene forms present, such as Natica patula, N. sigaretina, Ostrea flabellula, Voluta jugosa, &e., that it is somewhat difficult to decide to which sub-division the Nari beds should be assigned, They may, perhaps, occupy an intermediate position, similar to that of the oligocene of continental geologists. 6. Gaj group.—Upon the Nari group, almost throughout Sind, there is found resting a mass of highly fossiliferous limestones and calcareous beds, usually more or less shaly, always distinctly stratified, and easily distinguished from the limestones of the older tertiary formations by the absence of num- mulites. A superb section of the strata forming this group is exposed on the banks of the Gaj river, the stream which, as already mentioned, cuts its way through the Khirthar range south-west of Mehar, and in the neighbourhood of which, west of the range, the fine section of lower tertiary and cretaceous beds already noticed is exposed. From General character. this river the present group derives its name. On the eastern flanks of the Khirthar range in Upper Sind, the Gáj group forms a conspicuous ridge, the hard dark-brown limestone bands near the base of the formation resisting the action of denudation ( 58 54 BLANFORD : GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. far more than the soft sandstones of the Nari beds, and rising every here and there into peaks of 1,000 and 1,500 feet, or even more, escarped to the west- ward, and sloping to the east; Amru,the highest summit of the Gäj ridge, being 2,700 feet above the sea. Still, the limestone bands, although so conspicuous, are subordinate, the greater part of the group consisting of sandy shales, clays with gypsum, and, towards the base, sandstones. .Many of the bands of limestone appear very constant in position, and may be traced for a long distance; as a rule, they are dark-brown in colour, but one bed is white and abounds in corals and small Foraminifera (Orbitordes), whilst some of the darker bands contain Ridge of Gáj beds. Echinodermata 1n large quantities. The uppermost portion of the group is usually argillaceous, being ; chiefly composed of red and olive clays with Estuarine passage beds З between Gájand Manchhar white gypsum, and these beds pass gradually beds. о А о Б . into precisely similar strata belonging to the overlying Manchhar group. The passage beds contain, amongst other fossils, such as Zurritella angulata, and forms of Ostrea and Placuna, the following :— Corbula trigonalis. Tellina subdonacialis. Lucina (Diplodonta) incerta. Arca larkhanaensis. All of these have allies living in estuaries at the present day; Arca granosa, a recent representative of 4. larkhanaensis, being one of the commonest and most typical of Indian estuarine mollusca. To these estuarine passage beds further reference will be made presently when. the relations of the Manchhar to the Gáj beds are discussed. The Gáj beds at the Gáj river are very nearly 1,500 feet thick, but | they appear to be less developed to the north- Thickness. : - ward in the Khirthar range, and not to be much more than half the thickness named west of Lárkána, where, however, they are nearly vertical, and have probably suffered from pres- sure. In Lower Sind, the Gáj group, like the Nari, disappears to the eastward of the Laki range, whereit is either entirely wanting, or else ( 54 ) GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 55 represented by a thin band containing one of the characteristic fossils. Ostrea multicostata, at the base of the Manchhar group. There is, Distribution in Lower however, a very large area of Gaj beds north Sun and north-east of Karächi, and the appear- ance of the formation here is somewhat different from what it is in the Khirthar range, for the greater portion of the group consists of pale-coloured limestones, almost horizontal, or dipping at very low angles, and to the east of the Habb valley forming plateaus 400 or 500 feet high, bounded by steep scarps, which rise from the low ground of the soft Nari sandstones. A low range of hills, formed. of Са] beds, extends to the south-west, past the hot-spring at Mugger or Mangah Peer, tothe end of the promontory known as Cape Monze, west of Karáchi, and the same beds form the low hills east and north-east of the town, and furnish the materials of which the houses in Karáchi are mostly built. A small island called Churna, in the sea, west of Cape Monze, also consist of Gáj rocks. To the northward the Gäj area of Lower Sind extends with very irregular out- line to the neighbourhood of Tong and Karchát, almost due west of Hálá, and there are several outliers farther north, connecting the south- ern portion of the group with the typical outerop in the Khirthar range. East of Karáchi, also, Gáj beds extend in the direction of Tatta, until they disappear with the other tertiary rocks beneath the alluvium of the Indus, The Gáj group of Sind appears to be repre- sented in Cutch by a highly fossiliferous belt, containing most of the typical mollusca, echinoderms, &c. It is quite possible that the present group, as well as the Nari, never was deposited throughout the greater part of the country east of the Laki range. It has been already stated that the Gáj beds, throughout the greater Relations of Gáj group Portion of the Khirthar range, rest conform- to Nari. ably upon the Nari group, although there is a change in mineral character, and that in Lower Sind the passage from one group into the other is gradual, calcareous bands with Gáj fossils, such as Ostrea multicostata and Pecten subcorneus, being found ( 55 ) 56 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. interstratified with the uppermost Nari sandstones. At one place, however, near Tandra Rahim Khan, west by north of Sehwán, the outcrop of the Сау beds, here dipping at a high angle to the westward, runs nearly in a straight line across the mouth of a valley, composed of a deep synclinal of the Nari group between two anticlinal ridges of Khirthar limestone. As ће Gáj beds do not share the synclinal curve of the Nari outcrop, it is difficult to see how the two can be conformable ; but an examination of the boundary between the two groups failed to show any clear evidence of unconformity. There are, however, some places south of Sehwán where the Gáj group overlaps the Nari beds and rests upon the Khirthar limestone; but it must be recollected that the Gaj group is itself overlapped by Manchhar beds in the immediate neighbourhood. The following is of course a very imperfect list of the animal remains found in this richly fossiliferous group, only the Paleontology. more important or common forms being noticed :— CRUSTACEA. Paleocarpilius rugifer.ı Balanus sublevis. Typilobus, sp. GASTEROPODA. Buccinum cautleyi. Vicarya verneuilli. B. vicaryi. Turritella angulata. LAMELLIBRANCHIATA. Kuphus rectus (Serpula recta, Sow). Arca peethensis. Corbula trigonalis. A. larkhanaensis. Venus granosa. Pectunculus pecten. V. cancellata. Pecten subcorneus. Tapes subvirgata. P. bouei. Cardium anomale. Р. favrei. Astarte hyderabadensis. Spondylus tellavignesi. Dosinia pseudoargus. Ostrea multicostata. Arca kurracheensis. Stoliczka: Pal, Ind., Ser. VII, p. 8, Pls. iv, v. ( 56 ) GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 57 ECHINODERMATA. Schizaster, sp. Echinolampas spheroidalis. Maretia cf. planulata. Echinodiscus, sp. Meoma, sp. Clypeaster profundus. Breynia carinata. C. depressus. Echinolampas jacquemonti. Celopleurus forbesi. ANTHOZOA. Pachyseris murchisoni. Cladocora haimei, Hydnophora plana and other species. Mycedium costatum. FORAMINIFERA. Operculina canalifera. | Orbitoides papyracea. The commonest and most characteristic fossils of this group are Ostrea multicostata and Breynia carinata. There cannot Character of fauna. ; be any question that the Gáj fauna is newer than eocene; some of the species are recent (for instance, Dosinia pseudoargus is identical with the recent D. exasperata, Chemn.), and it is probable that many others, when they are compared with recent forms more carefully than has hitherto been done, will prove to be the same as living species. Several genera, too, as Maretia, Breynia, Meoma, Echino- discus, Cladocora, and Mycedium, are unknown in the older tertiaries, and there is almost a complete disappearance of eocene forms, very few species being common to the Nari beds even. The chief doubt is whether the Gaj should not be considered as upper miocene. The only mammal yet obtained from the Сај beds is Rhinoceros sivalensis—a species found also in the Siwaliks. 7. Manchhar group.—The highest sub-division of the Sind tertiary Representatives of Series has been named from the large lake, a few кш; miles west of Sehwán. The group doubtless represents generally the far better known Siwaliks of Northern India, and it is probable that the upper and lower limits of the two may be the same, but the fossiliferous bands are at different horizons. ! It is not quite certain whether this species is identical with the European Eocene form, but it is certainly the shell figured by Messrs. D'Archiac and Haime. A species known by the same name is found in Rheetic beds in Europe. 98 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. The Manchhar group of Sind consists of clays, sandstones, and Mineral character and Conglomerates, and attains in places a thickness sub-divisions. of but little, if at all, less than 10,000 feet on the flanks of the Khirthar range. Although it is difficult to draw an c He HAN absolute line between the sub-divisions, the whole group may be divided, wherever it is well exposed, into two portions; the lower consisting mainly of a characteristie grey sandstone, rather soft, moderately fine grained, and composed of quartz, with some feldspar and hornblende, together with red sandstones, conglomeratie beds, and, towards the base, red, brown, and grey clays; the latter, however, being much less largely developed than in the upper sub-division. The conglomeratic beds chiefly contain nodules of clay and of soft sandstone, apparently derived from beds precisely similar to those of the Manchhars themselves; so far as has been observed, these conglomerates do not contain fragments derived from the older tertiary rocks, no pebbles either of the characteristic Gáj limestones or of the still more easily recognized nummulitie limestone of the Khirthars having been noticed in the beds of the lower Manchhars, although both abound in the upper strata of the group. These conglomeratic beds of the lower Manchhars are frequently ossiferous, the bones and teeth contained in them being, however, usually isolated and fragmentary. | The upper Manchhar sub-division, where it is best seen on the flanks of the Khirthar range, west of Lärkäna, is thicker Upper Manchhar. i doles than the lower, and consists principally, towards the base, of a great thickness of orange or brown clays, with subordinate bands of sandstone and conglomerate. The sandstones are usually light-brown, but occasionally grey, like the characteristic beds of the lower sub-division, The higher portion of this upper sub-group con- tains more sandstone and conglomerate, and the whole is capped by a thick band of massive coarse conglomerate, which throughout a great part of Upper Sind forms a conspicuous ridge along the edge of the Indus alluvium. This conglomerate contains numerous large pebbles of num- ( 58 ) GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 59 mulitie and Са] limestone, together with fragments of quartzite and other rocks of unknown origin.. Throughout the conglomeratie beds of the upper Manchhars, pebbles of nummulitic limestone and of the brown Сај limestone occur, showing that these older tertiary beds must have been upheaved and denuded in the later Manchhar period, although there is a complete passage between the Gáj beds and the lower Manchhars. ‚There appears, however, good reason for supposing that some disturb- ance of the older rocks took place before the deposition of the lower portion of the Manchhar group. To the east of the Laki range the Manchhar beds, themselves disturbed, rest unconformably on the Khirthar Relations to older beds, T ; Е group, the beds of which are vertieal in many places, so that it 1s manifest in this case that the Khirthars had been upheaved before the deposition of the Manchhars. The presence in this locality of the lower portion of the latter group appears to be proved by the occurrence of teeth and bones of the same mammals as are found in. the lower Manchhars elsewhere. It is evidently far from improbable that the Manchhar group of Sind should be sub-divided into two distinct groups, the upper being perhaps the equivalent of the typical Siwaliks. Only a few fragments of bones, too imperfect for determination, have, however, hitherto been found in the upper Manchhars, so that no clue to the age of the sub- division is afforded by fossil remains. There is Eu PEN also a possibility that the coarse conglomerate capping the whole tertiary series should be classed apart from the under- - lying beds, although it appears to pass into them. The only reason for distinguishing the upper conglomerate, apart from its great coarseness and thickness, is that it, and it alone, exhibits some slight connection in its development with the existing features of the country; at least the conglomeratie band appears to be much thicker at the spot where it is traversed by the Gäj river than it is to the northward or to the southward ; and this increase in thickness may be due to an accumulation 10:99.) 60 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. of pebbles brought down by a stream which occupied in upper Manchhar times the same position as the Gäj now does. A similar increase in the development of conglomerate near the course of the present rivers has been noticed in the case of the Sub-Himalayan Siwaliks. It is, however, manifest that a great part of the disturbance which has caused the elevation of the Khirthar range is of later date than the Manchhar Disturbance of tertiary Conglomerate, because that conglomerate has been PIOUpss tilted up at high angles, and appears to dip con- formably with the older tertiary rocks. Nevertheless itis true that, as has been shown in the last paragraph, there must have been some change of level before the Manchhars were deposited, and 1t is also true that there is in places an apparent passage from the upper Manchhar conglomerate into the gravels of the slope, on the edge of the alluvium ; but the latter may simply be due to the reconsolidation of pebbles derived from the conglomerate itself; and if the amount of disturbance in the interval between the upper and lower Manchhar periods was considerable, the evidence of such a break should be more conspicuous than it is. On the whole, it appears probable that the great period of disturbance which terminated the tertiary epoch in Sind commenced during the deposition of the Manchhar beds, or perhaps even earlier, but that greater changes took place after the highest Manchhar strata had been deposited than during the period of their deposition. | In one case a few estuarine fossils were found, near the Nari stream, Estuarine fossils in 1n a Manchhar bed 300 or 400 feet above the base Mesure logak, of the group. 'The only form recognized was Corbula trigonalis, already mentioned as characteristic of the estuarine passage beds between Gáj and Manchhar. With this exception, and that of some rolled oyster-shells possibly derived from a lower formation, no marine or estuarine fossils have been observed in the Manchhar beds of Upper Sind, above the passage beds at the base of the group, and there appears every reason to believe that these rocks are of fluviatile origin. The form of the pebbles in the conglomerate of the upper Manchhars is that of stream-worn, and not that of sea-worn fragments; they ( 60.) GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS, 61 approach an oblate rather than a prolate spheroid. Still the amount of rounding is such as could only have been produced by a rapid stream. In Lower Sind, however, there is a very considerable intercalation of marine or estuarine beds with the Manchhars, and this evidence of deposition in salt water increases in the neighbourhood of the present coast. Around Karachi, beds of oysters, and sometimes of other marine or estuarine shells, are found not. unfrequently interstratified with the Manchhar beds in Manchhar group. There is also some change in WD M mineral character, the sandstones becoming more argillaceous, and associated in places with pale-grey sandy clays and shales. The passage into the Gaj beds is very gradual, calcareous bands with Сај fossils, such as Ostrea multicostata and Pecten subcorneus, being found some distance above the base of the Manchhar group. Although, on account of the change in mineral character, there Relations to ба} 18, except in the neighbourhood of the coast, no 5100р. difficulty in drawing a line between Manchhar and Gáj beds, everything tends to show that there is no break in time between the two, the lower portion of the upper group being an estua- rine or fluviatile continuation of the underlying marine beds But the great thickness of the Manchhar group in Upper Sind alone would suffice to prove that a considerable period of time must have elapsed during the deposition of this formation, and it is far from improbable that the lower Manchhar beds may be upper miocene, whilst the upper Manchhar strata are pliocene. The Manchhar beds extend along the edge of the alluvium, and ее form a broad fringe to the Khirthar range, Distribution. j ў throughout Upper Sind, from west of Shikárpur to the Manchhar Lake; but the breadth of the outerop varies greatly, being as much as 14 miles where broadest west of Lárkána, and dimin- ishing both to the north and south. As already noticed, the Manchhar group is thickest just where its outerop is widest; but the breadth of the area oceupied by the beds is not due simply to their vertical development, but chiefly to their forming a synclinal and anticlinal roll before disap- 2D 62 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. pearing beneath the alluvial plain; whereas in other parts of the range the same beds are exposed in a simple section, all the strata dipping to the westward. To the north the section is complicated by faults, but to the south the thickness of the Manchhar group diminishes greatly, and west of Sehwán, near Tandra Ráhim Khän, although both upper and lower sub-divisions of the group are developed, and the uppermost con- glomerate is exposed, the whole thickness of the Manchhar strata cannot be much more than about 3,000 feet. The Manchhar beds are seen west, south, and east of the Manchhar lake; they are well developed, and oceupy a large plain to the east of the Laki range, and west of the nummulitie limestone tract near Kotri and Jhirak; they re-appear in many places in the different synelinal valleys to the west of the Laki range, and they occupy a considerable tract of country east and north- east of Karáchi. But throughout these areas in Lower Sind the rocks are not nearly so well seen as to the northward, the soft sandstones and clays of the Manchhar group having been denuded into undulating plains, covered and concealed in general by the pebbles and sands derived from the neighbouring hills, which are formed of the comparatively hard older tertiary rocks; and it is far more difficult than it is in Upper Sind to distinguish the different portions of the group, or to form a correct idea of the thickness of strata exposed. The Manchhar beds extend along the edge of the sea, west of Kará- - Relations to Makrín Chi, almost to the end of Cape Monze, but no group of Baluchistán. representative of this formation is seen for a con- siderable distance to the westward of the Cape. The few exposures of rocks seen near the shores of Sonmeáni Bay are older tertiary, or perhaps eretaceous, and the greater part of the country consists of alluvium, a low cliff near the coast, north of Gadáni, being composed apparently of sub-recent deposits, But west of Sonmeáni Bay, in the neighbourhood of Hingláj, a well-known place of Hindu pilgrimage, there are high hills of hard greyish-white marls or clays, occasionally intersected by veins of gypsum, usually sandy, and often highly calcareous. With this clay or marl, bands of shaly limestone, dark calcareous grit, and sandstone, are ( 62 ) GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 63 interstratified, but they usually form but a small portion of the mass, although their greater hardness renders them conspicuous. This marl formation extends for many hundreds of miles along the coast, and is well seen at Rás Malán, Ormára, Pasni, Gwádar, near Jáshk, at the entrance of the Persian Gulf, and on the Persian shores of the gulf itself. The headlands of Ras Malan, Ormara, and Gwädar consist of great hori- zontal plateaus, surrounded by cliffs of whitish marl or clay, and capped by dark-coloured calcareous grit, Rás Malan especially being a table-land rising abruptly to a height of 2,000 feet from the sea. These remarka- ble rocks have been called the Makrán group! from the name usually applied to the littoral tracts of Baluchistan. The Makrán group is of marine origin, and abounds in mollusca, echinoderms, &e., most of the species apparently being the same as those found in the neighbouring seas at present. The collections made at Gwádar, Jáshk, and other places, have not been sufficiently compared to ascertain whether any are common to the Gáj beds of Sind, but by far the greater portion are distinct; none of the characteristic Са] fossils, such as Ostrea multicostata, Breynia carinata, Echinolampas jac- quemonti, $c., have been noticed in the Makrán group, and the latter appears to be of later age than the miocene Gáj beds. Although there is no resemblance between the typical Manchhar beds and the cba- racteristic rocks of the Makrán group, nor, from the widely different con- ditions under which the two formations must have been deposited, would any similarity in mineral character be probable, some of the soft argil- laceous shaly sands in the Manchhar beds near Karáchi closely resemble some similar beds in the Makrán group near Gwádar. As the coast of Baluchistän has never been examined geologically, all that is known of its strueture having been ascertained by brief visits to a few points separated from each other by intervals of from 50 to 100 miles, it 1s uncertain to what extent the rocks of Sind extend to the westward, and whether any representatives of the Gäj group, especially, exist in that direction ; but there appears a considerable amount of probability that 1 Rec. Geol. Sury. India, v, p. 43; Eastern Persia, ii, p. 462. (68 )) 64 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. the marine Makrán group in Baluchistan may represent the fresh-water Manchhars and Siwäliks on the edge of the Indo-Gangetic plain. The only fossil remains of any importance hitherto detected in the Paliontology of Man- Manchhar group are bones of mammalia, and all chhar group. that have been recognized belong to the lower Manchhars; the upper sub-division of the group, as has already been mentioned, having hitherto furnished only a few bones, in too poor and fragmentary a state of preservation for the species, or even the genera, to be determined. The few estuarine shells which have been found in the lowest Manchhar beds in Upper Sind, and a portion at least of the marine fossils procured from a similar horizon near Karachi, appear to be Са] forms, and to indicate a close connection between the lower Man- chhars and the underlying group. In places, and especially in the neighbourhood of the Laki range, silieified fossil wood is found in abundance in the Manchhar beds, stems of large trees being of common occurrence. The majority are dicotyledonous, but some fragments of monocotyledons are also found. | The following is а list of the species of Vertebrata hitherto identified from the lower Manehhar group:! it should perhaps be repeated that the remains are extremely fragmentary, and chiefly consist of single teeth and broken portions of bones. No remains of Quadrumana, Chiroptera, Insectivora, Rodentia, or Cetacea, have hitherto been found, and the fauna is chiefly remarkable for the prevalence of artiodactyle ungulates, allied to pigs, or intermediate between pigs and ruminants. MAMMALIA. CARNIVORA. Amphicyon paleindicus. PROBOSCIDIA. Mastodon perimensis. Dinotherium pentepotamie- M. latidens. D. indicum. M. (Trilophodon) falconeri. D. sp. nov. 1 These have been named by Mr. Lydekker, Rec. Geol. Surv. India, ix, pp. 91, 93, 106; x, pp. 76, 83, 225; xi, pp. 64, 71, 77, 79, &e.; Pal. India, ser. X, pt. 2, pp. 7, 25, 44, 64, &с. (ФА) GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 65 UNGULATA. PERISSODACTYLA. Rhinoceros paleindieus. Acerotherium perimense. * R. sp. near №. deccanensis. ARTIODACTYLA. Sus hysudricus. Anthracotherium silistrense. * Hemimeryz, sp. * Hyopotamus paleindicus. * Sivameryz, 2 sp. * Hyotherium sindiense. Chalicotherium sivalense. Dorcatherium majus. D. minus. EDENTATA. * Manis sindiensis. REPTILIA. Crocodilus, sp. Ophidia, sp. indet. Chelonia, sp. indet. Species marked with an asterisk have not been found elsewhere. The | majority of the genera are extinet, Rhinoceros, Relations of fauna. i od Sus, and Manis being the only living types, and the last-named has only been recognized from a single digital phalange, so that the generic identification is far from sufficient. Both Rhinoceros and Sus existed in miocene times, whilst Amphicyon, Anthracotherium, Hyopotamus, and Dinotherium, are not known to occur in Europe in beds of later date than miocene. The genera Hemimeryx and Sivameryz are peculiar ; both are allied to the Siwalik Merycopotamus. The species found also in the pliocene Siwaliks are Rhinoceros palein- DLE dicus, Acerotherium perimense, Chalicotkerium Siwalik species. З 5 sivalense, Sus hysudricus, the two species of Dorcatherium, Mastodon latidens, and Mastodon falconeri; but as the presence of these forms in the Manchhar beds is inferred for the most part from fragments, the identifications are by no means quite certain, whilst the general facies of the fauna, the absence of characteristic living Absence of living forms like Hguus, Bos, Antilope, Cervus, and, Белеги, Elephas, and the presence of several extinct genera е ( 65 ) 66 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. not hitherto detected in the Siwaliks show that the mammalıferous beds of Sind are of older age than the typical Siwalik strata. It should be recollected, moreover, that the precise horizon at which the Siwalik forms are found is but rarely known with accuracy; that some of the Siwalk strata are as old as the lower Manchhar, if not older, and that a portion at least of the older types of mammals are from beds low in the Siwalik series. None of the remarkable series of types allied to the giraffes and Sivatherium, nor of the peculiar Absence of Sjwalik bovine and antilopine forms, so characteristic of forms. the Siwalik fauna, have as yet been found in Sind ; the only ruminant detected in the Manchhar beds is the miocene Dorcatherium, and the place of the more specialized Pecora appears to have been occupied by the less specialized even-toed ungulates allied to the pig. While, therefore, it is probable that some extinct types, such as Anthracotherium and Hyopotamus, which are not known in Europe above the lower miocene, existed in India at a somewhat later period, together with species which survived till pliocene times, it is evident that the lower portion of the Manchhar group can scarcely be considered of later date than upper miocene. The paleontological evidence is in accordance with the geological, and both show the close connection between the lower Manchhar beds and the Gaj group. | Relations of Sind tertiary beds to those of neighbouring provinces.— With the exception of the olive group of the Punjab Salt Range, Relations between Sind Supposed to represent the Cardita beaumonti beds su CURSOS TERNS of Sind, no definite extension of the Sind beds below the Deccan trap has been clearly traced into the neighbouring provinces. The upper members of the Sind series, however, are ap- parently identical with those found in Cutch, and probably, now that the typical fossils are known, the same sub-divisions may be traced into Guzerat. The following are the beds in Cutch, as classified in Mr. Wynne's Memoir on the Geology," with the corresponding groups in Sind as already defined :— 1 Mem. Geol. Surv. India, ix, p. 48. (ipe) GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 67 Сотон (Kach). SIND. Upper Tertiary. Manchhar (pliocene). Argillaceous group. Gäj (miocene). TERTIARY Arenaceous group. Nari (upper eocene). Nummwulitie group. Khirthar (middle eocene). Gypseous shales. ? Ranikot (lower eocene). It is highly probable that the “sub-nummulitic” group of Cutch, associated by Mr. Wynne with the underlying traps, is also represented by the Ranikot beds, part of which closely resemble it in mineral cha- racter. The traps of Cutch are much thicker than in Sind, and are doubt- less equivalent not only to the thin bands in the latter province, but to a considerable proportion of the associated upper cretaceous formations. The identifieations of the tertiary sub-divisions have been made by Mr. Fedden, by whom the tertiary portion of Cutch was geologically mapped. The series in Baluchistán is too poorly known for anything to be Tertiaries of Baluchis. added to the identifications already noticed be- tán. tween the lower Khirthar beds, together with their associates west of the Khirthar range, and the rocks near Kelat, and between the Manchhar and Makrán groups. To the north of Sind the rocks of the Bügti and Mari hills have been briefly described by Rocks of Sulemén Captain Vicary ! and a section across the Sulemán SANE: range by Mr. Ball? In both of these sections representatives of Manchhar and Khirthar beds are easily traced, but neither Nari nor Gáj can be identified by description or fossils? Mr. Ball described beds which he considers of Sewalik age resting upon sandstones and clays which he suggests may be Nähan. Both these sub-divisions are clearly representatives of the Sind Manchhar group, and the lower is described as resting upon nummulitic limestone (Khirthar). 1 Geological Report on a portion of the Baluchistan Hills. Q. J. б. S., 1840, ii., р. 260. ? Geological notes made on a visit to the coal recently discovered in the country of the Luni Patháns, south-east corner of Afghanistán ; Rec. Geol. Surv. India, vii, p. 145. 3 A few of the fossils mentioned by Mr. Ball, l. c., p. 153, are Gáj forms, but the identi- fication is very questionable. I examined the fossils, but could detect only Khirthar species, (at) 65 BLANFORD : GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. There is a possibility that representatives of the Nari group overlie the older Khirthar limestone. Mr. Balls visit was hurried, and he may have overlooked some minor sub-divisions; but it is elear that if repre- sentatives of either Gäj or Nari beds occur, they are inconspicuous. Indeed, there is no evidence of miocene marine beds having been traced north of Sind,! but there is a probability that Nari beds occur in the Punjab, and that they may be traced in the Suleman Range. Beneath the nummulitie limestone, Mr. Ball found a great thickness of shales and sandstones, with some thin bands of coal. These beds do not contain many fossils, but one, Ostrea flemingi, is a characteristic Ranikot form, and the beds are probably equivalent to the lower Khirthar of Baluchistán. | Almost throughout the Northern Punjab representatives of the Khirthar nummulitie limestones may be traced, They occur in the Salt Range, in the Afridi hills, Hazára, the neighbourhood of Murree, the outer slopes of the Pir-Panjál Tertiaries of Punjab. in Jamá, and near Simla, where they form the Subáthu group of Mr. Medlicott.* Mr. Wynne considers the “ hill nummulitie limestones” found in the Himalayan ranges older than the nummulitie limestone of the Salt Range, but the Foraminifera of both, so far as known, are Khirthar species. It is impossible to say which of the various sub-divisions found in the Punjab tertiaries correspond with those constituting the tertiary series above the Khirthar group in Sind, except that it ıs probable that the Manchhar group of the latter area is represented by the Siwalik series comprising upper, middle, and lower (or Náhan) ; the unfossiliferous 1 A single valve of Lucina (Diplodonta) incerta is said by D’Archiac and Haime (An. Fos. Num. de l'Inde., p. 240) to have been found in the Salt Range. The species has only been obtained in Gáj beds in Sind, but it may range into older rocks. Mr. Medlicott (Me- moirs of the Geological Survey of India, vol. iii, pt. 2, p. 100) notes the existence of Ostrea multicostata in the Subáthu group; and Mr. Ball found the same fossil with O. flemingi in the lower sandstones of the Sulemän range, but the species, although so common in the Gáj group as to be characteristic, ranges into the Nari group, and is in Europe an eocene species. | 2 Mem. Geol, Surv. India, iii, pp. 17, &c. 050 GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 69 Nähan group being the equivalent to the fossiliferous lower Manchhar beds, whilst the unfossiliferous upper Manchhars correspond to the ossiferous middle and upper Siwalik beds. No sufficient fossils have been found in the Kasauli or Dagshai sub-divisions of the Sirmür series to show how far these groups are representative of the Gáj and Nari beds, and the same may be said of the Murree group of Mr. Wynne, the lowest portion of which, however, appears to be of Khirthar (eocene) age, asit contains inter- stratified limestones with Khirthar nummulites.! The rocks of the Siwalik series cover a very large area in the Northern Punjab, —much larger even than that oceupied by the eocene beds,—and are traced uninterruptedly across the western and northern portion of the, province from the southern extremity of the Sulemán to the Sub-Himalayan ranges east of the Punjab, and thence almost throughout the outer hills of the Himalayas to Assam, so that there is a great belt of later tertiary rocks extending round the border of the hill ranges west and north of the Indo- Gangetic plain.” Additional notes on Sind tertiary series —Before quitting the subject of the Sind tertiaries, there are two or three points to which attention may be directed. These points are chiefly of interest with regard to the geology of more extensive areas, but the knowledge, gained in the last few years, of the sequence in Sind, and of the peculiarities of the upper mesozole and tertiary series there exposed, together with the great im- perfection of our acquaintance with all the neighbouring regions, renders it desirable that these geological features, although they may not be peculiar to the Sind area, should not be overlooked when the characters of the region are compared with those of other parts of India. The first of these points is the general conformity of the whole series, Absence of general from cretaceous (perhaps even middle cretaceous) breaks below pliocene. to pliocene. The lowest bed, the hippuritic lime- tone, passes into the cretaceous sandstones, and these again into the olive 1 I am indebted to Mr. Lydekker and Mr. Wynne for specimens, and amongst them I recognize N. beaumonti and N. granulosa, both Khirthar species. 2 For further information on the tertiary beds of India, see Manual, Introduction, рр. 1, liv., and Chaps, xiv, xxi, xxii, xxiii, xxviii, and xxix. ( 69 ) 10 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. shales with Cardita beaumonti. 'lhe Deccan trap and the Ranikot beds at the base of the eocene period follow in regular and conformable suecession, and the break, shown by the Khirthar limestones resting on the denuded edges of the upper Ranikot beds in the Laki range, is merely local, for a few miles to the south-east the two formations pass completely into each other. At the top of the Khirthar limestones also, although there is a sudden and abrupt change in the fauna, no uncon- formity has been detected at the base of the Nari group, whilst Nari beds in many places, and especially in South- Western Sind, pass uninter- ruptedly into the miocene Gáj beds, and there 1s again a complete passage from the latter into the Manchhar group. In the middle of the Manchhar formation there may be a break proved by some slight indications of unconformity, and by the appearance of detritus derived from middle and lower tertiary beds in the upper sub-division; but the unconformity if any exist, is probably local. There is an unquestionable local break in the middle of the Nari beds, but in general they form a conformable sequence throughout. With the Manchhar beds, however, the sequence ends, and, in the Great post-pliocene Evidence of great disturbance having taken place disturbance. in Western Sind since the upper Manchhar beds were deposited, there is an abrupt and startling change from the pheno- mena exhibited on the other side of the Indus valley. We are in fact brought into the presence of one of the great facts which divide with so trenchant a line the geology of the Indian Peninsula from that of neighbouring countries. The eocene nummulitie limestone, even in the middle of the Indus Valley around Sukkur and Rohri, never dips at more than 5°, and rarely at more than 1° or 2^; the tertiaries of Cutch, Kattywar, and Surat, pass upwards almost without a break into the coast alluvium ; the laterite of Western India, probably of tertiary age at least, lies undisturbed upon the flat eretaceous basalts; and the diffi- culty in drawing a line between older and newer forms of laterite alone suffices to show how destitute of violent disturbance the geological history of peninsular India has been in cenozoic times. It is unneces- (А р GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 11 sary here to do more than refer to the older mesozoic and palzozoic rocks of the Indian Peninsula, but it is a fact that the pliocene beds of Sind and the Himalayas are more disturbed than the ancient azoic Vindhyans of Bundelkhand. The uppermost Manchhar rocks on the edge of the alluvial Indus plain are frequently vertical, and rarely dip at lower angles than 30° or 40°, and it is manifest that the great anticlinal ridges of the Sind mountains have been largely formed in post-pliocene times. In the notes on the physical geography of Sind, it was shown that Direction of disturb. the ranges of hills in the province are simple es anticlinals with parallel axes, all running nearly north and south. This probably proves that the action of disturbance has been unusually simple, and has consisted of a distinct lateral thrust from one direction. "To the westward in Baluchistan, and to the north- ward in the Punjab, there is a complete change in the direction of the ranges. | . The cretaceous rocks appear to have been marine, with the possible Alternation of marine exception of the unfossiliferous sandstones above and freshiwater beds the hippuritic limestone, but at the base of the Sind tertiary rocks, in the Ranikot beds, proofs of the immediate neighbourhood of land are afforded by the presence of terrestrial plants. It is probable that the thin band of Deccan trap at the base of the Ranikot group is of subaérial origin in Sind as elsewhere, and that the lower Ranikot beds themselves are fluviatile. The upper portion of the Ranikot group, the whole of the Khirthár, and the lower Nari beds, are marine, and the nummulitic limestone may have been deposited far from land, whilst it is certain that a considerable portion of this lime- stone formation is too pure to have accumulated in a sea into which sediment in any quantity was poured by rivers or washed from a coast line. But, as has been shown above, the Khirthar limestone in lower Sind contains intercalated sandstones and shales, showing the admixture of detritus derived from land, and the great limestone band itself disappears in the south-western part of the province, near the Habb river. | EY 12 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. The thick upper Nari sandstones, and the still thicker Manchhars, have, again, the character of fluviatile deposits, but the intervening Gaj group is marine, and in part perhaps estuarine. Thus, throughout the tertiary series of Sind there is evidence of frequent alternations of marine and terrestrial conditions, the last marine beds known being of miocene date. To the northward, on the flanks of the Himalayas, the tertiary marine beds tend to disappear or diminish ; even the nummulitic limestone, the only marine formation which appears to be persistent throughout the greater part of the extra-peninsular area in India, being much less developed in the Sub-Himalayan ranges than it is in the neighbourhood of the Lower Indus Valley. 8. Post-tertiary deposits.— Although by far the largest part of Sind О ез is covered EJ sub-recent formations, the deposits are of small interest. 'The greater part of the province consists of the alluvium of the river Indus, and is a part of the great alluvial tract of Northern India. The Indus alluvial deposits only differ from those of the Ganges in being rather more sandy as a rule, and perhaps somewhat paler-eoloured. The older form of alluvium, forming the “ bhangar” of the Ganges,—an argillaeeous earth con- taining nodular earbonate of lime (kankar) and grains of iron peroxide, —has not been observed in Sind. This absence may be connected with the facts that marine conditions appear to have prevailed in the Indus valley at a comparatively recent period, whilst the Ganges valley has probably been land from a remote epoch.! The post-tertiary formations in the Sind hills consist of gravels, sands, _Gravels, &c, in Sind and clays, which frequently occupy large tracts hills. between the ridges. Coarse gravel, often consoli- 1 For a discussion of this subject see “Manual,” Part i, pp. 393, &c. It should be stated that the views above expressed as to the antiquity of land conditions in the Gan plain are opposed to the opinions of many geologists. . oe The evidence in favour of marine conditions having existed in the Indus valley is noticed in the Manual, p. 394. See also Jour. As. Soc. Beng., 1876, xlv, Pt. 2, p. 93; Rec Geol, Surv. India, x, pp. 10, 21. The observations were made in Thar and Párkar A of the Indus, and outside of the area described in the present Report. | (72 ) GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 73 dated into a calcareous conglomerate, forms a low slope, sometimes 2 or 4 miles in breadth, at the base of each range. This slope often covers a large portion of the intervening valleys. On the flank of the Khir- thar range, the deposit of gravel is usually well developed, being natur- ally highest where streams issue from the range. Frequently, too, within the range, remains of an old gravel deposit are seen covering portions of the country at a considerable elevation above the streams, and sometimes, as near the Gáj, masses of gravel are seen capping isolated hills and ridges in the neighbourhood of the main range. Such caps usually exhibit a low dip away from the higher hills, and are manifestly unde- nuded remnants of old gravel deposits. All such masses of gravel are more conspicuous in a barren country like Sind than in better wooded regions, and similar formations occupy an enormous area in Persia and other parts of Central and Western Asia; the great development of such deposits being apparently connect- ed with the paucity of the rainfall and the absence of rivers of sufficient size to carry away the debris washed to the foot of the hills, the rainfall being sufficient to wash down such detritus where the slope is high, but not where the fall is diminished. The great plain north of Karächi is much covered by deposits of gravel and sand, often consolidated into hard con- glomerate by carbonate of lime, derived from the pebbles of eocene and miocene limestone, of which the mass is largely composed. Near the coast, oysters of recent species, and a few other marine shells, are occasionally found in the conglomerate. | Blown sand is found in many places оп the plain of the Indus, but is far more abundant to the east than to the west of the river. In the former direction it occupies the vast tract known as the Indian desert. Plain north of Karächi. Blown sand. s 74 BLANFORD : GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. PART LI. DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS. CHAPTER IV.—THE KHIRTHAR RANGE FROM THE NORTHERN EXTREMITY OF SIND TO THE NARI NAI. There are several reasons for commencing the description of the Importanceof sections geology of Sind with the Khirthar range. The 3a REN و‎ sections exposed in that range are superb, and afford by far the best epitome of tertiary geology hitherto observed in India. All the rocks from the Khirthar or eocene group upwards are well developed, and the different groups are much better distinguished from each other than they are in Lower Sind. For the complete study of the series exposed west of the Indus, however, two sections should be examined— that in the Khirthar range for the Khirthar and overlying groups, and that in the Laki range for the beds below the Khirthar or num- mulitic limestone. | The highest range of the Khirthar consists throughout of a great Main range and minor Midge of nummulitic limestone, anticlinal in ridges. places, but elsewhere forming only the eastern portion of an anticlinal roll, the axis of which lies west of the British frontier. This main ridge is continuous throughout, except where cut through by the Gáj river. The lower ranges, consisting chiefly of newer tertiary beds to the eastward of the main ridge, are irregular, and are formed by minor rolls of the strata, or by the harder beds ; there is, however, throughout a considerable portion of the range, a ridge formed of the uppermost Manchhar conglomerate, along the edge of the Indus alluvium. The description of the Khirthar range commences at the northern end Commences at north. Of the eastern ridge, near the small town of Kitchi, ет endof eastern ridge. just north of the British Frontier. At Dharyáro, due west of ‘Larkana, the main range is divided into two of about equal (AL) \ KHIRTHAR RANGE. 15 elevation, the western of which lies outside the British territory ; the Sain, or Sayin, stream (Sainwali Nai of map) runs between the two ridges. The eastern ridge terminates in the plain a little north of Kitchi, and consists, near its northern extremity, of a perfectly simple anticlinal roll of nummulitic (Khirthar) limestone, on the surface of which rest patches of the brown limestone belonging to the lower part of the Nari (upper eocene or oligocene) group." These patches are for the most part much too small to be marked on the p map, and they have not been surveyed in detail. í About 6 miles south of its termination, the range is traversed by Hot spring of Lakha а Small valley, in which isa hot spring. known Pir, near Kitchi. as Lakha Pir, with a temperature of 112.° The water issues in the bed of the stream, and is strongly impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen, like the spring of the same name at Laki, near Sehwán. At the spring no fault can be traced in the rocks, which are of Khirthar limestone, and dip at from 20° to 40° eastward, but the spot is nearly on the line of a great dislocation, which is well seen a little further south, and extends for 40 milesin a southerly direction. Khirthar limestone Close to the spring the rocks consist of unfossili- near spring. ferous pale-coloured limestone in very thin strata, quite unlike the usual Khirthar beds, but a little further west these rocks rest upon massive Alveolina limestone of the usual character. The beds dipping to the eastward, above those seen at the spring, are also of the usual type. Altogether about 3,000 feet of Khirthar beds must be exposed here, perhaps more. At the entrance of the valley, through which the water of the spring Reversed dips in Nari Tuns out to the plain on the east, about 4 miles and Gáj beds. north-west of Kitchi, the beds are turned sharply over, and the rocks of the Nari group come in with a reversed dip, which can be traced for some miles to the southward, on the eastern flank ! By a mistake which was not noticed in time to be corrected, these patches, and also a small fringe of Nari beds at the extreme northern end of the range, have been coloured as Gáj on the map herewith issued. The same mistake has been made in the case of two Nari outliers on the higher portion of the Khirthar range further south. (КИЛУ 76 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. of Miágwan mountain, a mass of limestone, rising to an elevation of 5,093 feet, just inside the British Frontier; Сај (miocene) beds also appear, with the same reversed dip, in the valley of a small stream, the Mitha Nai (Mithoowaree of inch map), close to Kitehi. The rocks are very ill-seen, being much concealed by fragments of nummulitie lime- stone, which have fallen from the hills above. The Nari beds appear to be turned over again to the westward, and then faulted against the Khirthar limestones ; but the section is obscure and probably complieated by several faults. At the northern extremity of the range, no rocks above the Nari lime- First appearance of stones are seen, the Khirthar beds, with patches Manchhar beds. of Nan! resting on them in places, rising. directly from the alluvial plain ; but Manchhar beds (pliocene) appear at the base of the range a little north of Kitchi, where the conglomerates which usually cap the group form a ridge of almost vertical strata running nearly north and south. Са} beds appear at the same place. Many copi- ous springs of water issue from the eastern or outer side of this ridge, and are used for irrigation. One of these springs, which supplies the village of Kitchi, has a tem- perature of 85. 1t is not easy to see why the springs originate at this Springs. Part of Manchhar Spot. Where the conglomerates first appear, thefe wanting. is not nearly room to the westward, between them and the older Gáj and Nari beds, for the whole thickness of the Manchhar group, as developed immediately to the southward. Either a great thickness of the beds is cut out by a fault, or the conglomerates must be unconformable to the remainder of the group ; for it is improbable that the beds of the latter thin out in so short a distance. On the ascent of Miágwan from Sürk, nummulitie (Khirthar) limestone appears about half way up, all the lower slopes being composed of Manchhar beds. Near the boundary both rocks are squeezed and turned up. Some Nari beds are seen greatly crushed at one spot, and fragments of Gáj limestone Miágwan. ! Coloured as Gáj on the accompanying map by mistake. ( 76 ) KHIRTHAR RANGE. 17 also occur, but in such a manner as to show that both are probably only fragmentary masses squeezed into a fault. The faulting is of course, in reality, more complieated than it is represented on the map. The Khirthar limestone on the top of Miágwan is nearly horizontal, Khirthar and Nari And continues so along the range to Dharyäro beds of Dharyáro ridge. (close to Kutta-jo-Kabar). To the eastward the rock turns sharply over on Miágwan and for some distance to the south, as on the Drib stream. To the westward the limestone dips towards the Sain stream, which runs in the bottom of а synclinal, and there is a smaller synclinal east of the main water-shed in the upper valley of the Kenji. The crest of the range appears to consist throughout of grey Khirthar limestone, but on all the slopes Nari beds appear, being con- spieuous from their brown colour; broad patches of these brown lime- stones occur on both sides of the Sain valley, whilst large horizontal or nearly horizontal masses form the terraced hills known as Larkane-jo- Man and Kuni-jo-Man. Similarly large patches occur in the upper | valley of the Kenji, above Chüshang, and in a similar form, that of flat-topped hills, only the brown limestones at the base of the group remaining. On the flanks of Dharyáro and the range to the southward, the same brown limestone extends up the slopes of the hills, far above the limit of the overlying Nari sandstones, every stream course which runs down the hill side cutting deeply through the brown Nari rock into the grey or white Khirthar limestone beneath it. The bed of Khirthar limestone forming the upper portion of the range at Dharyáro and in its neighbourhood is very thick, 1,000 feet at least, and almost devoid of distinct stratification. The small plateau of Dharyáro is about 5,000 feet above the sea, Я and consists of а flat expanse of arable ground, Dharyáro plateau. ў А nearly а mile in length, surrounded by barren limestone rises. Kutta-jo-Kabar, the culminating peak of the range, hes just south of the plain and about 1,000 feet above it. There is no apparent outlet to the Dharyáro plain ; the surplus rain water evidently finds its way out through clefts in the limestone. Of these there are С) 18 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. several on the plateau, some of them being broad fissures partly filled up by earth below, and with *swallow holes" down which water evi- dently runs, in the bottom. The accumulation of soil on this and similar plateaus is probably due to the want of an outlet. In the lower ranges east of the main ridge the geology is rather Junction of Manchhar more confused than it is further south, owing to and Khirthar beds on ў З Lalan stream. disturbanee and some faulting. On the Lalan stream, about 4 miles north of the Kenji, the Manchhars are distinetly seen to be faulted against the Khirthars. That the junction is a fault is shown by the rocks being completely smashed, and by fragments of Nari sandstone being mixed up with them. . There can be but little doubt that this fault is a continuation of ^ Remarkable faults that seen west of Kitchi and again on the slope along the west of the : А : Piro range. of Miägwan. On the continuation of the same line a fault is seen crossing the Kenji Nai at Lakha-jo-Kandi, and may be traced to the southward along the western side of the Piro range, a lower ridge near the base of the main Khirthar chain, to beyond Kärch, or for more than 20 miles from the Kenji Nai, whilst the extension to the northward, if the fault, as appears probable, is con- tinuous throughout, would add 25 miles more. It istrue that the fault was only followed south of the Kenji Nai; to the northward the ground is so rough that more time than could be spared would have been required to trace the line of dislocation; but so far as could be made out, the northern extension of the fault is on the same line as the southern. The most remarkable fact about this fault is that the throw at the Kenji Nai and to the southward is to the west, whilst to the north the throw is in the opposite direction, or east. It is certain that the amount of the throw varies greatly; at Lakha-jo-Kundi, on the Kenji Nai, it does not, in all probability, exceed 300 or 400 feet, whilst at Bedo, about S miles further to the south-south-west, the throw appears to be about 2,500 feet. South of this, along the Piro range, the amount again diminishes, but throughout the Kärch valley, Khirthar rocks. are brought against Narı beds. "Towards the head of (eis) KHIRTHAR RANGE. 19 ` the Kárch valley, the fault appears to terminate in a sharp synclinal of the Nari beds, which is again seen on the southern side of the great limestone cleft known as the Sahár Dát, where the Sahár stream traverses the southern continuation of the Piro range, which a little further south joins the main Khirthar range to the westward, the syn- clinal which separated them dying out. Water appears in several streams, e.g., Mogrio and Trappen, along the line of this fault, the general direction of which, south of the Kenji Nai, is from 15° to 35° west of south, to the northward nearly north and south. The southern portion of this fault is evidently along a synclinal, Faults in neighbour. Put the synelinal disappears to the northward uses. E DIRE yey long before the throw is reversed. Amongst the higher ranges the tendency appears to be towards faulted anticlinals. In many places north of Dharyáro the east face of the main range consists of a cliff, from the crest of which the beds dip at a low angle westwards on the top of the range; whilst from the bottom of the cliff there is a steeper dip to the eastward, and the presence of a fault is shown by the oceurrence of Nari beds on the eastern slope. Although faults are not numerous, they were perhaps more common- | Mu Fault udi ly observed in Chusháng. the range nort? of Dharyáro than to the southward. One is seen running north-east—south- west, west of the gorge cut by the Kenjistream at Chus- Section of faulted anticlinal, Khirthar range. häng. This fault is just such a, Khirthar; 5, Nari. — a broken anticlinal as that represented above, and it is continued for some distance up the gorge of the stream above Chusháng. Another small fault, seen in a cliff 1 Dát in Baluch means gorge, and is especially applied to the deep clefts cut by streams through the Khirthar limestone. The name of the Sahar stream is omitted on the Revenue Survey map. (uon 280 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. on the Kenji stream a little below Chusháng, is reversed; it has only Lt, a throw of 30 or 40 feet, and it traverses Nart beds, but it 1s chiefly remarkable forits low angle f it underlies to the eastward at a slope of only 40° from the horizon. On the Kenji Nai the Gáj beds come in at the foot of the first high Sections of Kenji range. They dip at a very high angle to the east- | D ward, like the overlying Manchhar beds, and their outcrop is consequently narrow. They appear to be not more than 600 or 700 feet thick, much thinner than they are a little further south,— an appearance due, perhaps, in part to compression caused by disturbance, but there is very possibly a thinning out also. Towards the top more than one bed of white gypsum is seen in the Gáj group, associated with deep red and olive shales containing Corbula trigonalis, Tellina subdonaci- alis, and a Turritella. "These beds appear well developed, but the lower portion of the group, beneath a conspieuous hard limestone band with echinodermata and corals, does not appear;more than half the thickness ; it is in the Sita Nai, 6 miles further south. The Nari sandstones have a lower dip than the Gáj, and after some distance the former roll over again and dip westward. Two bands of brown limestone with Nummulites sublevigata, N. garansensis and Orbitoides papyracea are seen at the anticlinal, each 3 or 4 feet thick, and separated by 300 or 400 feet of sandstones from the more massive brown lime- stones at the base of the Nari group. Just beyond the anticlinal is the fault at Lakha-jo-Kandi already mentioned, at a spot where a stream joins from the south. Beyond the fault the Kenji runs from the north, and as the throw is here to the westward, higher Nari beds come in dipping to the south. "The stream cuts through Nari beds as far as Chusháng, where the Khirthar limestone crops out, and the Kenji has cut a gorge through the limestone. Part of this gorge is occupied by a deep pool of water known as Chusháng Dhandh. . One of the most interesting points in the Kenji section is the occur- rence of bands of fossiliferous limestone in the Nari group at an eleva- tion of 300 or 400 feet above the usual beds at the base of the group. ( 80 ) | KHIRTHAR RANGE. si In this part of the hills there is a great resemblance between the . Resemblance between Nari and Manchhar beds, and itis highly probable Nari and Manchhar beds. {hat both were deposited under similar conditions. The Nari rocks are harder than the Manchhar, but the sandstones in both are often of similar grey colour and structure. The shales in the Nari beds are usually darker than the Manchhar clays, but in the Kenji stream some nodular orange-brown shales are seen in the former, of - precisely the same colour as the clays in the latter, and purplish-red elays, precisely like those of the Manchhar beds, are associated with the limestone bands near the base of the group. | There is nothing worthy of notice in the two streams, Mogrio and Trappen, traversing the hills of Gaj and Nan beds south of the Kenji Nai. On the Sita Nai (Toonee- waree of map), an excellent section of the Gáj beds is seen at the entrance to the gorge through the hills, the lower portion of the group being especially well exposed. The upper portion consists, as usual, of sandstone, limestone, and clay; the section towards the base is the following : descendmg— Section on Sita Nai. Feet. . 1. Brown calcareous sandstone о 5 - MY 2. Hard brown limestone with Breynia carinata, Ix i PEN Celopleurus, Schizaster, &c. This is a conspicuous hard bed, always containing numerous echinoderms, and well developed to the southward . 5 : 2 5 о 5 a 6 Light-green argillaceous and calcareous sandstone with corals, which are seen on the weathered surface e Grey limestone woe Ф Light-brown limestone ә . : o Thin alternations of shales and impure hard brown Гоно . 10 Dusky olive shales and very thin lenticular layers of white sand [> . o . : . b o : : . 15 8. Pale-greenish sandy calcareous rock, containing Ostrea, Pecten, and Foraminifera, interstratified with bands of carbonaceous Bel GD Tap shale . A о . 10 9. Whitish, greyish, and sch: ER КАРЕ КАША with large corals, especially in the upper portion . — - 5 - 30 80 83 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. Feet. Brought forward... 80 10. Dark-olive shales with calcareous bands containing oysters, &c. 30 11. Pale-olive calcareous sandstone weathering brown . . . 10 12. Olive-green, red-ochrey and purple shales (some of them containing iron pyrites and with an efflorescence of alum) and rather hard whitish sandstone. Some of the shales are fossili- ferous and contain Leda, Ostrea, Turritella, &c. Approximate thickness <. с z 5 А : с e : . 100 Above this the Sita Nai traverses a deep glen between cliffs of the massive Nari sandstones. At least 3,000 feet of these beds are exposed, and then comes a eonsider- able thickness of dark-eoloured shales (700 or 800 feet) associated with the characteristic brown limestones. These last beds form the Piro range, round the north end of which the Sita stream runs in a deep curve, exposing a fine section of the shales in the cliff north of the stream. Section on Sita Nai. West of the Piro range, which rises rapidly to the southward, runs the fault already described, bringing down the upper Nari sandstones to the west of the range. These dip eastward at from 10° to 20°, and continue for about 2 miles till the Khirthars crop out at the foot of the main range, the brown limestones at the base of the Nari group running up the slopes as usual, Most of the water in the Sita stream comes from hot springs (temp. 91°) situated not on the fault west of the Piro range, but on the eastern side of the latter. In the Piro range, south of the Sita Nai, Khirthar limestones appear from beneath the Nari beds near Bedo, and again to the southward, where the next stream, the Ma- zaráni Nai, cuts- through the ridge by an impassable gorge. From this point the crest of the Piro ridge consists of Khirthar beds, except just north of the Sahár Dát. West of the Piro ridge, the Kárch valley, running nearly north and south on the upper part of the Mazaráni Piro range. stream, 1s cut out of the soft Nari sandstones. ( 8 ) о KHIRTHAR RANGE. 85 The section of the Gáj beds on the Mazaráni Nai is poor, and pre- Manchhar beds between Sents no peculiarities. The dip is lower than Kenji and Búrri streams. farther north. The area occupied by the Manchhar beds is here wider than anywhere else along the flank of the Khirthar range, and the country between the Kenji and Bürri streams perhaps affords better sections of these beds than the ground farther south. Still there is never a complete exposure of the strata as there is in the case of the older tertiaries. The softer beds of the Manchhars are, as a rule, very ill seen, and occupy large flats covered with gravel between low ridges formed of the harder rocks. | North of Ше Kenji Nai the Manchhar beds dip eastward for Manchhar beds on Some distance from the base of the higher ranges ; ээ щш; then they roll up and dip westward with a much lower dip; and they again turn over near the plains. The synclinal and anticlinal roll becomes more marked on the Kenji Nai Here, resting upon the Gáj group, the lower Manchhar beds, consisting of more than 3,000 feet of grey sandstones, are followed by 1,500 to 2,000 feet of orange clays (upper Manchhar), all dipping at 79° or 80° to the east. Then comes а synclinal, to the east of which but few clays are seen; they may be cut out by a fault, but no other evidence of faulting was noticed at this spot. The beds dip west for about 3 miles at angles of from 5° to 15°. They then turn over again and dip eastward, and the clays of the upper sub-division appear at the edge of the alluvium, dipping east at about 40°. The section is, however, incomplete, the upper conglo- merate not appearing, although it comes in about 3 miles further south. On the Mazaráni Naí, the dips are lower, the outcrops consequently Manchhar beds on Wider, and east of the synclinal there are broad Mazaráni Nat. gravel plams; whilst immediately south of the river, the section west of the synclinal is completed by the appearance of the conglomerate forming the uppermost of the Manchhar beds, so that a perfect section of the Manchhars occurs between the outerop of the Gäj and the synclinal axis; the latter being occupied by alluvium to the east of the conglomerate ridge; whilst further to the eastward the anticlinal ( 88 ) 84 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. of Manchhar beds stretches. southward into the alluvium, as a great pro- montory, as far as the Bürri Naí. The conglomerate at the top of the Manchhars is not seen on the eastern side of the alluvial bay, although it re-appears to the eastward of the anticlinal on the edge of the great plain. The absence of this conglomerate east of the synclinal may, like the paucity of upper Manchhar clays in the corresponding position on the Kenji river, be due to a fault along the synclinalaxis. Near Lakha - Pir, north of the Mazaräni stream, a much greater thickness of beds appears to be exposed east of the anticlinal than west o£ it. The large tract of country oceupied by Manchhar beds around Lakha Pir and Sháh Godria, east of the synclinal, is of small interest. It con- sists, like most of the Manchhar country, of low barren hills of soft sandstone, with gravel flats between. The uppermost conglomerate forms a ridge along the edge of the alluvium, but the beds underlying it are here sandstones ; whereas a few miles to the south-west they are mostly clays. The section on the Dredhak stream south of the Mazaráni is good, | ER eee exposing Nari and Са) beds well, all dipping east- Gáj and Manchhar on ward at about 25° to 30°; but there is nothing to Ben which to call partieular attention, except the pre- valence of ill-preserved fucoids in the Nari sandstones and the passage beds between the Gäj and Manchhar. These latter are particularly well seen at a spot called Lehro-jo-garok, where they must be at least 200 feet thick, and consist of grey, olive, and brown clays and sandstones, caleareous beds, and red clays. Some are fossiliferous. Atthe base occur clays with Corbula trigonalis ; above these is a hard calcareous band abound- ing in Placuna. This bed also contains Ostrea multicostata, the common Gájspecies. Below the Placuna bed is a thin band with a small Ostrea or Anomia. About 100 feet above the Placuna bed is a stratum abound- ing in large oysters. The Bárri stream (Burije of map) runs between the two high peaks беу еы ae шо Amrá and Hashim (Hashun of шар), partly © composed of Gäj beds. To the south of the aoa) KHIRTHAR RANGE. 85 Mazaráni Nai, the outerop of the Gäj group begins to form a conspieuous ridge, eut through by every steam flowing from the main range to the westward, but, between the valleys, rising into conspicuous peaks, with a steep scarp to the westward, and with their eastern surface corresponding to the dip of the beds. The highest of these peaks is Amrü, 2,716 feet above the sea, Hashim, the next peak to the southward, being but little lower. The precipitous western scarps of these hills consist of Nari sandstone, whilst their eastern slopes are composed of the brown fossiliferous Gäj limestones and their associates. The limestones contain the common Сај echinoderms, Breynia carinata, Echinolampas jacquemonti, Clypeaster and Celopleurus forbesi. | From the summit of any of these hills, the outerop of the Gáj beds А Е ean be seen extending for miles to the north and Ridge of Gáj beds. А ; south with the greatest regularity. The general strike is very constant and nearly due north and south. At Amrú there is a slight change in the strike, and consequently some of the dips are high. To the northward the angle of dip is about 20° to 25" ; to the south 1t 1s rather lower, there being a gradual diminution in the slope of the beds. But at Amrü the Gäj rocks are inclined at 45°, or, in places, even more. In the gorge of the Bürri Nai between Amrü and Hashim, there is a fine section of Gáj and Nari beds dipping at 45^; but in the next stream to the south of Hashim, a tributary of the Burri Nai called the Küpri,! and on Hashim itself, the dip becomes only 20° to 25°, and this soon diminishes to the westward, as it does farther north . to the west of Amrá, where horizontal Nari sandstones form high hills between the Сај peaks and the main range. On the Küpri stream, the lower Narı beds, which must be 1,500 feet thick, consist of greenish-grey shales and light- brown sandstones in thin beds, with the usual brown limestones, containing Nummulites garansensis and N. sublevigata, towards the base. The sandstones contain pellets of clay, and numerous fragments of plants, but nothing which can be determined. All these beds Nari beds on Kapri Nai, ! On the one-inch and quarter-inch maps, this branch is marked as Booreewaree. ( 35 ) 86 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. are very regularly and evenly stratified. "Towards the higher Khirthar ranges they dip steadily to the eastward at considerable angles, but fur- ther east they roll over more than once, and are much contorted and crushed. The | massive sandstones of the upper Nari group are much less disturbed; they form a simple synclinal on the hill-sides above the contorted shales; then they turn over to the eastward in a low anti- clinal, and dip at an angle of 10° to 15° for some miles till they dis- appear beneath the Gáj beds. With these massive sandstones some shales are associated, and the sandstone beds occasionally contain nodules of clay and ferruginous concretions. Amongst the higher ranges around Dodo-jo-kacha, near the head of Lower Nari limestone the Küpri and Bürri streams, the lowest bed of pu Nari limestone often eovers large portions of the surface, as around Dharyáro. The Nari bed is often but two or three feet thick, so thin that it is cut through by every petty stream course. _ The shales at the base of the Nari group which are so thick on the | { Küpri Nai diminish considerably in thickness on Nari beds on Sür stream. the Sür, the next stream to the southward, and are no thicker than they are farther to the north. Near the head of the Sár, at Mutráni, there is a warm spring,—tem- perature 83." "The water issues in Nari beds. On Hot springs. Р the next stream to the south (all these streams unite to form the Saläri), the Shikäni, there is another spring, but itis cold. There is a copious hot-spring on the main or southern branch of the Salári, but it was not visited. The waters of this spring ceased to flow for three years after an earthquake in 1871, but subsequently re-appeared in greater quantity than before.! The Nari and Gáj beds on the Salári and its tributaries present Nari, Géj and Man. 20 peculiarities. The conglomerate at the top chhar beds on Salari Nai. of the Manchhar group is found on the Bürri Nai, but disappears on the Salari and Maki. It re-appears further south near the Са} river. 1 Т am indebted to Mr. Н. E. Watson, of the Sind Commission, for this information. . Co) y SUR. ко 0 P n «NU n T д y 1 д? f М T IN own І ПО VETERUM COTAN Page's LU DNE LUN ret NU QE P RUNI LR us ДҮ Wid 1 | i 1 n 1 po "A H hu (1) TAL i Blanford GEOLOGICAL SURE WIE NC DE INDIA Memoirs. Vol. XVII. Pl. ПІ. S.K.H^ Section at Bandoji Kabar. a.Nart beds. b. Khirthar Section at head of Saları stream. a.Nart beds. 5. Khirthar. Section across Sulphur-spring ravine at Laki a. Manckhar, b. Khirthar, s.position of spring. Section across Dhar an Range at Dharan Lak. a. Manchhar group. h.Erırthar linvstone. c Shales taterstratiied with duto. KHIRTHAR RANGE, 87 At Bando-ji-kabar, near the head of the Salari stream, Nari beds! Nari beds on higher Come in upon the Khirthars of the higher range, SAREES: and extend thence to the southward, occupying the trough of a synclinal between two ridges of Khirthar limestone. The general section is shown in the annexed sketch (Pl. ПІ, fig. 1). The synelinal of Nari beds is continued across the head-waters of the Saläri and Maki streams to beyond Harár. It is much complicated and eut up by faults, the sharp synclinals and anticlinals being frequently accompanied by fracture and slipping. Thus at the head of the Salari the section is of this kind (Pl. III, fig. 2), or there may be a fault east as well as west of the Nari synclinal. Between the Salári and Maki streams, and again south of the Maki stream, the ridge of Khirthar limestone to the east of the Narisynclinal has a precipitous scarp to the eastward, probably a fault, and it is near the base of this scarp that the Salán hot-spring, already mentioned, rises. Even this outer ridge is double in places and contains a crushed synclinal, in which little patches of Nari beds occur here and there. The Damria towers,? two round turrets built apparently for the purpose of guarding a pathway, are on the edge of the eastern scarp. Harar, at the head of the Maki Nai, is about 3,000 feet above the sea, and is a very singular and beautiful place. Khirthar ridge. Harár. : . a It 1з on a low part of the main range which slopes upwards on the western side to an elevation of between 5,000 and 6,000 feet. To the east is a steep scarp, overlooking the lower ranges of Nari, ба], and Manchhar beds, and the Maki Nai cuts its way to thelow ground through lofty cliffs of Khirthar limestone. The slopes of the main Khirthar range west of Harár are covered with Nari beds. How these beds are cut off to the eastward is not clear, but south of Harár an immense mass of Khirthar limestone rises, surrounded by ! Coloured by mistake as Gáj on the map. ? For a description of these towers by Dr. Lalor, see Sind Gazetteer, p. 493. They are there called Danna towers, buton the map Doomria, The correct name, as I learn from Mr. Н. E. Watson, is Damria, (беу) 88 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. precipices. At the bottom of the hollow is a copious warm spring (temperature 82°). | South of Harár the rocks are greatly crushed. The Nan beds dip sharply to the eastward, and are abruptly cut off; this being repeated more than once. There has evidently been a great squeeze and some faulting. The Nari beds con- tinue about 2 miles south of Harár; thence to the Gáj only patches occur on the top of the Khirthar. The Nari outcrop is comparatively narrow on the Salár and Khurbi Nari outcrop on Maki (Koorbee) streams, where the dip is nearly the qo same as that of the overlying Сау beds; but to the south again on the Maki Nai, as further to the north, the dipsin the Nari beds are lower, and the outerop much broader. It should be noted that the average breadth of the Сај outcrop on the map is much greater than the thickness of the group would alone account for, partly because the hard limestones near the base of the Gáj bedscover the long eastern slopes of hills, the mass of which is formed of the Nari sandstones. "The diminution in breadth of the Nari outerop is also in' part due to the lower beds being turned up sharply close to the Khirthar outerop at the base of the main range. South of Harár. The Gáj beds on the Maki Nai are composed, as usual, of limestones, Ga and А with shales and sandstones near the base, and rests on Minsi Nan, brown and reddish sandstones, many of them calcareous, and clays above, the uppermost beds being variegated clays, with some grey sandstones forming a passage into the Manchhar group. The latter, so far as it is seen, is chiefly composed of sandstones ; the clays, which elsewhere form so large a proportion of the formation, are incon- spicuous, and the bands of conglomerate are few in number and. of small importance. At the base, there is а well-marked ridge of the character- istie grey sandstone, which can be traced for many miles north of the Gáj. 'This grey sandstone bed on the Lárkanda (a tributary of the Maki Passage beds between Nai to the south of the main stream), and on the Gáj and Manchhar. ( 88 .) Maki Nai itself, restsupon clays of various colours,— Mj n " ^ Lr MN ИЧ, УЛА, Plate ТУ. Klar thar Базі. 4000 7 Parh west 450 5 LL А 2150 Gay River Se Indus plan N a N —Ó m =n SESE € 5 r i ct ee at сше Cel General Section of the Khirthar range on the Northern. banki of) the Ga) Tuua ý Approximule Scale , vertical and horizontal, Linch = 1 mile : T i; The numbers affixed lo a Allium of Indus plain; b,Manchhar ronglomerules; c,Manchhar sandstones and clays, d, Güj beds, e, Upper Nori; J Tower (Nar = gp dierent beds of the Khirthar group and to all lower strata are explained- in the text itr i Fil! LI 0 NE КАТЫ 0 ШИ ! unam] p o 2 : Ji 2 5 3 12 1 2 - ; n о @ S Н 2I 7 | Oa E cS GEAR 29 > [s ze ج‎ VY R umd =прут Iam OGP yaoa 380 9 SAT: ayoyi KHIRTHAR RANGE. 89 Indian red, buff, yellow, and olive, —with bands of sandstone, forming the estuarine transition beds between the Manchhar and Gáj groaps. These beds are very well seen from the Maki to the Gáj, and on both streams, and they are more fossiliferous here than they usually are. On the Lárkanda Nai the uppermost bed beneath the grey sandstone is a thin band of calcareous grit containing a species of Ostrea, perhaps a varlety of O. multicostata, and a little below is another oyster bed containing a larger kind. In the underlying clays are found Corbula trigonalis, Arca larkhanaensis, two species of Turritella (опе of which is a form of T. angulata), a Scalaria, Buccinum cautleyt, &c. These occur in a band of argillaceous limestone weathering into clay. Another bed, a few feet lower, contains Lucina (Diplodonta) incerta, and Tellina subdonacialis. The beds are best seen in a small stream running into the Lärkanda Nai from the southward. | The section on the Gaj river is one of the best in the hills; it is = : easy of access, the bed of the stream affording a Е practicable path for camels as far as the outerop of the Khirthar limestone, and all the beds being finely developed.. The Gáj beds themselves are magnificently exposed in a great cliff nearly 1,000 feet high. The Nari beds are also well seen. The section was examined rather more carefully than most of the other stream beds, and the rocks in Kelat west of the main range were visited.! The section may be most conveniently described in descending sequence, commencing at the edge of the plains. The accompanying section (Pl. IV) shows the general relations of the beds.? The conglomerate, which 1s absent at the top of the Manchhar on the Salári and Maki streams, re-appears in great force on ће Gäj and for 1 These, it should be remembered, are not easy of access, as the channel of the stream is impassable, and the path over the hills is very steep and bad. ? This section is taken a little north of the Gáj. It crosses the main Khirthar range where the latter is about 4,000 feet high near the Kapwi pass, and about a mile north of the river, and traverses Sur hill, the section for some distance west of the hill being oblique to the line of dip. 16 then passes through Chatia hill station composed of ба} beds. West of the Khirthar the distances are merely approximative. ( 89 ) 90 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. some miles to the northward and southward. This bed is particularly well seen to the north of the Gáj, and occupies a ridge between a tribu- tary water-course and the gravel slope on the edge of the alluvium. The dip of the conglomerate 1s about 25^, and the breadth of the outerop more than half a mile. The conglomerate is coarse, most of the pebbles being 3 to 6 inches in diameter, and many larger; they are evidently stream-worn, not marine, being very oblate spheroids or ellipsoids ; some, 3 or 4 inches in diameter, are not much more than an inch thick. The majority of the pebbles are of nummulitic limestone, especially close to the river. Three miles farther north there appeared to be a larger proportion of hard sandstone and quartzite fragments. The greatly increased thick- ness of this conglomerate near the Gáj river, and the corresponding development of the Siwalik conglomerate on the Himalayan range, near the places where great rivers run out, has already been noticed in Chapter III. Below the conglomerate there is a great thickness of red, brown, and Manchhar group of buff sandstones, with some clays and occasionally Са] section, conglomeratic bands. The dip becomes higher, about 45° to 50°, diminishing again to 30° near the base of the Man- chhar beds. The whole thickness of the group cannot be less than 7,000 to 8,000 feet. In the lower portion reddish yellow and variegated argillaceous beds prevail, with brown and grey sandstones and conglo- merates ; the latter are frequently ossiferous, especially close to the bottom of the group. These conglomerates contain nodules of cream-coloured clay and of soft sandstone, but по nummulitic limestone. Some sub-angular fragments of purple quartzite, micaceous slate, and gneiss were, however, found; it is diffieult to say whence they can have been derived. In one of the ossiferous bands casts of a small spiral shell were discovered by Mr. Fedden; the genus could not be determined with certainty. Amongst the remains of Vertebrata found here! were teeth of Mastodon, Dinotherium, Rhinoceros, bones of genera allied to Merycopotamus, frag- 1 Partly by Mr. Fedden, partly by Hira Lal, one of the native assistants attached to the Survey. (907) KHIRTHAR RANGE. 91 ments of crocodile skulls and tortoise plates. A few large oyster shells were also found; they were much rolled, and had perhaps been derived from lower beds. ‘The ossiferous bands and the lower Manchhars gene- rally are best seen to the south of the river, but no continuous section is exposed. The bone locality mentioned by Vicary! is on the left bank or north of the river; but remains were nowhere found by the survey, despite much search, in such abundance as from his description would be inferred to exist. | The transition beds between the Manchhar and Gäj groups are best Beds between Man. seen in a small cliff on the left (north) bank of chhar and бај groups. the river at some wheat fields, about 3 miles from the edge of the hills. It should be noticed that the river has cut through the hill ranges a broad level water-course, in places upwards of a mile wide, filled usually with coarse gravel, but in some places covered with soil, and not unfrequently overgrown with trees and bushes. The estuarine strata at the top of the Gaj beds are, as usual, variegated clays, red, brown, olive, &c., in colour, with sandy shales and calcareous sandstone. A few bones were found in these beds. -Turritella angulata, Corbula trigonalis, and Arca larkhanaensis occur as usual, and with them Mr. Fedden procured Vicarya verneuili, a Nucula near N. studeri, and other fossils. In beds rather lower down, a slate-coloured shale yielded some small crabs, including amongst others the genus Typilobus, des- cribed by Dr. Stoliczka? from the tertiaries of Sind and Cutch. . The horizon of this fossil was previously unknown, and was incorrectly supposed to be eocene. Above this the course ‘of the river runs through Gáj beds for 4 or 5 Section of Gáj group Miles, the dip, which was at first 25°, becoming on Gáj river. much lower, and in the lower beds of the Gáj group being not more than 8.°° The very fine cliff section of the group is on the south (right bank) of the river, about 5 miles from the plain to the eastward. "The uppermost beds are not here exposed, but not more ! Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc., 1847, iii, p. 347. ? Pal, Ind., Ser, VII, p. 14, pl. III, figs, 3—5. (Э) 92 than 200 to 250 feet can be deficient. some variegated clays with a band of pure white gypsum BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. conspicuous. The following section was roughly measured, aneroid :— SECTION OF THE GÄJ BEDS (descending). 1. Sand and sandy-clay, greenish-grey and pale-brown in colour, cal- careous and nodular in parts, abounding in Ostrea multicostata 2. Hard, brown, calcareous sandstone, compact and obliquely laminated о c : . А 5 : - : 3. Sandy clays, olive and Indian-red in alternate bands 4, Pale brown calcareous sandstone and gritty limestone, hard ind compact . 5 е : : . . . 5. Pale brown and grey а dus 6. Pale brown calcareous sandstone . 5 7. Pale brownish-grey sandstone and sandy dan : TASA 2 8. Gypsum much mixed with clay : 9. Sandy clay in thick bands, alternately eed Pie ud greenish-grey, and some gypsum с 2 : A 4 10. Gypsum nearly pure . x T ó 3 2 : А 11. Sandy clay like No. 9 . Whitish argillaceous limestone, abounding in fossils, Ostrea multi- costata, Pecten, fragments of crabs, echinoderms, Bryozoa, &c. . Pale brown calcareous sandstone, with casts of Turritelle . Pale brown and greenish sandy shales, containing near the base a hard, calcareous band with Turritelle . c 5 6 . Very fine-grained yellowish-brown sandstone, calcareous ‘and argil- laceous, containing Cardium anomale с с E : 16. Whitish clay © 5 : : с А : 17. Pale brown and greenish sandy shale, with о bands of light or dark-brown, hard, calcareous sandstone б b 18. Impure gritty limestone of variable texture and thickness, lami- nated and false bedded, and brown in colour . 19. Sandy beds, shaly, but ill-exposed . : = . ` с 20. Massive, soft, light brown sandstone . о с . : . Laminated, pale-brown, gritty sandstone, weathering dad ore on the surface - © 5 . Light-brown sandstone ea any iae like No. 19, soft m disintegrated at the surface . 5 5 а 5 E 5 (1925) In the upper part of the cliff are very chiefly by KHIRTHAR RANGE. Brought forward... 23. Light-brown, caleareous grit and sandstone passing into impure gritty limestone, very distinctly but obliquely laminated, and con- taining rolled fragments of a ferruginous and argillaceous rock- like laterite. This is apparently the principal echinoderm bed 24. Sandy shales with thin bands of brown argillaceous limestone, con- sisting of a ferruginous clay cemented by carbonate of lime. These bands contain spines of echinoderms and fragments of mollusca . : : c с а > . 5 5 25. Fine dark-bluish and greenish-grey shales, nodular in places, with an efflorescence of feathery crystals (? sulphate of alumina) where exposed and cracked Sade 2 2 2 26. Interstratifications of similar shales to the last, with Байда. roni a few inches to 2 feet thick of coarse, brown limestone con- taining spines of echinoderms . : : : с 27. Shales like No. 25 c z о : о : A MUI : 28. Fine greenish-grey shaly sandstone, with minute spangles of mica ; lower portion not seen. о : 2 . а N. B.—In this lower portion, and not exposed in this section, is one of the most characteristic beds of the group. It is a white lime- stone, hard and nodular, usually abounding in Foraminifera, and containing corals in considerable numbers, some of them very large. This bed is well seen in the bed of the river about a mile lower down. 29. Coarse, brown limestone, gritty, very hard, and obliquely laminated, containing small ferruginous and argillaceous concretions, and abounding in spines of echinoderms, The thickness of this bed on the Сај varies from 20 to 50 feet . c : o N. B.—This is the bed near the base of the Gáj group, which forms a conspicuous scarp throughout the Khirthar range, and aids so much in enabling the lower boundary of the group to be recognized and mapped. It forms the peaks of Amrü, Hashim, Chatia, Láli, and several other conspicuous hills, and angular fragments of it are scattered over the country near its outcrop. 30. Olive clays varying in tint, some paler, some darker, with a few hard calcareous bands a foot or more in thickness, and more numerous above than below. In the clays Corbula trigonalis, Turritella angulata, and a small oyster, a Nucula, and other fossils occur . o o : р о 31. From the last bed to the base of the group eines clays, with one or two hard calcareous bands, occur. These beds are only seen some distance up the river, above the outcrop of the Nari beds . ` #81 30: 150 50 10 50 50 35 120 93 94 BLANFORD : GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. If, to the above, 150 feet be added for the thickness of the beds Total thickness of Gaj Omitted at the top of the measured section, the group. whole vertical development of the Gáj group in this locality will be 1,500 feet. This is, perhaps, rather over than under the truth, but the amount in excess must be very trifling. There are two points in this section deserving of notice. Although, wherever the Gáj beds are exposed on hill sides, Be gone they appear to consist chiefly of limestone, here, where all the beds are equally well seen, the greater portion is shown to be eomposed of sandy clays and shales, the hard limestone beds, although far more conspicuous, being only subordinate. It will be shown farther on in Chapter VIII, that this is not the case in the Habb ‘valley and the country near Karáchi. | The second is the interesting circumstance that in the lowest Estuarine fossils in Cj beds, as in the highest, there is some lower Gáj beds. evidence of estuarine conditions, the mollusea found in the lower strata comprising Corbula trigonalis and Turritella angulata, two of the most typical fossils of the passage beds between Gáj and Manchhar, This is quite in accordance with the resemblance between Nari and Manchhar sandstones and the probably fluviatile origin of the upper Nari beds. There is no marked break at the base of the Gaj beds, and, so far as can Neal nen CU wk |? judged, no unconformity. The calcareous bands section. disappear in the lower group, and so do the clays, but there are sandstones in both, quite undistinguishable from each other mineralogieally. The line of division has been drawn where the Gáj marine fossils disappear. Below the Gáj beds, the characteristie thick brown sandstones of the Nari group appear in force. The boundary of the two groups north of the river is complicated by irregular dips, and has been sketched in from the peaks near the Gáj, so it may not be quite correct. In general, the hard limestones near the base of the Gáj group ean be traced with certainty for many miles, but near the river a roll in the strata interferes with the regularity of the outcrop. ve) KHIRTHAR RANGE. 95 The Nari beds on the Са} cannot be less than 6,000 feet in thickness ; they occupy the river channel for more than 6 miles. The breadth of the river bed diminishes greatly, aud the cliffs are higher than in the upper tertiary rocks. To- Nari beds. wards the main range to the westward the dip gradually increases, and the lower Nari beds are inclined at an angle of 35^, like the underlying Khirthars. These lower Nari strata, shales, and shaly sandstones, with, at the base, the yellow and brown limestone bands containing the usual foraminifera, are of no great thickness. "They run up the surface of the main ridge of Khirthar limestone as usual. Corals are common in one of the hard brown limestone beds. For some distance from the main range immense blocks of Khirthar limestone are found in the stream. Some of these Limestone blocks. blocks are as large as houses, 20 or 30 feet, or even more, in diameter, and some occur 2 or 3 miles from their source. There appears no reason to attribute the transport of these blocks to any non-existent cause. Тһе masses are too large to have been transported by the stream, but they have probably been carried down slopes by the slow processes of denudation. The blocks are found on both sides of the range. The following is doubtless a partial explanation of the occurrence of these blocks. North of the Gáj, and at an elevation of 1,500 to 2,000 feet above the stream, immense masses of limestone debris are found unconsolidated and sloping to the Old gravel terrace. eastward. South of the river, a hill called Теге, standing isolated a short distance east of the main range, is conspieuously capped by a portion of a similar unconsolidated mass; the unconformity between this and the Nari beds of which the hill is composed is very marked. These masses are evidently the remains of an ancient gravel slope, doubtless formed before the river had cut its channel to anything like its present depth. The blocks of limestone above mentioned may have found their way down this slope, and thence into the stream beds below. The river has cut its way through the Khirthar limestone by a very (.95 ) 96 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. narrow cleft with vertical sides, so filled up by immense masses of lime- Gorse in Khirthar Stone that it is impossible to climb through the limestone. gorge. The thickness of the main bed of Khirthar limestone does not appear to be more than 1,200 feet, or considerably less than it is farther north. The underlying beds are well seen west of the main range in Kelát. The range may be crossed either north or south of the gorge: the northern pass, which is the lower of the two, but very steep, is known as Kapwi; the southern as Shekalwi. The section seen on the Gáj, westof the frontier, which has been already given in a general form in Chapter III," is partly seen in the bed of the бај for a distance of between 3 and 4 miles from the frontier, and the con- tinuation is exposed west of the river (see Plate IV). "The following are additional details of this section. The massive nummulitie limestone,(1)? forming the high ridge of the Section of lower Khir- Khirthar, contains, towards the base, some layers thar group on Gáj rivere оф clays and shales. The lower portion of the limestone is dark coloured as a rule, and abounds in nummulites, amongst which a large planulate species (N. Zyelli ^) is conspicuous. A large Alveolina is also common. Below these limestones there is a considerable thiekness of shales and clays,(2) calcareous in parts, and containing nummulites, which weather out in such quantities as to cover the surface, and which are beautifully preserved. These beds are usually dark olive in colour; and although they are soft and crumbling on the surface, they are probably a hard argillaceous limestone below. Beneath these shales is a bed of hard limestone(3) at least 60 feet thick, the upper portion being homogeneous, grey, and in thin bands, unfossiliferous as a rule, although a erab was obtained from it, the lower part abounding in nummulites, seen in section on the weathered surface. "This hard bed is conspicuous from the top of the range, whence it 1s seen to dip under the massive Khirthar limestone. 1 See p. 41. 2 These numbers refer to those in the section, (Pl. IV), and are the same as those o£ the beds enumerated at page 41, Chapter III, ( 96 ) KHIRTHAR RANGE. 97 Underneath the hard limestone band there are 300 or 400 feet of Section of lower Khir. argillaceous limestone, shales and clays (4), green- thar group on Gäj river. ish, olive, and bluish-grey in colour, and, like the similar beds above, abounding in nummulites, which weather out in large quantities. Тһе principal forms recognized in both beds were AN. obtusa, N. vicaryi? (a large form near N. obtusa, but with a distinct keel), N. granulosa, N. spira (less common), N. leymeriei, and a small species which is probably a variety of N. scabra. There is also a saddle-shaped variety of an Orditoides, probably O. dispansa. The next beds in descending order are olive and bluish-grey clays and nodular shales (5), unfossiliferous and without any limestone bands. The beds must attain a considerable thickness, for no others are seen for 2 miles at least in the Gäj, except an occasional bed of sandstone; they dip at high angles, but as they roll about, and are somewhat con- torted, their thickness is difficult to estimate. From beneath them thicker bands of sandstone (6) crop out, and closely resemble the beds of the Nari group, except in being rather harder. They are massive, pale- brown in colour, and they contain nodules of ferruginous clay, whilst the surfaces of the different strata exhibit numerous impressions of vegetable fragments, none of which, however, were found sufficiently definite to be recognized. Below these brown sandstones come fine greenish-white sandstone and shales (7), comprising one bed, a foot thick, of highly carbonaceous shale. Just beneath this coaly band is another bed of dark-brown limestone, and some dark-green argillaceous beds (8), with nummulites (N. obtusa, N. vicaryı ?, N. carteri 2, N. granulosa, N. leymeriei, N. scabra ?, N. spira, and the ephippial Ordctoides). The nummulites in the clays are beauti- fully preserved. "These beds must be at least 3,000 feet lower than the last (4), in which nummulites were noticed, and 5,000 feet below the base of the Nari group. Next come some whitish-grey argillaceous limestones (9), in which fossils are rare; a fragment of an echinoderm, however, was noticed in them, so they must be marine. Towards the base there is a thin band, WM) 7 ( 98 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. 2 feet thick, of limestone, with Nummulites and Alveohing. This band Section of lower Khir. has a peculiar brecciated appearance, not unfie- thar group on Gáj river. quently seen on the Khirthar limestone, which sometimes looks as if made up of fragments cemented by a calcareous matrix. The Alveoline occur in the matrix. These rocks are seen on the right or western bank of the Gäj, just above the spot where the river, after running for miles from north to south parallel with the main range, turns eastward towards the frontier. West of the river, just above the bend, there is a plain about three- fourths of a mile broad, and entirely composed of dark-coloured shales (10), of which a very fair section is seen in a stream. They are of fine texture and dark colour, and dip steadily east at a high angle (about 50° to 60°). The remainder of the section is seen on the small stream just men- tioned, the rocks west of the Gáj continuing to dip to the eastward steadily for about 2 miles, before they roll over. West of the plain there is a craggy range, known as Parh, composed of rocks of a pinkish colour. This range has precipitous sides, corresponding to the dip of the rocks, to the eastward. The cliffs are marked by equidistant faint horizontal lines caused by jointing, and this range of hills is conspicuous from the Khirthar, being the first well-marked ridge west of the main range. The rocks of the Parh Range consist of very fine-grained thin- bedded limestones (11), sometimes shaly, white, grey, cream-coloured, ochrey or red in colour, dipping about 70° to the eastward. Beyond this range again, to the westward, there is a valley nearly three quarters of a mile broad, composed of hard grey shales with calea- reous bands at short intervals of a foot or two apart (12), some quite thin, others a foot or more thick. The dip gradually diminishes to 40° at the commencement of the next range of hills, which is an anticli- Section below Khir. al, the beds rolling over to the westward. The thar group on Gájriver, lowest beds seen are some black shales (13). The next range to the westward was not visited, but it evidently consists of the shaly limestone (11), and it dips west, but beyond this again there ү ЫЎ KHIRTHAR RANGE. 99 appears to be a synclinal, and the Sowet hills, farther west, are composed of several ridges forming an anticlinal, which sinks down and disappears beneath higher beds farther south. Far to the westward a high range, called Khuda, looks as if formed of Khirthar limestone. In this section at least 10,000 feet of strata must be exposed below the main Khirthar limestone, yet nothing resembling the Ranikot beds can be seen, still less any rocks resembling the Deccan trap, or the cretaceous beds of the Laki range. It has already been shown in Chapter III that the lower portion of the section, comprising the beds numbered 11 and 12, is probably cretaceous, as Ammonites have been found in similar beds in Kelát. The rocks beneath the Khirthar limestone extend for a considerable distance, both north and south, along the western side of the Khirthar range. They were seen from Dharyáro, and may extend much further north, but they were only examined at the section just described on the upper Gáj. From the Gáj to the Shakalwi pass, a distance of 2 or 3 miles, Khirthar ridge south the Khirthar ridge is simple, consisting merely of p grey Khirthar nummulitic limestone, scarped to the west, and dipping east-south-east at about 35°. There is a low saddle (height by aneroid about 3,500 feet) at Shakalwi, and then the range rises to Mamtál; thence to the southward there is for many miles a broad ridge of Khirthar limestone lying nearly flat, with more or less level ground on the top, a precipitous scarp on the western side towards Kelät, and a steep cliff to the eastward. On this tableland patches of lower Nari limestones occur every here and there as usual, but all appear to be small and unimportant. The valley running south from the peak, called Chang Dang on the map, appears to be chiefly, if not entirely, composed of Khirthar beds. Further south, the range near Phünsi has a long slope of Khirthar limestone to the eastward, corresponding with the dip of the rock. South of the Gáj river the Gáj beds occupy a considerable area, the dips being very low, although higher near the eastern and western bound- ( 99 ) 100 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. aries of the group than in theintervening space. The outerop is in places Nari and баў beds Upwards of 5 miles broad. The breadth of the south of Gáj river. Nari outerop, on the other hand, is much con- tracted. Further south, on the Nari Nai, the low dips of the Gaj group are replaced by an abrupt anticlinal, ће Gáj beds have been denuded to the westward, and are only represented by a narrow outerop, seldom exceeding half a mile in breadth, whilst the Nari area expands to a breadth of between 6 and 7 miles. The continuation of the anticlinal to the southward forms the Kukadáni ridge, at first entirely composed of Nari beds, but further south the Khirthars erop out, and at the head of the Nari valley the Kukadänı and main Khirthar range unite in a rather high peak known as Ghürru. Thus the whole upper plain of the Nari stream consists of Nari beds, with the exception of one small inher of Khirthar limestone brought up by a fault south of Káro Kot. North-west of Káro Kot the Nari beds at the base of the Khirthar Nari beds in Nari lange are greatly crushed and contorted, and the valley. boundaries are most irregular, but throughout the upper part of the Nari valley the Khirthar range appears to be a great roll of nummulitie limestone, and the Nari beds come in at moderate angles of 5° to 10° at the base of the hills. The limestones at the base of the Nari beds are unusually well developed. South-west of Като Kot they are at least from 200 to 300 feet thick, or much more than on the Gaj, and the whole of this thickness appears composed of limestone, mostly of a brown colour, with Orbztozdes papyracea, &e., the shales usually found associated not being seen towards the base. The water in the Nari Nai comes from a hot-sprmg (temperature 91° Fahr.) which rises in the bed of the stream about one and a half miles south of Karo Kot. A fair section of Gáj and Manchhar beds is seen in the Nari Nai; both groups dip at a high angle. ` The coral bed of the former is well exposed, and one band of limestone near the base of the group abounds in Bryozoa. (ООО) Kukadáni range. Hot-spring. Section on Nari Nai. KHIRTHAR RANGE. 101 The conglomerate at the top of the Manchhars forms a low ridge, but Manchhar bede on Nas the bed has nothing like the thickness shown at us the Gáj. Beneath this conglomerate there is a great thickness of pinkish and buff clays and marls, followed in descending order by the lower Manchhar grey sandstone, with Indian-red, buff, and brown sands, marls and clays, and the usual conglomeratic bands, with occasional bones, near the base of the group. In one of these beds, a short distance south of the stream, and 300 or 400 feet above the base of the group, some bones and teeth of mammalia and reptilia were pro- Estuarine fossils in Cured, and with them a few ill-preserved mollusca. BIanchss Peds: The bed consists of a very dark sandstone, with numerous fragments of clay and pebbles, or concretions of soft limestone. One of the shells is a Cerithium, approaching Vicarya in appearance, another is Cordula trigonalis. This is an additional link between the Gáj and Manchhar beds, and appears to show that locally, even in Upper Sind, estuarine conditions existed in Manchhar times. In Southern Sind near the coast the interstratification of marine or estuarine beds in the Manchhar group is of common occurrence. CHAPTER V.—HILLS NEAR SUKKUR AND ROHRI. Before proceeding farther south into Lower Sind, it will be most con- venient to describe the remarkable range of isolated hills near Sukkur and Rohri. These hills form a rocky area, surrounded on all sides, except the south, by the alluvial plain of the Indus, and slightly broken up at their northern extremity, where they are intersected by the river. To the south the rock is covered up by blown sand, but the latter, farther to the southward, appears to rest General character. on alluvium. The rock exposed consists of white and yellowish nummulitie lime- stone, much softer and less compact than in the Rocks exposed. 5 SUE : Khirthar Range, but containing the nummulites charaeteristie of the Khirthar group. On the western side of the hills, (IO) 109, BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. from about 6 miles south of Rohri to the neighbourhood of Kot Deji, green clays, with gypsum, dark-brown limestone, and very soft rubbly white limestone, without nummulites, crop out from beneath the num- mulitie limestone. These beds were at first thought to be possibly representative of the Ranikot group, but no fossil evidence has been found in favour of this view; and strata, precisely similar in mineral charaeter to the most conspicuous bed of the formation, the pale green clay, occur occasionally, interstratified with the Khirthar group, in the Laki Range änd near Hyderabad. The green clays and associated beds of the Rohri Hills are consequently represented as Khirthars in the accom- panying map. To the north of the Indus, near Sukkur, only a few isolated hills are met with, the most northern being barely 3 miles from the river, but Physical characters of the range extends south of Rohri for nearly 50 range miles. It is throughout of small elevation, no por- tion of it probably rising more than about 200 feet above the alluvial plain. Throughout the range, as far south as Kot Deji, there is an escarpment along the western side of the hills, and the beds dip thence with a steady gentle slope, rarely exceeding 2°, and in many places less than 1°, to the eastward. Towards the southern termination of the range the dips are even lower, and appear to form a low anticlinal, dipping to east-by-south on the eastern margin of the hills, and -west-by-south on the western edge. Altogether, although the rock area towards the south is 15 or 16 miles broad, it is doubtful if more than 400 to 500 feet of nummulitie limestone is exposed throughout. Perhaps 100 feet of the beds below the limestone may be badly exposed east of the villages of Trimmo and Hisbhán. The highest beds seen are those occurring on the eastern side of the Highest beds seen. hills, near the village of Janoji. They consist of Nummulitic limestone. white limestone, containing numerous nummulites, especially N. spira, N. granulosa, and a rather thick lenticular form with radiating strie, which may perhaps be N. vicaryz. These nummulites weather out in large quantities and cover the surface. The rock contain- (СЕ?) HILLS NEAR SUKKUR AND ROHRI. 103 ing them decomposes easily, and the rises composed of it weäther into flat- topped eraggy hummocks. The appearance of these is so characteristic, that hills formed of this bed may easily be recognized by their form. Such are seen at Sapoinwali Tekri, and again 12 miles farther south at Sahibneh, south-by-west of Janoji, and close to the frontier of Khairpür. At the latter place some small nodules of ironstone occur im the limestone, and are found scattered about the surface. They are not in sufficient quantity to have.any value. Below this highly fossiliferous nummulitie limestone there is found, throughout the Sukkur and Rohri Hills, a thick- ness of, perhaps, 200 to 300 feet of very hard limestone, generally more or less yellow in colour, of fine texture, but Limestone with flints. not solid as a mass, being much fissured and cracked. As a rule, this bed is not fossiliferous, but sometimes it contains Alveolina and small num- mulites in considerable quantities, especially in its upper portion. The most remarkable character of this bed, however, especially towards the base, is the occurrence of large masses of flint, many of which precisely resemble, in every respect, those of the English chalk. Some of the nodules at Sukkur exceed a foot in diameter. These flints contain sponges and less frequently Foraminifera. The hard limestone just described forms the upper part of the hills, both at Sukkur and at Rohri, and at both places the bed includes, about 30 feet above its base, a layer, about a foot thick, of yellow marl, or argillaceous limestone. In this bed at Rohri, close to the Deputy Collector's bungalow, Eehinolampas sindensis occurs in abundance. The same limestone with flints occupies the surface throughout the greater part of the range south of Rohri, the higher beds being only seen, as already mentioned, towards the eastern edge of the range, whilst those lower in the series are only exposed on the western scarp. The surface of the limestone consists in general of a series of low slopes, correspond- ing in direction to the dip of the rock. The flints weather out and cover the surface throughout a large area ; cores and the flakes split from them being seattered about in abundance in some places. 104 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. 'l'he lowest portion of the nummulitie limestone in the Sukkur and Lowest beds of Hime. Rohri Hills consists of white limestone, abounding stone with nummulites. in nummulites, and closely resembling the higher bed seen on the east side of the hills. The lower limestone is partly rubbly, partly uniform in texture, but throughout soft and easily decomposed, allowing the Foraminifera ıt contains to weather out, so that they occur in large quantities strewed over the surface. The most common are Nummulites granulosa, N. spira; N. vicaryi, and N. lyelli. A large form of N. spira, closely approaching N. carter? in appearance, forms a layer of some little thickness, 40 or 50 feet above the base of the limestone. A peculiar, globose, thick, smooth oyster, with a straight hinge line and winged at the side, the upper valve sometimes rising into a blunt spine, is very common. It appears to be a form of Ostrea vesi- cularis (Gryphea globosa, Sow.). Casts of Ovulum, Conus, &e., also occur. The whole bed varies in thickness from 60 to about 100 feet. As already mentioned, the outcrop is chiefly confined to the scarp on the west side of the range. The beds below the nummulitic limestone form a low slope between ti Ше limestone escarpment and the alluvium, on the tic limestone. wertern side of the range, from about 6 miles south of Rohri to within 4 miles of Kot Deji. "These beds are very ill- exposed, their surface being much concealed by the detritus of limestone washed down from the overlying beds. Their uppermost portion consists of pale green clay, with large quantities of gypsum in bands and veins, and with occasional layers of a deep red clay. Beneath 40 or 50 feet of clay there is a dark band of dusky-brown limestone, and then more clay. The lowest beds seen were only observed south-east of Trimmo, and con- sist of fine hard calcareous shale, buff or pinkish in colour, with im- pressions of a Cardita, resting on soft white rubbly limestone abounding in fossils, principally casts, and associated with shaly limestone containing a band, barely a foot thick, of bright silvery-yellow argillaceous limestone, containing a Pinna and other fossils, ( 104 ) HILLS NEAR SUKKUR AND ROHRI. 105 All these lower beds are more or less fossiliferous, but the fossils are MN M usually badly preserved. In the clays, impressions of Leda, Cardium, and other bivalves are found. The dark limestone contains casts of a Cardita or Arca, whilst the rubbly ` limestone furnishes Pinna, several bivalves like Lucina, together with Cerithium, Rostellaria, and Natica longispira, the last species, the only one specifically identified, being common to the Ranikot beds. No nummu- lites nor other Foraminifera were found, nor were any Echinodermata noticed. A few additional details of the geology will be given in the following paragraphs. The description commences at the north end of the hills. The rocks at Sukkur form more or less detached hills, and dip at a very low angle to the east or east-by-north. To the eastward and capping the hills to the west- ward is dis hard yellowish limestone with flints: this rock is much fissured, the fissures being filled with a mixture of gypsum and red clay, Sukkur. which appears to have been deposited in the hollows. The band of yellow marl is conspicuous about the middle of the European station. The rock below this band is rather softer than above, and the flints appear rather less numerous and smaller. Below the marl, after about 20 or 30 feet of comparatively harder rock, the soft limestone with numerous nummulites is reached, and is well exposed on the sides of all the hills near the Shikárpür road. This bed weathers away so much in parts that some of the layers overhang hollows left by the decom- position of the softer portions. The western boundary of the rock area and the small outliers to the westward are scarped and well marked, but to the- eastward, where the limestone dips at a very low angle under the alluvium, the limit is less distinct. Rocks occur in one or two places on the Shahdad-wah, or Sukkur canal, and there appear to be some rocks under water east of old Sukkur. A break intervenes between the hills, on which the European station is built, on the bank of the river, and others a little further north. The first break may (08105) Old channels of Indus. 106 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. possibly be an old river channel. An old channel far better marked exists at Aror or Alor, about 4 miles south-east of the present river bed. There is another valley traversing the range only a mile south-east from Rohri, and this may also mark a former river channel; but if so, the bed of the river must have been considerably higher than it now is, or else the surface must have been lower, for there is rock in place throughout the breadth of the valley. In an alluvial country it is not easy to under- stand that the river can have been at a higher level than it now is. 'The river channel is said to have passed by Aror, then the chief city МИ dun онр of Sind, and the residence of a king, prior to the Aror. middle of the tenth century of our era. The city is said to have been destroyed by an earthquake, and the course of the river changed to its present channel about A.D. 962.! It is probable that a river passed by Aror, but it is rather doubtful whether the whole of the Indus could have been confined to so narrow a bed. The flint cores found in the bed of the Indus have already been NE cl e noticed in Chapter I? of this report. The ex- Indus. planation of the supposed occurrence of these cores in the nummulitie limestone is probably that the rock, as already noticed, is much fissured, and the fissures are filled with a mixture of gypsum and clay, in which, in all probability, the cores are imbedded. The island of Bakhar (Bukkur) and some other islets in the channel of mulos the river Indus between Sukkur and Rohri are com- Rohri. posed of limestone. The same appears at Rohri, the section being precisely similar to that at Sukkur. The bed of Num- mulites spira, var., is well seen on the west side of the hills south of the town, the shells being about 13 inches in diameter. Rock is seen here and there to the east of Rohri in the channel cut to supply water to the Eastern Närra. 1 Sind Gazetteer, p. 116; Bellasis, Jour. Bombay Вг. К. A. S. v., рр. 413, 467; Manual of the Geology of India, i, p. 418. ? Page 20. 0090) HILLS NEAR SUKKUR AND ROHRI. 107 Along the eastern edge of the hills south of Rohri there is nothing cine eA ee Walle of importance to eson. Pus a considerable dis- tance the boundary is easily traced, then sand- hills, searce for the first 20 miles from the river, gradually increase in extent, until they cover the surface, and only occasional patches of rock can be detected amongst them. The southern boundary of the rock area is consequently very difficult to determine. Between the eastern Narra and the Mir-wah, the large canal running to the west of the Rohri hills, the country, 50 miles south of Rohri, is a wilderness of sand-hills with- out water. The few outcrops of rock which occur do not rise into ridges as they do farther north, and the dips are very low, the beds being almost horizontal. The map, too, is far from accurate. The southern boundary of the rocks on the map is consequently only an approximation, but, so far as could be ascertained by enquiry in the country, no rocks are known to occur farther south. The western boundary of the hills 1s, as already stated, escarped and en “cE well defined as far south as Kot Deji, the beds hills. of the scarp consisting of the easily decomposed white limestone with Nummulites. The clays below the limestones are first seen a little south of the Aror valley, about north-30°-east of a village called Dodanka. Near Trimmo there is what appears at first sight to be a channel cut through the hills, similar to that at Aror, but rocks occur almost throughout. About Akbarpur, south-east of Trimmo, the lowest bed of the num- mulitie limestone is seen dipping at a considerable angle. Tt is clear that the limestone is in position or nearly so, and does not consist of reconsolidated fragments, because no debris of flints, or of the higher beds of limestone, are intermixed. The dark calcareous beds, interstrati- fied with the clays below the limestones, are often seen disturbed and turned on end. In both cases the disturbance is doubtless due to the washing away of the soft clays or to their having yielded when wet. The limestones appear quite conformable to the clays. ? A little south of Akbarpur and north-east of Pir Koka, the fossi- СОТО) 108 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. ferous limestone forms low rises. The green clays and their associates may be traced along the base of the hills to a village called Mithunjo on the inch map, and perhaps a little further south. Near Mithunjo they are well exposed between the two limestone hills called Maleki Khánwárn and Sherawäri Tekri, and the clay here contains Leda and other bivalves. About Kot Deji there are numerous detached hills. "Those at the КОА ы of Kot town itself.are escarped, and are apparently con- Deji. nected with the main range by rock, no alluvium intervening, for limestone crops out every here and there amongst the sand-hills, east of the town. Some isolated rises west of the Mir-wäh, or Khairpur canal, appear completely surrounded by alluvium. South of Kot Deji there is no escarpment, and the rock dips to the south-west, or is horizontal, and forms low rises, much as to the eastward, greatly covered and concealed by sand-hills. The latter gradually increase in height, until, beyond the neighbourhood of Büsdár, only isolated patches of rock can be found. The blown sand of these hills is of a pale greyish tint, and appears to consist mainly of quartz. It contains some Blown sand. 3 : Р miea. This blown sand covers an enormous area to the east of Sind ; but the country is beyond the limits of that described in the present report. ' CHAPTER VI.—SOUTHERN KHIRTHAR, BHIT AND BADHRA RANGES WITH THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF MANCHHAR LAKE. The present chapter deals with the area immediately south and south- RR: east of that described in the last but one, and АЕ treats of a tract of country extending from the plains of Upper Sind, near the Manchhar Lake to the Baran river, and from the western frontier to the valley traversed by the hill road 1 For an account of the blown sand in the Indian desert, and the peculiarities of the . sand-hills, see Jour. As. Soc. Bengal, xlv, 1876, pt. 2, p. 86; Rec. Geol, Surv. India, x, p. 20; Manual, i, p. 436. (в) SOUTHERN KHIRTHAR, BHIT AND BADHRA RANGES. 109 between Karáchi and Sehwán. This tract comprises the southern portion of the Khirthar Range, here a simple anticlinal of Khirthar limestone, run- ning from north-north-west to south-south-east, and two other anticlinals of the same rock, known as Bhit and Badhra, running north and south, and joined to the Khirthar at their southern extremities. There is also a low detached ridge of Gáj beds, known as Gamrak, running from west-by-north to east-by-south, at a distance of 5 or 6 miles from the southern shore of the Manchhar Lake. The tract of country now described is comprised within the limits of sheet 5 of the quarter-inch map, and in sheets 38, 39, 40, 51 and 54 of the inch survey. Тһе description commencees at the north-west cor- ner, close to the valley of the Nari Nai. The Gáj beds are well seen on the Kukadáni Nai (Kukrani Nai of CE On URS ER dE i-inch map, Dhoree Kook of l-inch). They a still eonsist largely of sandstone. Farther south, near Khair Muhammad, the hills become lower and separated by broader flats. Near Küba Jagu Jamali, west of Khair Muhammad, in a low ridge of Gáj beds dipping at about 35° to 45°, fossils are found in great abundance, and amongst other species Dosinia pseudoargus, Venus (or Tapes) subvirgata, Cardium anomale, Arca kurracheensis, and A. peethensis occur, together with many Gasteropoda. The fossils are found in calcareous bands, but sandstones prevail. The ridges of Gäj and Manchhar beds run across the country in the Gáj beds in Angyi direction of the strike of the beds to Tandra en Rahim Khän, where they are intersected by the Angyi (Ungyee) stream, and thence in a south-by-east direction to Pir Gazi at the eastern base of the Bhit Range. On the westernmost ridge of Са] beds, north of the Angyi, Cælopleurus forbesi is very abundant. The diminution of thickness in the Manchhar beds at this spot, compared with their development farther north, has already been noticed in a previous chapter; the whole of the section appears represented ; there are conglomerates at the top, then orange clays (Upper Manchhar), and towards the base the lower Manchhar grey sandstones, yet the whole ( 109 ) 110 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. breadth of the outcrop is only a little more than half a mile, the dip being 60° to 80°. Most of the section is concealed, but the thickness of the Manchhars cannot exceed 3,000 feet altogether. A glance at the map will show the steady strike of the Manchhar LA eq аш Gáj outerop across the valley of the Angyi between Nari and Gáj Nai. The beds dip east by north at angles vary- pep ae ing from 35? to 80°. The valley itself, however, is entirely composed of Nari beds dipping in a synclinal, pretty regular to the east of the stream, but much broken to the westward. At first it appears as if there must here be complete unconformity between the Nari and Gáj beds, and as if the great anticlinal fold of the Bhit range were of prior age to the deposition of the Gäj rocks. A careful search along the Nari and Gáj boundary, which is, however, by no means clearly exposed, has failed to show any distinct evidence of want of parallelism, but it is difficult to believe, if the antielinal and synclinal folds, to which the lofty Bhit range and the Angyi valley are due, are of later date than the deposition of the Сај beds, that the outcrop of the latter could remain so straight as it is, and so little in conformity with the undulations of the underlying rocks. Up the Angyi valley! the beds are best exposed near the base of the range on each side, the Khirthar, culminating Angyi Valley. : PAS > in the Gurú ridge (Ghooroo on the l-inch map) to the west, and the Bhit to the right. The level ground of the valley is chiefly composed of the soft sandstones of the Upper Nari beds, but these are frequently concealed by broad expanses of recent gravel. Near the'border of the valley there is some very salt ground with an efflorescence of chloride and sulphate of sodium, apparently pro- duced by a zone of sandstone a little above the fossiliferous lower Nari beds. The chief rocks seen in the middle of the valley are outcrops of ferruginous sandstone bands. In the upper part of the valley some faulting occurs, and the Nari 1 All the notes on the Angyi valley are from Mr. Fedden’s reports, as are those on the Naegh valley, and a large proportion of those on the country, between Jhangar and Pokran. (0 ) SOUTHERN KHIRTHAR, BHIT AND BADHRA RANGES. inp beds to the west of the stream dip towardsthe Khirthar rocks at a high angle. Further north than this, аба pass called Gari-jo-lak,' the rocks are greatly shattered and broken. In the valley, near this pass, is a warm spring issuing at a temperature of about 909. There is much caleareous tufa about the spring, containing, as usual, impressions of plants and some fresh-water shells (Melania). The Bhit range is a great anticlinal saddle of Khirthar limestone with Nari beds resting upon it on both sides. The Bhit range. 5 д c s ENDE 5 : А eulminating point is а trigonometrical station 2,700 feet above the sea, but for a long distance north and south the top Í his Fan. of the range is nearly level. East of the Bhit Section at Pir Gazi. x ridge, near Pir Gäzi, a Mussalman shrine near a very fine hot-spring, the Gäj and Manchhar outerop runs for some miles along the base of the hill. At Pir Gázi the Manchhars and Са] beds are well seen, and consist of a series of low parallel ridges dipping east-209-north at a high angle (50° to 60°). A conglomerate bed is seen close to the village itself, and is the uppermost Manchhar bed exposed; the remainder of the Manchhar group is apparently even thinner than it is at Tandra Ráhim Khán, which is only about 4 miles distant to the north-north-west. The conglomerate bed of Pir Gázi probably is the uppermost Manchhar conglomerate; but it differs somewhat from the ordinary type, and contains but little Khirthar limestone. "The Gáj beds succeed below the Manchhar group, and a band abounding in Echinodermata is seen well exposed on the bank of the small stream running from the hot-spring. Amongst the fossils found here, besides the common Celopleurus forbesi and Lchinolampas jacquemonti, were a Schizaster, a Maretia, scarcely if at all distinguishable from the recent M. planulata, and a fine Meoma. The Nari beds are also well exposed. Towards the base of the Nari beds the hot-spring gushes out, which ) has been described by Vicary, and which is so Hot-spring. ў remarkable for the enormous quantity of calca- reous tufa deposited. The water issues in a hollow at some elevation above 1 Lak, a pass. б ОА) 119 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. the main valley, between ridges of lower Nari and Khirthar beds, and the level, or nearly level surface of the hollow, for Extensive deposits of dicus tud. some distance from the spring, consists entirely of ealeareous tufa, whieh terminates in a cliff, 900 feet high (by Aneroid), and several hundred yards in length. The water from the spring descends this cliff in a raised channel, formed by the deposit of tufa ; and older channels, each raised above the general surface, may be traced here and there upon the face of the cliff; All these fea- tures were well described by Vicary,! who visited this place in 1845. There ean be no reasonable doubt that the enormous mass of calcare- ous tufa seen has been deposited by the present spring. But on the surrounding hills there are other masses of tufa, at a higher level than the spring. These probably mark ancient points of issue. A large stream, the Naegh Nai, runs from the south past Pir Gäzi. The valley of this stream, although chiefly The Naegh valley. : ; composed of Nari beds, does not consist of them so exclusively as the Angyi valley does. In the first place allu- vium extends up the valley for along distance, and should perhaps be shown farther to the southward than is indicated on the map. In the northern part of the valley, near Pir Gazi, the alluvial ground is con- tained in a deep synelinal fold of the Manchhar beds, steeper on one side than the other, the dip being 50° to 60° west of the valley and 35° to 40° to the eastward ; but farther up the valley alluvium rests upon both Gáj and Nari beds. The Gäj outcrop crosses the valley about 7 or 8 miles above — Pir Gázi, the actual erossing being concealed by alluvium, Hence to the eastward the direction of - the strike of the main Са} outcrop is east by south. At Shah Ráhi (Gulám Shah), about 13 miles from Pir Gázi, there is a slight anticlinal roll in the middle of the valley and the lower Nari beds; the yellow limestones with Nummulites and Orbitoides are brought to the surface, but farther up the valley southerly and westerly dips bring in higher beds. Rocks near Shah Rühi. ! Quart. Jour, Geol. Soc., 1847, p. 344. (ЛУ SOUTHERN KHIRTHAR, BHIT AND BADHRA RANGES. 113 There is a large hot-spring at Shah Rühi (temperature 100°), and the Hot-spring near Shih. РШ close by is thickly covered with calcareous qune tufa, a sheet of the same formation extending over the country to the west and south-west. The channels in which the water of the spring flows for purposes of irrigation are all converted into stony conduits by the deposition of carbonate of lime, and some of these channels are seen standing above the surface, where the latter has been lowered by denudation, like masonry aqueducts. ١ Around Pir Bingi, about 13 miles south-east of Shéh Rühi, and on the opposite side of the valley, there are five small thermal springs along the base of the great limestone hill-range (Badhra). The only one of whieh the temperature was measured was at 92^ Fahr. Another spring oceurs west by south of Shah Rühi, near the foot of the Bhit range. The temperature is comparatively low. Throughout the Upper Naegh Valley the upper beds of the Nari group are well represented along the base of the Badhra range, some thousands of feet of soft unfossiliferous sandstone being exposed. A few hundred feet below the top of the group there is a coarse friable variegated quartz grit Upper Naegh Valley. formed of subangular fragments. Above the Nari beds there are several hundred feet of Gáj strata, occupying an isolated area, about 14 miles long from north to south, and upon these again, there is, in one place, a patch of Manchhar beds extending about 84 miles from north to south. All these rocks dip to the westward, and are cut off by a large fault, bringing up Khirthar beds against Gáj and Manchhar, along the eastern base of the Khirthar range, which forms the western side of all the Upper | Naegh Valley, the Bhit range having coalesced with the main ridge. A little Nari rock occurs west of the fault. The Gaj beds crop out to the eastward of their area in a ridge called Сај beds of Upper Karo Phang,! the upper portion of which and its азау Valey, western slope are formed of dark brown calcareous grit passing into gritty limestone. This bed is from 20 to 40 feet thick ; 1 Phang is a Baluch word applied to a ridge or water-shed. . 1 MSS 114 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. it has a tendency to split into thin flags; it exhibits oblique lamination, and it may be the same as a very similar hard band, No. 29, in the Gáj section." About 300 feet of beds are seen below it on the eastern scarp of the Káro Phang. The grit contains a few Pectens and other fossils, mostly fragmentary, and below is a yellowish marly bed with Breynia carinata and a band of large oysters. А hot-spring occurs in the Gáj area at a place called Капаш. The T NM temperature is between 85^ and 86^, the water is strongly impregnated with lime, and there are extensive deposits of caleareous tufa, some of them, as at Pir Gázi, at a considerable elevation above the present point of issue. This spring is situated in a ravine, but is much choked by detritus, and the flow is small.? The fault above mentioned as cutting off the Manchhar and Gäj Faults east of Naegh beds at the base of the Khirthar range can be Valey traced for about 16 or 18 miles, running north- north-west to south-south-east, and appears to die out at both ends. Farther north there is another fault running north and south for several miles along the base of the Bhit range. This fault, which also appears to die out at both ends, is between Narı and Khirthar beds. The antı- clinal forming the range is much steeper on the eastern side than on the western. | The Badhra range is another anticlinal of nummulitic limestone, a repetition of that of Bhit, but on a larger hori- Badhra range. LCS ATE d zontal scale, the similarity even extending to the termination at the southern extremity in an anticlinal roll, from which higher beds dip on all sides, whilst an axis of Khirthar limestone continues to the south-west and joins the main Khirthar range. Between this secondary ridge and the southern termination of the main ridge isa 1 See ante, p, 93. 2 Mr. Fedden, from whose report the description of the whole Naesh Valley, except the neighbourhood of Pir Gäzi, is taken, suggests that all these springs have formerly been much more copious than they now are, and that the present spring is almost exhausted. He heard of an ancient spring, now no longer flowing, in a ravine on the flank of the Bhadra range. The former large supply of water would account for the enormous size of the tufa deposits. @ 04) SOUTHERN KHIRTHAR, BHIT AND BADHRA RANGES. 115 hollow occupied by higher beds. To the south of the Badhra range also, as beyond the southern extremity of that of Bhit, there is a tract of upper tertiary beds faulted against the eocene limestone of the Khirthar range. From the northern extremity of the Badhra range, Nari, Gáj, and Upper tertiary beds Manchhar beds extend in succession to the Manch- near Manchhar Lake. har lake, and the Manchhar beds skirt the western extremity of the lake and form a long promontory stretching northwards into the alluvium. This promontory extends past Chhíni, as far as Mir Khán, but the rocks are only seen here and there, and are much concealed by sand and gravel. There is, however, a very fair section exposed on the road between Shah Hassan, at the western end of the Manchhar Lake, and Pir Gäzi. The beds form an antielinal, and this is interesting, because it shows how local these folds are, for there is no corresponding undula- tion in the Gáj outerop to the southward, and yet the roll in the Man- chhar beds must, of course, affect the underlying Gáj. Such a feature as this 1s, of course, in favour of the view that the apparent unconformity of the Gäj on the Nari beds a little farther west in the Angyi valley is not real. Near Sháh Hassan grey sandstones are seen, but to the westward con- Manchhar beds near glemerates occur with soft marls, all dipping east- CHE een ward, but turning over again farther west. In the conglomerates are pebbles of both Khirthar and Nari rocks, the Alveolina and nummulitie limestone of the former, and the characteristic ferruginous bands of the latter, both occurring in plenty. But by far the largest number of the pebbles consist of a bright yellowish-brown calcare- ous sandstone, speckled with black, and evidently derived from the Gáj beds. It may fairly be assumed that, despite the prevalence of grey Unconformity between Sandstone, so characteristic elsewhere of a low Gaj and Manchhar. horizon in the Manchhar group, all the conglome- rates here seen are of Upper Manchhar age; for wherever the whole section is exposed, no Khirthar, Nari, or Gáj fragments have been noticed (2195) 116 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. ` in lower Manchhar conglomerates. The evidence of great denudation of ` the Gäj beds during the deposition of the Manchhar group, is more com- plete at this spot than elsewhere. Whether such evidence is connected with the absence of Gáj beds to the south-eastward, is difficult to say. The slopes between the southern border of the Manchhar and the M ridge of Gáj beds to the southward are composed Manchhar, Gáj, an Ў Nari beds southof Manch- of Manchhar beds, which crop out at the sur- SS face here and there, but are generally covered by a great thickness of subrecent gravel and conglomerate. The ridge is composed of the ordinary dark-brown Gäj limestones and calcareous sandstones abounding in fossils; Echinolampas jacquemonti, Breynia cari- nata, Behinodiscus, Pecten favrei, and Ostrea multicostata, being amongst .the commonest forms. To the south of the ridge, the Nari sandstones are well exposed, the greater portion consisting of soft thick beds, but there are bands of ferruginous sandstone having a peculiar appearance, simulating scorie, and containing fragments of ochrey clay; and below these again rusty brown sandstones, interstratified with white sands, mottled with purple in places, in very thick beds. Below these again are massive light-brown sands and sandstones with ferruginous bands, containing concretionary brown iron-ore. ‘Towards the base of these, there is a bed of rather calcareous brown sandstone, containing Num- mulites garansensis and N. sublevigata. This band is several hundred feet above the brown limestones at the base of the Nari beds, and the latter are seen as usual at the foot of the Badhra range. This is a similar case to that noticed on the Kenji Nai (p. 80), and serves to show the connection between the brown limestones with nummulites and the sandstones of the Nari group. Not far to the eastward, as will be shown in the next chapter, the upper Nari beds are unconformable to the brown nummu- Пие limestones with N. garansensis. From Jhángár, the large village south of Manchhar lake, the hill "Wü Kam at road to Karáchi runs southward through the long Jhángár. and wide valley that intervenes between the Laki range to the eastward and the Badhra, Khirthar, and other ranges (СК б) SOUTHERN KHIRTHAR, BHIT AND BADHRA RANGES. 117 farther south, to the westward. South of Jhangär the greater part of the country for many miles is covered by alluvium,. or by subrecent gravels and conglomerates. Beneath these deposits, the Manchhar and бај beds disappear on the western side of the valley, but the Manchhars come in again on the eastern side, where the Gáj group is either wanting or represented by a very thin band. A few miles south by west of Jhángár some soft sandstones and shaly clays, with bands of white clay, are seen in ravines, but it is difficult to determine with certainty to what group they belong. Anticlinal rolls of Khirthar limestone, forming low hills, erop out from beneath the Nari beds forming the middle of the valley further south. One small ridge of Khirthar beds occurs 7 miles south of Jhángár; another, and much longer ridge, the Lunda hill, close EE to the camping ground of Chorlo (Choterah of Lünda hill. E 5 о inch and i-inch maps), is formed by а double roll, a slight synclinal on the top, with an anticlinal on each side, the outer slopes being very steep. "The brown limestones at the base of the Nari beds are seen on the outer slopes of these hills, running up the hill-sides as usual; and near the base of the Nari group, there appears here a band of brown limestone, containing in abundance а very large Hchinolampas, apparently unnamed, having some resemblance in general form to the Khirthar species, Æ. discoideus. The junction of the Khirthar and Nan Junction of Nari and eds is particularly well seen near the Chorlo Zu eneamping ground on the western flank of Linda hill. Brown limestones, as usual, rest upon white; the uppermost white bed is rather saecharoid, and contains Hchinolampas discoideus, Kuphus in abundance, conspicuous on account of its fragments consisting of tubes about half an inch in diameter, an Orbitoides, and several species of Nummulites. Upon this rests a hard compact ochrey or yellowish brown limestone ringing under the hammer, breaking with a sharp conchoidal fracture, and containing several nummulites and an Ordstoides (О. dispansa?). This bed, despite its colour, appears to belong to the Khirthar group. Above this again come the usual Nari brown limestones, with Nummulites garansensis, N. sublevigata, and Orbitoides papyracea, WIM) 118 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. The bed with the large BZehinolampas is interstratified with the brown nummulitie limestones of the Nari group. A very small patch of Gäj beds, m which Os/rea, Pecten, and | Placuna occur, is exposed about half a mile north Gáj beds near Chorlo. s of the eamping ground at Chorlo, on the west of the road to Jhángár. This patch is too small to be marked on the map herewith issued. West of Ltinda hill the Nari beds are coneealed, close to the hill itself, by talus and blown sand, and immediately to the Ground east of Linda eastward is a broad torrent bed, filled with pebbles au of nummulitie limestone, and no rock is seen in place. To the east of this, Manchhar beds oceur, and extend nearly to . the foot of the ridge east of the valley ; they appear in places to rest upon Nari beds, whilst in other parts of the.boundary, a thin but unmistakeable representative of the Gäj group," with its characteristic fossils, intervenes. These Manehhar and Gáj beds are a continuation to the southward of those seen in the section at Bhagothoro, south of Sehwän, a section whieh will be deseribed in the next chapter. For nearly 20 miles from the neighbourhood of Chorlo, almost to Neighbourhood of Ma. Pokran Landi, in the valley between the Badhra и: and Laki ranges, no upper tertiary beds occur, the ground being composed of Nari beds with inliers of Khirthar limestone ; and the latter rock occupies the whole, or nearly the whole, breadth of the valley at Мај,“ the halting place between Сһото and Pokran. The boundaries between Nari and Khirthar are really much more com- plicated than they appear on the map; but not only is anything like detailed mapping impracticable for want of a better topogra- phical survey, but it is very difficult in this part of the country to determine with precision the limit of the Khirthar and Nari groups. The massive Khirthar limestone becomes much broken up into shaly and marly beds, which are greatly developed in some hills called Dullh ! These narrow bands of Gáj rocks are too small to be represented on the aceompany- ing map. ? Not marked on the accompanying map. It is near the spot called Wand Bira. (COSA SOUTHERN KHIRTHAR, BHIT AND BADHRA RANGES. 119 on the l-inch map, east of the road between Chorlo and Maliri. These shaly beds abound in fossils. Besides Nummulites, Patellina cooki, some corals, and several species of echinoderms; Corbula subexarata, Cardita depressa, and several other Lamellibranchs, Nerita schmideliana, a large Cyprea, two species of Voluta, Turritella affinis, Solarium affine, and a Rostellaria, were found at this locality. The marly shales pass up into light yellow and brown limestone, with Passage beds between Coral zone abounding in several species of coral. =) Nari and Khirthar. A little above this is a band containing Pecten in abundance, and the beds gradually assume the character of the brown Nan limestone. About this horizon there is found a small rather convex species of Ostrea, often met with in the bottom Nari beds, and just above it, or associated with it, Nummulites garansensis and N. sublevigata are generally found. The Pecten and the coral zones may be considered as the uppermost Khirthar beds, or as forming a transition between the Khirthar and Nari groups. These zones are tolerably constant in this neighbourhood and to the southward as far as Trak, a distance of about 60 miles, but to the southwest, on the other side of the Khirthar range, the uppermost Khirthar beds are very different. There seems to be some faulting hereabouts just west of the small dharmshála at Maliri, at the foot of a low anti- Fault near Maliri. Ў E " clinal ridge of Khirthar limestone. Nari beds occur, dipping sharply to the eastward, and containing Orbitoides papy- racea, Cardita subcomplanata, and a Turbo with its operculum; whilst a few hundred yards farther east, at the dharmshäla, Khirthar lime- stone occurs, containing Nummulites granulosa, and dipping west at а low angle. There may be merely a sharp synelinal, but probably a small fault intervenes. The Badhra ridge terminates to the southward, a little north of Southern end of Badhra Pokran, and the Nari beds lap round the extremity хек of the ridge, as already mentioned, a small patch of Manchhar, without any Gäj beds below it, oceurring west of the О) 130 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. southern spur. The low anticlinal of Khirthar limestone, which joins the Badhra to the Khirthar range, is but 14 miles across, but it forms the water-shed between the Naegh valley. and that of Pokran; the latter, 16 should be added, is drained by water-courses running to the Baran river. Near Pokran, upper tertiary beds appear at each side of the valley, Neighbourhood о? the middle being formed of lower tertiary rocks, Босар. principally Nari. On the western side of the camping ground there is an antielinal formed by an inlier of Khirthar limestone, containing Nummulites obtusa, &e., and appearing along the top of a ridge, on the flanks of which the brown Nari limestones with the usual Foraminifera and Pecten labadyei appear. Here also, north of the water-course which runs past the camping ground, the bed con- taining the large Behinolampas is well seen, and this band is frequently exposed in the country between Pokran and Chorlo. Near the road shaly calcareous grits and ferruginous sandstones are seen, and many Gasteropoda and some corals occur. Farther eastward, soft sandstones come in, belonging to the upper Nari horizon. - South of the camping ground, there are several isolated conical hills of black ferruginous gritty sandstones belonging to the Nari group, and capped by subrecent conglomerates, a mass of pebbles partly cemented together by carbonate of lime. These subrecent conglomerates, it should be noticed, are largely developed in this neighbourhood, and are often found left isolated by denudation at a considerable elevation above the flat ground of the valley. In the plain to the east of Pokran, Manchhar beds come in; a thin band of Gáj, only a few feet in thickness, but containing Ostrea multicostata and an abundance of a large oyster, intervening between the Manchhar and Nari groups. The Manchhar rocks extend hence to the south-west, along the eastern side of the valley. At the foot of the eastern hills all the beds are turned up very sharply, and the Khirthar limestone East of Pokran. erops out. (1200) SOUTHERN KHIRTHAR, BHIT AND BADHRA RANGES, 191 On the west side of the little anticlinal ridge near Pokran, the suc- cession of rocks is similar, but the Manchhar beds are more largely developed. "There is a broad expanse of desert plain, about 5 miles wide from east to west, chiefly composed of Manchhar beds, the surface being mostly covered with West of Pokran. gravels derived from the disintegration of conglomerates. Са] beds are seen thinly represented at the base of the Manchhar group, and the latter forms first a slight synelinal and then a broad anticlinal with low dips. West of the plain, near the base of the Khirthar Range, the first rock seen, after quitting the gravels, is Alveolina limestone (Khir- thar) dipping eastward, and between this and the main range the rocks are much confused. "There is evidently a considerable amount of fault- ing here. The anticlinal just mentioned becomes more developed to the south- ward, and brings up Nari beds west of the police post at Karchát, where Са] and Nari beds are seen highly tilted, the axial portion of the fold having been weathered out in the form of an imperfect am- phitheatre, around which the outerops of the different beds form con- centric ridges. The ovalis incomplete, for the west side is cut off by a fault. | This is close to the southern termination of the Khirthar range, Southern extremity of Ihe southern spur is a massive anticlinal of Khirthar range. . Khirthar limestone, rising, according to the Great Trigonometrical Survey measurement, toa height of 2,388 feet above the sea. The Báran valley to the west and south of the range will be described in Chapter VIII. (L) 122 BLANFORD : GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND, CHAPTER VIL—THE LAKI RANGE, INCLUDING THE BHAGOTHORO, DHÀ- RAN, TIYUN, MERI, LOHI, DAPHRO, ERI, AND SURJANA HILLS, TOGETHER WITH THE COUNTRY BETWEEN THE RANGE AND THE INDUS, THE HYDERABAD HILLS, AND THE TRACT OF HILLY COUNTRY NEAR JHI- RAK AND TATTA. A much larger and more important area will be deseribed in this Area described in this Chapter than in the last, for all the exposures in premism Sind of beds lower than the Khirthar nummulitic limestone and ‘its associated beds are comprised within the tract herein discussed. The sections of the Laki range are of remarkable interest, as they comprise, besides the Ranikot beds, a representative of the Deccan trap, and. two or three very interesting groups below the trap, the lowest being clearly of cretaceous age, and the upper either very high cretaceous, or intermediate between eretaceous and tertiary. The area includes, in the first place, the whole of the range known under a multiplicity of names, but collectively termed the Laki range,' extending from just south of Sehwán to the Surjána and Sor Hills; secondly, the tract of hilly country between the Laki range and the Indus, the detached hills of Hyderabad east of the river, the expanse of lower tertiary rocks between Jhirak, Jungsháhi, and Tatta, and the isolated rises in the alluvial area near the last-named town. The Laki range is one of the usual anticlinals, much complicated, however, by faults and supplementary foldings, Laki range. n n and composed in places of several parallel ridges 1 The frontispiece to this Report represents the northern extremity of the Laki range as seen from the Indus near Sehwán, and is copied from a drawing by my colleague, Mr. A. B. Wynne, to whom I am indebted for the opportunity of illustrating the present memoir by aview of one of the most interesting localities in Sind. The original sketch having been taken at sunset, only the outlines of the hills are shown. The ridge in front of the others is that of Bhagothoro, and the anticlinal axis forming the ridge is shown by the slopes, corresponding to the dips of beds, on each side. The high peaks behind to the right are those of the Tiyün range, composed of Khirthar limestone dipping westward, or toward the right hand; they are very craggy and irregular in outline. Behind Bhagothoro is seen another portion of the Tiyün range, and the distant hills to the left are those near Jakhmari. ( 122 ) THE LAKI RANGE, ETC. 123 separated from each other by valleys of various widths, East of the Country between Laki Yange there is a broad synelinal occupied by THES ind ines Manchhar beds, on the edge of which the Nari beds are, except at one locality far to the northward, absolutely wanting, and the Gäj beds either absent, like the Nari, or represented by a very thin band often not more than a.few feet in thickness. East of this again is a very gentle and broad anticlinal, in the middle of which the Ranikot beds are wellexposed. To the southward the dips are very low indeed, and the geology becomes very simple—an expanse of Khirthar beds to the westward, from beneath which the Ranikot group crops out to the eastward, near the edge of the alluvium. —— In order to avoid frequent references, it is as well to state at once ipi MR that nearly the whole of this area is very in- correctly represented on the Revenue Survey map. The details in the Laki range are especially inaccurate: for instance, the Mohan river, misealled the * Runneewaree ” on the map, is represented as rising some 8 miles too far to the north; and the main range,instead of lying east of the upper portion of this stream, is apparently that shown to the westward of the valley, this ridge being continuous all the way southward to Ranikot. The country between the Laki range and the Indus is also very incorrectly represented on the map. The description of the area commences, as usual, at the northern extremity at Sehwán, the Manchhar beds extending ML INA IR north from the Bhagothoro spur to the town itself. Close to Sehwán the Manchhars are seen dipping to the westward, but no good section is exposed for the 3 or 4 miles to the southward. From 4 to 6 miles south of Sehwán, however, near the place marked on the map as Wand Hote Khan, a very interesting section is seen, extending from the Khirthar to the Manchhar group. The section is very well exposed near a foot-path leading from Jhángár to Bhagothoro. All the beds dip west by a little north, at an angle of about 45°. Going eastward from the road between Sehwán and Jhángár, the (232525) 124 BLANFORD : GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. highest Manchhar beds seen are yellowish-brown grits, soft and argilla- Section near Бу СС ама rule, but occasionally hard and calca- thoro; Manchhar beds. reous; sometimes they are mottled buff and white, and they are associated with argillaceous limestones of the same colour, and with conglomerates. Beneath these beds is a great thickness of the charaeteristie grey sandstone. A few of the beds which are harder are worked into a kind of platter used for baking bread upon. With the sandstone are bands of conglomerate containing fragments of sand- stone, shale, and clay, dicotyledonous fossil wood, crocodiles’ teeth, and a few bones. Some few mammalian teeth also occur, isolated and single as usual. Beneath the Manchhars there is a very remarkable and brightly ена coloured group of sands and clays, white, red, doye and brown in colour. Thin bands of highly ferruginous sandstone, black and. dark-brown in colour, and occasionally passing into ironstone, are interstratified ; and some small irregular beds of very silieious rock resembling quartzite are met with, but they are rare and of subordinate importance. Some of the clays are mottled white and purple, and gypsum is frequently associated with the softer beds. These richly-coloured and variegated rocks have a very peculiar aspect, and are different from any of the formations known to occur in the Khirthar range, although somewhat similar beds are found in the Upper Nari group in places. Asarule, these variegated beds are unfossiliferous, but in some places the uppermost layer, a slightly ealeareous erit, contains numerous Gasteropoda, Lamellibran- chiala, and Foraminifera, some of which are Gäj species, one of them being Ostrea multicostata. Valves of Balanus are also found. In abed immediately above are some large oysters belonging to a species else- where found in lower Manchhar beds. Farther to the southward, in precisely the same position, at the base of the Manchhar beds, a thin band of typical Gáj beds comes in above the Nari group. The variegated sandstones of Bhagothoro rest upon typical lower ( 124 ) Gáj beds. THE LAKI RANGE, ETC. ARA 125 Nari beds, the characteristic yellow and brown limestones with Nummu- lites garansensis, N. sublevigata, Pecten labadyei, $c. In one place at least, a spot called Seri, about 8 miles south-east of Jhängär, where a very small spring of Nari beds. fresh water breaks out not far from the path to Unconformity between у ИИ lower Nari beds and va- the Dháran pass, there is distinct unconformity riegated sandstones. between the two groups. The yellow Nari lime- stone with Foraminifera, and the shales intercalated with the limestone, have been denuded, and the variegated beds rest on the denuded surface, the stratification of the two groups not being parallel.! It is thus evident that there is a break in time between the lower Nari beds and the variegated clays and sandstones. The latter may nevertheless belong to the Upper Nari group, or they may be considered a lower portion of the Gáj formation. The former being, perhaps, the more probable view, these beds have been mapped as Nari. The im- portant point is that there is here denudation-unconformity between lower Nari beds and strata elsewhere conformable upon them. The lower Nari beds of Bhagothoro Hill are highly fossiliferous, and a узе AN large collection of yt ы specimens has been made. "The following, exclusive of Foramini- Jera, are the principal forms found :— CORALS. | Trochocyathus burnesi. ` Montlivaultia vignei. ECHINODERMATA. Cidaris verneuili. Eupatagus rostratus. Celopleurus forbesi. Schizaster beloutchistanensis. Clypeaster, sp. S. cf. newboldi. LAMELLIBRANCHIATA, Corbula harpa. Chama, sp. C. cf. dubia. Pecten labadyei. Venus granosa, var. P. cf. hopkinsi. Cardium cf. triforme. Ostrea cf. flabellula. 1 These details and the list of fossils, with several other parts of the description, are from Mr. Fedden’s notes. CRE) 126 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. GASTEROPODA. Trochus cumulans, var. C. pseudocorrugatum. Phasianella owent. C. cf. rude. Turritella angulata. Cyprea nasuta, var. Т. deshayest. C. digona ? T. monilifera. C. cf. prunum. TT. renevieri. Voluta jugosa. T. c£., conoidea. i V. cf. dentata. Siliquaria granti. V. cf. crenulata. Solarium affine. Conus, sp. Natica patula. Harpa, sp. N. sigaretina. Semicassis, sp. N. decipiens. Sycotypus, sp. N. (Mammilla), sp. Cantharus, SP. Cerithium granti. Distorsio, sp. Triton, sp. Near the spot marked on the (l-inch) map as More Luck pass, the variegated beds rest almost, if not immediately, on the Khirthar lime- stone, the surface of which, near Bhagothoro, looks worn and irregular, as if it had been exposed and slightly denuded before the deposition of the variegated beds; whilst the lower Nari rocks are cut away so as to form ridges, upon and against which the newer variegated beds have been deposited. The eastern side of the ridge north of Bhagothoro overhanes the river Indus, and the railway has now been constructed along the face of the cliff not far from the bank of the river. In some places the surface of the limestone is broken up by enormous cracks of great depth; these are said to have been caused by earthquakes in late years.! Probably an argillaceous bed underlies the surface limestone at such places. . North-west of the town of Laki a hot-spring (temperature 103° Fahr.)? ! Mr. Fedden learned, by enquiry amongst the hillmen, that the great fissures were produced by an earthquake within the recollection of the oldest men, and apparently nearly 60 years ago, and he suggests that the earthquake of 1819 may have caused the dislocations. 2 The temperature of this spring is stated in the Gazetteer to range from 102° to 124° Fahr. This, if correct, is very remarkable. Mr. Fedden and I took the temperature at an interval of more than a year, and found it to be 103° on both occasions. ( ООО) THE LAKI RANGE, ETC. 127 issues in a ravine within the hills. The spring is moderately copious, and gives off a larger quantity of sulphuretted hy- Hot-spring of Laki. = u X А P 4 У drogen than any other hot-spring in the province, although all are more or less impregnated with tlie gas. There is, as usual, a deposit of calcareous tufa from the water. The ravine in which the spring occurs runs south-17°-west, and is formed by a synclinal, probably somewhat faulted, of Khirthar limestone. The relations of the beds are shown in the figured section (Plate III, fig. 3, p. 87). To the east- ward no trace of Nari or Gáj rocks is seen, but in many places the Manchhar beds are faulted against the Khirthar limestone. The section of the range about 2 miles south of the spring, where a foot-path, known as Dhäran Lak, crosses the hills, is shown in the sketch (Plate III, fig. 4, p. 87). In the soft shaly beds of the Khirthar group exposed in this section a large collection of fossils was obtained, com- Sections of range. Fossils in shales. Ao } prising several forms of nummulites, at least 40 species of Mollusca, and the two crabs figured by MM. D’Archiac and Haime under the names of Arges murchisoni and А. edwardsi. Amongst the Mollusca, besides a Nautilus undetermined, were Crassatella halaensis, Corbula subexarata, Corbis elliptica, Lucina subvicaryt, Venus cf. eyrenoides, Cardita depressa, C. mutabilis var., Cardium halaense, Nucula margaritacea, Chama cf. geslim, Ostrea vesicularis, Nerita schmideliana, and Cvulum murchisoni. A species of Anomia, also, is abundant and characteristic. It is probable that a considerable proportion of the Khirthar and Nari species deseribed by MM. D'Archiae and Haime were procured in the neighbourhood of Bhagothoro and Laki. About a mile south of the Dháran Lak the beds below the Khirthar Beds below Khirthar limestone appear in a valley within the range, and limestone; these beds extend thence to the southward for a distance of about 35 miles, being brought up along a faulted anticlinal. For the general section, comprising, in descending order, Ranikot beds CEI) 198 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. about 2,000 feet thick, trap 40 to 90 feet, and the infra-trappean series classed as eretaceous, of which about 1,400 feet are exposed, the list of geological groups in Sind should be consulted! In the accompanying map, owing to the very small seale, only the Ranikot beds and the ere- taceous rocks are separately coloured, the narrow band of Deccan trap being omitted. The thickness of the Khirthar limestone in the Tiyun range (the ridge running south-east from Dháran), eannot be great, but it has not been precisely determined. A little farther south it is only 450 feet on the scarp west of Barrah Hill, and nearly the whole thick- ness is here exposed ; there cannot be much more than 500 or 600 feet altogether. Beneath the Khirthar group; on the eastern scarp of "Tiyün, there is found a considerable thickness of yellow lime- Highest Ranikot beds. ‘ stone, which probably represents the brown lime- stones of Lainyan to be described presently. Farther south, near Barrah, the yellow limestone is wanting, having probably been de- nuded away; for throughout this range there is unconformity be- tween the Ranikot beds and the Khirthar. A bed abounding in a species of Rostellaria, apparently the A. columbaria, Lam, of D’Archiae and Haime, but a very different form from the true №. columbaria of Lamarck, is found at Barrah as well as farther north, and is met with some distance below the fossiliferous brown limestone of Lainyan. | The Ranikot beds and the eretaceous rocks beneath them are well . exposed from top to bottom under Jakhmari and Section at Jakhmari. : ER Kharguzáni peaks, but all the upper portion is | much obscured by talus from the overlying Khirthar limestone, and no complete section can be measured. The following is the series of the bottommost Ranikot beds, in descending order, with the under- lying olive shales or Cardita beaumonti beds. The section across the range at Jakhmari is shown in the accompanying section (Plate V, fig). 1 See р, 32. 290) ler Toy "EQUES = 0 E if N A, NM mu» yn Ni / vi ў з, i LL MN MAE ( VAR P x Pede ud u^ UID "WM i T M ni М n " у р М n K | = » Mo fuf PAD MENS UU: Л, 2 EY OF INDIA. GEOLOGICAL $ UR М Memoirs. Vol: XVIL РІ V Blanford Fig. 4 Jakhmari Sketch section at Jakhmari Peak . a, Manchhar; b,Khirthur limestone; cRanıkotbeds; d.Trap; e.otive shales; (x. Cardita beaumonti bed); EDark sandstone Fig: 2. ig: Barrah Hill Section through Barrah Hill Scale—2 500. feet= one anch a- Manchhar beds- b.Khırdıar limestone. c;Ranikot beds, d. Deccan trap. æ- Olive shales with lardita beaumonti- f. Cretaceous sandstone- g Limestone with Hippurites Fig: 3 Fault Sketch section through Bor Hill Reterences as in section unmediately above Fig: 4. Pokran Daphro Range: Ranıkot Sketch section from Pokran to Ranikot a.Noribeds. b Klurthar - c, Rarukot SECTIONS OF LAKI RANGE. Dn stone by SK HE 2, 2 NG, س ل 5 = Ч ы = а > © E \ 8 ; \\ io p & E j Se ee THE ТАКІ RANGE, ETC, 129 Section of lower Ranikot and underlying beds at Jakhmari. (1. Sandstones of various colours, grey, brown, red, yellow, &c., much false-bedded осо 2. Similar sandstones, but less compact and less false- bedded, sometimes with ferruginous nodules 3. Grey and greenish-brown sandstones, with many more or less ferruginous eoneretionary nodules, some fragments of bones, apparently of tortoises, and of teeth which may be saurian RANIEOT BEDS ..4 4. Coarse grey sandstone, with ferruginous nodules and light-coloured variegated sandy shales; also grey and pale brown sandstones, with patches of yellow and red 5. Pinkish-grey sandy shale, yellow and red in patches 6. Dark-greenish and brown sandstones, rather coarse, soft and shaly LAN. B.—In some of the beds, from 2 to 5 inclusive, frag- Y ments of wood occur, apparently dicotyledonous. | DECCAN TRAP ... Basalt ean A as (1. Olive-green sandstones and sandy shales, with gypsum, containing Cardita beaumonti, Natica, Turritella, &c., mostly weathering out as casts. The uppermost sandstones beneath the trap are reddish-brown Ss ооо CRETACEOUS? ... 4 2. Olive clays or shales with occasional bands of sand- stone and a few thin layers of dull olive or dark-coloured impure limestone. This is the most fossiliferous bed, with Cardita beaumonti, Nautili, Corals, &c. Hee RN Ku 20° 10° 30 to 40 5 30 200 100 to 150 The Cardita beaumonti shales are well seen along the course of a torrent bed which drains the hills close to the police post at Jakhmari, and the trap bed overlies the shales. Beneath these beds are found the dark sandstones rolling over in an anticlinal, the uppermost layer being full of oysters. At the fault cutting off the lower beds there is again a bed of trap, but owing to the crushing that has taken place, the relations of this band to the sandstones are extremely obscure. Probably the і ( 129 ) 130 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. trap is interstratified with the sandstones; and if so, it is at a соп» siderably lower level than the flow in the preceding section at the base of the Ranikot group. Close to the trap, and apparently underlying it, there is a very fossiliferous bed containing Corbula harpa, an oyster re- sembling О. flemingi, a Turritella, a small coral, and two echinoderms, one of them a Cidaris. | East of the fault, the Khirthar beds come in with a reversed dip only a small thickness is exposed, and then Manchhar beds appear dipping at high angles. The Deccan trap does not extend much farther north than Jakhmari, si ,. both it and the underlying beds disappearing Section at Kharguzáni. ў ES j beneath higher strata within less than a mile. Under Kharguzáni peak, about 2 miles north-east, only Ranikot beds are seen between the Tiytin range and the fault. The only remarkable point about the section at this spot is that, east of the fault, resting upon the Khirthar limestone, some Nari beds are seen, ferruginous brown limestones with the characteristic Orditoides papyracea. The dip of the Khirthar limestone here also is reversed. The Manchhar beds to the eastward are faulted against the Nari beds, and dip about 60° to east- by-south, and the Khirthar beds underlying the Naris, but with their dip reversed, as if overlying, are faulted against Ranikot beds. The uppermost 200 or 300 feet of the Manchhar group consist of conglome- rate overlying soft earthy and sandy beds, yellow, bluish-grey, and red in colour, and these pass down into soft grey sandstones, with conglome- rates and argillaceous grits. Bones and teeth of mammalia are not rare, and from this neighbourhood many specimens were procured,! especially of the peculiar ungulate types, such as Hyopotamus, Anthracotherium, and forms allied to Merycopotamus. To the southward from Jakhmari the outerop of the cretaceous beds Cretaceous beds south Pelow the trap becomes broader, and the anti- OLE Sane clinal ridge of cretaceous sandstone, the lowest strata exposed, becomes higher, but still the infra-trappean (cretaceous ?) Chiefly by employing Baluch shepherds to collect. (80 ) THE LAKI RANGE, ETC. 181 beds occupy all the low ground between the Tiyün range and the hills of Khirthar limestone, east of the fault forming the eastern boundary of the older beds. The lower beds of the cretaceous sandstone group are still concealed. About 2 miles south of Jakhmari the Ranikot beds eome in beneath the Khirthar limestone east of the fault, and continue for about 2 miles farther to the southward, being chiefly seen to crop out in the scarp, east of the fault, underneath the Khirthar limestone. The Ranikot beds disappear again beneath the Khirthar limestone close to a place called Khirdhai. West of their exposure, the olive shales only are met with for some distance, the dark cretaceous sandstones being concealed ; but the latter crop out again south of Khirdhai, and thence to the southward form a well marked ridge for many miles, culminating in the two hills of Barrah. The higher of these two peaks, that to the southward, rises to a height of 1,200 feet above the eastern base of the hills, and 1,100 feet above the valley through which the fault runs east of the first range. The dark-coloured sandstone ridge here becomes conspicuous from the plain to the eastward, for the rounded hills of Cretaceous sandstone к sandstone tower above the crags of grey Khirthar limestone to the east of the faulted anticlinal, and are relieved against the pale-coloured scarp, also composed of Khirthar limestone, to the westward of the anticlinal and on the eastern side of the main range. The most conspicuous dark-coloured hills seen are those of Barrah to the north, Bor 3 or 4 miles to the southward of Barrah, and Gadha or Hus, 2 miles farther south, and 9 miles north of Ranikot. Unfortunately all these most interesting sections are difficult of access, there being no roads or villages in the neighbourhood, and the country for many miles from the hills being a waterless desert, except after rain. The section at Barrah hill (Plate V, fig. 2) is the most interest- . Ing of all, as the lowest beds known to occur in Section at Barrah hill. Ў eg Sind are seen here alone, and the whole series is well exposed. A very small stream issues from the range, and cuts its way through the eastern ridge of Khirthar limestone : farther up, the same (dat. y 139 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. water-course runs between the two sandstone hills. Along the bed of ES pU EM this n there is a foot-path, practicable with a little climbing." | At the base of the hills Manchhar beds are seen dipping at an angle of about 35° to 45° to east-10°-south. Some of these beds are fossiliferous, containing casts of shells, and rest unconformably upon pale olive clays of Khirthar age, containing Corbula, Arca, Cardita, $. and passing into a bed abounding in Nummulites leymerici. "The latter rests upon nummuhtie limestone (Khirthar). The nummulitie limestone continues for some distanee, and forms the outer ridge of the hills, the beds having a reversed dip of about 80? : to the westward. West of this ridge is some low ground, in which the upper members of the Ranikot group crop out, also with a reversed dip. They comprise the bed with Rostellaria already mentioned. They end abruptly against a small cliff of white and grey limestone, the boundary being clearly a great fault. Here, therefore, as to the northward, Ranikot beds occur east of the main fault. This white and grey limestone of the cliff is compact and hard, and the upper portion is very sandy and gritty, the lower part purer. In the upper part there are thin gritty ferruginous bands. The rock abounds in. fossils, but, as a rule, only sections of shells, &e., are seen, and it is very difficult to obtain anything recognizable. No Foraminifera could be detected, but sections of Echinoderms and Gasteropods are eommon, and ‚one fragment of a Hippurite was obtained. Above the limestone, and, to some extent, passing into the gritty calcareous beds already mentioned, is a great thickness of sandstone form- ing the dark-coloured hills. "The sandstone varies greatly in colour, being brown, pink, and in places white; with beds of conglomerate, dark gritty limestones, and ferruginous bands. The whole weathers of a very dark colour. ! The spot is about 10 miles south-west of Amri. The name of Barrah is only knowr to the Baluchis, who, when water is available, drive their sheep, goats, and cattle to the hills for pasture. The place may be recognized from a distance by the two dark-coloured hills. [122 ) THE LAKI RANGE, ETC. 133 On the top of the hills is a bed containing oysters and fragments of large bones, apparently reptilian. West of the hills the olive shales with Cardita beaumonti occur in a marked depression, due to the weathering of these soft beds, which dip westward at a much higher angle than the sandstones, the latter rolling over to the eastward with the usual ten- dency to an anticlinal. In the olive shales at this spot, besides the usual fossils, two or three fragmentary amphieclous reptilian vertebre were obtained, since identified by Mr. Lydekker as belonging to a mesozoie type of crocodiles. Above the olive shales, the trap is found in the usual position, and the Ranikot group, here of great thickness, is exposed on the slopes of the main range and capped by the Khirthar limestone. This, as already stated, is the only place where the white limestone EA TA QULA with Hippurites appears from beneath the-creta- ceous sandstone. South of Barrah Hill the main fault appears to divide, and a branch running to the south-west, and having a downthrow to the south-east, causes the disappearance of all the cretaceous rocks below the Cardita beaumonti beds, and brings in Ranikot beds west of the main fault. For some distance south of the branch fault, the olive shales with Cardita beaumonti form an anticlinal, and their eutcrop is scarcely a quarter of a mile broad, the trap bed resting upon them, and the Ranikot group upon the trap, both east and west of the anticlinal. This, however, only continues for about a mile, then the cretaceous strata suddenly roll up to the southward, the Ranikot beds to the east of the anticlinal come to an end, and the cretaceous sandstones re-appear and form the high dark-coloured hill of Bor.! Here the section (Plate V, fig. 3) 15 not unlike that at Barrah, already described, except that the Ranikot beds are wanting to the east of the fault, and that the lowest beds seen are the eretaceous sandstones. The Manchhar beds are highly inclined, and dip at about 75° to east-10°-north; the Khirthars Section at Bor Hill. 1 The section at Bor Hill was examined by Mr. Fedden only, and I unfortunately mis- understood his account of the section, and, consequently, omitted to search for the lower bed of trap when I made a rather hurried examination of the hills in 1877. (aB) 134 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. which succeed to the Manchhars are vertical, and near the fault have a reversed dip. Some shales belonging to the Khirthar group occur imme- diately beneath the Manchhar. The limestones form a ridge, rising into high pinnacles, at least 200 feet above the bed of a stream traversing the range. The sandstones rise immediately west of the Khirthar limestone ridge. About 600 or 700 feet of them, precisely similar to those of Barrah, are exposed in the scarp. About two-thirds of the distance up the face of the hill is a bed of trap about 40 feet thick, apparently inter- stratified with the sandstones. On the top of the sandstones is the usual bed with Ostrea, Turritella, &c. The trap may be the same as that seen in the fault at Jakhmari. Unfortunately this trap bed was not especially Lower trap bed. | looked for at Barrah, and in many places in these hills the basalt is so thoroughly decomposed, that ıt can only be distin- guished from the associated sandstones by close search. 16 is, therefore, uncertain whether this lower bed of trap extends to a distance like the upper flow. A similar bed, probably the same, was noticed at one spot a few miles north of Ranikot. The remaining beds are precisely the same as in the Barrah section. From Bor Hill the cretaceous sandstones and the overlying beds con- tinue south to Gadha (Gahrea) or Hus, where a Bor Hill to Ranikot. i broad stream bed is cut through the outer range, and the nummulitie limestone only forms a very narrow ridge. Here the whole of the cretaceous beds disappear below the Ranikot group, and for 21 miles, the latter abuts against the Khirthar limestone at the main fault. The trap and olive shales re-appear west of the fault, 2 miles farther south, at Kandori but only for a short distance. Then, after another interval of about 2 miles, the cretaceous beds again crop out at the surface, the sandstones being also exposed, and all continue as far as Ranikot, where they come to an end within the limits of the fortress. They do not extend continuously to the Mohan stream, which traverses Ranikot from west to east, and in which a last appearance of ( 134 ) THE LAKI RANGE, ETC. 135 the trap takes place at the axis of the anticlinal of Ranikot beds, the infra-trappean beds not being exposed. South of this the fault appears to die out; the Ranikot beds merely form a flat anticlinal, and are hori- zontal for a considerable distance, the underlying cretaceous beds not appearing at the surface. d In one place near Kandori, the spot just mentioned, about 6 miles north of Ranikot, a band of carbonaceous shale with some layers of coal occurs in the olive sandstone just below the trap. This coaly bed thins out within a few yards, but serves to show that the olive shales are pro- bably littoral or estuarine. The trap and the underlying olive shales are well seen 1n a tributary Tan тий HE which joins the Mohan stream from the north pean beds at Ranikot, near the eastern wall of Ranikot. Ranikot is a great fortified enclosure, 3 miles in length from east to west, and about the same from north to south, nearly surrounded by a wall, and having two citadels inside, one of which is the Miri of the map. Some minor fortifieations are scattered about. The Mohan river runs through the middle, and a warm spring: (temperature 80° Fahr.) rises at the western extremity of the fortress, which was built by the Amirs of Sind about 1812. The following description of the section on the Mohan stream at Ranikot was given in the notes on this part of Sind published in 1867! from the observations made in 1863 :—— * At the (eastern) entrance to the gorge the limestones (Khirthar), where they emerge from beneath the alluvial boulder deposits, have a low dip to the east. They are sharply twisted up at one spot, but continue steadily beyond and rise into a hill about 460 feet high. From beneath them, at the west base of this hill, which is part of the outer ridge already mentioned as bordering the plein, the gypsiferous clays and sandstones (Ranikot) crop out, much varied in colour as usual, but with a very high dip of 60° to the eastward. Yet there is no clearly marked unconformity. These beds continue at the same dip for above a quarter of a mile, when they roll over at an anticlinal, and continuing up the stream to the westward lie at much lower angles, frequently horizontal, but generally dip- ping at 10? or 15" to the west or north-west. At the axis of the anticlinal the lowest bed seen is trap, which only appears in the stream for a few yards. It is slightly amygdaloidal, 1 Mem. Geol, Surv, Ind., Vol. VI, p. 5. ( 185 ) 136 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. and contains agates, and it has a slightly stratified appearance. Only a few feet of thick- ness are seen. The sandstones resting upon it do not appear to be in any measure altered by the contact. * Below about 20 feet of solid trap ere appears on one side of the Mohan stream (in ‘which alone the igneous rock is exposed) a shaly bed, perhaps an ash. It is this which tends to give the trap so markedly stratified an appearance.” * * * * Beyond the anticlinal the variegated sands and clays continue for 1 mile or 13 miles to the west; then, just beyond the lower part of tbe Kot, the inner range crosses from north to south, parallel with the outer ridge, and, like that, composed of Alveolina limestone resting upon the sands and clays. In neither case does there appear reason to suppose the existence of any fault between the limestone and the underlying beds. Yet it should be noticed that, in neither case, is there any appearance of the rubbly calcareous beds so rich in marine fossils which rest upon the sands and clays of the Lynyan.” * * * * * The estimate of thickness was not correct, the Khirthars were con- sidered 1,000 feet thick, which is too much, whilst the Ranikot group is thicker than was at first supposed. The plain outside Ranikot was described as composed of the Lynyan (Lainyan) beds (Ranikot group), and it was supposed that these were concealed and obscured by alluvial deposits of gravel, sand and pebbles. So little is seen of the rocks in the country intervening between Ranikot and Lainyan, that, in a rapid traverse, the mistake is not difficult to account for, and just east of the fortress no section could, at that time, be seen showing the relations of the Khirthar limestone to the beds under- lying the plain to the eastward. This section has since been better ex- posed by the river, and it has been found, from an examination of the neighbouring country, that there is a synclinal east of Ranikot occupied by Manchhar beds; that the Ranikot beds of Lainyan or Leilan dip beneath Khirthar limestone, and this below Manchhar sandstones, and that the limestone rises again from beneath the Manchhar beds east of the fortress. The section seen in the Sann river (as the Mohan is called outside the hills), about a mile from Ranikot, consists of cliffs of light-brown marl passing down into sandy beds, precisely resembling Manchhar rocks, but perhaps really consisting of reconsolidated detritus derived from (alee) THE LAKI RANGE, ETC. 157 the Manchhar beds. On the top of the cliffs is a mass of subrecent conglomerate. Farther west grey and buff sandstones occur, evidently of Manchhar age, with masses of the characteristic Manehhar conglomerate, containing pebbles of clay and sandstone precisely like the associated beds, and some of laterite. At the extreme base of these, resting unconformably on the Khirthar lime- stone, is some laterite with variegated shales. Similar beds are seen between the Manchhars and Khirthars, both to the north and south, and may probably be of Gaj age, as they are occasionally associated with strata containing Gäj fossils. Ranikot. Inside the eastern range a great change has taken place since 1863, At that time the inner scarp of the range exhibited a very fine section of Upper Ranikot beds. Now the scarp has been so covered over by masses of Khirthar limestone fallen from above, that no Ranikot beds can be seen in the cliff. It is said that the talus from above was thrown down by an earthquake in the interim. The Ranikot beds on the western scarp of the outer range must be east of the fault, if the latter has not died out. Probably, as already noticed, it comes to an end about this, but still there appears to be rather a smaller thickness of Ranikot beds east of the anticlinal in the Mohan stream than west of it, so some may be cut out in the former direction. The only places, to the north of Ranikot, where Ranikot beds are found east of the main fault, are those already mentioned south of Jakhmari and at Barrah hill. South of Ranikot, on the road to the Girran pass, a path leading across the hills about 5 miles south of the ' fortress, the Ranikot beds are found dipping at low angles and in places horizontal; they consist mostly of soft sand- stones with beds of sandy shale; they are very false-bedded, and variable in composition and colour. There is much soft brownish-yellow sand- stone, and an open textured earthy brown sandstone, speckled with white, and having much resemblance to some Damuda rocks. With South of Ranikot. these are occasionally associated purplish shales and ferruginous beds, (97 >) 138 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. alum shales of a dark colour containing iron-pyrites and decomposing readily on exposure, and also some bright yellow layers of ochrey clay. Near the Girran pass these beds dip west at high angles; 45° to 50.° ERAI ы, The rocks are much disturbed and contorted, and the Khirthar beds overlying the Ranikot are verti- cal, or in places have even a reversed dip for a short distance. The inclination, however, soon becomes less. Between 3 and 4 miles south of the Girran pass there is ano- ther pathway across the hills called the Hothian Hothian pass. : pass. The scarp of Khirthar limestone west of the Ranikot anticlinal, it should be mentioned, is continuous through- out the range from Jakhmari to Hothian, except where eut through by the Mohan river at Ranikot. At Hothian, on the face of this scarp, the Khirthar limestone is distinctly seen to be unconformable to the underlying Ranikot beds, the latter dipping at a rather higher angle, and having evidently been denuded before the Khirthar limestone was deposited. The denudation, however, appears of no great amount, only the uppermost Ranikot beds having disappeared. The chief im- portance of this local unconformity, which appears to be persistent throughout the Laki range, but wanting a few miles away to the south- east, is to show that the boundary between Khirthar and Ranikot beds should be drawn at the base of the white limestone, and that the fossili- ferous brown limestones of Lynyan and Jhirak belong to the older sub- division. The great Ranikot inler of the Laki range terminates close to Hothian pass; no beds of older date than Khirthar have been discovered to the southward in the range. Before describing the southern portion of these hills, a few remarks are necessary on the western branch, extend- ing along the eastern side of the valley between Chorlo and Pokran, and including the Dáphro range. The head of the Mohan stream 1з nearly west of Bor Hill, and the ; ridge west of the stream is one of the usual Dáphro range. PN ^ К secondary anticlinals of Khirthar limestone. West (iss. ) THE LAKI RANGE, ETC. 159 of Ranikot, Ranikot beds appear in the axis of this anticlinal, and occupy an area of small breadth, but about 5 miles long from north to south. Between this inlier and Ranikot there is a synclinal occupied by Khirthar limestone. "The relations of the rocks are shown in the sketch section (Plate V, fig. 4) from Pokran, near the base of the 'Khirthar range, to Ranikot. The sketch is approximately on a scale of 2 miles to an inch. The disturbance is in places greater than is represented in the section. Thus, in the ridge of Khirthar limestone between the Dáphro range and that overlooking Ranikot, there is much erushing, and the dip 1s reversed for some distance. To the southward the synclinal shown in the above sketch becomes a broad valley into whieh the Girran and Hothian D DM passes lead, and the drainage from which runs southward to the Bäran. In this valley, towards Batri Karchät,! Manchhar beds come in with some Gäj and, to the south-west, Nari beds below them. The Däphro range ends in two spurs called Hatting and Yeting, both of Khirthar limestone. South of Hothian pass the Laki range, including the ridge or dome- Laki range south of Shaped elevation known by the name of Eri, be- Hotman comes a simple anticlinal of Khirthar limestone between two tracts of Manchhar beds. A thin representative of the Са] group intervenes between the Manchhar and Khirthar beds to the westward, and the ferruginous beds to be noticed presently are found in places occupying the same position on the eastern side of the ridge. Eri is a higher part of the range, with a slight quaquaversal dip, steeper to the southward, where there is a depression of the anticlinal axis. South of Eri, across this depression, two easy foot-paths, similar to the Girran and Hothian passes, traverse the range, and are known as the Halarke and Hála-lak. This last named insigni- Häla pass. ! ficant pass is the only spot where the name of Hála, so frequently applied in maps to all the ranges of Western Sind ! This place is about 9 miles north-west of the spot called Surang Khosa on the accom- panying map. (189. ) 140 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND, collectively, is found employed for any portion of a range by the people of the country. About the Hála-lak, on the western side, the calcareous rubbly Gäj beds are seen resting on the surface of the Khirthars, the latter being worn and riddled with holes made by boring mollusca. The Khirthar surface, forming the floor on which the Gáj beds have been deposited, is in places of marly limestone, in others of fine calcare- ous yellowish sandstone with casts of Nummulites leymeriei. These upper Khirthar beds are of a light buff colour, and contrast with the more purely white limestones of Eri Hill and the range generally. Amongst them is a bed containing fossil crabs (Arges, or Galenopsis murchisont) in abundance. Cerithium giganteum, Ovulum, and casts of Lamellibranchiata also occur. Some miles farther south, the range is traversed by the Baran river, and a very fair section of Khirthar beds is exposed in the gorge, which is known as Darwáz or Darwát. In the cliffs on each side of the river the massive Khirthar limestones are seen, dipping at а low angle to the westward, except at the east end of the pass, where they are suddenly bent down at a high angle and dip east. Fossils are of frequent occur- тепсе in the limestone, but are chiefly common species ; the crab bed is well seen north of the stream on the western side of the pass. The range south of the Bäran river and east of Bhule Khán's Thäna is known as Surjáno, and here the upper portion of the Khirthar group, composed of rubbly and rather shaly beds, not compact, is much thicker than farther north. The commonest nummulites in these beds are N. granulosa, N. ley- meriei, and N. spira, some layers being entirely composed of these species. Some of the beds are yellowish in colour. A band of green- ish clay, or fuller's earth, is found interstratified with these upper beds, and is occasionally dug out by the natives and used for washing cloth, &e. The upper shaly portion of the group is from 300 to 500 feet thick near the Darwát ; below the shaly beds comes the whitish compact limestone forming the mass of the range. Farther to the southward, ( 140 ) Surjáno range. THE LAKI RANGE, ETC. 141 in the direction of Jungshähi, the upper Khirthar beds are wanting, and only the compact white limestone is found. The southern portion of the range, beyond the Bäran river, possesses but few features of interest, and we may therefore pass on to the country east of the Laki range,! commencing again to the northward near Jakhmari, south of Laki. The expanse of Manchhar beds occupying the triangle formed by ў Laki, Mánjhand, and Ranikot, is of very small Manchhar beds be. | 1 tween Laki and Mán- interest. The beds are poorly seen, being usually ed. covered by large accumulations of gravel, conglo- merate, and sand. At intervals, at a considerable elevation above the present plain, which slopes gradually from the hills to the Indus, there are seen remains of an older slope of detritus in the form of flat-topped or nearly flat-topped rises composed of consolidated gravel. Along the edge of the Laki range, at the base of the Manchhars, eminem Wein e peculiar ferruginous beds, sometimes forming a base of Manchhar group. kind of laterite, and often conglomeratic, are found. These beds farther south are associated with Gäj fossils. They are probably the same as the variegated beds of Bhagothoro. They are seen at Jakhmari, Ranikot, and many other places. A similar ferruginous band may be traced along the outer border of the Khirthar limestone in the country between the Laki range and the Indus, from the neighbourhood of Mánjhand to Bandh Vera and the Báran river, and sparingly on the Indus side of the anticlinal. The bed is seen well developed a few miles to the east of Hothian Hill, and it fringes the Khirthar inliers in that neighbourhood. At the edge of one of these inliers is a thin bed of Gaj with Ostrea multicostata, Sc. A greater development is found to the southward near Bandh Vera. To this further reference will be made presently. Some silieified fossil wood weathered out of the Manchhar beds is ! The greater portion of the following description is from Mr. Fedden’s notes, except the details concerning Lainyan and Jhirak. (IBI) 143, BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. met with here and there. In the great Manchhar tract running south- ward along the eastern side of the Laki range Fossil wood. > ў south of Ranikot, and known as the Vera plain, large fragments of this silicified wood are common ; some are evidently trunks of trees, being 30 feet and upwards in length and as much as 10 feet in girth. On the surface these trunks are usually broken across, but stil the fragments are easily recognized as portions of the same tree. Тһе stems are mostly exogenous, but endogenous wood also occurs. The lower tertiary rocks near the west bank of the Indus in the Lower tertiary beds neighbourhood of Mänjhand, Kotri, and Jhirak, Ben: form a low anticlinal with a very gentle inclina- tion, rarely exceeding 5°, оп each side. The Khirthar limestone, which is of no great thickness, probably not more than 300 or 400 feet, has been denuded away from the central portion of the anticlinal, so as to expose the underlying Ranikot beds, which are here quite conformable to the Khirthars, and indeed passinto them. The Khirthar limestone here and to the southward often abounds in Alveoline. In one place, about Flint in Khirthar 10 miles west-north-west of Kotn, flint and chert limestone. were found associated with the nummulitie lime- stone in large masses, as near Rohri and Sukkur. The outlying rises of Khirthar limestone, east of the Indus at Hyderabad, and farther south, will be noticed at the end of the Chapter. The Ranikot beds are tolerably uniform in composition throughout the large inlier occupied by them. A description Ranikot beds. * ^ of them as they appear around the old coal mine at Lainyan (Leilan) will serve for the whole area. Lainyan, Leilan-je- | "Tar, or Lynyan, is situated in a plain with a lime- UT stone scarp to the eastward and hilly ground to the north and south. The plain is composed of typical Ranikot beds; sandy shales and clays, variable in colour, but usually pink or purplish, with a little gypsum, and beds of sandstone, grey or dark, and ferru- ginous. Above these variegated beds are alternations of clay and ferru- ginous shales with gypsum and hard brownish-yellow limestone contain- ( 142 ) THE LAKT RANGE, ETC. 143 ing fossils. These form the scarp to the eastward, which is 200 to 300 feet 1n height. The coal or lignite bed of Lainyan (Leilan) was discovered amongst Coalorligniteof Lain. the sandy shales and clays in a well sunk by the yan : Baluch nomads who inhabit the country, and when found was said to be 7 feet thick. This is doubtful, but the seam measured nearly 6 feet in places. A second smaller seam was found beneath the thicker bed. The coal, however, was found to thin out within a short distance, nowhere exceeding 100 yards. The quality too was inferior. The best section of the fossiliferous limestones, overlying the shales and sandstones of the Ranikot group, is seen 1n the Section of fossiliferous : i beds at top of Ranikot scarp to the eastward of Lainyan. These lime- BI: stones are the beds the absence of which in the sections of the Laki range has already been noticed. The whole of these brown limestones and their associated beds, east of Lainyan, are considered by Mr. Fedden to be not less than 800 feet in thickness; but the highest portion 1s not seen in the scarp section. The uppermost bed seen in the scarp is rather hard, massive, and of great thickness. It 15 a brown limestone containing numerous fossils, amongst which are а large Nautilus, Spondylus rouaulti, a Terebratula closely allied to the eretaceous 7. subrotunda, a Conoclypeus, and several corals, including Trochocyathus vandenheckei, Cyclolites vicary?, and Montlivaultia jacguemonti. Below this bed are some clays and ferruginous shales. Then follows jn descending order another limestone bed, about 30 feet thick. This abounds in Ostrea vesicularis and Turritella, and contains Vulsella legumen, in masses, several individuals cemented together, a flat Zehinolampas, and Opereuline. Below this bed again is greyish-brown sandstone, with one or more bands of limestone, and then the variegated sands, shales, and clays. A list of fossils procured from this locality was given in the note ! See pp. 128, 136, &c. 144 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. published in 1867. The following are some of the forms collected besides those noticed above: Ostrea flemingi, Nerita schmideliana, Natica longispira, N. decipiens, N. flemingi, Voluta teelaensis, Ferebellum distortum, and Rostellaria angıstoma. West of Lainyan the rocks dip to the westward at low angles. A fossil bed, apparently on the same horizon as the West of Lainyan. lower of the two prineipal fossiliferous belts to the eastward, abounds in Zurritelle, the Rostellaria referred to R. columbaria by D’Archiae and Haime, a Cassis, and a small muricoid shell with elegant raised reticulated sculpture. The Rostellaria is a characteristic species with a prominent tubercle at the upper (posterior) termination of the lip, and the same form, as already mentioned, is found in parts of the Laki range, and appears to be peculiar to this horizon. In this direction, west of Lainyan, no Khirthar limestone is seen in place, and the Manchhars appear to rest almost directly on the Ranikot beds. But little rock, however, is seen, the plain of Manchzar beds being much covered over by gravels and alluvial deposits. SEN оп road. to A very good section of the upper Ranikot beds Kom, is also seen south-east of Lainyan on the road to Kotri via Bháda. | А+ Ше top of the Ranikot beds the brown limestone passes up into а Ferruginous bed at Yellowish-brown limestone with Operculine, and рее кг: this again passes into а dull whitish bed. Upon the latter there is found a highly ferruginous band, consisting in places chiefly of brown hematite, and varying in thickness from 5 or 6 to about 20 feet. It is usually more or less argillaceous, the upper part 1 Mem. Geol. Surv., India, VI, p. 3. By mistake the footnote, containing the list of these fossils, was printed on the wrong page, and it was made to appear that the species enumerated were derived from a limestone, containing Foraminifera, which really belongs to the Khirthar group, instead of from the * rubbly limestone of a yellow colour abounding in fossils,” and the other beds noticed on p. 4. The paper was printed during my absence ` from Calcutta, and I had no opportunity of seeing the proofs. ( 144 ) * THE LAKI RANGE, ETC. 145 having a conglomeratic appearance, the lower being a ferruginous clay. Occasionally this bed is distinctly lateritic in character.! This ferruginous layer is conspieuous on the hills east-by-north of Lainyan. It is also well seen east of Bandh Vera,? where it consists chiefly of ironstone. An inlier oceurs, surrounded by Khirthar limestone, 13 miles east of the Bandh. ] On the road from Bandh Vera to Kotri, 8 miles from the former place, a good section of the same bed is seen in one of thecuttings. The ferruginous portion is here almost absent, being represented only by a thin band near the base; this passes up into a mottled argillaceous rock, pale purple and white, having a brecciated appearance. Beneath the ferruginous layer is some pale blue and mottled shale. South of Bandh Vera, a low ridge of Khirthar limestone runs for Lateritic 64} beds near Some distance to the southward, with Manchhar endi Veres Ti beds on both sides of it. Itis on the west side of this little ridge that the lateritie bed, mentioned a few pages baek as occurring at the base of the Manchhar group, attains its greatest thick- . ness. The laterite is clearly of detrital origin and gritty. The ridge is a broken anticlinal, with a small fault along the east side. On this eastern side the laterite appears to be less developed. Associated with the laterite, on the eastern side, there is a thin calcareous bed containing Ostrea multicostata, O. hyolis, and Pecten ‚favrei, all characteristic Gäj fossils. Apparently above the laterite, west of the ridge, is a bed containing a large oyster with a projection in the hinge, a species found elsewhere in the bottom Manchhar beds. , East of the nummulitic limestone ridge are grey and greenish-grey Tara IRE beds sandstones, very irregularly deposited and obliquely near Bandh Vera, laminated; and interstratified with them are argillaceous grit and nodular conglomeratie layers with fragments of clay, laterite pebbles, and rolled pieces of nummulitie limestone. These i See ante, p. 46. 2 Bandh Vera is a dam, or “ band,” across a hollow, for the purpose of storing water for irrigation. After rain there is a large reservoir, but in dry seasons there is no water, h (УАВ) 146 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. beds have all the characters of Manchhars. Laterite is accumulated 1n irregular masses in the lower part of these beds, which contain Ostrea | multicostata and an Anomia. But for the fossils all these beds might be classed as Manchhar ; but they probably are a mixture of the Manchhar river deposits with the marine formations of the Gáj group, an intermixture commonly found to the southward. In many places Absence of Gájbedsto 0 the southward of this no trace of Gáj beds, or Semen. of any marine deposit, can be detected at the base of the Manchhars. Some outliers of Manchhar beds occur 10 to 12 miles west of Kotri, near a camping ground called Petiäni, on the road from Kotri to Bhule Khän’s Thána. The outliers consist of caleareous conglomerate, con- taining fragments of white and yellow sandstone, calcareous sandstone, and iron ore (a ferruginous laterite), and the beds are much disturbed, being in one place vertical. North-east of Petiáni, however, two small outliers have been noticed Probable Gäj outliers resting upon Ranikot beds, and although the rela- north-east of Petiáni. tions of neither are quite clear, it is probable that one, if not both, are of Gáj age. The most northerly occurs about 9 miles north-west of Kotri, and 74 miles north-north-east of Petiani, and is about a quarter of a mile in diameter. This outlier forms a conspieu- ous dark-coloured craggy hill in the middle of the Ranikot area, and consists of dark harsh siliceous sandstone, coarse in parts, especially towards the base, with bands of conglomerate containing small pebbles. The rock is obliquely laminated, and 50 to 60 feet thick; it is quite unlike any occurring in the neighbouring scarps of Ranikot beds, and it resembles the hard sandstone to be described hereafter as occurring near Jungshahi, more than any formation in the neighbourhood. The age of the Jungshahi sandstone, however, as will be seen,! is not clearly determined. The second outlier is rather larger; it lies about 4 miles south-south- west of the last and between 3 and 4 miles from Petiáni, on the 1 See Chapter VIII. (ЖКО) THE LAKI RANGE, ETC. 147 border of the Ranikot group, but below the scarp of Khirthar limestone which surrounds the Ranikot area. The rock of which the second outlier эз composed is a calcareous grit, with grains of pale blue quartz. It contains broken fragments of Balanus, a few Alveoline, and some other Foraminifera, amongst them Patellina ; one large Balanus was also found, and some worn spines of Echinodermata. This grit 1з rather thick, and rests upon a small amount of ferru- ginous lateritie rock, beneath which again is soft yellow marl, with Eurhodia morrisi and other Ranikot fossils. There is an appearance of unconformity between the grit and the Ranikot beds, and the char- acter of the former is peculiar. One bed of the grit is flaggy, and bears some resemblance to a rock occurring in the Nari group ; another is a grey harsh siliceous sandstone, false-bedded, and quite unlike any Khirthar or Ranikot bed. No similar beds are seen in the neighbouring scarp, where upper Ranikot beds underlie Khirthar limestones, and where the beds of the outlier should be continuous if they belong to either of these groups. The outlier has been mapped as Gäj, but its real position is uncertain. Of course if it be of later age than Khirthar, the Alveoline and other eocene Foraminifera found in it may be derived from older beds. The uppermost Ranikot beds in the neighbourhood of the last named Fossils M Ranikotbeds Outlier are as highly fossiliferous as they are near copiae ап Быш, Lainyan. A very large number of Echinodermata and corals were procured in this neighbourhood, and amongst the former, besides the common Zurhodia morrist, were species of Hchinolampas, Conoclypeus, Toxobrissus, Prenaster, Phymosoma, and one if not more forms of true Salenia, approaching very closely in character to cretaceous species. No Са} beds are seen east of the large Manchhar area forming the Southern extremity of Southern extension of the Vera plain, nor along Vig quat the southern extremity of the plain west of Met- ing railway station, but there are patches along the western boundary of the Manchhars, near the foot of the Surjáno hills and around the Man- ОТ 148 BLANFORD : GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. chhar outlier to the south-west, around Páni Hasanwára. The plain is similar to that farther north; very little rock being seen, although Manchhar conglomerates crop out in places, especially to the westward. Some scattered patches of laterite may indicate the presence of the beds seen at Bandh Vera, but the lateritie deposits are perhaps, in part at least, reconsolidated beds of late origin formed of detritus derived from the older lateritic layers. Blocks and patches of laterite are conspicuous on the road from Kotri to Bhule Khán's Thana, west of Petián. The upper Ranikot beds are again very well exposed in the area Ranikot beds near occupied by them near Jhirak and Tatta, but the Жапа Tatta. dips are so slight that only the highest portion of the group is seen at the surface. It has already been noticed that the division and unconformity, conspicuously exhibited along the western side of the Laki range, between the Khirthar and Ranikot beds, has been replaced by perfect conformity and a tendency to a passage between the two groups in the country north-west of Kotri around Lainyan (or Lynyan). Farther south this tendency increases, so much so that it is very difficult indeed to draw any distinct boundary between the Khirthar and Ranikot beds near Jhirak and Tatta. The white Khirthar lime- stones in this direetion break up into thin beds alternating with calcareous shales, and, towards the base, with soft marly beds of brown and buff colours. The fossils are only in a few instances useful for distinguish- ing the two groups, several of the commonest species being found in both. Under Aongar Hill, a trigonometrical station on the high Khirthar Ranikot beds north of ground, about 8 miles north of Jhirak, and a: E mile or 2 south-west of Jhuga Pir, the Ranikot beds, near the road from Kotri to Jhirak, consist of flaggy brown lime- stones, resting on variously coloured soft silty shales, red, yellow, brown, &e., and eapped by buff marl. Some of the shales are ferruginous ; others contain gypsum 1n small layers and retieulated veins, To the westward, towards the hills, fragments of brown limestone with Alveoline, and a few small indistinet nummulites, are met with; the limestone is apparently ( 148 ) THE LAKI RANGE, ETC. 149 lower in the series than the shales just mentioned, but the section is not clear. Farther to the westward are black hillocks, composed of soft disin- tegrated shale, with large ferruginous concretions, and covered over with fragments of black highly ferruginous sandstone forming a gravel. No good section is seen, nor were any fossils found. "These beds are, how- ever, higher than those seen near the road. Still higher in this section ferruginous black sandstone is found in place, the upper portion passing into richly ferruginous clay, in part red hematite, succeeded in ascending order by a few feet of crumbling mottled clay impregnated with salt. Then comes a light-coloured yellowish earthy marl, with A/veolina, Orbitolites, and a few nummulites. This passes up into sandy and then into calcareous beds with Alveoline. The last are considered the base of the Khirthar group. The Khirthar limestone, along the scarp of Aongar Hill, above the rocks just described, appears to be thinly bedded and weathers into flags. Much flint derived from the limestone is scattered about. There are numerous small outliers of Khirthar limestone on the Ranikot area, but they are of no importance, and the details of the topography on the map are not accurate enough to enable small patches to be correctly laid down without much difficulty and loss of time. Farther to the westward, below the base of the Khirthar group, a well marked lateritie bed comes 1n, composed in large measure of red ironstone (apparently a mixture of red and brown hematite). The underlying Ranikot beds are of very loose and incoherent materials. The ferrugin- ous band corresponds in position with that near Bandh Vera and Lainyan. ° Still farther west highly calcareous sandstone comes in between the white Khirthar limestone and the Ranikot group ; this sandstone is of a light yellowish- brown colour, and forms a conspicuous band on the slope of the hill. A few fragmentary Foraminifera and a small Brissopsis occur in this bed. In this ground there are one or two sharp folds of the rocks. Still farther west, near Meting station on the railway, the brown Near Meting Railway Calcareous sandstone, here so calcareous as to be a шш sandy limestone, increases in thickness and im- ( 109 i) 150 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. portance and covers the surface east-by-north of the station. The rock contains numerous A/veoling in parts, and passes down into the soft brown argillaceous beds of the Ranikot group without any ferruginous bed intervening. "Towards Jhirak the brown arenaceous limestone becomes further developed. About 3 miles south-east of Meting there is a flat-topped hill | capped with limestone, apparently belonging to the South-east of Meting. 2 1 Khirthar group, although the colour is dull yellow- ish, not white, and some of the beds are arenaceous. This limestone abounds in Alveolina, and contains some nummulites (N. braritzensis and a form resembling N. variolaria). On the scarp of the hill a reddish sandy bed is seen, and lower down are soft nodular yellow marls with two kinds of Alveolina. At the base of the hill is a bed of rubbly limestone full of Burhodia calderi, Brissopsis edwardsi, Nerita affinis, and N. schmi- deliana, and below this comes a peculiar ferruginous band containing . gypsum. i All round the edge of the low hills near Jhirak, brown and ochrey yellow limestones abounding in fossils occur, inter- Rocks at Jhirak. : { stratified with gypseous shales. There are two prineipal fossiliferous beds. "The lower, which is well seen on the edge of the alluvium near the town of Jhirak, is compact, and its outerop is marked by a row of quarries, the stone procured from which is largely used for building and for tombstones. This bed contains numerous Echinoderms, chiefly Zurhodia morrisi, amd an Hehinolampas allied to F. subsimilis, besides some Gasteropoda. Beneath this limestone, south of the town, is a thin bed of salt resting on sandstone. The upper fossiliferous band of limestone is some 50 feet higher ; itis less compact, and contains Foraminifera (especially Operculina canalifera, Nummulites leymeriei, N. irregularis, N. ramondı, and Alveolina ovoidea), a few corals and Echinoderms, Zunulites and numerous Gasteropoda, especially Turritella, Rostellaria, Voluta, and Terebellum. The rocks intervening between this and the lower fossiliferous bed are shales and sandstones. (150. 9) THE LAKI RANGE, ETC. 151 On the rises north of Jhirak, many corals occur in a dark-coloured conglomeratie band above the upper limestone. This band contains fragments of argillaceous limestone bored by PAoladide, and in places it abounds in mollusea. One highly fossiliferous locality is a small hillock, close to the road, 22 miles north of Jhirak, and 4 milesouth of the spot where the road branches off to the Meting Railway Station. Along the western side of the old road from Hyderabad and Kotri to Karächi, west of Jhirak, there is a low scarp of nodular Alveo- lina limestone, white and yellow. This closely resembles a Khirthar bed, but above it to the westward there are dark-coloured marly and sandy strata, belonging apparently to the Ranikot group. The road just Ce S dd mentioned runs along the north-western bank of Sunehri Dhandh, a lake of some size, about 9 miles west of Jhirak, and on the road from that town to the Jhimpir Rail- way Station. North of the Dhandh there is a ridge of nodular reddish and yellow A/veolina limestone, which crosses the Karächi road, and west of the Dhandh is the pale coloured limestone previously noticed as forming а low scarp. The last named rock is associated with marly bands, also containing Alveolina, and rests upon a dark-brown earthy bed containing a harder arenaceous layer. Below this are yellow marly impure lime- stones impregnated with salt, and containing Nerita, the small variety of Nummulites spira, called Operculina tattaensis by Dr. Carter and other nummulites. Next in descending order comes the ferruginous black sandstone, purple shales, and other soft brightly coloured beds, which are seen in several places along the bank of the dhandh, and are doubtless the same as those observed to the northward near Meting and representative of the ferruginous beds of Bandh Vera and Lain- yan. At Sunehri Dhandh the iron beds are of considerable thickness ; they contain some hematite, red and brown, and they rest upon white sandstone. 1 « Dhandh," а marsh or lake, jhil in Hindi. An old Musáfir-khána on the north-west bank of the Dhandh is marked on the accompanying map, and the lake itself is indi- і cated, but not its name. LZ сл TO BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. From Sunehri Dhandh to Jhimpir Railway Station is a distance of LS about 6 miles; the rocks traversed are the upper- most strata of the Ranikot group and the lowest Khirthar beds, and consist of alternations of brown and yellow salt marls and Alveolina limestone. There is some rolling, but the general dip is westward. Near the station, white and grey Khirthar limestone, and yellow marls, with Nerita schmideliana, Eurhodia calderi, Orbitolites, and other Foraminifera, make their appearance. A low searp north-west of the railway, close to Jhimpir station, con- sists of limestone in alternating beds, white or pale coloured, and: brownish, with an admixture of sand. A part of the rock is flinty and cherty. "There is a considerable thickness of these alternating beds, and the soft saline yellow marls with Nerita, Orbitolites, &e., crop out from beneath them and south-east of the railway. At the base of the scarp there 1s a red mottled bed. On the plain to the west and north-west of Jhimpir only surface N ы gravels and calcareous tufa are to be seen, but farther north some yellow and mottled argillace- ous limestone is exposed. Then several low parallel ridges, caused by small anticlinal folds of the strata, are met with, and on the eastern side of the ridge, on which the Ghatana trigonometrical station stands, there is a patch of brown gritty quartzose sandstone containing im- perfect marine fossils, none of them, however, being specifically recogniz- able. This rock might be Nari, but is more probably Сај. The patch is too small to be shown on the map. About 4 or 5 miles west of Jhimpir, and 14 miles west-north- Brown limestone west West of a water hole called Bhookun on the gi Шиши, inch and 4-inch maps, there is a rather con- spieuous searp of compact limestone about 15 feet thick, yellowish-buff or brown in colour, and having much the appearance of a Nari bed. It rests upon white Khirthar limestone, and contains Alveolina and Patellina, so that it must be of Khirthar age. To the northward this bed continues for a long distance, forming a nearly horizontal plateau, mar.) THE LAKI RANGE, ETC. 153 but dipping north at a low angle, about 1°. The same bed re-appears to the south-west, where also Alveolina occurs in it; but no such rock was observed in the sections north of Jungshähi, where, as will be shown 1n the next Chapter, the Khirthar and lower Nari beds had probably been denuded before the upper Nari strata were deposited. A subrecent calcareous deposit of some thickness is seen in the neigh- Subrecent calcareous ÞPourhood of Jhimpir Station, covering much of the eon wane шш. high ground, and exposed in the railway cuttings. The same rock occurs near Meting. It is a calcareous grit and eonglome- rate, so compact in parts as to form a good building stone, and to have been used in bridges and culverts on the railway line. The colour is mottled pale blue, white, and red. In the lower ground this rock is covered over with a thin but extensive layer of calcareous tufa (traver- tine), and upon the latter are seen small thin patches of a dark gravelly false-bedded conglomerate. At a large spring, about amile south of Jhimpir Railway Station, it is difficult to distinguish the overlying cal- careous deposit from the Khirthar limestone, the. only lithological differ- ence being that the former contains quartz grains. In the tract of Ranikot beds south of Jhimpir the rocks are the same Башкор bed south of 28 those seen between that station and Jhirak, but рир they are, as а rule, much less exposed. No ob- servations of any importance have been made on this ground. The 1solated tract of raised ground surrounded by alluvium and known as Makli Hill, west and south-west of Tatta, con- Makli Hill near Tatta. A k А { А sists almost entirely of Alveolina limestone, thicker to the southward than at the northern extremity. The beds slope gently to the west and south-west. At Pir Phatta, on the detached patch south of the Baghar river, the dip is about 3,° or rather less to the south- west. On the eastern scarp, below the limestones, yellow sandy beds and some dark mottled clay are seen west of Tatta, and again near Pir Phatta and Kuba Bibi Miriam. In one of these, a soft rubbly marl or argillaceous limestone, the small variety of Nummulites spira (N. tatta- ensis, Operculina tattaensis of Carter) characteristic of the Ranikot beds, (3988 )) 154 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN. SIND. is found abundantly together with Alveolina ovoidea, Nummulites biarit- censis, Nerita schmideliana and species of Natica, Rostellaria, Cassis, Ovulum, and Voluta. These beds are undoubtedly Ranikot; the overly- ing Alveolina limestone has been classed as Khirthar, but some of the upper Ranikot beds seen west of Jhirak appear to have thinned out; and it is possible that some of the Alveolina limestones of Makli hill represent beds that have been classed in the Ranikot group farther north on account of marly and sandy beds being found above them. To the west of Makli Hill there are several small scattered rises in the alluvium ; all, except one, which is Khirthar, composed of Nari beds. Farther west, and again to the south-west, there are some detached rocky rises of peculiar formation, ascribed to the Gáj group. Some of these are beyond the limit of the accompanying map. These outlying patches will be noticed in the next Chapter in connection with the similar rock found near Jungsháhi. The isolated limestone hills of Hyderabad and Ganja, east of the Hyderabad and Ganja Indus, have not been noticed in connection with ul the rocks near Kotri, because the most important beds of the latter are those belonging to the Ranikot group, and it was desirable to describe the beds of this formation, as far as practicable, con- secutively. The Hyderabad and Ganja hills, the former the northern, the latter the southern of the two limestone tracts, are flat-topped ele- vations, escarped in general on every side, and especially to the south- ward, where they rise about 200 feet above the alluvial plain. The slope of the beds is to the eastward, at a low angle, from 2° to 4°. The uppermost rock is a rather thick bed of white, more or less chalky, limestone, in which very few fossils are seen. Beneath this lime- stone is a band of pale buff plastic clay, largely dug and sold in the bazars for washing. Mines are sunk through the limestone in places, in the eastern portion of the Ganja plateau, for the purpose of extracting the clay. At the base of the scarp at the southern end of Ganja Hill, some nodular marls, on which salt effloresces, are exposed. A few fossil- were obtained from the limestone, the principal being Chama bri- ( IA >) SOUTH-WESTERN PORTION OF KARACHI COLLECTORATE. 155 monti and a Nautilus. All the beds of these hills appear to belong to the Khirthar group. The upper surface of the limestone on Ganja Hill is worn into Strim due to sand car- CONSpicuous grooves having a general direction UGG Dy неро of east-25°-north. These strie are evidently due to the scouring action of sand transported by the wind. Similar mark- ings are seen on other hills, but they are not often so distinct. On the limestone hills of Jaisalmir, precisely the same grooves are found. CHAPTER VIIL—THE SOUTH-WESTERN PORTION OF THE KARÁCHI COL. LECTORATE, INCLUDING THE UPPER BÁRAN VALLEY, WEST OF THE LAKI RANGE, THE HABB VALLEY, AND THE COUNTRY NORTH-EAST AND EAST OF KARÁCHI AS FAR AS BHULE KHÁN'S THÁNA AND JUNGSHAHI! | The remaining area of south-western Sind is a large tract of country, Arrangement of chap. And some further sub-division is necessary in Е treating of it. Тһе most convenient plan will be, beginning, as usual, on the north, to commence in the Báran valley, near Karchát, where the accounts of the area described in the fifth Chapter concluded, and to give such details as deserve notice in the eastern part of the tract first; and then, re-commencing at the north, to describe the western portion of the area. The first will comprise the Báran valley from the southern extremity of the Khirthar range near Karchát to Bhule Khán's Thána, the country near the road from the last named place to Karáchi, and that in the neighbourhood of Jungsháhi; the second sub- division will commence at the head of the Baran valley, and include the portion of that valley west of the southern extremity of the Khirthar range, together with the great traet of Gáj beds north-west of Karáchi, the Habb valley, and the neighbourhood of Karáchi and Cape Monze. ! This chapter is chiefly compiled from Mr. Fedden's reports, except the portions relating to the Habb valley and its neighbourhood, and the country immediately north and west of Karáchi. 156 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. There is a very marked distinction between the physical features of Physical features of the eastern and western portions of the tract. area: To the eastward the Khirthar beds are largely exposed at the surface, and the hills are chiefly composed of anticlinal ridges of nummulitie limestone. To the west the newer tertiary beds prevail, and the hills are chiefly formed of flat-topped masses of miocene Gáj rocks. Such anticlinal axes as exist consist of soft Nan beds, and do not rise into hills. As а general rule, there is certainly less disturb- ance of the rocks 1n this area than farther north. The Báran valley near Kajár, the halting place south of Pokran, Béran valley near Situated at the spot where the road from Sehwán Kaya Pad) esi. crosses the Bäran river, is thickly covered either with alluvial gravel, in places cemented into a conglomerate, or with a sandy deposit. The valley beneath the alluvial accumulations is com- posed of Manehhar beds, conglomerate or the typical grey sandstone being the beds most frequently seen at the surface. A considerable quantity of fossil wood 1s seen, derived from Manchhar beds. The Nari group is wanting on both sides of the valley south of Kajár, although it is well developed at the end of the Yeting spur just north of the camping ground, and the Gáj group is only represented by a very few feet of beds with marine fossils, at the base of the Manchhar group, the two passing into each other as usual. The Gáj, however, as might be expected, is quite uneonformable to the underlying Khirthar beds, the surface of which has been worn and denuded before the newer tertiaries were deposited. Near Kajür and north-west of it, on the west side of the Batri Karchát valley, the Gáj beds are thicker than elsewhere in the neighbourhood. At Bacháni, the camping ground south of Kajür, the subrecent Uneonformable con. Conglomerate is seen resting unconformably ‘on glomerates at Bachán. ^ Mamghhar conglomerate. The former is horizon- tal, the latter dips at an angle of about 45° to the north-west, and is associated with grey sandstone. The pebbles of which the two conglo- merates consist are very different, the subrecent rock being mainly ( 156 ) NJ ү | "ow M ! 1» ү! / ЖӨ h LAE A т TA OU M eto ione UM d ү” í In} А ms LP | ST и MS, LM i v AD. КИП Dae ey AA Uu | (МЕ i up MALE it ul, LT p Я хе н HR APP | И A i n YN LM ONG р "Sm (e: 13 (pi (9) GUAR ОИЕ АТОН СТИТУТ IEA Blanford: ؛‎ Memoirs, Vol: XVII. Pl: VI Section of hill range west of the Baran valley ncar Bacham . a. Subrecent beds; Conglomerates &c: b.Manchhar beds. c.Khirthar limestone. qo А Sketch section fromthe Bil. scarp to the Gabbar d 9. Gaj: n. Nari beds. f; Fault. IN 7b. Sketch section from the Miher to Mol plateau across the Kand Valley SOUTH-WESTERN PORTION OF KARACHI COLLECTORATE. 157 composed of rounded fragments of nummulitic limestone, whilst the Manchhar bed contains no nummulitic limestone, but the majority of the pebbles are of fine grained brown limestone. The Gáj beds at the base of Eri Hill, west of Bacháni, are highly fossiliferous, and several of the usual species have been found in them, including Venus cf. nonseripta, V. cancellata, Cardium anomale, Arca kurracheensis, A. cf. burnesi, A. peethensis, Ostrea multicostata, Chama sp., and several Gasteropoda. А very good section of Manchhar beds passing down into Gaj, and Section арр Шат resting upon highly inclined shaly and Dues rubbly limestones belonging to the upper portion of the Khirthar group, is seen on the eastern side of the valley near Arab-jo-Thána, about half way between Kajür and Bachani. There are about 100 feet of the shaly limestones above the typical massive beds of the group, some of which are arenaceous. These massive beds abound in Alveolina spheroidea, A. ovoidea, and Orbitolites. Several hundred feet of limestones are exposed. In the Kámbü range, to the west of the Báran valley, there is a considerable amount of disturbance, as shown in the accompanying sketch section (Plate VI, fig. 1). From the foot of the hills, there is, as usual, a slope of detrital gravels and conglomerates to the middle of the valley ; sections of these detrital beds, 40 feet and upwards in thickness, bemg exposed in the ravines cut by.torrents. Only close to the range are any upper tertiary beds seen, and these consist generally of Man- chhars, although in places a very thin band of Gáj, with Ostrea mul- ticostata, Placuna, and other fossils, may be detected; and in one or two places beneath the Gaj beds some light grey sandstone was seen, and a thin band with small Orditordes, possibly indicating the presence of a faint representative of the Nari group. The Manchhar conglomerate dips at a considerable angle eastward, and is much coarser, in places at all events, than the subrecent deposit overlying 1t. The Manchhar beds rest quite unconformably upon the white massive nummulitie limestone of the Khirthar group, which dips at a high angle, 50^ or 60^, to the westward, The limestone appears to belong to ( ШО) 158 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. the lower portion of the group; it contains Alveolina, Nummulites spira, N. obtusa, &e. The beds become nearly or quite vertical, and form a steep ridge, succeeded to the westward by similar limestones dipping at a moderate angle to the eastward. There is doubtless some faulting, but the feature is a synclinal, more or less broken. In one of the limestone beds dipping to the eastward, a little distance north-west of Bacháni, an oligurous crustaeean belonging to the genus Ranina was found. To the northward near Kajár, the faulting along the eastern edge Fault east of Kámbg Of the Kambü range is greater than at Bachan, Tapes and occurs apparently at the foot of the range between nummulitie limestone (Khirthar) and Manchhar beds. The latter are seen dipping in the low ground towards the former; the actual contact is concealed by detritus, but the Khirthar beds first seen are Alveolina limestones, probably far from the top of the group. Along the western side of the Kämbuü range the Nari beds are for Beds to west of Kámbú à long distance cut out by a fault, and Са} beds range. appear in contact with Khirthars, but towards the southern extremity of the range, as to the northward between the Kámbú and the termination of the Khirthar mountains, the Nari beds appear in force. Indeed, the Kámbú range appears approximately to represent the eastern limit of the area of deposition in which the Nari beds and all the lower Gáj beds were deposited, the only Gáj beds seen to the eastward, in the valley between the Kámbá and the Laki ranges, and east of the latter, being apparently the uppermost layers of the group. The Nari beds may of course have once existed to the eastward, and have been removed by denudation, but in this case it is probable that remains of them would be found here and there. It 1s diffieult, however, to define the boundary between the Khirthar Khirthari-Nari bound- and Nari beds in the southern portion of the ary near Bhule Khán's "Thána. Kämbu range, and in the low anticlinal to the southward known as Gadula Hill, 2 or 3 miles north-west of Bhule Khán's Thána. In the latter hill especially, the uppermost bed, forming the greater part of the surface on the eastern side, is a whitish limestone (158) SOUTH-WESTERN PORTION OF KARACHI COLLECTORATE. 159 abounding in the tubes of Kuphus rectus, together with a minute Fibularia and an Echinolampas. In one place there are alarge number of dark-coloured calcareous concretions containing casts of a Cerithium closely resembling C. pseudocorrugatum. It is by no means certain whether this bed should be classed as Nari or Khirthar. On the west side a white limestone, abounding in microscopic Foraminifera, is seen cropping out from under whitish limestones with Nummulites garansensis and N. sublevigata. Above these white limestones are ferruginous sandstones of Nari age. The diffieulty of distinguishing between Khirthar and Nari beds in this area is as great as it is 30 or 40 miles further north near Maliri, but the reason is different; to the northward the upper Khirthar beds resemble the lower strata of the Nari group, whereas, near Bhule Khän’s Thäna, and also in many places to the westward ; there are white limestones at the base of the Narı group closely simulating the underlying Khirthar beds. The valley, through which the hill road runs from Sehwän to Karachi, Valley south of Bhule Continues to the southward after the Baran river Khán's Thána. has eut its way to the eastward through the Lakirange. But south of this the valley becomes less defined, the hills to the westward south of the Kámbü ridge are no longer continuous, but broken up into small north and south ranges, and the Laki range itself only continues along the eastern side of the valley for about 12 to 15 miles south of Bhule Khán's Thána; the country then becomes more open, and the road to Karáchi turns westward, and soon enters the great Gaj area to be described presently. In the plain around Bhule Khán's Thána most of the small rises C S пе Bhule which appear above the subrecent gravels and sands Khán's Thana. are composed of Gáj beds, usually fossiliferous, the commonest fossils being Ostrea multicostata and Breynia carinata. The beds are brown calcareous and ferruginous sandstones. Such are seen just west of the Báran pass (the Durwat) on the road from Bhule Khán's Thana, resting unconformably on Khirthar nummulitic lime- stones. (11159 ) 160 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. About Damach, 6 miles south-west of Bhule Khán's Thana, Nari UMP beds prevail in the low ground. The ridge east of Damach camping ground is an anticlinal of Khirthar beds, with a low angle to the westward, and very high inclina- tion to the eastward, just like the Surjáno ridge, a little farther east. Hindi Hill (Tangur on the inch map) on the west side of the road, nun Ae about 6 miles west-by-south from Damach, is another Khirthar anticlinal with the lower Nari limestones, containing the characteristic Nummulites, well developed around the base, and passing up into calcareous sandstone with Orditoides papyracea. On the top of the hill is an outher of Nari beds, an arenace- ous limestone varying to a ealeareous sandstone. In the upper portion a large Clypeaster is found, together with Orbitoides and the two species of Nummulites, and below this is another bed, also containing Nummulites garansensis and N. sublevigata, together with a large Hehinolampas. ‚On the surface of the Khirthar limestone, as at some other places, is a bed of corals, and a Pecten is common. At Watwäro Hill, south-south-west of Damach and close to Trak, the section 1s similar to that seen on Hindi Hill. Watwáro Hill. l де : > | Here again Nari limestone with N. sublevigata and N. garansensis appears to pass down into Khirthar limestone with N. spira, a coral bed again appearing at the junction. Above the Nari limestones are sandy beds with Orditordes. Im the Nari beds, at the base of Watwáro Hill, a small oyster, undistinguishable from Ostrea multicostata, the common Gäj species, occurs in small numbers, with Orbitoides papyracea. The tubes of Kuphus also occur in the Nari group together with Nummulites garansensıs. The Nari limestones are well seen about Trak and on the western side of the Kara range, the northern extremity of which is just west of the Trak camping ground.! Brownish calcareous sandstone with Orbitoides 15 common, and is seen close to the small dharmshála at Trak. This sandstone dips west, and Trak. 1 Trak is not marked on the small map issued herewith; its position is on the stream nearly due east of the north-western Alah Yar, that close to the road, (. 7) SOUTH-WESTERN PORTION OF KARACHI COLLECTORATE. 161 close by, to the eastward, a small strip of G4j beds is seen, containing Behinodisens and other fossils, dipping towards the Nari beds to the west- ward, and probably faulted against them. Beneath the Са] beds, which occupy an insignificant area, are Nari rocks with Nummulites garansensis, Orbitoides papyracea, the large Echinolampas, Natica patula, Pecten labadyei, &c. The upper Nari beds are consequently wanting here, and the group cannot be more than 200 feet thick, as Khirthar beds appear in the Watwaro range a little farther east. This affords evidence that there is a gradual thickening of the Nari beds to the westward, whilst they are wanting to the eastward. The large plain, with scattered low rises, extending from the Khmthar limestone Southern extremity of the Laki range, near Trak, arcad eas old ra e railways between Jhimpir and Jungsháhi, has afforded no features of interest. The nummulitic limestone (Khir- thar) of which the area is composed, is nearly horizontal. At one place, between 7 and 8 miles east-by-south of Trak, and about 3 miles from Kalla (Kael), an “ Armenian bole quarry” is marked on the 1-inch Revenue Survey map. The rock, at the spot, is nummulitic lime- stone, interstratified with which is a bed, about 2 feet thick, of clay or fuller's earth, olive or brownish-olive in colour. The interstratification of this clay with the Khirthar limestone is important, because similar clays found underlying the nummulitic limestone south of Rohri were at first ascribed to an older formation. The limestone contains Nummu- lites granulosa, N. leymerie?, and N. ramondi. The beds around dip at a low angle, and are probably high in the Khirthar group. Near Kalla there is a small patch of beds with Ostrea multicostata, apparently Gáj. There are probably other small outhers. It was im- possible, without giving much more time than could be spared or than the importance of the geology justified, to map all the intricacies of this country in detail. The Kära range, extending from Trak to near Jungsháhi, is a long low anticlinal ridge of Khirthar beds, with Nari rocks Kára range. Р у À i forming a synclinal to the eastward, and coming 1 (1Й61 ko) 162 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. in again to the westward. At Mal Mohári, the southern extremity of the Kára range, dull muddy limestones, containing Nummulites garan- sensis and N. sublevigata, pass downwards apparently into a coral bed, which contains tubes of Kuphus, and is inseparable from the Khirthar group; whilst above the N. garansensis bed there is a gritty sandstone with large Orbitoides (О. papyracea). Here again, as near Trak, there appears a greater distinction between the Orditoides bed and that con- taining the two Nari Nummulites, than between the latter and the Khirthar limestone. The great belt of Nari beds which intervenes between the Khirthar Ao area of Kohistán and the Gáj tract north-west of Near Jungshahi. 1 ы Karáchi, terminates to the southward near Jung- shähi, being there covered over partly by alluvium, but chiefly by later tertiary formations. There are some anomalies here in the sequence. The Nari beds are evidently very much thinner to the eastward than they are to the westward, and not only their upper sandstones dis- appear, but some of their lower beds; and the Orbitoides sandstone rests uncontormably, to the north of Jungsháhi, upon the Khirthar group, without the intervention of the limestone with Break in Nari beds. Nummulites garansensis and N. sublevigata. The surface of the Khirthar limestone appears in places to have been worn and denuded before the sandstone of the Nari group was deposited. There appear therefore here to be stronger reasons than elsewhere for inferring a break in the middle of the Nari beds rather than at their base, The break is doubtless local, and 1s one additional instance of the irreg- ular deposition of the Indian tertiary rocks, and of the diffieulty of classifying them. Precisely similar local breaks have been noted in the Punjab, and there, as in Sind, it has been found that a classification of the beds, which aecords with the facts observed in one portion of the province, by no means agrees with the arrangement of strata exposed in another district. The Khirthar beds east of Jungshahi are, as described in the last chap- ter, much broken up into rubbly and shaly beds, and interstratified (Об SOUTH-WESTERN PORTION OF KARACHI COLLECTORATE. 163 with bands of yellow limestone, more or less argillaceous or sandy, form- Khirthar group east of Ing the passage beds to the Ranikot group. The ein thiekness of the Khirthar group here can scarcely exceed 500 or 600 feet, and may be less in places. Near the base of the Nari group around Jungsháhi is a hard brown- Nari beds near Jung. ish-yellow calcareous sandstone with casts of Orbi- АШЫ. toides. This bed, which is very conspicuous and easily recognized, has been much quarried in the neighbourhood of the railway to supply building material. The lowest bed of the group, underlying the hard sandstone, is a softer sandstone, caleareous or argil- laceous, with numerous Orditoides. These two beds form the * Orditoides sandstone? already referred to. Upon them are other sandstone beds of varying texture and colour, with shales and some clays. "The rocks just described occupy the country around Jungshähi and immediately north of the station. 'To the westward there is an ascending section, the Nari group becomes much thicker, and higher beds, chiefly sandstones of various kinds, usually shaly, but sometimes calcareous or gritty, make their appearance. Between 4 and 5 miles west of Jungsháhi gritty buff limestone appears with ill marked Foraminifera, some of them small, others very possibly Ordztoides, but too ill-preserved for identification. This bed rests on whitish sandstone. A somewhat similar bed is found in the middle of the Nari beds of the Habb valley to the westward, but there shells of Orbitoides are abundant and well preserved. The base of the Gáj beds west of Jungsháhi is at a distance of Gáj beds west of Jung- nearly 8 miles along the railway, in. the scarp west ss of the Ranpetiáni stream. The lowest Gáj consist of rubbly caleareous beds with sandstones, and buff and ferruginous sands, abounding in Breynia carinata, Pecten subcorneus, Ostrea multicostata, and numerous casts of Voluta, Natica, Turritella, &e., besides club- shaped spines of Cidaris, swollen near the base, attenuate towards the apex and ribbed. Here, then, only a few miles west of Jungshähi, the normal (168) 164 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. sequence of beds exists; Nari beds of great thickness, and Ста], resting Peculiar sandstones and COnformably upon them. But immediately south of жн алаша Jungsháhi Railway Station, and scattered over the country around, there are masses of- a peculiar sandstone and grit, form- ing flat-topped hills. The sandstone is white, grey, or brown in colour, and is sometimes so compact and hard as to break with a conchoidal fracture. Where it is less compact, it is often composed of angular grains, the facets on which glisten in the sun. In some places the rock is a coarse grit, containing fragments of white quartz in a fine matrix. Another form is a ferruginous grit containing crystals and half-rolled fragments of quartz; the erystals occasionally occurring in small hollows. At Jungsháhi this ferruginous grit and white and grey sandstone rest on soft yellowish sandstones and sandy clays belonging to the Nari group, but a little farther to the northward the same grits rest on the Orditoides sandstones, and farther still to the eastward on the Khirthar limestone. It is thus palpable that the ferruginous grits and compact sandstones are quite unconformable to the older tertiary rocks, but it is not quite so clear to what group these overlying beds belong. They have been mapped as Gáj, but they may be very late Gáj, or, perhaps, of Manchhar age. To the southward they become conglomeratic and contain fragments of Gäj fossils. On the accompanying map, owing to the small scale, the minute ers patches of this peculiar rock scattered over the Supposed Gáj outliers, И { country north-east of Jungsháhi are but imper- fectly indicated. A few isolated masses also occur, as was noticed in the last chapter, surrounded by the alluvium, beyond the southern limit of the area represented. To these it will be necessary to refer presently. Of the outliers north-east of Jungsháhi, some rest upon Nari beds, some on Khirthar. Of the former, one of the most prominent is a little ridge, about 2 miles north of Jungsháhi station. The most conspicuous, however, is a rise called Sindar Butt just north Sindar Butti. : EM Er of the old high road, between 4 and 5 miles north-east of Jungsháhi. This forms rather a prominent conical ЫП, ( 164 ) SOUTH-WESTERN PORTION OF KARACHI COLLECTORATE. 165 rising 120 to 130 feet above the surrounding plain, and is composed of harsh quartzose sandstone, varying considerably in texture and hardness, being very fine in places, coarse, gritty, and quartzose in others, parts being so compact as to be almost a quartzite. There are a few bands containing pebbles. No fossils were detected in this rock. The under- lying formation is Khirthar limestone; there may be a thin band of the Orbitoides sandstone (Nari) intervening, but it was not observed, the base of the hill being covered with talus. South of the old high road, which runs along the southern base of Sindar Hill, and also to the east of the railway, there are some large spreads of the harsh sandstones occurring as outliers or small caps on the higher beds of the Khirthar limestone. In the last chapter (page 154) some isolated rises of Gaj rock were Isolated hillocks in al. Said to occur in the alluvium south of the luvium south of Tatta. area represented on the map accompanying this memoir, and beyond the Indus. The most important of these rises is 965 miles south-by-east of Tatta, and 11 miles south-south-east of Bibi. Miriam ; it 18 13 miles long from north-east to south-west and half a mile broad, and comprises 5 or 6 small hillocks, the loftiest a conical mound known as Aban Shah, used as a trigonometrical station, 95 feet above the sea. "There are also two rocks in the channel of the Indus—one known as Gungani, on the right bank of the river, between 5 and 6 miles north-west of Aban Sháh, the other a mere pile of stones in the middle of the river, rather more than 2 miles farther down. Allare of hard grit or coarse gritty sandstone, much like the rocks just described near Jung- sháhi, and probably belonging to the same formation. The structure of the beds varies as usual, sometimes being fine, sometimes coarse, and even conglomeratic. A few fragmentary and ill-defined fossils, chiefly casts, were observed at Aban Shah, and amongst these was a lower valve of Ostrea multicostata, which had, however, been rolled before being imbedded. A small Clypeaster and a large silicified coral were also noticed in the rock. _It is as well to repeat that it is far from certain that these beds are of (ИО) 166 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. Gáj age. They may be of later date. It must be borne in mind that allthe later tertiary beds are very different near the coast from what they are inland, and the opportunities of examining them were com- paratively few and inferior in the former direction. Thus far, in the present chapter, the country described has lain to the eastward of the great Gáj area, and in the northern portion of the tract has been confined to the neighbourhood of the Karáchi and Sehwán Hill road, between Trak and Kajür. Before returning to the northern end of the area to take up the description of the lower tertiary beds in the Upper Báran valley and in the Habb drainage area, a few notes on the eastern portion of the Сај area may be given! The character of the Gäj bedsis well seen on the Karächi and d COE Sehwán road, near the camping ground of Khadeji, about 31 miles from Karachi and 16 miles from Trak. The road from Trak passes across a plain composed of Nari beds, of which, however, but little is seen for 4 or 5 miles, and then enters the Сај area. The rocks are nearly horizontal in general, one of the most conspieuous being a white rubbly limestone, closely resembling some of the Khirthar nummulitie limestones in character, but easily distinguished by its fossils and by the absence of nummulites. Other limestones of a yellow colour weather with a scoriaceous appearance and somewhat resemble laterite. On the left bank of the Khadeji stream, near the camping ground at Khadeji, there is a fine cliff of Gaj beds, and the hills in the country to the northward are flat-topped, and surrounded by steep scarps chiefly composed of limestone. The following is the section seen on the cliff :— Ft. 1. Gritty calcareous sandstones and calcareous grits, obliquely laminated, with fragments of organic remains : OK, ong, 80 2. Similar beds to the last, more or less Mec and calcareous, some- times coarse grained. In some of the beds Operculina abounds 30 1 Almost all of these and of those on the country near Tong are from Mr. Fedden’s reports. СВ) SOUTH-WESTERN PORTION OF KARACHI COLLECTORATE. 167 Ft. Brought forward : 990 with Pecten and Ostrea. Some layers аге made up of fine fragments of organisms Mee 55 3. Yellow shelly limestone, open i suede or soft, denis and atti in parts, with Operculina, Lunulites, &c.; the upper part, as above, composed of a mass of organic fragments ... 62 4, Irregular ill-defined marly deposits, with much coral, both detached " and in mass. 14 5. Ragged beds made up SU of c organic асан ор shells pre- dominating, with Bryozoa, club-shaped spines of Echinoderms, Clypeaster, &c. ach соо bd c acc 3 6. Close-grained marly white limestone, chiefly organic, Md other beds similar to those just above ds ou n asa Щ Total .. 180 The beds dip to the south-east at low angles, varying in different parts of the section from 7° to 10° or 12°. In general, however, the rocks are nearly horizontal, and 1n the cliffs around the hills to the north and north-west the beds of white, pale-brown, and yellowish limestones, all pale coloured, have a peculiar appearance from unequal weathering, so that overhanging ledges, supported by irregular masses sometimes taking the form of pillars, are not uncommon. The limestone beds are frequently very rubbly, as if made up of irregular fragments. Amongst the fossils found in these beds are Kuphus rectus, Pecten suhcorneus, Ostrea hyotis, О. multicostata, Spondylus sp., Clypeaster halaensis, Breynia carinata, &e. Farther to the south-west along the road higher Gáj beds are seen, E the uppermost members of the group being fairly Gáj beds near Damb. 5 exposed to the east of the next encamping ground at Damb, 16 miles west-south-west of Khadeji. They are sandy and muddy calcareous beds, containing Balanus, casts of various Lamelhbran- chiata, as Arca, Venus, &e., Ostrea multicostata, Pecten bouer, P. Таргет, Turritella, &c. Near Damb Manchhar beds come in, but very little rock is seen at the surface, and the greater portion of that exposed consists of the sub-recent beds which occupy so large a portion Sub-recent beds near of the plain north-east of Karachi. There is a great Damb, А 2 | quantity of calcareous conglomerate, passing in (ео) 168 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. places into a gritty limestone: near Damb the latter is the prevailing rock. It is dark grey in colour; very hard and compact, and it separates into cuboidal blocks with exfoliating surfaces. Horizontal beds of this limestone, associated with fine sandstone, form a low scarp extending for some miles down the left or east bank of the Thadi water-course which runs past Damb. A long inlier of Nari beds, extending some 23 miles from north to south, but only 4 miles from east to west where Thickness of Gaj group a broadest near Rahuja, lies nearly due north of at Sawaji. Khadeji. At Sawaji, or Shahbazjee Takar (the goshawk’s hill?), a trigonometrical station about 10 miles north of Khadeji and 1,135 feet above the sea level, the thickness of the Gaj beds was estimated at 800 feet by Mr. Fedden, who censidered this the maxi- mum thickness of the group in this neighbourhood. Some 12 miles north-by-east from Sawáji and 6 or 7 miles south- | east of Thána Sháh Beg (Got Sham Shah Beg of map), the Rahtija stream cuts its way from the Nari outlier to the eastward through the narrow ridge of Gáj beds, and about 500 feet of the latter are exposed, the uppermost beds having Rahtiji-ka-dat. been removed by denudation. The Nari beds are nearly horizontal to the westward, but they are suddenly bent over sharply to the east and crushed, and the Gáj beds are almost vertical. The relations of the beds are shown in the accompanying sketch section through the “ dát ” or gorge, There is à erush and some slipping :— Sketch section through the Raháji-ka-dát. G.Gäj: N. Nari; ff, crush scarcely amounting to a fault. The line of disturbance here shown is probably that to which the appearance of the long Nari inler should be attributed. "The Nari beds have a. double fold m Line of disturbance. (1988. ) SOUTH-WESTERN PORTION OF KARACHI COLLECTORATE. 169 the southern part of this inler. The same line of disturbance may be traced to the northward in the fault shown on the map near Baili, west of Tong (Rath Nath), and also in the intermediate area near Bill, a locality to be mentioned presently. Although curving to the westward farther north, this line of dislocation has a general north and south direction like most of the axes of disturbance in the province. The Mol and Miher (Mahr) plateaus, two table-lands of Gáj beds, projecting to the northward from the main Gäj Mol plateau. area, are each about 1,500 feet above the sea, and 800 to 1,000 feet above the lower plains of Nari beds from which they rise. The Miher plateau will be described in connection with the Habb valley a few pages farther on. The Mol plateau lies immediately west of the Nari inlier just noticed as occurring near Rahája and Sawäjı, and ishigher at the edges than in the middle, where it is drained by the Mol Nai (called Andi Nai’ in the lower part of its course), running southwards to join the Khadeji and other streams that unite to form the Malir. The Сај beds of this plateau assume the form of a gentle synclinal, in the hollow of which Manchhar beds occur around Thana Shah Beg, and for some distance to the north. They are much obscured by sub-recent detrital accumulations, conglomerates, gravels, &c., but the latter are easily distinguished by being, as elsewhere, quite unconformable to the true Manchhars. | The Manchhars not only pass into the бај beds, but marine fossils are found associated with the lower members of Manchhar. beds of Mol. А the Manehhar group, as 15 not unfrequently the case farther south near Karáchi. Thus the following section was ob- served at a place called Meän-wäri-panı (Neean Waree Panee on l-inch map), a: water-hole in the Drig-jo-doro, about 6 miles north-by-west from Thána Sháh Beg. At the base are fine silty soft sandstones, pale- coloured or white, mottled below with shades of pink and ferruginous. These appear to be Manchhars. Upon them rests (with local unconform- ity) a marine deposit, a conglomeratic shelly rock varying from an 1 fhe Arde Nie of the accompanying map. (org) 170 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. argillaceous grit to a nodular conglomerate (not unlike some of the sub-recent conglomerates in appearance). This contains fragments of shells, mostly of oysters (Ostrea multicostata and another species), a few being perfect. The conglomeratic bed passes up into a purplish-grey thinly flaggy sandstone, with argillaceous nodules; a true Manchhar rock, in which a fragment was obtained of a thick crocodilian scute, like those commonly found in the Manchhar beds farther north. Elsewhere the marine bed passes up into grey soft micaceous sandstone, thinly flaggy, with layers of argillaceous nodules. The last is unmistakably Manchhar, but above it there are again marine bands with fragments of oyster shells (О. multi- costata, $е.), alternating with Manchhar beds. Bands of conglomerate are intercalated as usual amongst the soft sandstones. These deposits are at times very irregularly bedded, “ false bedding ” occasionally occur- ring. Above the bank of the stream, where the section just mentioned was noticed, is a rocky knoll of the sub-recent conglomerate, a compact massive rock composed of a varied assemblage of pebbles. Similar sections occur in the neighbourhood of Karachi and will be Valley of Upper Báran noticed towards the end of the present chapter ; ыш; but before describing them it is necessary to begin from the extreme northern end of the area at the head of the Báran river, and describe the neighbourhood of Tong (Rath Náth of the map herewith issued) and the country to the southward before passing on to the Habb valley. The Upper Báran valley consists of a synclinal of Nari beds between the great anticlinal of nummulitie limestone to the eastward, forming the southern part of the Khirthar range, and a smaller anticlinal to the westward called Mihé or Myhi (Myhee’. А large tract in the middle of the valley is covered with alluvium. The Nari beds on the Mihé range completely cover over the Khirthar, except to the northward. Ata steep pass called To-be-ka-lak, about 3 miles south of the Mihé boundary pillar, some 200 or 300 feet of light buff and whitish limestones are exposed, abounding in Orbitordes papyr- acea. A few Nummulites garansensis also occur. These beds pass down ИО) SOUTH-WESTERN PORTION OF KARACHI COLLECTORATE. Mt imperceptibly into Khirthar limestones, and it is impossible to draw a precise boundary between the two groups. In one place half way between To-be-ka-lak and Tong (about 12 miles north-west of the latter and south of some isolated hillocks of sandstone,) rusty brown sandstone, with partially decomposed Nummulites garansensis, and in the upper part a large thin Orditoides, is seen resting unconformably on the worn surface of a yellow limestone. The latter is somewhat arenaceous, and contains large white Orditoides. Apparently this is another instance, besides those previously mentioned, of a break in the Nari group, to which both beds appear to belong. On the east side of the valley the thick bed of Orbitoides limestone was not observed, but it may possibly have been overlooked. There are hillocks of brown arenaceous limestone full of Nummulites sublevigata and N. garansensis with some Orbditoides ; Pecten bouei also occurs, and the large Echinolampas found at Pokran, Chorlo, &e., abounds in one bed , doubtless the same as that seen on the opposite side of the Khir- thar range. A httle lower down is the zone of large corals at the top of the Khirthar group. All these beds, except the last named, were also observed in places on the west side of the valley, as at Guráno-jo-kal, 9 or 10 miles above Tong. West of Tong (Rath Náth), which is a rather larger village than is NOM E. commonly found in so thinly populated a distriet, there is a small ridge formed by the Nari lime- stone with Nummulites garansensis, Orbitoides, &c. This ridge can be traced for a long distance north and south. The dip near Tong is very high, as much as from 50° to 70^, and a great thickness of the limestones and associated beds must exist. Immediately west of the ridge ihe dip falls to from 5° to 10°, and a considerable distance intervenes before the base of the Nari beds is reached. Some red clays occur, but in general only the hard beds are seen at the surface. Just west of the ridge above mentioned and in the lower Nari beds i a hot-spring arises, the flow from which is sufti- Hot-spring. A à o.c : ciently copious to irrigate a considerable tract of ОТ. 0) 173 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. wheat-land. As usual with all hot-springs in Sind, there is a consider- able evolution of sulphuretted hydrogen. The temperature of this spring is about 93*.! Some calcareous tufa occurs in the neighbourhood of the spring, evidently deposited from the water, as is the case in several other thermal springs in Sind. The Gaz and Dumbár range west of Tong is an anticlinal fold of Musee dd the rocks, not rising > any great height. Khir- thar beds appear, and, in many parts of the range, form the highest portion; but on the road from Tong to Ваш (a police post on the Kelat frontier, 6 or 7 miles west of Tong), only the eastern slope consists of Khirthar limestone, and horizontal Nari beds come in at the crest of the range, whence they continue to the valley of the next stream, а branch of the Baili Nai, where they roll over and dip west- ward. Just before they roll over, a small fault is seen striking north- 10°-west, with a downthrow to the west. On its eastern side it brings up some whitish limestone, which is seen in a low cliff north of the road, and which appears to belong to the Nari group. North-east of Tong, there is a confused mass of hilly ground formed d of Khirthar limestone, and known as the Ban (Bunn of inch and quarter inch maps). It forms a kind of irregular spur, projeeting to the westward from the Khirthar range, and it consists of Alveolina limestone. The beds on the Khirthar range dip steeply towards the Ban, and are faulted for some distance against the latter, the bedding in which is very indistinct. There is a nearly horizontal outlier of Gáj beds to the south-east of Gáj beds south-east of Tong and south of the Ban, separated by an anti- Tong. clinal roll of Nari strata from the large Gáj tract 1 I made it 90°; Mr. Fedden 92:3? on one occasion, 98° on another. The spring issues in an artificial pond about 20 feet in diameter, and 8 or 10 feet deep. Itis difficult to get at the actual source, and the temperature of the pond itself may vary somewhat with that of the air. I think the temperature observed by Mr. Fedden is probably correct, as he had a better thermometer; but our two observations of the Laki spring, at which the spot where the water issues is easily accessible, coincide perfectly, though taken in different years. The hot-spring is the place marked on the map as Rath Náth. uuo SOUTH-WESTERN PORTION OF KARACHI COLLECTORATE. 173 extending along the western side of the Kámb range, already noticed at the commencement of the present chapter. The anticlinal in ques- tion appears to be a faint continuation to the southward of the Khirthar axis, and has high dips on both sides, especially on the western. The western border of the larger Gáj area just mentioned is turned up and dips eastward at a considerable angle, being marked by a ridge escarped to the westward, and extending for many miles from north to south. The Gáj beds appear in the bed of the Bäran river at Pir Gaibi, south-west of Karchät. They consist largely of argillaceous lime- ` stone, as in the area near Karachi, and are much less shaly than they are to the northward. East of the Gáj outlier, and opposite the southern extremity of the Khirthar range, the Nari beds, including both the marine beds at the base and the soft sandstones forming the upper part of the group, are well exposed in the Báran river. In the sandstones, impressions of plants were found. In the Nari belt between ће Сај tract west of the Kámbü range and Beynir Hill north-east the main area to the westward, Khirthar rocks SE Ba. appear in one spot, at Beynir Hill, which lies about 7 miles north-east of Rahuja-ka-dät, and 10 miles east-by-north from Thäna Shah Beg. Even here there is some doubt whether the lowest strata seen are the bottom beds of the Nari group or the upper layers of the Khirthar. Calcareous sandstones and arenaceous limestones, with large and small Orbitoides (О. papyracea) in abundance, cover the greater portion of the rise, but below is a very tough speckled limestone, some- what arenaceous and containing casts of very small Nummulites, the species not determined. This is the lowest bed seen. Returning northwards towards Tong, along the edge of the ' Mol plateau of Gáj beds, the north and south line of anticlinal curvature, forming the axis to which the Nari inher near Rahíja is due, leaves the Gáj plateau nearly south of the Dumbar range, and about 12 miles south-by-west from Tong. Thence the line of dislocation, here becoming a fault, extends northwards towards Baili, where its effect will be noticed presently. About 2 or 3 miles Ca dons) Line of dislocation. 174 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. west of the spot where the line of fracture just mentioned enters the Nari beds, there 1s a peculiar hollow, shaped like an amphitheatre, about 2 miles across in each direction, cut out of the scarp, and having an outlier of Gáj beds to the north-east. This hollow is known as ** Bill” (Plate VI, fig. 2). The rocks below the Gäj beds on the top of the scarp consist of horizontal, or nearly The * Bill." horizontal, soft sandstones and sandy shales (c), several hundreds of feet thick, having a coral zone at the top (perhaps the same as that found at the base of the Gáj beds near Mugger Peer). In the low broken ground east of the scarp, the beds continue nearly horizontal fer some distance, then gradually turn up with a westwardly dip, and coarse sandstones, (0) brown and yellowish-brown in colour, false-bedded and partially cal- eareous, crop out. These pass down into the lower Nari yellow Orbi- toides limestones and marls (a), with sandy beds interstratified. Clypeaster is common in some of the Orditordes limestones. The lowest bed seen is a dark-grey limestone (4). Then there is much crushing and some faulting, and then east of the fault the soft sandstones re-appear. Amongst the lower Narı beds, the sandstones (5) much resemble the fossiliferous beds, with Nummulites and Orbitoides, seen north of Tong, resting unconformably on yellowish limestones with large white Orbitozdes ; but none of the ordinary Nari fossils were found in these beds in the section east of the Bill. Farther north the fault, now becoming well pronounced, runs along hsc ct Oe the eastern side of a ridge called Piro (Piero of the map) erossed on the road between Tong and Baili. East of the ridge are the Nari beds already noticed as dipping westward in the valley west of the Dumbár range, whilst the Piro ridge, towards which these Nari beds are dipping, palpably consists of Khir- thar beds, also dipping westward. But the Khirthar beds here differ eonsiderably from those of the Khirthar and even of the Dumbár range. The latter are the usual massive grey and white limestones, but on the Piro range, brown and brownish-yellow limestones in thin beds, with grey and white argillaceous limestone interstratified, are the only beds seen. To the westward, moreover, these limestones pass under thin beds AUI LE ND. SOUTH-WESTERN PORTION OF KARACHI COLLECTORATE. 175 of sandstone, precisely similar to the ordinary Nari beds, but above the sandstone again comes limestone with Alveolina and a small num- multe, so the sandstone must here be classed as Khirthar. The two groups certainly appear to pass into each other, and neither here, nor to the westward near the Habb, is the massive Khirthar limestone found. The characteristic brown limestone, with Nummulites garansensis and N. sublevigata, is also wanting at the base of the Nari beds. In the thin-bedded limestones fossils abound, and many of the typical Khirthar species occur. Amongst the latter are Nummzlites spira, a variety (apparently) of N. ramond?, N. lyelh ? Orbitoides dispansa, a gigantic Operculina, Echinolampas sindensis, and another species, Burhodia calderı, Hemiaster sp., &e. The rocks continue northward into the high Bedür range, in which n the Khirthar limestones doubtless become more massive. The fault extends for some distance to the north-west. The range here is, however, beyond the British frontier, and has consequently not been examined. Baili is on the eastern edge of a broad plain, drained by several t .. . Streams tributary to the Habb river. The Habb Plain west of Baili. A itself runs farther west, on the other side of a rather lofty range, known as Hamlig, which terminates to the southward near Kand. South-west of Baili, between the Piro range and the Mol plateau, the plain exhibits a fair section of Nari beds; the harder limestone and calcareous sandstone bands, at their outcrop, rising into ridges parallel with the Piro range. All these beds have a steady south-west dip towards the Mol plateau, which is about 800 feet above the plain, and surrounded by a scarp. The upper portion of this scarp, like the top of the plateau, consists of Gáj beds. The dip of the Nari beds varies from 15° to 35°, and taking the breadth of the plain, where narrowest, at 3 1 The Hamlig range is outside the coloured portion of the accompanying map. The position of Baili has already been indicated ; it is north-east of the northern end of the Mol plateau (Gäj) and 33 miles north of Got Din Muhammad, Kand is a police post 4 miles north of the Myher trigonometrical station, and is named from the stream running past it to join the Habb. 176 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. miles, and the average dip at 20^ (probably rather too low), the thickness of the Nari group must be over 5,000 feet. The rocks in the plain west of Mol plateau, between the latter and the Hamlig range, consist also of Nari beds, but with an eastwardly dip, the Mol plateau being in the middle of a synclinal fold. In the north- ern part of the plain the Nari beds are nearly horizontal, except in the neighbourhood of the Hamlig range, where they turn up and dip sharply to the east. In the southern part of the plain the dip is generally south-east. The Hamlig Hills extend for many miles from north to south, along the left or eastern bank of the Habb river, from about 25° 35’ to beyond 25° 55’ north latitude. They are entirely outside the British frontier, and they were only exa- Hamlig Hills. mined very cursorily at their southern extremity near Kand. Here they appear to consist of beds shown to belong to the Khirthar group by their fossils, but differing entirely from the usual type of beds belong- ing to that formation in Sind, all massive limestones being completely absent. The prevailing beds are fine sandstones of various colours, white, eream-coloured, brown, and olive, and thick olive or grey shales, | breaking up when exposed into minute fragments, with thin bands of harder bright rufous brown shale interstratifed. Many of the sand- stones also are shaly and thinly bedded, with peculiar salient and angular markings on the surface of the beds. These rocks resemble the beds below the massive Khirthar limestone on the Gáj river; and they also closely coincide in character with those attributed to the eocene forma- tion in Makrán (Southern Baluchistan), north of Gwádar. There is no marked break between the Nar and Khirthar beds. A bed with an Orbitoides, apparently undistinguishable from 0. papyracea, occurs some distance below the top of the shales, so these may be Nari, in part at all events. Some distance lower down a calcareous grit is exposed, containing typical Khirthar nummulites, such as JV. spira, N. granulosa, N. obtusa, №. scabra ?, &c., and with these is a saddle-shaped Oréitoides, apparently O, dispansa. Beneath this grit (С D) SOUTH-WESTERN PORTION OF KARACHI COLLECTORATE. 177 thicker bands of limestone, dark and light-coloured, occur, evidently belonging to the Khirthar group. | The scarp of the Mol plateau was examined west-south-west of Kand. There all the lower portion of the cliff consists of Nari sandstone and some sandy lime- Scarp of Mol plateau near-Kand. stone; the Gäj beds come in about 600 feet above, and a thickness of about 250 feet of them is exposed, consisting entirely of lime- stone. The lowest bed, 30 te 40 feet thick, is yellowish-white in colour, and abounds in Foraminifera and Echinodermata. One of the former is an Orbitoides, undistinguishable by external characters from the Nari О. papyracea; a saddle-shaped variety occurs frequently. Amongst the Echinodermata axe Breynia carinata, Echinolampas jacquemonti, a Clypeuster, &c. The upper beds vary in colour, being white, yellow or brown; some of the white limestones are nodular, as at Khadeji. Echinodermata occur sparingly, and one layer is almost composed of Orbitoides, the same as in the lower beds. The Mol plateau and the M yher plateau are precisely similar in height, and in being surrounded by a cliff-like scarp of Kand valley. ї ; A horizontal, or nearly horizontal, Gáj beds resting on Nari. The valley of the Капа Nai, about 3 miles broad, separates the two plateaus, and consists of nearly flat ground composed for a long distance of Nani beds, although farther south Gáj strata extend across. In the Kand valley the beds are not horizontal, but bend up in the middle to form an anticlinal with high dips, whieh become lower towards each side of the valley. (Plate VI, fig. 3.) A few miles farther south, and west of Thäna Sháh Beg (Got Tham Shah Beg), the upper part of the Mol scarp consist of Gáj beds higher in the group than those occurring east of Kand, there being in this part of the Mol plateau a gradual rise of the beds towards the north. The pale-coloured limestones, forming the upper part of the scarp near Kand, are, to the southward, covered by gritty arenaceous limestone with numerous fossils, amongst which some very beautiful and perfect specimens of Breynia carinata were found, together with Clypeaster, m Т) 178 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. Celopleurus forbesi, Schizaster, sp., Echinolampas spheroidalis, and some mollusea. East of the scarp there is a low ridge having a gentle eastern slope. This ridge consists of still higher Gáj beds, laminated and banded yellowish sandstones, very irregularly bedded. Upon these, Manchhar beds rest near Thána Shah Beg. The Myher plateau extends for about 25 miles to the southward, der pidan: s scarp running parallel ci the river, but at a distance of about 4 or 5 miles from the stream. Farther south the plateau decreases in elevation until it becomes broken up into minor ridges on the borders of the Gadáb plain north of Karáchi. The Nari beds occupy the Habb valley from the mouth of the Kand Nari beds of Habb Stream, where the Habb commences to form the CE gari OF ant, frontier of Sind, to the sea. They sweep round the southern extremity of the Hamlig range east of the river, and of the Lakhan to the west; and apparently extend to the foot of the great Pabb range, a lofty chain to the westward of thelower Habb valley. The Наше and Lakhan ranges are apparently anticlinals of Khirthar beds, like so many of the hills farther to the eastward. At Kand Thäna, the Nari beds dip south-east about 20°. Farther south the dip changes to east-south-east or east, and the same general east- wardly dip continues for a long distance, the inclination varying. On the banks of the Kand river, near the Thana, some false-bedded dark- brown calcareous grit is seen, containing Turritelle. Near the Habb a low range of hills extends for a considerable distance along the left bank of the river, south of the spot where it is joined by the Kand stream. Some of the beds near the latter, on the eastern side of the range, consist of fine greenish-grey sandstone, containing round concretionary nodules, some of which are perfect spheres, from 2 inches to upwards of 2 feet in diameter; others are spherical above, but flattened at the base, and when, as frequently happens, the concretion itself has fallen out, a depression is left on the surface of the sandstone, precisely resembling a platter in shape. This bed, with its peculiar concretions, is found in other parts of the Habb valley. (тв) SOUTH-WESTERN PORTION OF KARACHI COLLECTORATE. 179 Near the Habb the rocks seen in the range just mentioned are chiefly fine sandstones, resting upon pale olive shales, very sandy, and interstratified with thin bands of hard shale and sandstone, only differ- ing from the Khirthar beds of Hamlig by being more sandy. Similar beds are seen in the banks of the Habb in places, but in general very few rocks are exposed in the river channel. The range of hills, about 2 miles west of the Habb, and north of Moidan (? Maidan) Thána, a poliee station. about Near Moidan. Ў б 10 miles south of {һе Капа stream, is composed of limestone and calcareous sandstone dipping south-east at a low angle. The uppermost layers abound in Oréitoides papyracea, but no nummulites were observed here, nor elsewhere in the Nari beds of the Habb valley. A peculiar Cidaris spine, long and nearly cylindrical, with projecting points, is common. As a rule, the beds are not fossiliferous. These Orbitoides sandstones and limestones, however, are far above the base of the Nari beds. ‘The Nari group presents similar characters for many miles down Nari beds of Habb the Habb, and requires no detailed notice. It con- valley. sists of massive sandstones, usually fine-grained, and shales, usually sandy, but sometimes, as near the mouth of the Khar Nai, bluish-grey and hard. Occasional bands of limestone occur, contain- ing Orbitoides and a few other fossils; in some hills, south of the Khar Nai, Ostrea multicostata occurs with Oréitoides in limestone precisely like that of Moidan. The presence of these bands of marine fossils at various horizons in the Nari group shows that the beds must in all probability have been deposited under different conditions from those prevailing during the formation of the unfossiliferous sandstones belong- ing to the same group in Upper Sind. The Khar Nai is a considerable water-course cutting its way out of the Gáj plateau a few miles south of the Ghati Trigonometrical station. The valley of the Khar, to the north-west, unites with the depression in which the Kand Nai runs northward. The Nari beds, however, only extend a very short | (0179) Khar Nai, 180 BLANFORD : GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. distanee up the Khar Nai within the line of the scarp, of which the upper 500 feet consist of Gáj beds, and only the lower 150 feet of Narirocks. The uppermost Nari beds here consist of a rather thick band of very coarse grit, almost a conglomerate; below this are soft brown or grey sandstones, some beds being characteristically variegated with white and purple, and containing ferruginous concretions. In the soft sandstones below, one band contains oysters of a species somewhat resembling O. flemingi. The whole 500 feet of Gáj beds here consist of limestones, chiefly light-coloured. "The beds are well exposed at the point north of the Khar ravine; they are not very fossiliferous, but a band of Orditoides occurs. South of the Khar Nai the Gáj beds have a low southerly dip, the plateau sinks down, the scarp disappears, and the Gáj boundary runs to the south-west and approaches the Habb. On the Shor Wan Nai, about 5 miles south of the Khar, the lowest Gáj beds are thinly bedded caleareous sandstones of a pale colour, sometimes containing valves of Balani, and in places Oysters, Spondylus, and Clypeaster. In another spot in the immediate neighbourhood, a bed just above the base abounds in Ostrea multicostata, From Lohári Lang, where the caravan road up the Habb valley crosses the river, the boundary of the Gáj and Nari beds runs nearly due south to Mugger Peer. The beds near the boundary in both groups are fairly seen, the harder bands forming low ridges parallel to the boundary, whilst the softer intervening strata are frequently exposed in the stream beds and ravines between the ridges. This is especially the case on the Near Lohári Lang. Hatari stream close to Lohári Lang Thána. Here the general dip of the Nari beds is between 25° and 35° to east by a little south, the direction of dip in the Gáj beds being the same, but the angle diminishing to the eastward. The Lohári Lang Thána is 3 miles south of the spot where he name is marked on the ineh map, and nearly due west of Mio Trigonometrical el) \ SOUTH-WESTERN PORTION OF KARACHI COLLECTORATE. 181 station. The Hatari stream, a small water-course, runs from the north- east close by. The Nari beds exposed consist chiefly of sandy shales. East of the road to Karächi (a continuation of the caravan road already mentioned), massive sandstones eome in, some of them containing marine Passage between Nari fossils, such as Ostrea, Pecten, Orbitoides, &e. In and Gag ENE the Hatari stream, the typical light-brown sand- stones occur with ferruginous shaly bands, which are often brightly coloured. Above these again is limestone containing a small Orditoides, Clypeaster, Pecten subeorneus, and Ostrea multicostata. Again, above thisis coarse brown sandstone, like that beneath the Gáj limestone of the Miher plateau, together with finer beds of precisely the same characters’ as the Nari sandstones below. These sandstones are altogether 200 or 300 feet thick above the marine bed just mentioned, and are succeeded in ascending order by the typical Gáj limestone, along the base of which the boundary lime between Gáj and Nariis drawn. It is evident that this section shows a complete passage between Nari and Gáj beds, for the marine limestones interstratified with upper Nari sandstones contain none-but Сај fossils. Some miles south of Lohärı Lang, and near Muräd Khán's “ band” (dam) aeross the Habb river, a thin bed composed Gáj coral bed. of corals appears a few feet above the base of the Сај group. This bed can be traced for many miles to the south. All the species of coral (five or six) are encrusting forms or small branching kinds. A Pachyseris, or some closely allied form, and two or three species of Hydnophora, are especially common. In the Nari group below, the bed with Pectem subcorneus is continuous. The outerop of the Gáj beds here becomes comparatively narrow, Marine beds in Man- OWing to a considerable increase in the dip. puis, ab DE Opposite the “band” the belt of miocene rocks is rather more than 3 miles broad, but this diminishes to 1i miles at Mugger Peer. Nearly east of Murad Khán's “ band," and about 16 miles north-by-east from Karachi, there is seen a good instance of marine beds, undistinguishable from those of the Gáj group, interstratified with the (mal >) 189 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. lower Manchhar beds. The place is to the east of a ridge called Hup- käni. The beds dip east at a low angle, and pale buff limestone, full of minute organisms, of open texture and somewhat arenaceous, thinly bedded and flaggy, is seen resting upon a paler bed rather more arenace- ous, but otherwise similar; then, after a break, comes in descending order another similar band, 2 feet thick, closer and harder than the others, and below this again impure sandstones, occasionally pebbly, with minute Foraminifera and fragments of Ostrea, Anomia, Balanus, &e. All the above beds are marine, but beneath them are soft, thick-bedded, grey, buff and dun-coloured sandstones. Of these, 60 feet were exposed in one section, 100 in another. With the sandstones an argillaceous nodular conglomerate is sometimes associated, and both sandstone and conglo- merate are characteristically Manchhar. At Lehra, 4 miles south-west-by-south from Murád Khán's “ band,” a small fault, striking west-north-west, crosses the boundary between the Gáj and Nari groups. Other parallel faults occur to the south-west, but some of them are too small to Faults at Lehra. be shown in the accompanying map. The hot-springs at Mugger Peer (Magar Pir, or, more correctly, Man- Hot-springs at Mugger gah Pir) rise in the Gáj beds just above the base. Er The spring near the bungalow, inside the garden, has a temperature of 118°, but that to the westward, outside the garden, is no less than 127° Fahr., and is probably the hottest spring in Sind. The boundary between the Gäj and Nari beds eurves greatly near 64} beds near Mugger Mugger Peer, owing to a small anticlinal, followed ise to the westward by a synclinal roll of the beds. After a deep S-shaped curve, the base of the Gáj beds runs south-west to Cape Monze. The coral bed can be traced at the base of the Gaj rocks for some distance round the curve south-west of Mugger Peer, but then dies out, and is not met with again to the south-west. Before dying out it forms a low semi-cireular ridge, not shown on the inch map, being doubt- less too small to be marked. In the much higher semi-cireular ridge, which is represented on the map, and which is composed of rocks some (1500) SOUTH-WESTERN PORTION OF KARACHI COLLECTORATE. 183 distance above the base of the Gáj beds, there is a second coral bed rest- ing upon grey sandstones precisely like those of the Nari group. The Gáj beds are fairly seen in the ridges traversed by the road from Karáchi to Mugger Peer, and several of the usual fossils occur. West of Mugger Peer the boundary of the Nari and Gäj beds is difficult to determine exactly, the rocks being much covered by alluvium. The marine bed, with Orbitoides, Clypeaster, and Pecten subcorneus, can South-west of Mugger Pe traced here and there just below the top of the Beer Nari group; and a hard band of Orbitozdes lime- stone, perhaps the same as that seen in so many places higher up the Habb valley, crops out at a low horizon, and forms a well marked ridge, extending for many miles ; but the actual boundary is ill seen until close to the telegraph line from Karachi to the Mekrán Coast. Here the lowest Gáj beds begin to form a well marked ridge, which continues to Cape Monze, the highest portions being known as Lál Bakkar and Háji Zárá. In this range there are three breaks, caused by faults, all having a general west-north-west and east-south-east direction, two with a down- throw to the south and one to the north. All these breaks are shown on the Revenue Survey Map, which is here and throughout the neighbour- hood of Karáchi excellent. North-west of the Gäj ridge, the Nari beds are fairly seen for a short distance, but the Habb valley is a broad sandy plain, with only a few 1solated outerops of the harder Nari beds forming long low ranges. About Haji Zara a hard band of Oréztoides limestone occurs close to Orbitoides bed at Háji the top of the Nari group. Besides Orditoides, it Ê contains other Foraminifera, some looking very like small nummulites. They are, however, not very well preserved, and the identifieation is doubtful; but if they are really nummulites, the horizon is the highest at which the genus has been observed in Sind. Near Cape Monze (Rás Muári) there 1s an anticlinal roll of the strata, and the Gáj ridge, after running down the east Cape Monze. : i side of the promontory, turns round at the Cape and runs up the west side as far as the mouth of the Habb river. The rocks (as) 184 BLANFORD': GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. are much broken and somewhat irregular. Near the mouth of the Habb there is a synclinal, and Nari beds re-appear on the coast. East of the synclinal the Nari sandstones are seen with a reversed dip in a low range of hills running from north-north-east to south-south-west. At the jutting rocky point on the eastern side of the Habb, opposite Raised oyster bedsand the sand spit which forms a bar at the mouth of marine shells. the river, there 1s a raised oyster bed about 50 feet above high water mark. There are also oyster shells attached to the rocks, about 10 to 15 feet above high-water mark, east of Cape Monze. On the flat or undulating ground of the Nari rocks between the two Gäj ridges that unite at Cape Monze, recent marine shells are scattered in considerable numbers, the most common being two forms of Turbo (a Senectus and a Lunella), both species living on the coast. Nearer to the shore many kinds of shells are scattered about. The oyster beds clearly prove that elevation of the land has taken place at no distant period, and the remaining shells may have been left behind by the sea when 1t over- flowed the plain. The circumstance that forms of Turbo are so much , more eommon than other genera may perhaps be due to pearly shells resisting the influence of exposure longer than other kinds. At the same , time the Turbo shells may have been brought by men, and the animals used for food, but nothing was noticed like the shell heaps (Kjökken- ‚ moddings) usually produced under such circumstances. : Turning eastward from Cape Monze, Gáj beds occur for a few miles, Manchhar beds east of then Manchhar beds appear resting upon the Gáj. Cape Monze. The Manchhar rocks are fairly seen between 6 and 7 miles from the Cape in some ravines ; farther to the eastward the plain between the Gáj hills of Háji Zárá and the sea is covered by alluvium for the most part. The Manchhar beds at the place just noticed present in part a very peculiar character; a portion of them consists of grey sand- stones as usual, but other beds are whitish sandy clays with interstrati- fications of very thin laminated papery sandstones. These closely resemble a very characteristic form of the Makrän beds, so largely ! Rec. Geol, Surv. of India, Vol. V, page 43. ( 184 ) SOUTH-WESTERN PORTION OF KARACHI COLLECTORATE. 185 developed on the Baluchistan coast farther to the westward, and very probably the marine equivalents of the Manchhar and Siwalik formations. In the Manchhar beds, south-east of this, also, and at a rather higher horizon, a marine bed was found. Light-grey, thick, soft sandstones, obliquely laminated, rest with slight unconformity on a yellow limestone containing fossils in abundance. Amongst the latter were two species of Pecten (one of them P. subcorneus), Spondylus, Cardita, Cerithium, a small Clypeaster, and corals. The bed is only a few feet thick, and rests uncon- formably on laminated dun-coloured clays, succeeded in descending order by soft sandstones, silty shales, &e. Of course, these beds may all belong to the Makrán group, and not Кошо of Ka- © the Manchhar; but as the relationship to Са] rächi. beds is the same as in the case of the latter group, this view is in favour of considering the two identical. The unconformity noticed is probably only local. The beds seen near Karachi are of small interest or importance, and the exposures, as a rule, are poor. There are some masses of conglomerate, apparently of subrecent age, in the plain to the west of the town, and oyster shells are occasionally found associated with them. Manchhar beds appear north-east of Karáchi, about 21 miles from the town, at a place called Guru Goraknäth. Just south of the Makrán telegraph line, horizontal post-tertiary conglomerates are seen resting unconformably on Manchhar beds ; Relations of Manchhar ; : а to Gáj beds north-west the latter dip at a considerable angle and rest upon pen the Gáj group. The Manchhar beds consist of the usual grey sandstones and conglomerates with clay nodules. North of the telegraph line a conglomerate, apparently identieal with that forming everywhere, where it is seen, the uppermost bed of the Manchhar group, and chiefly composed of oblately spheroidal nummulitie limestone pebbles, overlaps the lower beds and rests upon the Gáj group.. Allthe Manchhar beds seen at this spot, a considerable thickness, are overlapped in the space of less than a quarter of a mile. Here, therefore, the Manchhar beds must be unconformable to the Gáj group. A little farther to the north-east, the Manchhar sandstones re-appear and are associated with marine beds. (o Me 186 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. The headland of Manora, on which stands the light-house at the en- trance to Karáchi harbour, consists of pale-brown, Manora. ; 2 : . bluish, and purplish clay, sandy in parts, with con- glomerate bands. These beds appear to be Manchhar; they are capped by a thick mass of conglomerate, composed of oblately spheroidal pebbles, chiefly of nummulitie limestone. The conglomerate is unconformable to the underlying clays, and may perhaps be a post-tertiary formation. The “ oyster rocks," or Ram Jharocha, or Andrai, small rocky islets in the sea, rather more than a mile north-east of Oyster rocks. 4 a А Мапога point, consist of brown sandstone with sandy shale (Manchhar apparently) capped by the same conglomerate as that of Manora, but not so coarse nor quite so thick, Some oysters and fragments of bone were here found in the conglomerate. The same beds—conglomerate of post-tertiary origin resting uncon- unbe) formably on Manchhar sandstones—are seen at Clif- ton, on the coast east of the harbour, and south or south-east of Karáchi, the ground between Clifton and Karáchi being alluvial. East of the town Gäj beds come in and extend nearly to the coast at Ghizri (Gisri) east of Clifton. Up the Layári water-course north of Karachi, beneath the surface UI a nur of gravels and rain-wash, the post- tertiary conglomerate occurs as a strong compact bed. From below this, Manchhar beds crop out in places, and generally consist of fine and soft light-grey or pale-brown sandstone, with an efflorescence of salt on damp surfaces. Farther to the north are mounds or hillocks, 30 to 40 feet high, of the same soft sandstone, with a thick capping of the coarse post-tertiary conglomerate, which, however, is here not compaet, but loosely cemented. Between the conglomerate and the Manchhar beds is a powdery deposit, having some resemblance to dry pipe clay in appearance, and containing small concretionary nodules. The Manchhar beds north and north-east of Karachi occupy a consi- Manchhar beds north derable area; they are much obscured by surface and north-east of Kará- : chi, gravels and post-tertiary conglomerates, and they (1861) SOUTH-WESTERN PORTION OF KARACHI COLLECTORATE. 157 are peculiar in appearance, there being a great admixture of silty and marly beds; and marine layers with oysters, &c., being of common occurrence. In all probability these silty and marly beds are the same as those already noticed as occurring east of Karachi, and as resembling certain rocks of the Makran group. Amongst these Man- chhar beds, north of Karachi, there are great irregularities of stratifi- cation ; beds of soft sandstone, for instance, resting upon silty shale or marl, irregularly-shaped masses of which project from the surface of the lower bed into the material of the upper. These peculiarities may be due to deposition in a variable area, at one time subjected to river action, at another to marine. A part of the Native Infantry lines in the Karáchi cantonment stands upon post-tertiary conglomerate, and the low hills ieee eee east of the lines are capped with the same. Along the road, east of the town of Karáchi, grits resem- bling those of the Manchhar group are intercalated with high Gäj beds. The latter crop out to the east of the town ; they are seen in the neigh- bourhood of the hill road to Sehwán, and they form the hills of Matráni and Saphura. They consist of yellow, brown, or buff-coloured limestones, very largely composed of organic fragments, and contain many of the usual fossils, such as Opereulina, spines and fragments of Echinoderms, Balanus, Venus granosa, &c. Some of the beds are sandy, and the pro- portion of arenaceous ingredients inereases in the lower beds. In the latter, which are seen in some of the ravines, are dark-coloured ferruginous beds, and beneath these again are soft brown sandstones impregnated with salt. The limestones and calcareous sandstones furnish the building stone used in Karachi, and of this rock the church and other public edifices are constructed. Near Saphura Landi, the first camping ground from Karachi on the Sehwán hill road, the Manchhar beds come in, but ae they are, as usual, much concealed by the immense spread of post-tertiary conglomerate. The surface of the ground is generally sandy. Near Saphura, the pebbles in this conglomerate are (7 0877) 188 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. mostly derived from the Сај limestones. Below the conglomerate, the same calcareous and arenaceous rubbly earth is found as was noticed north of Karachi. The Malir valley, like that of the Lyári is covered with subrecent | gravels and rain-wash. To the eastward the E Manchhar beds re-appear, and thence to Darbejı railway station, it is very difficult to draw any line of division between Gáj and Manchhar this group and the underlying Gáj, the two form- BEE Cah Oi Мар; ations passing into each other, and bands of Сај character, and containing Gáj fossils, being interstratified with the Man- chhar beds. The rocks east of Malir station are clearly Manchhar, although marine beds occur amongst them. Two or three miles farther east, fine soft silty sandstone, greenish-grey and light-brown in colour, is seen, occasionally with harder ealeareous bands intercalated, and some- times obliquely laminated. In the hilly ground to the north-east, near Sáj Takkar, lower beds occur; they are rather coarser sandstones, grey or brownish-grey in colour, and calcareous, containing imperfect casts and fragments of shells, chiefly Gasteropoda, amongst which a Cerithium like C. telescopium (Telescopium fuscum) and an imperfect specimen of C. subtrochleare, a fragment of Ostrea multicostata (the closely ribbed variety), a portion of a long narrow oyster, a globose Anomia, a minute Pecten, and fragments of Balanus, were found. Soft silty sandstones (Manchhar) occur both below and above the fossil bed; those below are highly micaceous. The dip near Malir is westward, but at Sáj Takkar it becomes south. Farther to the north- east undoubted Са] beds crop out, containing tubes of Kuphus, &e., and the Kattiani hills in the same direction are of rubbly limestones, more or less sandy, with quantities of coral. These rocks are in fact a continuation to the southward of the Khadeji beds already described, COAST BETWEEN KARÁCHI AND SONMIÁNI. 189 APPENDIX. NOTE ON THE ROCKS SEEN NEAR THE COAST BETWEEN KARÁCHI AND SONMIÁNI. From the neighbourhood of Karächi an excursion was made to Son- miáni for the purpose of seeing whether any eonnection could be traced between the Manchhar beds of Sind and the Makrän group. It was found, however, that no representative of either group existed between Cape Monze and Sonmiäni. The Makrán group only appears at a consi- derable distance west of the place last named. "The following are some notes made on the geology :— Churna Island, an uninhabited rock in the sea, about 4 miles west of Cape Monze, appears to consist entirely of Gáj beds. Itis possible that the lowest strata seen Churna Island. on the east side of the island may be older, but they do not resemble Nari rocks. The beds generally dip west at an angle of about 309, except at the north-west end of the island, where the dip turns south- ward, and becomes rather higher, about 40°. The upper beds, seen on the west side, are whitish and buff limestones, most of them gritty ; they rest upon calcareous sandstones and some shales. In the limestones Breynia carinata, Echinolampas jacquemontr, Clypeaster, Echinodiscus, a large Echinus or allied genus, Pecten subcorneus and Kuphus rectus, occur. On the sandy plain west of the Habb, close to the mouth of the Coast west of the Tiver, is a small hill of hardened sandstone, pro- Habb. bably Nari. Thence for a long distance no rocks are seen. About 10 miles from the Habb there is a little isolated hill forming a headland, and connected with the main land by a broad spit of sand. The rock of this hill is dark grey limestone resting on buff shales, and probably belonging to the Khirthar group. No fossils were detected. The most conspicuous hill on the coast is at Gadáni, about 18 miles from the mouth of the Habb. This hill is pecu- liarly white in colour, and consists of very fine ( 189 ) ' Gadáni Hill, 190 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. calcareous sandstone and compact calcareous shale, greenish-white and pale dull purple in colour, some beds being almost white. These beds, which are cut up in almost every direction by veins of calcite, are verti- cal, striking north 30? east, and they closely resemble in mineral charac- ter the peculiar limestones of the Parh range,' west of the Khirthar, on the upper Gäj. The latter rocks have already been shown to be, very possibly, eretaeeous. The Gadáni beds have a very ancient look, but this is commonly the case with even eocene beds in Makrán. Just south of Gadáni Hill is some dark-grey and blackish limestone, Basalt and black lime- COntaining fossils, amongst which, however, no- stones near Gadáni. ^ thing: recognizable could be detected, and only sections of bivalves could be distinguished. The rock resembles some of the Makrán nummulitie beds. A small head-land to the eastward is formed of basalt, which continues for half a mile along the coast. It is not amygdaloidal, and it may be intrusive. The above were the only rocks examined on the coast itself. The Pabb range on road 1089 along the telegraph line, after crossing the to ponmidnis Habb at Muách Thána, traverses about 5 miles of alluvial plain before reaching the Pabb range, which is crossed by a gap, just north of a considerable hill called Ganta. The rocks seen near the road consist of a dark-coloured limestone made up of angular frag- ments (a common character amongst Khirthar beds), dark-grey limestone abounding in nummulites (N. granulosa, N. obtusa, &c.), dark-brown granular limestone, also containing nummulites, and white and buff, compact, homogeneous and very fine-grained limestones and shales. The brecciated limestone is seen to the eastward and is nearly vertical ; the main hill is of almost horizontal beds, and farther west there are other ridges dipping westward, but with their strata much contorted. All the rocks seen are characteristically Khirthar, and similar to those of Hamlig and of the upper Са) river. After passing these hills, the road for 5 or 6 miles traverses a sandy ! See p. 98, No. 11 of the section on Plate IV. ( 190 ) COAST BETWEEN KARÁCHI AND SONMIANI. 191 plain eut up by ravines,in which no rock is seen; then a stream is crossed, in which olive and light-brown thin- West of Pabb range. bedded sandstones and shales are exposed, much hardened and cut up by small quartz veins, and closely resembling some of the Makrán eocene strata and the lower Khirthar beds of the upper Сај section. The spot is nearly north of Gadáni. Four or five miles farther, the road descends to a flat sandy plain near the sea shore. The descent is over a cliff of hard sand beds, hori- zontal, unfossiliferous, and very false-bedded. The sand is rather coarse, and much resembles that forming sand-hills near the shore. It is difficult to tell how this deposit has accumulated; it may be simply blown sand consolidated, or it may be fresh water and alluvial. The cliff itself 1s probably due to marine denudation, and its distance from the sea may indicate a rise of land. The cliff continues for about 12 miles to the westward from the spot Nx where the road descends to the coast plain; then Near Sonmiani. E the higher ground recedes from the sea, and there is nothing but a low sandy plain, apparently alluvial, all the way to Sonmiani. Far to the westward, the hills of. Hingläj are seen running out to Ras Malán ; they appear to be in great part composed of Makrán beds, but time did not permit of their being visited. a) 193 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. BART TIT, CHAPTER IX.—ECONOMIC GEOLOGY. This will be a very short Chapter, for the valuable minerals of Sind, so far as is hitherto known, are very few in number, and, with the ex- ception of building stones and limestone, none are abundant. Small quantities of coal or lignite have been found in various VAM places amongst the shales and sandstone beds of ı the Ranikot group, but in only one instance has anything more than a mere layer, a few inches in thickness, been detected. "This exceptional ease was at Lainyan (Lynyan, or Leilan), about 27 miles north-north-west of Kotri, and 15 miles from the right (west) bank of the Indus. The geology of the neighbourhood has been described in Chapter VII, and the details concerning the coal mine have already been published in a previous volume! of these * Memoirs." It is said that two seams were met with, the upper being in one place nearly 6 feet thick; the lower was very thin, not more than a foot. A shaft was put down by Mr. Inman, who was in charge of the exploration, in 1857, and the coal, which was first discovered in a well, was found to be 5 feet 9 inches thick. This thickness, however, dimi-. nished rapidly to the east, north, and west, and when galleries had been driven into the seam to a short distance, it was found useless to continue working, as the coal thinned out. In a deeper shaft sunk to the south- east, at a distance of 100 yards, for the purpose of intersecting the seam, the latter had dwindled away to a thin layer, so insignificant that it. was passed through in the shaft without being recognized. At the out- crop of the beds associated with the coal-seam, 250 to 300 yards south- west of the shaft, the seam is only represented by a bed of slightly carbonaceous shale. In short, as was shown by a discussion of all the ! Vol. VI, p. 13. These details are taken from a report to the Government of Bom- bay, by whom I had been deputed to examine the locality. CRO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY. 193 data, there is nothing which could properly be called a coal-seam, but merely a mass of lignite not extending much more than 50 yards in any direction. The quality is inferior. The mineral is a lignite, brittle, and abound- ing in iron-pyrites, so that rapid decomposition sets in on exposure, and there is much liability to spontaneous combustion. Still if a large quantity could be obtained, some use might be made of this substance as fuel. Numerous sections of Ranikot beds have been examined in the Laki range without any mass of lignite similar to that of Lainyan having been found. Some highly carbonaceous shale was seen in the lower Khirthar group of the Upper Gáj valley, but the thickness of the bed was only ` a foot. | | Owing to the want of fuel, it is not probable that the iron ores of iM. Sind will ever be largely worked, and their rarity | is consequently of small importance. Almost the only occurrence noted of the metal, in sufficient quantities to be avail- able for the manufacture of iron, is in the passage beds between the Khirthar and Ranikot groups north-west of Kotri, and especially in the neighbourhood of Lainyan (Lynyan) and east of Bandh Vera. The beds are in many places 15 to 20 feet thick, but only a portion of this 1s suffi- ciently ferruginous to deserve the name of an ore of iron. Masses of magnetite and bands of red and brown hematite, more or less pure, occur, however, in considerable quantity, in many places. The same bed exists west and south-west of Jhirak, but it does not appear to be so rich in iron as near Bandh Vera. Some ferruginous rock also occurs in the beds at the base of the Manchhar group, where the latter rests upon the Khirthar limestone near Bandh Vera and along the base of the Laki range; but it is doubt- ful whether the deposit is ever sufficiently rich in iron to be of value, especially in the neighbourhood of the locality where a much richer mineral occurs amongst the Upper Ranikot beds. n (noa) 194 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. Stone of good quality for building occurs throughout the greater им part of the rock area. The principal building Building stones. В . stones are procured from the Ranikot, Khirthar, and Gáj beds; but some of the Nari sandstones would be well adapted for many purposes, and the yellow and brown limestones and calea- reous sandstones near the base of the Nari beds are excellent mate- rial. Some stone from these beds has been employed on the railway near Jungsháhi. Limestone from the Khirthar group is employed for building at Sukkur, Rohri, Kotri, and Hyderabad, whilst at Karáchi a whitish or brownish-yellow rather porous limestone derived from Gáj beds is used, and greatly resembles in appearance the well known <“ Calcaire grossier” of which Paris is built. At Jhirak, perhaps the best building-stone of all known to be found in Sind is employed; it is a light yellowish-brown fine-grained limestone derived from the Ranikot beds. This rock is largely employed, both in the neighbourhood of Jhirak and in other parts of lower Sind, for the manufacture of Maham- madan tombstones and memorials over graves. Many of these are elaborately carved and engraved with inscriptions in the Persian character. Numerous varieties of limestone occur in the Khirthar group; some of them so fine grained, that they might very possibly be employed as lithographie stones. The stone from the Ranikot beds just mentioned closely resembles the very beautiful jurassie limestone procured at Jaisal- mir. The latter was formerly brought to Caleutta for hthographie purposes. The rocks of the Manchhar beds are usually too soft for building- stones, though the more calcareous sandstones might be employed, especially for works not requiring resistance to great pressure, and selected blocks have been used in the railway works. The conglomerates would doubtless be available for ordinary building purposes. The more fissile grey sandstone beds are sometimes, as near Sehwán and north of Bhule Khan, dug and chipped into а kind of rough platters on which bread is baked. (КОЮШ) ECONOMIC GEOLOGY. 195 Some of the post-tartiary caleareous beds also furnish good building material, and a gritty limestone of subrecent origin has been employed for bridges, &e., on the railway at Jhimpir station. As the bulk of the Khirthar group, numerous beds in the Gáj (and | sometimes nearly the whole formation), several bands at the base of the Nari beds, and extensive deposits on the upper Ranikot beds, consist of limestone, the supply of Lime. lime is abundant almost wherever rocks occur, or the detritus of the lower beds is washed by streams. An abundance of limestone pebbles is found in the pliocene and post-tertiary conglomerates. In the Gáj beds of the Khirthar range, near the top of the group, mod gypsum of tolerable purity is abundant, and is not unfrequently found in beds 3 to 4 feet thick. Two such beds, one of them much purer than the other, occur in the section exposed on the banks of the Gäj river, and thence to the north- ward similar beds are of not unfrequent occurrence. Some gypsum is found in.the Ranikot group, but the quantity is small. Some of the pyritous shales found in the Gáj beds are employed in a rough manufacture of alum. Places where the Alum shales. salt had been made were seen on the Maki Nai north of the Gáj, and in one or two other places in the hills. Some has also been made at Ranikot from shales in the Ranikot group, and some from Nari shales, as at Bill, 12 miles north of Thäna Sháh Beg, in Kohistán. The manufacture is evidently rude, and has not been observed in progress by the members of the Survey. It is said by the natives to consist in merely burning the shales and lixiviating the burnt shale in water. Probably, however, the potash necessary for the production of alum is added, being procured from ashes of plants or some such Source. In some places, as in the southern portion of the Laki range, and near Hyderabad, a pale greenish clay is found, which is dug and used for washing cloth, and also, it is stated, eaten by women during pregnancy, a common practice ( 195 ) Fuller's earth. 196 BLANFORD: GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. in parts of India. "That obtained near Hyderabad is also largely em- ployed by the natives for washing their hair. Celestine (sulphate of strontia) was found by Mr. Fedden scattered sparingly over the surface of the Khirthar lime- stone hills of Kohistan, especially east of the range to the eastward. of Bhule Khän’s Thána. The mineral occurs in crystal- line lumps about the size of walnuts. Celestine. In concluding this memoir, I have to express my obligations to Mr. Fedden for assistance in seeing it through the press, and also to Mr. Wynne for having very kindly prepared the sections used in illustra- tion. ( 196 } 197 ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE FOSSILS DESCRIBED BY Messrs. D'ARCHIAC AND HAIME IN THE DIFFERENT TERTIARY AND INrRA-TERTIARY Groups or SIND, бу F. FEDDEN, A.R.S.M., F.G.8., Geological Survey of India. In the process of examining the several collections made during the progress of the Survey in Sind, I have been able to identify a large pro- portion of the fossils figured by Messrs. d’Archiac and Haime in their * Description des Аттана fossiles du groupe Nummulitique de UVInde,” and so to determine their position in the series. It had hitherto been impossible, as has been shown in the preceding paper on the Geology of Sind, to tell from which particular horizon the fossils described by d'Archiae and Haime were obtained. It now appears that, instead of these fossils being exclusively Eocene, some are older and many newer, a large proportion being Miocene. A list giving the distribution would evidently be a necessary sequel to the great French work, indeed this was pointed out by the authors themselves. The following table will serve provisionally toward that end, until the whole collection can be taken in hand by an experienced paleontologist. The identifications of the Nummulites and some of the other Fora- minifera have been confirmed by Professor Rupert Jones: Mr. Blanford has examined and verified many of the Echinodermata and Mollusca; it was intended that we should go through the whole together, but want of time has prevented his doing so. | In the following table both Corals and Bryozoa are omitted; the former are now being examined by Professor Martin Duncan for publi- cation in the “ Paleontologia Indica ;” the Bryozoa have not yet received specifie attention. Those fossils in d'Archiae and Haime’s list that came from other parts of India and have not been met with in Sind, are also omitted in the list below ; neither have I entered any genera or species not mentioned in d’Archiac and Haime's work, deeming it undesirable to complicate the present table. It should be borne in mind, therefore, that this is by no means a complete list of the fossils already determined ; and that there are many new species yet to be described and named. (ПОЛУ 198 FEDDEN : DISTRIBUTION OF FOSSILS. Table showing the distribution (so far as determined,) amongst the different groups of rocks, of the Sind fossils enumerated in Messrs. d Archiac and Haime’s “ Tableau de la faune Nummulitique de ?Inde,”—Des- cription des Animaux Fossiles de Ü Inde, pp. 363—372. М№оте.— The sign? indicates that the identification of the fossil found is doubtful. CLASSES AND ORDERS. GROUPS. д REMARKS. E 5115 Genera. Species. а! |. E E Saabs | die face] Bi] ow 2 FA CO کے‎ IM | lo RHIZOPODA. FORAMINIFERA. MILIOLA sp. indet. . eX e ESA oo e RoTALIA newboldi, WA. & Н. . |...]... ...]...].-.]. ALVEOLINA melo, d'Orb. Bs fey oe [cea dda od ij . | spheroidea, Н. J. Cart.|...|...]... € |...|... % . | ovoidea, vel oblonga, vel elliptica х|х CYCLOLINA . | pedunculata, Cart. Seca eee OPERCULINA canalifera, д Arch. odd „с | P tattaensis, VA. & Н. |...... ..| X |...| This is really a variety of 2» 39 NUMMULITES . » hardiei, VA. & Н. Iyelli, VA. & Н. sublevigata, VA. & H.|...|... Nummulites spira. : "°" f Very abundant and char- » . e uA oa | кеша of lower 5 carteri, d A. & Н. “КО »5 ‚ | scabra, Lam. ool 2X c > obtusa, C. Sow. . PXI » lucasana, Defr. Asc ais? 5 . | ramondi, Defy. . КӨК. |90350 А . | geuttardi, ААН. pap SIND TERTIARY GROUPS. 199 CLASSES AND ORDERs. GROUPS. : a. 5 Sih) ali Genera. Species. = E E E S EE EÊ "iz rm NUMMULITES biarstzensis, d Arch. . |...|.. x elle э beaumonti, dA. & Н. |...|...1...|Х|...|... 3 vicaryt, VA. & Н. | Red ср exponens, ©. Sow. E . | granulosa, d’Arch. “IEA pe lee > . | Zeymeriei, dA. &H..|.- X|x 2 spira, Roissy. a deus] |. XIXI. }; miscella, UA. & Н. . ORBITOIDES . | dispansa, Cart. |.| s . | ephippium, Cart. JEDE 5s ‚ | fortisi, d’Arch. SS ШЕЕ КИ ORBITOLITES complanata, Lam. See ae E mantelli,d’Orb. (Cart.)\..-|...|...|.. RHABDELLA malcolmi, VA. & Н. . |... ECHINODERMATA. ECHINOIDEA. CIDARIS . verneuili, d’Arch. saos] || looo] [oos D „| kalaensis, d A. & H.. |... 53 . | serrata, d’Arch. PHYMosomA nummuliticum, ФА. CELOPLEURUS .| coronalis, Klein. = еве » . | pratti, ФА. & Н. 7 . | forbesi, dA. & Н. ASS БОГДЕ EcHINUS stracheyi, d'A. & H.. |...) : TEMNOPLEURUS. | valenciennesi, d’Arch. |...|...!...|... I. REMARKS. This is O. papyracea of Boubée, an older name, and should have priority : very abundant in Nari beds. This is Cyclolites pedun- culata of Carter. .| Not really Indian, Carter mistook Orbitoides for- tisi for this species. 200 Genera. TEMNOPLEURUS. EcHINOMETRA ECHINANTHUS EURHODIA . وو CONOCLYPEUS‏ 33 BREYNIA EUPATAGUS ` CLASSES AND ORDERS. FEDDEN : DISTRIBUTION OF FOSSILS, Species. hookeri, d'A. & H. costatus, d'A. & H. rousseaui, д Arch. tuberculosus, d A.&H. |...|...|. thomsoni, VA. & H. profundus, dA. & Н. |...|х|х halaensis, d A. & H.. |... depressus, C. Sow. oblongus, C. Sow. discoideus, d Arch. sindensis, dQ Arch. spheroidalis, d Arch. subsimilis, d Arch. vicaryi, d' Arch. morrisi, dA. & Н. calderi, dA. & H. . | flemingi, А. & Н. . | pulvinatus, d Arch. carinata, d'A. & H. patellaris, d' Arch. rostratus, д Arch. avellana, ћА. & Н. . scutiformis, d' Arch. ° [ооо оь ооо GROUPS. Manchhar. Khirthar. DID ... DD Se ت‎ соо (о Ranikot. Cretaceous P DP sooo eoclece ЕРЕС jacquemonti, Y A. & Н. |...| 9€... |... |... e ao. ise ...|× зоа ос X X ТРАЕ 2001595 xx ооох eX DD DD REMARKS. A species near discoideus oceurs in Ranikot beds. ...| 2 |... Itis doubtful if this be the European species, but it is probably that noticed by А. & Н. ‚.|...| Ж|...| Peculiar to the Ranikot group, upper part. Peculiar to the Khirthar group, near the base. The fascioles in d'A. & H.’s figure are incorrect- ly drawn. See Manual Geol. Ind., Pl. XVI, fig. 9. ا ا ا ا r‏ GROUPS. SIND TERTIARY GROUPS, CLASSES AND ORDERS. Genera. Species. Brissopsis P HEMIASTER SCHIZASTER 3 sowerbyi, d Arch. digonus, d' Arch. с beloutchistanensis, d'A. & H. newboldi, d A. & H. . |... MOLLUSCA. PELECYPODA. PHOLADOMYA 39 MacTRA ‘| CRASSATELLA وو 33 CORBULA 55 39 TELLINA وو CORBIS P وو LUCINA* * Several of . | gigantea, Desh. . | pusch?, Gold. halaensis, d' Arch. dubia, d' Arch. . sindensis, d'A. & H. . |.. halaensis, VA. & H.. salsensis, VA. & Н. . |. trigonalis, ©. Sow. subexarata, d’Arch. . harpa, VA. & Н. exarata, С: Sow. dA. subdonacialis, Manchhar. ба]. Nari. 201 REMARKS. Ranikot. Cretaceous P Khirthar. ооо | ове | ноо elliptica, UA. & Н. . || se | os. subelliptica, d' A, & H. --- mutabilis, Lam. bellardii, û Arch. . | pseudoargus, А. & H.|--- (see ^ below Venus). under The fasciole differs from that in ФА. & H.’s figure. LCS DIES вое ось е [ео ооа || On re-examining the Nari fossil, I am persuaded that it is not C. harpa, but a small Crassatella. This shell is re-named Venus pseudoargusin the Appendix to d’A. & H.'s work. Itisreally a Dosi- nid. j the species of this genus are described and figured by d'Archiae and Haime from casts, and the specific characters are insuffic ient for determination. ( 901 ) 202 FEDDEN : DISTRIBUTION OF FOSSILS. CLASSES AND ORDERS. GROUPS. a = ИШЕ REMARKS. Р че] Sag Genera. Species. e 1 ЕКЕ о Lu с AE EEE Gg Giu FA RIO LvciNa* . . | incerta, А. & H. se| X]. » . . | vicargi, CA. & Н. : » subvicaryi, XA. & H. |... |...|...| 21... » . ‚ | pharaonis, Bell . ааа . | pendjabensis, А. &H.| + |... |... | X | oo» | ove ASTARTE . . | hyderabadensis, ФА. & Н : P د ا ددا‎ рос Venus* . . | granosa, C. Sow. . |. XX || The form of this shell varies considerably. . cancellata, С. Sow. . |...| X |3X |... | |101| Tt is doubtful whether this is distinct from the last. = ` О e non-scripta, ©. Sow. . |... | |...| eee] oe |.. » e . | subvirgata, Orb. — . |... X... «|| This is a Tapes. subaglaure, ФА. & H....| 2|... | | hyderabadensis, d'A. & H. . . „|. E eos jose » . . | astarteoides, d A. & Н. |... |... ss. | |.|... » e . | filifera, à A. & Н. . |... eee nmn » . .|pratti, à A.&H. . |... » . . | subovalis, Arch. . |...|...|...|Ж|.|... cyrenoides A. & Н. . |...|...1... ene » P. .|pseudoargus,Q A. & H.|.-.|X | |...|..+|...| This shell, as mentioned above, is a Dosinia. CARDITA . . | obliqua, d’Arch. ‚|... [| = . | subcomplanata,d’Arch.....|...|...|% |... » . | dufrenoy?, € Arch. > о beaumonti, d’Arch. . |...|...|...|...1.-- Х| Abundant and character- istic of the olive shales of this group. ovoides, UA. & Н. — . essent о . | keyserlingi, VA. & Н. |...|... |... | |... p . | funieulosa, d'A. & Н. ...]...| e |---| ove ass * Several of the species of these genera are described and figured by d'Archiae and Haime from casts, and the specific characters are insufficient for determination. ( 202 ) SIND TERTIARY GROUPS. 203 CLASSES AND ORDERS. GROUPS. REMARKS. ^ a E IME Genera. Species. 9 =18|8 = ЕЕЕ S md E = Ба B |5 CARDITA . sowerbyi, d Orb. 25 ...|...| This fossil Sowerby mis- took for C. intermedia, Lam. 2 5 . | depressa, d’A.& Н. .|...|...|.. 33 : mutabilis, d A. & Н. . |...|...|...| Ж|...|... CARDIUM ambiguum? C. Sow. . |-|...|- s brongniarti, Arch. . |...|.. |...|...|-«« | a 5 halaense, А. & Н. . |...|...]...|... -.. | one Ф o . | austeni, VA. & H. ЖЕ 5 я . | greenoughi, А. & Н. |... e. A à . | sharpei, VA. & Н. . |...]... ove 5 ë . | picteti, d A. & H. ad р : . | salteri, d. А. & Н. Un bel 2 . | anomale (?) 5 „кыЛ ‚|...|Арпа а А.& Н. sed non Matheron. The fossil requires renaming and К . . | Zimeforme, @ А.&Н. |... | Xn чаа; 3 с . | bunburyi, d A. & Н. . |... 3 : . | korneri, d A. & H. REN 2 . . | triforme, C. Sow. SE А CYPRICABDIA carteri, d' A. & H. Бы eod Ba locu Duo ARCA hybrida, C. Sow. Р ..|...| From the transition beds at the top of the Gáj group, in Gajriver sec- tion. э ES : . | peethensis, d’ Arch. „|же э a 5 . | Zurracheensis,d’ Arch.|... | |. sb A . | subfiligrana, UA. & H.|...\...|...|...|...|.. burnesi, d’ Arch. PRM с А . | Zarkhanaensis, d’ Arch.|... | Ж |...|...|... PECTUNCULUS . | pecten, О. Sow. » . | lima, d A. & H. NUucvrA margaritacea, Lam. . зое Јово DE ( 208°) 204. FEDDEN: DISTRIBUTION OF FOSSILS. CLASSES AND ORDERS. | GROUPS. | Genera. Species. Manchhar. Khirthar. Ranikot. Cretaceous ? NUvCULA . . | szuderi,d’ Arch. — -. |... | X |... |... |... |...| From the transition beds, Са] river section. CHAM . . | brimonti, d A. & H. . » ‚ | geslini, d' A. & Н. MyTILUS . . | lithophagus, Linn.? . |... subobtusus, d’ Arch. .|...|. nummnuliticus,d’A.&H.|.. corngus, C. Sow, P? ‘|... “lo lo..| Tf seems desirable to adopt d' A. & H.’s suggestion, and eall the Sind shell sub-corneus. bouei, d’ Arch. . | favrei, d’ Arch. о |812 labadyei,d’ A. & H.. |...... hopkinsi, d A. & H.. |...... rouaulti, d Arch. tallavignesi, d’ Arch. genichlatus,d’ A. & Н.|...|...|...|... OSTREA . . | multicostata, Desh., |. ' var. > è clone ..| A variable shell common in the Gäj group; a dwarfed variety occur- ring in Nari beds. (GRYPHEA)! vesicularis, Lam. . |...|...|... .. The Khirthar variety Sowerby named Gryphea Д globosa. lingua, С. Sow. subdeltoidea, d' А. & А Н. . : : 1 ‚| Not figured in d' A. and H.’s work. It is proba- bly a Gáj fossil. angulata, C. Sow. рр e Apparently a variety of O. multicostata. . | flemingr, X А. & Н.. |...\...\...|...|...)X| The typical flemingi, and also a strong variety, occur in Ranikot beds. . | Zegumen, d А. & H. . |... XX... SIND TERTIARY GROUPS. 205 URSI E Р CLASSES AND ORDERS. GROUPS. as = { ш REMARKS. : E 3439 Genera. Species. = ЕЕ =] sS s SEE = ыа о BRACHIOPODA. TEREBRATULA .|indet. ‚.|...!Ж|...| There are two species from the Ranikot beds. GASTEROPODA. MELANIA ° ‚ | stygii, Brong. | ...| The figure is a very doubt- ful cast. NERITA . . | sehmideliana, Chemn. |. ..|...|... z Xl... | Abundant in the Khirthar group. The shell pro- ‚ perly belongs to Velates, a sub-genus of Neritina. 2 .00.| affinis, dA. & Н. ||| X oo. 5 5 . | haliotis, VA. & Н. . |...1.........12 || Very near, if not identical. Natica . ‚ | glaucinoides, Desh. ? var. 5 5 | el gosllbos ood] oan ооа [pu » о . | cepacea, Lam? . КШ 5 5 . | patula, Desh. . |X). 5 х . | sigaretina, Desh.? XIX. E f donum дА. & H- „|... | 2: ; . | mutabilis, Desh. . |...|...|...|...|...|... d'A. and H. refer to this species J. Sowerby's N. depressa. A specimen from Ranikot beds more elosely resembles the lat- ter species. 5 . „| decipiens, ФА. & H. SK KL эз 5 . | rouaulti, d A. & Н. .|......]..- сон 5 : ‚ | Zongispira, Leym. „1 |.. р ; . | angulifera, d’Orb. з ххх 5 NND. ‚ | subacutella, d A. & Н. |...|... Ў 5 : . | obscura, C. Sow. AG eed esd vo E »: ү епо UA. & Н. `|,..|...|,..]...| oles m . | epiglottina, Пат? ASQ IET. RiNGICULA? indet. i: ( 205 ) 206 FEDDEN : DISTRIBUTION OF FOSSILS. CLASSES AND ORDERS. GROUPS. 3 a E EM 2 REMARKS. e 43 Genera. Species. E [818 A). te) [Е SW EE НЕЕ FOIE @ lo SILIQUARIA . | granti, C. Sow. SCALARIA . | subtenuilamella, dA. x sedgwicki, ФА. & H. . «|... |n DELPHINULA _. | eordieri, d Arch, |. d coulthardi, d A.&H. . |.|... SOLARIUM . . | affine, C, Sow. . ewomphaloides, d’ A. TROCHUS . . | cognatus, C. Sow. P. . | subeognatus,d’ A.&H. |» P. .| doryi,d’ A. & H. DES . | desmoulinsi, d^ A.&H. |-- agglutinans, Lam. . | cumulans, Brong.? ата „ PLEUROTOMARIA? | bianconii, d A, & Н. |. ; ...| A fragment only. TURBO Д . | martinsi, d' Arch. PHASIANELLA .| oweni, dA.& Н. s P . | scalaroides, д A.&H. |.-.|.-.|--- TURRITELLA .|angulata, C. Sow. et var. . | deshayest, d’ Arch. . | affinis, д A. & Н. SIR 6 . | renevieri д А. & Н. . |... ...|...|.. . | heberti, d^ A. & H. 1 . | collombi, д A. & H. .1.......]. . | subfasciata, d’ A.&H. |... VICARYA . ‚ | verneuili, d Arch. CERITHIUM . | rude, C. Sow. SIND TERTIARY GROUPS. 907 CLASSES AND ORDERS. GROUPS. 1 a. E ЕГ 5 REMARKS. . 9 sie Genera. Species. T EINE ees ees ANS SuSE Е OAM 5 CERITHIUM . | pseudocorrugatum, 1 d'Orb. . р БА meet E ER 5 à . | subsemicostatum, d' A. & H. А „Л К ys E CE еа Ape d Pede adds „a Al 2 . «| subnudum, dA. & Н. |...|-—.|... |. | se| This and the four next Species are said to be very rare, and do not ap- pear to be in the Survey D М ж ap E cales o a Z 5 . | subbacillum, А. & Н... |... | «| |... | voo 5 : . | subfiliferum, А. & Н.|...|... | ase | |... | oe » : . | subtrochleare,d’ A.& H...) ose | soo ... |... |... 4 ? .|delbosz, TA. & Н. .. «e... [S |.|... PLEUROTOMA .|voyseyi, dA.& H. . e eeu TURBINELLA ^ .| affinis, C. Sow. |... Our shell does not quite agree with Sowerby’s figure; but is probably the same species. FascIOLARIA -| hexagona, VA. & Н, |„.|...|...|...|Ж|... Fusus . .|aodulosus,C. Sow. à |cod.. Jee JX] a - x ‚ | subregularis, X A.& H....|--.|...|---| e |... S RUM. .|mixtus, UA. & Н. . |...1-.. ا‎ Me The Ranikot fossil is a cast 4 niy. ey ae „| ducklandi, d’Arch. . |...|...|...|...|... s | m 10. М ‚ | granosus, C. Sow. 1.15.1... |... The small figure given by Sowerby much resembles our “‘buccinoid shell” from the Ranikot beds, but his description does not tallyand is insufh- cient. RANELLA . ‚ | morrisi, UA. & Н. _.|...|...|...|...||... » - . | viperina, d A. & Н. .|...|...|...|...] |... Mvzrzx . . | yell, ФА. & Н. . | eee] lee $ К ‚ | tehihatcheffi, VA. & Н.)...|...|...|...|...|... 208 CLASSES AND ORDERS. Genera. Murex 33 TRITON ROSTELLARIA CASSIDARIA 33 Cassis TEREBRA VOLUTA . | subharpeformis, d’A. FEDDEN : DISTRIBUTION OF FOSSILS. GROUPS. a 29 3 2 REMARKS. = Bus | les. ке ® Species E PERE Sus FO MIO „етегі, VA. & Н. .|...|%|...\......|. halli, VA. & Н. Рр зоо et kee davidsoni, "А. &.H.. |... Жр. prestwicht, d A, & Н. |...|...|...|Х%|Х|... . | fusoides, d’ Arch. dal lore bail eile. Stine efe X |Ж|...| (Apud аА. & H., but not the true columbaria of Lam.); this fossil re- quires renaming and figuring. columbaria angistoma, d'A. & H. et var. 5 © . | jamesoni, CA. & Н. . |...| «|... ]...] X |... deperditus, О. Sow. . |...|...|...|...|...]... nodosus, C. Sow. o Бр boc ooo bcc] ba `. | fortisi, Brong. ? carinata, Lam. ? о |sacllooe| lode food © [оов OB oir, WING Ga E Е ре sublevigaster, А. & . | philipsi, WA. & Н. .|...]...]...] | Х|... -| DEER dA, «Е... . | Julconeri, UA. & H. . |. X... cautleyi, d A. & H. aK hel. . | fittoni, d'A. & H. . | jelalpoorense, VA. & ` | contonta, do SCE >... 172 sole. . |Jugosa, С. Sow., et var. SUNY |... ( 208 ) SIND TERTIARY GROUPS. 209 CLASSES AND ORDERS. GROUPS. "ES HP E : а E REMARKS. i pecies. E IÈ = EIE ЕЕЕ VoLUTA edwardsi, d Arch., et | var. А А 2116551218851 Soo aoo aoc 33 dentata, C. SOW., var. |...|... > Sle hay 5 sykesi,d A. & Н. .|...[..1...)... ? |. » сола Manas mE N В 5 пастет dy Arch, len... Ж. УУ sismondat, д Arch. .|...]...|...|...|.-.|... " multidentata, d' A. & » humberti, д A. & H. . |... 2 x indet. Ў Б ler Х |:.1 аА. & H. pl. XXXII, fig.6. x teelaensis, € А. & H.. ....|.......|... x... 15 salsensis, d A. & Н, . |..........|... SAM OVULA depressa, d’ Arch. .|...|...|...|... p murchisont, d' Arch. |...]... ASS » ellipsoides, d’ Arch. . |... ... Cog S «so 3; eylindroides, X А. & Н.]...|...|...|...|...|... » expansa, d А. & М. .|...|...|.--|... 212 5 elongata, d A. & Н. .1...1...1...|...|...|... CYPRZEA humerosa, ©. Sow. DS Ballen tec oco {Р . | prunum, O. Sow. жк t Lus ДА . | digona, C. Sow. сы haere ese © . | granti, d’ Arch. „ыкы: E - | jenkinsi, ААТЫН О... [ө nasuta, ©. Sow. . Sese ees [dae TEREBELLUM «| obtusum, С. Sow. eee lee: P | subbelemnitoideum, d’ A. & H, d toc eM Sa cq REN ^ . | distortum, dA. & Н. ...)... 2 | |X |... „| plicatum, dA. & Н. . |...|...|.-.|--- 210 FEDDEN: DISTRIBUTION OF FOSSILS. CLASSES AND ORDERS. GROUPS. ES : E REMARKS, Е E 51515 Genera. Species. EIE = E 3 SiS sls = оа Ma 0 OLIVA . . | pupa, C. Sow... AD Se ken Х|... Apud Sow., from Gáj beds; . apud d'Arch., from the X RE Ranikots. b. s ` virginia, WA. OH N desde Conus а . | militaris, C. Sow. . |... ?|...)... 5 , . | brevis, C. Sow. . shall Io ceo одо + 2 . | subdrevis, VA. & Н..|...| Ж|...|-|. CEPHALOPODA. NAUTILUS . . | subfleuriausianus, d’Arch. . Я ББА Брав х? » | deluci, d’Arch. . و‎ RR N labechei, dA. & Н. . |-..1...:.. ххх » . o MOOG GING ee del ^ Tor] ok eso [eun obe Х|? | A species near forbesi oc- curs in Nari beds. ANNULOSA. ANNELIDA. SERPULA . . | recta, C. Sow... р аваас This is а Kwphus tube, not a Serpula. T i spirulea, Lam. Gee cons осоро У A keertarensis, A. & М..|...|...|...|...|...|... " : gundavaensis, VA. & CRUSTACEA. | ARGES А ‚ | murchison, Miln.- | | Edw. : 3 Sol Milne-Edwards considers these two the male and female of one species whieh he has formed into a new genus Gale- nopsis, retaining mur- chisont as specific edwards, А. & H.. |.......\...\X|...|... name. BALANUS . E SMES O. So eC S Ie BOR eee Sod OS fits XY ren "m de Ar ا bul А Е с a 5} po feat TWELFTH ANNUAL REPORT,PL.CVII. BEST 98° MAP INDIA LEGEND. 7 U.S.GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 1.Вагі Doab Canals. 9.Betwa Canals. 2.Sirhind , 10.Soane à 3 Western Jumna , ll.Midnapore, 4.Eastern Я , 12.Огіѕва 5 5.Ganges „ 13.Mutha System 6.Agra . 14.Nira = 7.Lower Ganges . I5.Ekruk Tank. 8.Du , 16.Ashti n Irrigation, Canals RE ^ Му РК“. % © 7, А f АО 6:2 > eS a(S; p Memoirs Vol. XVH. Karam dii o m А. ЕЕ С, 4% Mangsi Da о ө Bago Tan T ad ER Taraj et any a N ohhamisaKha iro Takir Change. 5 2 Nur Shah: Janis Blanford. - GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. "Memoirs Vol. ХУП. GEOLOGICAL MAP WESTERN SIND. Scalo 16 Milca—1 Inch or 4; 1,013, 760, M a; SCALE OF COLOURS AND SIGNS. Alluriem Manchhar Gay Nan Xbirihar D Upper Cre The dip ix sheen by an arrow, and exeept when. the angle is marked in figures, a simple arros \ implies a dip beluis 207% between 30° and 60* and №. егег (0* Horizontal beds are marked + Vertical. + Faults are represented by white lines, N: D. The band of Deccan trap between the Ranikot bede and the upper erctaceous is toa thin to be represented on a map of thir scale. муг W hari = Sita fl ran o Mule Manat Gria choy at кита ES Sw we y Damira hairs Takir Chang? n UE Taken from the Engraved Map of Aind, Seals 16 Miles = 1 Inch. PRINTED AT THE SURVEYOR GENERALS OFFICE Calcutta, April 1879, fo E : А 3 А \ SA Y А ^ Я | j у : h ж 4 * x , ) i x) Я e : * ; : PIE БУ: { Че Я 2ш З " З Я i ы + . RO { Saw » - E Р s м - X i : MEMOIRS GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. MEMOIRS OF THE BEUDOUGIGAL SURVEY ОЕ INDIA. VOL. XVII, Pr. 2. PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF HIS EXOELLENCY THE GOVERNOR GENERAL OF INDIA IN COUNCIL. CALCUTTA: PRINTED FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, SOLD AT THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OFFICE, OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF GOYERNMENT PRINTING, AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS, LONDON; TRÜBNER & Со, { MDOCCL XXX, LES DRF +4 еМ ^ CALCUTTA: 3 er ara OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF GOVERNMENT PRIN HOSTE ОИЕ Ч" b mut N " еее eret NOTICE. SowE passages of the present Memoir were marked for omission or complete revision. As now modified by the author (pp. 4 to 7), they are allowed to stand, by his desire; but even in their present form some elucidation is called for. As remarks to the same effect have already been made publie elsewhere, under the title “Recent Publications of the Geological Survey of India," it would be independently desirable to notice those statements, although any one who would take the trouble to sift the publications referred to could hardly fail to take a correct view of the case. 2. His study of the Salt-range fossils finally determined Dr. Waagen (Pal. Ind., Ser. XIII—1) to adopt for certain deposits a grouping essentially different from that given in Mr. Wynne's recently published memoir on that ground, an examination of the stratigraphical conditions having satisfied him that such a step would be justifiable, as is clearly ex- plained (7. c., pp. 7, 8). The step is a very bold one—to treat as one series beds hitherto accepted as carboniferous with others that had been announced as silurian. The risk and responsibility of the attempt might have warned against eaptious objections, as they certainly removed it from any suspicion of frivolous change for the sake of novelty. It was quite essential that Dr. Waagen should exhibit the full significance of the change he had to propose; but Mr. Wynne complains that in this process is representation of the former classification has been misstated and his irres- ponsibility for it ignored. As editor of Dr. Waagen's text NOTICE. in the Palzeontologia Indica, I should hold myself respon- sible for any such errors; but I am quite satisfied that they do not occur. 3. As regards the question of responsibility: there was no chance that Mr. Wynne would be held accountable for the identification of the Obolus as a silurian fossil; but as a geologist he és responsible for forming or for adopting the opinion that certain beds are of silurian age, on the evidence of a single Brachiopod; and it would have been quite uncalled for in Dr. Waagen to have disputed such an opi- nion in a geologist of Mr. Wynne's standing; an opinion in which he did not stand alone, Dr. Oldham having announced the same conclusion (Records, VII, p. 64), which was not an unreasonable one in a provisional way, and apart from he consideration of collateral evidence. It was, however, especially ineumbent on Mr. Wynne to examine, exhibit, and be guided by the stratigraphieal features for or against such a correlation of the groups; and it is presumable that he is satisfied in both respects, for in the present memoir the silu- rian age of the lower deposits is still affirmed (p. 90) ; the point is, indeed, as yet not finally disposed of. But this question of responsibility is a secondary point in the nen, ment as now presented by Mr. Wynne. 4. It is upon the point of misrepresentation that most stress is laid, and Mr. Wynne puts himself in an unaccount- able dilemma: from a position that is quite plausible and logical, if not sound, he assumes one that is illogical and un- intelligible. Both in his table of the Salt-range series, which for the part under discussion Dr. Waagen reproduces exactly, and in his text, Mr. Wynne in the fullest sense declares the silurian age of the Obolus bed: at page 68 (Memoirs Vol. XIV), he mentions the Obolus as “determined bs NOTICE. Dr. Stoliezka, thus indicating an age not newer than silu- rian”; and at page 280 he speaks of his tabular series as ** comprising thirteen main divisions, of which nine are dis- tinetly referable, each to one of the thirteen principal forma- tions known to geology ; and the ages of four are less aceu- rately ascertained." Let this be compared with the state- . ment on page 5 of the present memoir—“ In chapter III of my report, when describing the stratigraphical series of the Salt-range, I avoided using the word ‘formations’ lest it should convey too much of identity with the geological scale elsewhere, calling the sub-divisions instead *rock-groups.'" Itis true the passage quoted from p. 280 of the Salt-range memoir does not occur in chapter III; but Mr. Wynne would hardly claim this evasion; and he refers to this page himself as supporting his contradiction of Dr. Waagen's state- ment that the local divisions were treated in the Salt-range memoir as “real formations equal in importance to silurian, devonian, etc.," and the older division “as equivalent to the whole palzozoic series, as it has been defined in Europe and elsewhere." It seems to me impossible to take Mr. Wynne’s account in any other way than that he objeets to. The auxiliary use he makes of the term ‘rock-group’ does not affect the main position. It is quite clear that the indeter- minate ‘rock-groups’ were not called after standard forma- tions, simply because direct evidence was wanting, not from any doubt as to their comparative position in his local paleeozoic series, between a true silurian and a true carboni- ferous horizon ; and Dr. Waagen's words can mean no more than this. 5. Mr. Wynne's complaint of the treatment his work has received in the Manual of the Geology of India is quite on a par with the preceding : the impression regarding the distinct NOTICE. assemblage of eretaceous rocks at Chichäli was taken from his own most distinct expression of itin the tabular list at p. 276 of the Salt-range memoir. The statement regarding the unconformity at the Indus was taken from bis admirable illustration of it in his ideal section at p. 69, such sections being always understood to represent the original conditions of the deposits, unaffected by dislocations. The word ‘un- conformity’ is used in the manual, as it is defined in the glossary appended thereto, to inelude marked overlap—the absence of deposits that are largely developed in adjoining ground. Mr. Wynne uses it in a restricted sense only; and from his own type sections he appeals to obscure passages in his text that might mean something different. But even granting the facts he would make of such importance— the few inches or feet of conglomerate between the limestone and the salt-marl at the Indus, and the .ab- sence of denudation at the top of the nummulitie group in the east Salt-range—unconformity, as required in the manual, would hold good. 6. As this notice has to appear, one specific caution may be added, as to the use Mr. Wynne makes of the term Subathu at p. 56 and elsewhere. The Subathu group was instituted for the nummulitie rocks at Subathu, brought to notice by Vicary. They there rest directly upon the slates of the lower Himalaya, and pass up transitionally into the red clays of the Dagshai group. The calcareous element is very subordinate, at the base of the group, in this its original area. From Subathu it has been traced interruptedly to the north-west, having the same composi- tion and relations, into the Jamu sub-Himalayan region, and its basal beds here have been specifically identified (Records, IX, p. 57) with the lowest nummulitie beds at the NOTICE. east end of the Salt-range. In this range these nummulitic deposits are, at least locally, in transitional relation with upper mesozoic rocks (Mem., XIV, p. 103), and Mr. Wynne sometimes (Rec. X, p. 118) classes them as lower nummu- litic. There is thus a strong presumption that the older nummulitie deposits are represented at Subathu, and it was to those bottom beds that the name Subathu was especially applied, including any overlying deposits with marine num- mulitie fossils. Mr. Wynne's first acquaintance with recog- nised Subathu beds was near Murree, where the upper beds, transitional with the Murree (or Dagshai?) group, are well exposed, the bottom limestones being at the same time greatly expanded; and he has ever since endeavoured to restrict the term Subathu to the upper beds: a conspicuous instance of this occurs in the present Memoir, p, 56, where he-speaks of “the nummulitic limestone and Subathu beds,” the bottom bed of the latter being a coarse conglomerate of nummulitic debris, shown (pp. 19, 20) to be at least in part post-eocene. It is apparently the same rock as at the dis- puted unconformity in the Salt-range; and it misht be con- founded with the conglomerate placed as “ Siwalik ?” resting unconformably upon triassic rocks (pp. 60—62). If there were a distinct proposal made to sub-divide the original nummulitie group of Subathu, in the west if not in the east, the position would be intelligible; but as it is, there is manifest confusion, against which Mr. Wynne should have forewarned the reader. | H. B. MEDLICOTT, Superintendent, Geological Survey of India. CALCUTTA, January 1880, TRIN doe n PREFACE. Tue Survey Memoir upon the geology of the Salt-range | having been published, after long delay, almost simultane- ously with the conclusion of the examination of the extension of this range from the river Indus to the British frontier, through the Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan hills, may enable the present memoir with its accompanying map to appear so soon after that relating to the cis-Indus portion of the range as to form a supplement not greatly removed in the consecu- tive order of the Survey publications. In view of the connexion between the Salt-range rroper and its prolongation, I have sought to keep the supplement- ary charaeter of the present memoir in view, and thus to avoid unnecessary recapitulation as much as possible. Itis to be regretted that I am unable to furnish fuller observations upon the fossils of the district, regarding which paleeontological details may be expected when the fossils of the whole Salt-range region have undergone examination, already commenced and in competent hands. For any specific determinations given in the following pages, I am under obligation to Dr. Feistmantel, Palzeontologist to the Survey. Some of the views advanced upon the geology of the Punjab in the Survey Manual lately published, and which relate to this distriet, will be found less confidently stated or differently regarded. So far as they admit of doubt, it is well to have more opinions than one. A. B. WYNNE. MURREE, May 1879. | У T CONTENTS. CHAPTER I.—INTRODUCTORY. Page. Previous Observers, 1.—Dr. Fleming, 2.—Dr. Verchere, 2.—Dr. Oldham, 4. —Dr. Warth, 4.—Dr. Waagen, 4.—The Manual of Indian Geology, 6.— — Earlier observers: Elphinstone; Burnes; Mohun Lal; Dr. Jameson, 9.—Physical features, 9.— Continuation of range, 9.—Form of moun- tains, 10.— Their heights, 10.— Surrounding regions, 11.—Drainage, 11. —Kurram gap, 11.—Tangdarra, 12.—Chichäli chasm, 12.— Boulder zone, 12.—Torrential action, 12.—Climatal cause, 12.—Water, 12.— Kallar, 12.—Sulphur springs, 12.—Aspect of the country, 12.—The mountains, 12.—The plains, 13.—The Indus channels, 14; its current, 14,—The boulder zone, 14.—The Bannu Plain, 15 5 Д . 1—15 CHAPTER IL—RELATIONS BETWEEN STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY AND FORM OF GROUND. Coincidences observed, 15.—Anticlinal escarpments, 15.—Parallel fractures to anticlinal axes, 16.—A Salt-range feature in disorder of slopes below scarps, 16.—Cause, 16.—Older rocks in scarps, 17.—Newer tertiary behind and occupying most of hills, 17.— Bannu plain a tertiary basin, 17.—Plains of Indus and Derajat, 17.—Unknown to be marine plains, 17.—Ancient shore line, 18.—Disturbance, 18.—The last action of this kind, 19.—Its connection with parallel fracture in the ranges, 19.— Pre-Siwalik disturbance, or upper eocene ? 20.—Pre-jurassic disturbance, 20.—Pre-carboniferous disturbance, 21.—Denudation, 21.—Of the whole region, 22.—Of the Chichäli range, 22.—Of the Indus gap, 22.—Of older than recent periods, 22 Е : 5 3 c . 17—22 CHAPTER III.—GEOLOGY. The series compared with Salt-range, 22.—The rocks which are similar, 22.— The sub-carboniferous boulder and gypsum groups, 23.— The mesozoic formation, 23.— The cretaceous group, 23 —The eocene limestone, 24.— The lower tertiary sandstones, 24.—The Siwalik (Dangot) sandstones, 24. —The overlap or unconformity of the Khasor and Marwat hills, 24.— 11 CONTENTS. The post-tertiary group, 25.— The alluvium, 25.—List of formations : West salt-range and trans-Indus in parallel columns, 25.— The series of the district, 27.— Changes in the series, 27.— The boulder group, 27. — Its age and relation to the lower part of the whole Salt-range series, 28.—The groups in succession, 28.—The salt marl, 28.—The purple sandstone, 29.— The upper gypsum and dolomite group, 29.— Boulder group, 29.— Carboniferous group, 29.— Trias group, 30.—Jurassic group, 31.—Cretaceous group, 31.—Eocene group, 32.—Murree beds, 33.— Siwalik group, 33. —Post-tertiary group, 35.—Alluvium, 36 PART II.—DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS. Section I. Neighbourhood of Kalabägh.—Appearance, 36.—Thorburn’s description, 36.—Hill over the town, 37.—Dip at salt quarries, 37.— Next rocks above salt marl, 37.—Carboniferous, 37.—Trias, 38.—Va- riegated, 38.—Eocene and tertiary sandstone groups, 38.—Post-ter- tiary, 98.— Unconformable conglomerate, 38.—Section, 39.—Disorder, 40.— Upper Siwalik conglomerate, 41.—Faults, 41.—East of the Lun river, 41.—Complication of the whole jo 41.—Section, 43. —-Map, 44 • Section II. Chichali range inu mountains us the north.—Recess en of Kálabágh, 44.—Carboniferous, 45.— Unknown fossil of this group, 45. — Section, 45.—Valley north of this part of ridges, 45.—Range towards Chichäli, 45.—Chichali pass, 46.— Section, 46.—Figure, 46.—View of ground towards Prangzai Sir, 48.—West of Chapari village, 48.—Shoh, 49.—Paranga, 49.—General features continued to west, 50.— Section over Shoh, Shingarh range, 50.—Baroch valley, 50 Section III. The Maidan Range.—Mulla-khel, 51.— Harma Kas, 52.— Section, 52.—Karandi pass, 53.— Towards Sultan-khel, 53.—Cliffs of the Maidan range, 54.—Near Mitta, 54.— Upper eocene beds, 55.— Sulphur springs, 55.—Surgarh anticlinal ellipsoid, 56.—Darsoligarh hill, 56.—Sand banks, 56.—Tangdarra, 56 Section IV. The double chain of the Marwat and Dar hills. —Nila Roh, 57.—Kiri Khasor range, 57.—Section at northern end, 57.—As- phalte locality, 59.—Mr. Lyman's aceount, 60.— Rocks below the tertiary conglomerate, 61.—Faults, 62.—North-westerly slopes of the range, 62. — Eastern face of the ridge, 62.—Kaffir Kot north, 62.—Carboniferous, 62.—Towards Omar-khel, 63.—Boulder group, 63.—Shinki, 64.—Kiri, 65.—Ghulami, 66.—Bilot, 67.—Kaffir Kot, south, 68.—Boulder beds, 68.—Westward of Kafir Kot, south, 68.—Cliff series, 69.—Section above escarpment, 70.—The section of the mountain, 70.—West of Saiduwali recess, 71.—Paniala, 71 © e О . Раде. 24—86 87—44 44—50 51--56 57—72 CONTENTS. ni Page, ` Section V. Shekh Budin Günd.—Form of the ground, 72.—Surrounding country, 73.—Northern anticlinal, 73.— Paniala bluffs, 73.—Anticlinal, 74.—Terminations of the anticlinals, 74.—General relations, 74.— Eocene pebbles in supra-jurassic beds, 75.—Carboniferous, 75.— Trias, 75.—Variegated group, 76.—Jurassic limestones, 76.—Two groups, 77.—Uppermost jurassic, 78.—Blackish zone, 78.—Similar rocks, 78. —Sandstones above jurassic beds, 79.—Siwalik beds, 79.—Faulted tertiary junction, 79.—Eastern cliffs, 80.— Diagram, 80.—Supra-juras- sic sandstones to east, 81.—Cliffs, 82.—South of the Jangla ridge, 82. —Supra-jurassic beds at Pezu ascent north of the hill, 82.—List of Shekh Budín fossils by Dr. Feistmantel, 84.—Siwalik beds, 88.— Fossils, 88 : E s : à > Section VI. The Bhattani hills.—Anticlinal, 89.--Siwaliks, 89.— Sum- mary, 89, — Economic resources, 92 : > 89 73—9 Plate LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. MAPS. Page. General map of range. Neighbourhood of Kálabágh 3 44, Shekh Budin Hills ; è 88 VIEWS. Shekh Budín Hills, from the south (Frontispiece). The Takht-i-Sulemán, from Paniála : i : : Til The anticlinal at Mulla-khel с > о А о 15 The Darwáza, Chicháli Pass 6 А o А 0 45 The Harma Kas, Mulla-khel : . B 59 Siwalik conglomerate and sandstone, Basti Algad А 60 FIGURES. Sketch section across part of Kálabágh Hill at Pakli Kas ; Sketch section north of Kálabágh . Н Р | 46 Sketch section in the Chichäli Pass ; А К Section over Chichali (Shingarh) range : . , > Sketch section of the hills near Mulla-khel $ 5 1 98 Sketeh section north end of Khasorrange . . 0 Junction of the conglomerate and underlying beds of Basti Algad at the petroleum sources . А . © 5 60 Junction at Ghulami between carboniferous and hey beds : Section of the Kingriáli cliffs о o : С | 78 Section over Shekh Budín . О о . Diagram east end of Shekh Budín Hill ; o 4 ` 80 Diagram of a small section near the Pezu ascent to Shekh Budin . 83 ШЕ ЕЙ (© Saige WOYS ‘STIH мапа нязн5 087 эмал: ү e ESTE CEA IEEE nu s Ж? RE ee SEN ENGER ыры а LECHE LO EEE EE ESS 1:14 8:44 WAX тол Sarowa Sel ENT е0) АСИ MO N O (01 OF Gl MEMOIRS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. Ох THE Trans-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE, by А. В. WYNNE, F.G.s., &c., Geological Survey of India. Ss See [ In continuation of the Salt Range Memoir by the same (Mem. Geol. Surv., Vol. XIV). ] PART T. CHAPTER I.—INTRODUCTORY. It is customary in these memoirs to mention the writings of previous observers; in the present case they have been few, so far as I am aware, and none have treated of the local geology, either comprehensively or exhaustively. Dr. Fleming, in his valuable papers on the Salt Range (Journal, Asiatie Society, Bengal, Vols. xvii, xviii, and xxii), makes many allusions to the geology of the trans-Indus extension of this range; and Dr. Verchere, in his long paper upon the Western Himalaya and Afghan mountains, and another, in the Journal of the same Society, Vols. xxxiv, xxxv, and xxxvi, pages 42, 89, 90, &e., deseribes a section across the Maidán range, Shekh Budin hill, and parts of the adjacent ranges. Dr. Oldham! and Dr. Warth? have written upon the neighbourhood of Kálabágh, and Dr. Costello has given a paper, in the Journal of the 1 Memorandum: Results of a cursory examination of Salt Range.— Report to Govern- ment of India, 1864. ? Report, administration, Inland Customs, Appendix, 1870-71, ( 81i ) Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, Vol. XVII, Pt. 2. 2 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. Asiatic Society of Bengal) upon Shekh Budín, with some allusions to other parts of the region. Dr. Fleming’s references to this district extend to the northern part DM of the Khasor range, where he records the contact i of the tertiary sandstones and clays with the car- boniferous limestone,? and notices saliferous sandstones appearing from beneath the latter. "These he took to represent his Devonian rocks (the saline series) east of the Indus. He mentions with more detail the rocks of the Chicháli pass and range, and those near Kálabágh, giving sections of parts of both localities; but his most detailed records will be found in passages treating of the coal and alum of the hills near Kálabágh and Kotli. His accounts exhibit a general accuracy of observation, but he seems to have been led, by a desire to assimilate the ground he studied with the geological systems of other countries, to conclusions that have somewhat reduced the completeness of his work, which nevertheless retains a marked superiority over all the early records of Northern Indian geology with which I am acquainted. In his first paper (Journal, Asiatie Society, Bengal, Vol. xxxiv, page 42) above mentioned, Dr. Verchere describes a Dr. Verchere. : : section across the Maidán range, of which he gives a map. In neither of these are the jurassic beds present recognized as such; and the detrital covering of the uppermost eonglomeratie portion of the Siwalik rocks concealing, as usual, much of the relations of the beds themselves, are described as moraines. The conglomerate band at the top of the eocene limestone is noticed, and several analyses are given of the lignites which oceur associated with the lower eocene and jurassie alum shales. In his later and larger paper his description of the ranges beyond the Indus, towards and including Shekh Budin hill, can be fairly followed by one who knows the ground ; but the discrepancies of his details are nearly 1 Journal, Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. XXXIII, p. 378. ° ? In which he included the Ceratite beds. ОЛО PREVIOUS OBSERVERS. 3 as marked as the similarities when compared with obvious facts. He ` relates that the carboniferous limestone along the Khasor (or Ratta Roh) range rests on a peculiar bed, a certain micaceous quartzite which he never found in situ, but still identifies with a sub-carboniferous rock stated to occur in Kashmir. As I have also entirely failed to find such a rock in the series, though I have seen the junction of the carboniferous and next lower beds, if he does not refer to erratic (7. e., travelled) frag- ments perhaps derived from the sub-earboniferous boulder-beds, I am at a loss to reconcile his reading with the facts of the case. Again, the variegated rocks of the jurassic formation towards the southern part of the Khasor range are erroneously referred by Dr. Verchere to his supposed triassie Salt Range salineseries. Further on he gives a somewhat imaginative description of the rocks supposed by Fleming to represent this saline series at the northern end of the same range, and by himself to form an intrusion of *felspathie paste. He appears to have missed detecting the palpable stratification of these sandstones, фе. In describing the Shekh Budín hill, Dr. Verchere correctly refers the mass of the strata to the jurassic formation, whether “ Oxfordian " or not still remains to be decided from a proper examination of the fossils, Here again he sees in the variegated portion of the jurassie group the saline series of the Salt Range, but omits to record the presence of the highly fossiliferous triassic and earboniferous beds beneath, till a subse- quent paper in January 1869,1n which the latter are referred to. It is, however, uncertain if this paper has been published.? In a section which he gives of Shekh Budín, the anticlinal and com- plementary synclinal curves of the locality are exaggerated into eight folds separated by suppositious faults. ! The erroneous identification of the Salt Range saline series, here and above at both ends of the Khasor range, is quoted on Dr. Verchere’s authority in the Geological Survey Manualat p. 487. 2 This record would appear to have escaped notice in the Geological Survey Manual (see р. 491). I have only had a MS, extract from it. ( 213 > 4 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. The late lamented chief of our survey, Dr. Oldham, was deputed in 1864 to inspect the coal of the Salt Range, and in his report to Government he described the coal localities of Kálabágh, Kotli, Chushmea, and Mulla Khel, pointing out that the coaly beds occur on two distinct horizons, one in the jurassic, the Dr. Oldham. other at the base of the eocene rocks, and specially notieing the inferiority of these coal sources in an economie point of view. Не also added some valuable observations upon the management of the rock-salt mining operations of the Salt Range generally. Dr. Warth, formerly in charge of the Salt Range Salt Department, in an appendix published with the administration report of the Inland Customs Department, 1870-71, describes the salt quarries of Kálabágh as open workings in a thick group Dr. Warth. of salt beds ranging from 4 to 10 or even 20 feet in maximum thickness. These salt beds run along the western side of the Lún nala for 2 miles; extending up the side of the gorge as high as 200 feet, and dipping to the west at 70°. There are fourteen working places in this group of rock- salt beds. Dr. Warth’s notes, though short, are correct, and therefore valuable. In the Palzontologia Indica, Series ix, page 245, Dr. Waagen records the occurrence of Perisphinctes asterianus, a lower Dr. W. Waagen.i í iN. ‚уолу: neocomian form of Ammonite, in the Chicháh pass, deducing thence that this lower cretaceous horizon is represented here, My observations with regard to the indication of a cretaceous or neoco- mian horizon among the uppermost few feet of the jurassic rocks at Chichäli Pass are given at page 277 of the Salt Range Memoir. At the time Dr. Waagen and myself visited this section, the 1dentifi- cation of the Ammonite above mentioned appeared sufficient to show that an overlying mass of unfossiliferous sandstone intervening between the jurassic and eocene groups was probably cretaceous. Since then I have ! For elucidation of Mr. Wynne's remarks in this and the following section the reader is referred to the Notice prefixed to this Memoir. С) PREVIOUS OBSERVERS. 5 seen reason to doubt its being entirely so, if not there, at least elsewhere trans-Indus. Another number of the Palzeontologia Indica, Ser. xiii, fasc. 1, has been recently issued, in whieh Dr. Waagen introduces his descriptions and figures of the Salt Range fossils, with several observations upon the geology of the Salt Range and upon my classification of its rocks as well as other matters. The intimate connection between the Salt Range series and its continuation 1n the trans-Indus hills 1s sufficient ground for noticing here the manner in which misrepresentations and errors are attributed to me and to the language of my report. It is repeatedly endeavoured to be shown that I have illogically represented the Salt Range series to be the full equivalent of the forma- tions composing the geological scale elsewhere. This is simply not the ease. І have referred the various fossiliferous formations of the series to different geological horizons upon the evidence afforded by the palzontological officers of the survey (of whom Dr. Waagen was one), and by other paleontologists also, as to the fossil fauna of each group. My general classification was made known to Dr. Waagen; and to none of the separations as to age or position did he then offer the least objection. In chapter iii of my Report, when describing the stratigraphic series of the Salt Range, I avoided using the word “ formations” lest it should convey too much of identity with the geological scale elsewhere, calling the sub-divisions instead “rock groups." I mentioned (pages 280, 281, of Report) merely the periods to which the divisions may be referred, and distinctly stated that “there is no reason why either of the two groups beneath the carboniferous should be called devonian or old-red- sandstone." From this alone it will be seen how impossible 1s the state- ment that I considered the whole paleozoic series represented. Dr. Waagen now proposes a triple classification, in which nothing more definite as to age is indicated than that the uppermost division, including groups 9 and 10 of my list, is composed of newer mesozoic formations, while the silurian group, determined by Drs. Oldham and ass) 6 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. Stoliezka and confirmed by himself from my discovery therein of Obolus (see Salt Range Memoir, page 68), is bracketed together with the “ pro- ductus limestone," as well as the two unfossiliferous groups beneath this limestone. j In the footnote on page 3 of the paper under notice, it is said that I considered Terebratula (Waldhemia) flemingi to be carboniferous. This is an error: the settlement of such a point I left of course to the palzontologists of the survey, whose proper business it was, but I have pointed out the higher horizon at which the fossil was obtained on page 104 of my Report. In the recently published Manual of the Geological Survey, in the Geological Survey Ma- Introduction as well asin chapters xx and xxi, soe there are numerous scattered allusions, both directly and indirectly bearing upon the geology of this district, chiefly taken from pre-existing papers, but from want of correct observations on this trans-Indus region the references to its physical geography are more reliable than those to its geology. Regarding the latter, the reader will not be able to gather much information, most of the points noticed as taken from the accounts given by earlier observers sharing their inaccuracy or inadequacy. The impression might be conveyed! that a distinct assemblage of -eretaceous rocks ranging from lower neocomian to the upper (?) horizon of the olive group of the Salt Range, is present at Chichali pass. At this place (see Salt Range Memoir, pages 105, 276, 277) one thick dark-coloured bed forms the top of the jurassic series, and in its upper part an Ammonite occurs, which has been determined by Dr. Waagen to be of neocomian age, while other Ammonites and Belem- nites in the lower part of the same bed are on the same authority said to be jurassic. This dark zone is overlaid by a thick light-coloured sand- stone previously referred to the cretaceous period, but it has furnished no fossils, and has been since found to occupy the same relative position 1 In the introduction at page xlix, and at pages 496 and 497. 2226 4) PREVIOUS OBSERVERS. 7 as a similar rock further westward enclosing pebbles of nummulitie alveolina limestone. At pages 487 and 488 the erroneous observations of others as to the distribution of the salt marl in the present district are quoted, and there is said to be no reasonable doubt as to this rock being sedimentary ; with this latter statement I cannot entirely coincide. In the introduction to the Manual at page xxiv, the salt marl is said to be immediately overlaid by the carboniferous limestone in the west Salt Range, and this relation is described as an unconformity between these groups. However much this may seem to be a local interpreta- tion of the case at Kálabágh (trans-Indus), I have never found it to be so in the Salt Range (cis-Indus), and if such a relation existed, its im- portance would have claimed full notice. On the contrary, conformity is stated to mark the succession throughout; and in every Salt Range region to the westward where the normal relations of the rocks are described, other beds are shown to intervene between the salt marl and the carboniferous groups, while the conditions of contact near the Indus are stated to be those of dislocation. If the misconception arose from the appearance shown in the greatly contracted ideal diagram at page 69 of my Report, intended only to exhibit the distribution of the Salt Range groups, it might have been corrected by the text at pages 53, 56, 58, 66, 86, 90, 93, and 258, particularly the third paragraph on page 90, where one of the intervening groups is said only to be lost amid com- plieated dislocations near Mári on the Indus. Slighter inaccuracies, as to the existence of the carboniferous group at Shekh Budin and the trias in the Chichali range, are to be found in the work at pages 491 and 493, the authority quoted being erroneous.? 1 In colouring this diagram to render it more distinct, I discovered an error, whether my own or the draughtsman’s who copied it I am unable to say. The carboniferous group No. 6 should have been shown to thin out just beneath the dotted line under the Níla-wan in the profile above. It is, however, stated to commence there in the text, Salt Range Memoir, p. 95. 2 [n p. 493, line 11 from foot, there is a misprint of “ west” for “ east.” ( 217) 8 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE, But at page 506 the reference to the newer part of the series is somewhat different from that observed. Over most of the distriet as well as in the Chichali hills, I have been unable to discover any break amount- ing to definite unconformity above the nummulitic limestone, nor any denudation of its surface during tertiary times; parallel conformity, with indieations here and there of a break in some adjacent area, on the contrary, seems to prevail, and this break may have existed even before the nummulitie period. Some of these and other points regarding references in the Manual to the geology of this distriet will be found mentioned where necessary in the present paper. In a short appendix to my Salt Range Report previously mentioned, А. В. Wynne. I drew up a slight sketch of the structure of the ground beyond (west of) the Indus in the vicinity of the Salt Range; partly from what I had learned from Dr. Waagen of his investigations in that ground when I was not with him, partly from observations made while we were in company. The sketch, however, is imperfect, as it does not mention all the rocks since found to occur at the locality, the only reference to the carboniferous group being to an isolated mass of some 20 feet thick of this limestone which projeets from the fault running up the middle of the Lún nala, while a considerable portion of the group also occurs in the hills near Kálabágh. A mass of nummu- : litie limestone likewise occurs in the Lün nala, faulted into its present position. | Other formations or groups are referred to in this appendix, and the section seen in Chichäli pass is deseribed. In the latter a set of sandstone beds, apparently intermediate between jurassic and eocene, have been grouped as cretaceous.! It would have been better to have qualified this grouping with the statement that most of the zone so separated is un- fossiliferous. Тһе only eretaceous fossil as yet identified is that already referred to as occurring in the top of the same layer which contains jurassie ! At the suggestion of Dr. Waagen. C 28) PHYSICAL FEATURES. 9 fossils. The absence of organisms, so far as yet discovered, in the sandstone which here forms the principal member of the group, of course leaves its age an open question, and some part, if not the whole, might as well be cretaceous, as of any other immediately older or newer period. Early allusions to the Kálabágh portion of the district will be found MM in the writings of Elphinstone, Burnes, Munshi Mohun Lal, and Dr. Jameson." These refer chiefly to the salt, coal, alum, and gold of the district. The last-named writer has arrived at a correct conclusion as to the value of the coal; although his classification of the rocks upon which his opinion is based has been found inapplicable.? PHYSICAL FEATURES. Different opinions have been recorded as to where the true westerly extension of the Salt Range proper lies; most of the early writers having supposed that the occurrence of rock-salt in the hills of the Kohat district indicated the continuation of the range towards the Safed Koh mountains in Afghanistan. In the Geological Survey Memoir upon the Salt Range I have adopted the natural view that this escarpment, both orosraphically and geologically, has its continuation more to the southward, in the ranges bordering the Indus plains from Kälabagh on that river to the British frontier (previous to 1879) beyond the Baín-darra pass? northward from Tánk. This portion of the northern wall of the Indian desert forms a sigmoid eurve lying between the points just named, for the most 1 Elphinstone’s Caubul, visited in 1808, Lond. 1815. Burnes, Sir A.: A Memoir: Geol. Soc., Lond., Proc. Vol. II, and Jl. As. Soc., Bengal Vol. XII, p.564. Mohun Lal: Jl. As. Soc., Bengal, Vol. VII, p. 25. Jameson, Jl. As. Soc., Bengal, Vol. IX and XII. 2 See introductory chapter, Salt Range Memoir, Mem. Geol. Surv. India, Vol. XIV. In which travelling is unsafe without an armed escort, though daily patrolled, and protected by a fort at its south exit and a chain of towers along the line of road "— Thorburn’s Banu, or, Our Afghan Frontier. During my inspection of this region in January 1879 the country was unusually disturbed, the town of Tánk was raided and burned, and other frontier posts were attacked by the hill tribes. ( 219 ) 10 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. part strongly searped towards the plains of the Indus, rising into broad lofty mountain summits northward of Kálabágh, Form of mountains. ‹ } and to the westward presenting a triple, double, or single range. Starting from Kálabágh the highest erests run north-by- west for 12 miles on each side of the Lün nala, a small tributary of the Indus; these crests, at first with considerable undulation, turn to the FERTA west-by-south for 22 miles, forming the Sürgarh! P . or Chicháli range, and the Shíngarh? and Lakar- garh mountains to the north. Again, bending sharply south, the double chain of the Shíngarh and Chichäli ranges unites, continuing for more than 90 miles as the Maidán range to where the Kuram river issues from the Bannu basin at Tangdarra (literally, confined valley). Four miles south of the Kuram this chain bends again to the south-west, forming for about 26 miles the Níla Roh? part of the Marwat* range, as far as Shekh Budín, flanked by a confluent range 6 to 8 mules distant to the south-east, called the Ratta Roh or Kiri-Khasor® ridge, which rises in part directly from the right bank of the river Indus. At Shekh Budín hill station the Níla Roh turns to the north-west at a right angle, and passing off through the low Bhattani ridge unites with the trans-frontier border hills of the Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan districts. The northern ranges in the Kälabägh region ‚have elevations up to 3,900 and 4,700 feet above the sea, according to Their heights. у , + Government maps; the cliffs of Dangot rise sheer 2,070 feet from the Indus, and there are many other lofty preci- pices among the Lakargarh and Shíngarh mountains, as well as along the southern escarpment of the Chichali range. The highest summit of the Maidán scarp is over 4,200 feet, while the Indus, east of the inter- 1 Sürgarh, from sur, red, and garh, mountain. 2 The Shingarh is also called the Lowágarh range; “shin” in Pashtu means green. 3 Nila, blue; rof, mountain. 4 Mowrut of the inhabitants; name of a tribe. 5 Ratta, ved, rob, mountain ; a misnomer for these hills. 6 Kéri, a tent or hut encampment of the wandering tribes, who live chiefly on milk, which is called Kîr. ( 220 ) у ViviNVd WOYS'NVNIINS-I-LHMVL IHL sr] ‘sanquneyps p 4 2 d ‘атаар euuAA g V “ИОН Z Id TAK OA So won : ` o wu AA "VIGMU 40 HARMS 'IV9190' T0989 PHYSICAL FEATURES. 11 vening Isa Khel plain, has a level of 700 feet at Kálabách, declining to 650 opposite the Khasor range. This last-named range is about 3,000 feet above the sea at its northern end, rising nearly a thousand feet higher to the southward before it terminates. The Níla Roh maintains a very regular height of nearly 8,000 feet, for most of its length, until it reaches Shekh Budín, where the massive clump of Makdám Günd,! with two conspicuous parallel east and west lobes, rises suddenly to 4,516 feet, far overtopping all the local elevations, though of less height than the Prangzai Sír (4,797 feet) of the Lakargarh Khatak mountains, north-westward from Kälabägh, To the north and north-west of this crooked and broken system of sch dpa ooa ranges lie the Kohät salt field and the open plain 3 of the Bannu valley ; to the east or south-east are the plain of Isa Khel and the river Indus, and to the south the sandy plains of the Deraját. Away to the west rise range after range forming, in the country of the IG (independent) tribes or of Afghan- istan, the northern continuations of the Sulemán mountains, and including a conspicuous unevenly table-topped summit called the Takt-i-Sulemán, or throne of Solomon (Plate IT). — — In the Salt Range Memoir I have already noticed the peculiarity in the physical geography of the Upper Punjab, that Drainage. the general southerly tendency of the drainage of the country is but slightly interfered with by the existence of that range. This observation may be repeated for the country under notice. The Indus itself intersects the whole range, after receiving the Kabul river, its largest affluent from the west; and the Kuram cuts right across the chain continuous with the Salt Range. A far smaller stream from the northward, making, however, a much deeper and narrower gorge, does the same at Chichäli pass, where the canon called the Darwáza (or doorway) is eroded between limestone cliffs, at one spot 1 Günd, a peak or excrescence. ? In the latest maps this is given as 4,551 feet, so that probably 35 feet should be added to the rest of these elevations. 12 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. but 14 feet apart and from 300 to 500 feet in height immediately on either side (see Plate IV). A chasm of very similar character at the Barochi pass near Mulla Khel leads some local drainage aeross the run of the hardest rocks for Chicháli chasm. a short distance, and indeed, generally speaking, it is only local drain- age that can be regarded as deflected by these trans-Indus ranges. One of the most remarkable points connected with the meteorie ) agencies of the region is the joint evidence of Torrential action. SM d i 5 torrential aetion and atmospherie erosion, afforded both by the depth of the gorges or height of the cliffs and the amount of coarse rock detritus spread out fan-wise along the southern and eastern base of the mountains. The whole area is a dry one, capriciously visited by rain enough to produce vegetation on the lower ground (about one year in four according to Thorburn, 2. e.), so that the long-con- tinued natural conditions of desert climates, 7. e., great extremes of heat and cold, drought, frost, wind, and exceptional storms of rain, are sufficient to explain the signs Climate. of energetic meteoric aqueous action accompanying the arid, stony and barren, appearance of the ground. Along most of these hills, particularly on the desert side, drinking water is scarce and bad, being largely impregnated with the soda salts of the rei or kallar so preva- lent in the rocks and soil, a solution the use of which by those unaccus- Water. tomed is productive of illness. Streams, mainly flowing upon limestone, are in some instances good, but very often so mingled with the discharge from sulphurous springs as to become nauseous; while the ravines in which these springs occur are so charged with sulphuretted hydrogen that the atmosphere is more than perceptibly tainted with the noxious gas. ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY. The mountains of this country are, in the cold season at least, all bare and rocky on their southern face and frequently upon other sides also, but many of the higher and northern declivities are thickly clothed with spear grass ( 222 ) The mountains. ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY. 15 and Sunketta (Dodonea) jungle. Scattered fullai (Acacia modesta) bushes are commonly dotted over most of the ranges at intervals, except the Nila Roh and Bhattani hills, which may be called absolutely bare. The bluish-green colour of the bare rocks gives to the Níla Roh, as well as to the Shíngarh chain, their descriptive names, the former being the blue, the latter the green mountains;—names more ap- plicable than that of the Ratta Roh, or red mountain, by which the Khasor range is also known, though the local colouring partakes more of an orange than a red tint. Vegetation is generally or largely absent upon most of the mountains formed of the tertiary sandstones ; indeed, many of these are too precipitous to admit of its growth, and their surfaces are being constantly removed. So much is this the case that the freshly stripped pale gray or whitish sandy peaks of the Shíngarh range, seen from a distance, have all the appearance of mountains streaked and flecked with snow. This Shingarh range is finely serrated and peaked, but, as a rule, the sandstone mountains, though rugged and eaten by ravines into the very core, present long even outlines, the exception to this being where the inclinations of the beds are unusually steep. Those parts of the moun- tains formed of limestones are even more uniform in outline, this uniform- ity being, however, always associated with the sudden contrast of high cliffs and abruptly broken ground, immediately overlooking the plains, except in the case of the Khasor range, where the rugged talus of the diminished escarpment occupies most of the eastern slopes. The plains of the Deraját bordering these hills are of the sandy desert pasture land called Thal," the localities of The plains. А К : 1 INT distant villages being marked by scattered lines and clumps of foliage. Higher up the Indus its many flat island patches 1 From its application I am uncertain whether this name always means “desert.” Tharr, in South Sind and the Punjab, is applied to sandy water “flashes” or jhils. Thalla, Tarla, or Talleri in Panjabi means below, lower, the bottom of a box or sole of a shoe, the lowest of two villages, &c., and this may be alike applicable to the low plains of the Indus and the low site of the frontier camp at Thal (Tul) on the Kuram. l4 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. are covered by a dense jungle of high feathery jaow, with cultivated openings here and there. For some miles along the bank of the river at foot of the Khasor hills a strip of the alluvium is wooded, in parts thickly, with plantations of fertile date palms, but the Isa Khel plains sloping gently to the river are sandy, covered with tufts of coarse herb- age or grass, and only eultivated where their elevation permits them to be irrigated from the Kuram. The Indus channels in this country are ineonstant; the river may once have traversed the valley between the Nila The Indus. б Roh and Khasor ranges, and even now the main stream ehanges its place to more easterly or westerly parts of the large space forming its recent bed, so that after the annual flood 1t may run 8 to 13 miles away from its former course. For several years past the principal stream has been deflected to 8 miles eastward of Isa Khel, once upon its bank, the change. destroying 17 villages ;! and this season (1878-79) another set brings it obliquely back, so as to impinge upon parts of the Khasor range, where last year one could have walked dry shod from end to end of those hills in the old Indus channel. The current is strong, making the upward passage for boats very tedious; where shoals occur the water runs over them often in noisy rapids, and even where gliding still and unbroken there is constantly heard the loud plash of undermined masses of the banks falling in. As in the Salt Range, here also a boulder zone, 9 or 4 miles in width, borders the Indus plains along the base of the mountains, forming a very marked feature of the country. In this the dry stony wans or water-courses from the hills unite, distributing their rounded boulder debris in the form of blending fans, most distinct where the ranges above supply the harder varieties of rock. This zone is sparsely dotted with 44eker (Adhatoda) bushes, &c., never affords a drop of water, and from its ruggedness 1s always difficult to traverse. 1 Thorburn’s ‘ Banu,’ ( 294 ) Чут! Sanqumwuos-' nr NEE EL JHILI'Z00d ПАХ TOA’ sS ZrO vx өт Там EO AHAUNS TVOIDOTO un STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY AND THE FORM OF THE GROUND. 15 The Bannu plain, 1,000 to 1,150 feet above the sea, on the further side of the mountains, and traversed by the Ku- Bannu plain. : : ram, which here receives the Gambela and other rivers, is sandy or even stony round its margin: at some places to the west presenting karewah-like terraces so characteristic of the Kashmir valley, but here covered with stones, many of them coated by a black film of oxides of iron or manganese, apparently weathering from the rock (these are supposed to be the “ dozak ki aure, hell stones” mentioned in Thorburn’s * Banu,’ page 7). Insuch situations, except where slightly cultivated in favourable seasons, the ground is bare, with thinly scattered trees. In more central and lower parts the plain is extensively irrigated, well wooded, and richly cultivated. Its aspect in the cold weather, the wintery look of the trees, the familiar birds, ravens, rooks, flocks of starlings, and the flights of wild fowl, recall November scenes in Britain, a resemblance heightened by distant treeless hills in all directions closing the view. CHAPTER IL—RELATIONS BETWEEN THE STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY AND THE FORM OF THE GROUND. As may be elsewhere observed in the Punjab, and indeed as is gene- un. rally the case in most countries, the coincidence Coincidence. : : between the physical features and the geological structure of the ground is intimate. "The axial lines of the mountains carrying on the Salt Range feature are also axes of anticlinals lying for the most part along the scarped acclivities presented towards the Indus plains. A single anticlinal runs (or ran, for much of it has been removed) from Kälabäsh to the Kuram; greatly dislocated in the former neighbourhood by disturbances con- nected with the chaotie disarrangement of the geological series where the Indus finally leaves the mountain regions of Upper India. A double fold traverses the country from the Kuram to Shekh Budin, one forming the outer or Khasor range, the other the ( 825 ) Anticlinal structure. 16 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. Nila Roh and Battani hills. This last is complicated by minor convo- lations in the Makdám Günd or mass of Shekh Budin itself. Along the escarpments denudation has reached the axis of curvature from the side towards the plains and removed much of that half of the anticlinial fold, or else so completely obscured it as to raise a doubt whether the atmospheric erosion has not been assisted in developing the escarpment, by extensive parallel fraetures lying in the vieinity of the outer base of all these border ranges of the Indus plains, —ífractures to the existence of which, as much as to the elevation of the arches, is due perhaps the striking con- trast between the dead flat of the level ground and the abrupt harshly- pronounced features of the boldly scarped facade of the mountains. In other (outer Himalayan) regions such long parallel fractures are closely associated with the scarps of the lesser ranges, and here where outer Himalayan orographieal features blend with those of the outer Parallel fractures. Sulemáni area, the existence of similar fractures just within the hills is ascertained, while better evidence to show the original anticlinal structure of now uniclinal scarps than the Salt Range escarpment affords, is here found in the partial occurrence of the missing side of the once continuous arch. The former existence of arches where there are now escarpments is even more conclusively shown by the way the cliff line of the Chichäli and Maidán ranges passes into the long anticlinal ridge of the Marwat hills (Níla Roh and Battani Roh), confluent for a long distance with a feature of the same scarped-anticlinal nature forming the Khasor range. Another Salt Range feature, most prominent near Kálabágh, where the salt marl is present, is the extremely disordered, A Salt-range feature, | 2 slipped, faulted and displaced arrangement of the undercliff and talus portions of the escarpment. This is also present along allthe border of the Isa Khel plain, but even more noticeable on the Indus face of the Khasor range. The cause of this confusion is traceable to the superposition of the hard carboniferous or other lime- stones upon such soft or destructible rocks as the more sandy groups, the salt marl and gypsum, or the hardly less easily reduced gypseous and (РРО STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY AND THE FORM OF THE GROUND. 17 boulder clay groups, or, in some cases, to the soft variegated jurassie sandstones and alum shale underlying and cropping out from beneath harder limestones of the same and of eocene age. The more tender and saline rocks being reached by percolating water have yielded to the wasting influences, and thus the harder masses above have been dislodged. The outer escarpments are thus always occupied by the older and ; harder rocks. Behind them is an enormous mass ip Ara of the newer (Siwalk) tertiary soft sandstones, forming the whole of the Dangot, Lakargarh, and Shingarh mountains, the west side of the Maidán range, the north-west foot of the Khasor ridge, and all the Marwat hills except Shekh Budín gtind.! The Bannu plain occupies a basin formed by these newer tertiary ias. plain, tertiary beds extending under the flat ground on all sides, Баш: except the north, where its boundary coincides nearly with a fault, edged by a repetition of the scarped-anticlinal ridges elsewhere so pronounced. The plains of the Deraját and Indus? are a part of the great flat, aus mostly desert, which reaches hence to the Aravali range and the sea 1n Lower Sind, doubtless wandered over in times past as they are now less extensively here, by the capri- cious movements of the Indus, the Aba-sin, or “ Father of waters ”” as the great river 1s called 1n some maps. Whether these plains are in any degree due to marine erosion is a ; ; point so uncertain as to be beyond diseussion here. Marine plains. d It cannot even be known whether the later mesozoie and tertiary deposits are spread horizontally beneath them in this region, or if the rocks which they conceal are disturbed. The original anticlinal strueture of the different ranges adjacent, and the fact that the upper tertiary beds crossed the anticlinals towards the southward, afford grounds 1 MIND AN. Wynne. Memoirs, Vol: ХҮП, Pt: 2. Pl: IV. A.B. Wynne fecit. J Schaumburg Lith: THE DARWAZA, CHICHALI PASS CHICHÁLI RANGE. 45 magnesian limestones, with subordinate shales and arenaceous beds; the Ceratite group shows its thin limestones and Carboniferous, EN . . . characteristic clays, and the jurassic has its two divisions—a great mass of variegated red, white, and yellow sandstones with black and gray clays, and yellowish magnesian or gray limestones below, succeeded by hard limestones with marine fossils. The eocene limestones, black alum shales, &c., are quite of the usual type; the white or yellowish, nodular, compact and nummulitie limestone containing many fossils, among which the nummulites only are well Peculiar fossils. 5 à preserved. Fossils also are numerous in the. older mesozoic and carboniferous rocks, among the latter being the unnamed fossil of the Salt Range, already mentioned (page 30). The sections north of Kálabágh, represented in fig. 2 at page 46, are estimated to expose the following thickness of each group :— Tertiary sandstones "es m 00 Several thousand feet. Eocene limestone, &c. Bos ERA 600 .. 800 a Cretaceous, not found dre 356 бсо oo AOD ? Upper part осо 500 000 ... 500 Jurassic Lower ,, 500 осо En $900 7, Triassic ve од оф 200 s. 860 P Carboniferous... zn em соо .. $800 3 From the summits of this part of the range one looks northward for 5 or 6 miles across a large valley, a very era wilderness of bare sandstone rock in gray mono- chrome, some thousand ledges rising one above another, and the cliffs growing more vertical and inaccessible as the summit of the Lakargarh is reached. To the westward of the embayment the range rises higher than Range towards Chi. elsewhere in the vicinity, and there cannot be much cháli pass. less than 4,000 feet of rocks in the section. Allow- ing somewhat for undulation and concealment below, the groups would (. 255 ) 46 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. give about the following proportions. on the southern aspect of the mountains :— Ft. Nummulitie E x ees ss ... 1,000 Jurassic оо) Aes бо oco .. 1,100 Trias 00 vee ог Con 535 450 Carboniferous .., pe 353 "m ». 1,000 A massive outcrop of nummulitie limestone forms the crest, shedding masses of debris over the lower slopes. "These, nearly to the base, are formed of the jurassie rocks ; and a large dislocated and subsided mass of the nummulitie limestone lies along the base of the range, broken but nearly continuous as far as the village of Kotki. Here it is closely flanked by a quantity of the tertiary, gray sandstones and red clays, hav- ing much more the appearance of the lower portion of that series than the Siwahk beds at Uch. The nummulitie limestone was evidently once in anticlinal form, con- CAE e GRO tinuous with that of the crest and northern side of the range, but is now separated by faults, such as are (some of them) visible in the Chicháli pass section. This important section is described at page 276 of the Salt Range Memoir, and figured on Plate xxxi, fig. 55, of which a copy is here given in fig. 3 (opposite). The southern portion shows partial inversion and much crushing and displacement; the northern part is regular and gives the following succession within the glen, in which the formerly more extensive alum works are situated. It is extracted from the source mentioned :— SUCCESSION. Red clays (17) and gray and greenish tertiary sandstones en (16) with some beds of pseudo-conglomerate contain- > Very thick. ing bone fragments (15). 14. Strong compact light gray nummulitic cliff-limestone of Ft. the Darwaza ... 400 сог бсо 500 18. Nummulitie marls and (12) dark shales ... T 150? SET MEI iî mere lumpy limestone en .. 150 to 200 10. Alum shales resting parallel on an eroded surface of the beds below ie 00 "e a. 30to 40 ( 256 ) Wynne. GHOLOGICAL Sus Wan c OF INDIA. Memoirs, Vol; XVILPt.2. Dangot M 2777. Kalabagh th m Lum nala B f East 7. ~ E Fig:1. Sketch section across part of Kalabagh Hil at Paki kass (P.43)) 1. Salt:marl and gypsum. 2.Carbomferous and Trias. 3.Jurassic. 4 Bocene 5.Lower Siwalik sandstones. 6.Dangot sandstones. T Sıwalik conglomerate. 8.Post Tertiary. F. Slps and Faults. About 4990 А Em South North л B. Fig. 2.Sketch section north of Kalabagh (P45) i Upper Siwalik. 2.Lower Siwalik?. 3. Carboniferous. 4.Trias. 5. Variegated уота. 6. Marme jura, 7 Lower Eocene. 8. Nummulitic. 9.Lower Tertiary sandstone . 40. Lower and Middle Sıwalik. F, Fault. "a = LA Do So دا۴‎ (Alte EEE /————~ E n Ve э Ft О 72; Turasste Cretaceotur Numsnmalbitee Tertiary s ands fos Fig: 3. Sketch section ın the Chichali pass. Ў (For mdex see .P.46) ETT un, ani e meet eire m CHICHÁLI RANGE. 47 SLIGHT UNCONFORMITY. 9. Strong light-coloured sandstone, eroded at top, lower CRETACEOUS third black 3e eec сс осо 60 NzocoMIAN.? )7 & 8. Dark blackish green sandy and shaly bed, tough in- side, passing down into— 6. Dark olive sandstone and clay with oolitie patches (equi 137 valent to upper band of golden oolite?) ; contains Rhyn- chonnella, large planulate Ammonites, Belemnites, dc. 5. Splintery hard white limestones Sod 006 . 180 Shale band. D) 4. Caleareous shaly and sandy beds and yellow limestone. Gray limestone. ТОБЫН Brown marly limestone. 3. Shales with thin sandstones; a 2-feet bed containing fucoids. Shales, sulphuretted hydrogen spring. Hard sandy limestones and shale; Rhynchonnella and fish-teeth. 2. Lower golden oolite, variegated sandstone, and thin coaly 400 shales. (1. Gray and blue thin limestone and gray shales. J * The lower part of the cretaceous band and the upper part of the jurassie 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 oecur, one above and the other below the lower lumpy nummulitic limestone; and there are other less distinct bands besides, in the lower part of the variegated jurassic series, near No. 3 in the section." In the branching glen north of the Darwáza, immediately overlying the nummulitie limestone, and rising upwards on its slope in large V- shaped masses, are the greenish and dark purple sandstones and pseudo- conglomeratie concretionary beds, with much red clay, belonging to the lower portion of the great tertiary sandstone series. They occupy a con- siderable space in the section, the dip here becoming lower, and there being some undulations on the north flank of the range, though not sufficient to affect. the ridgy form of the ground. Even among the lowest of these red beds bone fragments occur, but I saw none of the sandy nummulitie layers CoM Y 48 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. whieh elsewhere intervene at this horizon between the limestone and sandstone. The mountains to the northward, culminating at Prangzai Sir (4,797 feet), are composed of the bulky Siwalik deposits. Scarcely less than 15,000 or 17,000 feet are ex- posed, and probably a good deal in excess of this amount concealed. This result is arrived at from caleulating their dip for 8 miles, at only 25°, to the northward, while it seems to slope at a higher angle. Westward of Chichäli the erest of the range bends slightly to the north, having an open plateau-like space near the summit, on which is one of the mountain hamlets dotted over this wild country. A number of abrupt broken spurs branch to the southward, intersected by deep and often, very narrow ravines. The upper part of the section continues the same; the spurs are largely formed of jurassic beds, probably slipped Towards Prangzai Sir. from above. About a mile west of Chapari village the tertiary beds are interrupted West of Chapari vil. at the foot of the escarpment, and a small anticli- lage. nal fold brings up the Ceratite marls. A little way above them, in the base of the jurassic variegated group, is a thick zone of dolomitie and splintery, gray and yellow, sometimes cherty lime- stone ; some of the layers in which have semi-oolitic parts approaching the golden-oolite character; and others are crinoidal; sandy flagstónes also occur in the zone. To this the great mass of the variegated beds suc- ceeds, some of the sandstones being very white, covered with a white and yellow efflorescence, and so soft and tender from the presence of salts that they fall to powder. The whole group presents a rapidly varying suc- cession of such beds as these, with dark gray and mottled, reddish and gray clays, thin-bedded limestones as usual forming а tolerably distinct sub-division at the top of the group. Near the mouth of the Spelagäzun gorge the thick dolomitie zone is bent into an arch, bringing up the car- 1 The exposures of the carboniferous and triassic beds along the foot of the range here are very local. My guide did not know which was the * Pílawán," and although E must have been close to it, this exposure escaped my observation. E CSD CHICHÁLI RANGE. 49 boniferous (and trias) rocks to the west according to Dr. Fleming’s paper (/. c., р. 367), which gives a section across the range here, repeating much of the dislocation seen at Chichäli pass.! There are, as usual, signs in this part of the range of disturbance along the foot of the escarpment, but the outerops of the jurassic and eocene rocks occupy all the promi- nent features of the frontage. These form high cliffs to the south of Shoh, a village only inhabited AN in the hot weather, and situated in a rocky de- pression among nummulitie limestone crags high up on the north slopes of the range, near the elevation marked 4,063 feet. A local anticlinal in this nummulitie limestone forms the crest of the range, and increases somewhat the apparent thickness of the group ; just below which the thick supra-jurassie sandstone shows itself strongly, with its accompanying black underlying zone. At one spot this appeared to have been uneonformably deposited upon an eroded surface of the jurassic limestones, but the general relations of these groups would not indicate any great amount of discordance between them. The jurassic groups form a wild rugged and precipitous tract full of inaccessible places in that portion of the escarpment overlooking the neighbourhood of Chashmai. A short distance beyond this hamlet to the westward, ata place called S ANM Paranga, the carboniferous beds re-appear, dipping i under the escarpment at 60°, and as usual succeeded by the triassie beds; the latter being sharply folded, and from their nature and position at the foot of the hills, imperfectly exposed. The carboni- ferous formation shows alternating bands of gray sandstone and lime- stone, with Gonzatites and Bellerophon above and Producte prevailing below ; the whole of the formation is not seen. In the dark upper part of the jurassic group Belemnites occur, and a large flat form of Ammonites. 1 The soluble matter from these beds forms a thick gelatinous scum along some of the nearly dried up streamlets. On examination by Mr. Mallet at the Survey laboratory, this was found to consist of silicate and sulphate of alumina, with oxide of iron, carbonate of lime and organic matter. D ( 259 ) 50 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. From this place to Mulla Keyl the same general features are seen. General features con. A Strong cliff-line of nummulitie limestone occu- О LIES pying the crest is more than usually tilted, dip- ping northwards at the peak called (on the map) Shekh Nikka Zyárut, and from beneath this the thick light-coloured sandstone first appears, then the jurassic groups, and below these, near the foot of the hill, are occasional exposures of the Ceratite shales or limestones and the underlying carboniferous group. All along the southern foot of the range lies the broad zone of boulder ground; while to the north, beyond a long narrow valley called the Khwurra-darra, coinciding with the strike of the rocks, and at its head continuous with part of the Baroch-darra, rises the Shingarh range, hav- ing heights of 4,836 and 4,926 feet. Still further north on the other side of the Lawagarh stream is a parallel, but much lower, spur from the Lakargarh scarp. All these last-named mountains are formed of the same Siwalik beds as border the Chicháli range elsewhere, conglomerates prevailing mostly in the highest part of the group, and massive sandstones forming the rest, except a narrow band of older-looking red clays and gray sandstones just near the base, low down in the scarp facing the Chichali range itself. The bare sandy surfaces of the Shingarh peaks are visible from a great distance, and it is evident there is barely sufficient variety of texture among its beds to mark its stratification and give it the ridge-like form it pos- sesses. The section across this range, in figure 4 (at p. 58), is reduced from that given on Colonel Walker’s map, and with the sub-divisions of the older part of the series added. The dip of the tertiary sandstones (Siwaliks) did not appear so high as those given in the original section, otherwise as a general representation it seems to express the features. ( 260. ) MAIDÁN RANGE. 51 Section Ill. — Tug MarpíÁN RANGE. This is but a different name applied to the double chain of the Chichäli and Shingarh ranges after it has curved to the south; indeed the Shingarh chain has no separate existence east of the Chichalı pass, and is closely united with the Maidán range to the south. At Mulla Keyl the narrow longitudinal Baroch valley, lying between Baroch valley. Mula the two ranges and bending with them and the Een strike of the rocks, discharges the drainage from both its northern and southern branches upon the Ismail Keyl plain, cutting a crooked but fine gorge, called the Harma Kas, across the very heart of the outer ridge. The fine section in this stream and the adjacent cliffs exposes a great anticlinal curve, sinking to the south, and coinciding with the axis of the outer range. In the centre of the arch nothing is exposed below variegated jurassic beds, and not the whole of these. Overlying them are the upper calcareous part of the group, the supra-jurassic sandstone, and the nummulitie limestone, which forms all the highest ground. Ascending the stream the first rocks seen, forming a low spur behind the village, are greatly erushed, faulted, and displaced masses of upper tertiary sandstone, upper eocene sandstone and conglomerate, white nummulitie limestone, and the underlying thick, pale, sandstone, belong- ing before dislocation to the outer limb of the anticlinal. Next seen are some 400 feet of the upper jurassic limestones, the lower part shaly and with but few fossils, amongst which are some Corbulz, _Rhynchonnelle, Natice, and whole beds formed of small thick bivalve shells impacted in the rock. Among these limestones are a few sandy bands ; some beds are lumpy, some pebbly with limestone pebbles, and others show small branching fucoids; most of the beds are fine and earthy like lithographic limestone. These beds form all the cliffs south of the stream. To the west they seem thicker than 400 feet, and from beneath them rises the bulk of the variegated group towards the north. In the centre of the arch the variegated beds are composed of gray ( 261 -) 59 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. and variegated sandstones and dark gray pyritous shale below. Some of the sandstones become coarse, gravelly and eonglomeratie, with quartz pebbles and ferruginous concretions. Beyond the centering of the arch formed by these beds the upper group is similar to its counterpart previously described, and from one gray lumpy limestone band a small sulphur spring issues, the place, as usual, smelling of sulphuretted hydrogen. The stream here for some dis- tance coincides with the strike of the rocks, running in a deep V-like trough, blocked here and there by enormous fallen masses from the cliffs above, but turning again it crosses the beds, giving a section through the supra-jurassie sandstone and the eocene limestone. The black band at the base of the pale sandstone group is present: whole layers, some inches thick, of Belemnites occur in its lower part, but only a few Ammonites were found, and these impossible to obtain entire. Here, at the place called the Harma Kas, the supra-jurassie sandstone, from such measurement as could be made, is 450 feet thick, dipping at 40° to the west. Midway through the gorge cut through this soft, warm yellow-tinted sandstone Harma Kas. is a carbonaceous shaly layer 2 feet or so thick, but irregular. Another such black layer occurs higher up, and there is a thin parting of the same a few feet below the nummulitic limestone. - The upper part of the sandstone is shaly, a few layers of brown sand- stone with coaly strings succeed, then knots of limestone in a gray cal- careous matrix, and this immediately passes up into the usual solid whitish gray nummulitic limestone without the least symptom of the unconformity observed in the Chichali section, or the presence of the basal nummulitie alum shale, unless represented by the gray shaly upper portion of the sandstone itself. Where the contact occurs the stream falls over a bluff of the lime- stone, 60 or 70 feet high with lofty walls of this rock on each side, into a deep pool, the fall being called Spin-zdthow from the white colour of the limestone; here perhaps ( 262 ) Section. GHOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. Memoirs, Vol: ХҮШ. Pt. 2. Pl: V. A.B.Wyane fecit, J.Schaumburg, Lith: THE HARMA KAS, MULLAKHEL. MAIDÁN RANGE. 53 less thick than the full amount seen to the north and to the southward. Beyond this point in the section I was not able to proceed upwards. A little way south of Mulla Khel there is a more practicable route over the outer range into the Baroch-darra ascending the Karandi Algad (see fig. 5, at p. 58). At the first part of the ascent the black zone forming the neutral ground between jurassie and cretaceous (?) is seen as usual containing many Belemmites. The zone is close to the outer faulted region at the base of the hills, and is succeeded by Karandi pass. a quantity of coarse soft cream-coloured sandstones full of large ferruginous concretions. Over them comes a quantity of nummulitic limestone, making a great show as it curves over the anti- clinal axis of the range, but the junction between it and the sandstone beds is concealed by waste from the hills, and in the glen, by a massive accumulation of calcareous tufa. The top of this pass is (by barometer) about 2,500 feet. and at a few score yards beyond it, on the Baroch side, a set of rusty-looking sand- stones is found resting upon the nummulitic limestone and associated with dark olive-gray shales. These sandstones contain numerous scattered pebbles of quartz and nummulitic limestone, and they appear to be the representatives of the uppermost nummulitic beds of other regions. The group may be 200 oreven 300 feet thick, but is frequently concealed by grass, &e. ; it covers much of the eastern slopes of the Baroch glen, on the other side of which are a few red clay layers in the sandstones representing the red zone north of the Salt Range. Above these is the massive tertiary sandstone outcrop (Dangot beds) of the Lawagarh or Shingarh chain. A mile or so further to the south the eocene limestone has folded over the anticlinal, but may be perhaps partly dislocated, producing the bold cliffs of this rock which form the crest of the range. The limestone covers the ground and forms Towards Sûltan Khel. the undercliffs for a space, but the deeply cut miniature canons show the cretaceous (?) and some of the jurassic beds beneath. That the anti- elinal, if not perfect now, once was so may be judged from the ( 863 ) \ Dj WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. occurrence again, at the base of the range not far from Karandi, of the same beds above deseribed as representing the upper nummulitie rocks, and with them there is again a band of conglomerate wholly made up of nummulitie limestone pebbles. As usual, in such a situation these beds are disloeated and disturbed. A deep fas to the southward again exposes the supra-jurassie sand- stone, and still further south, between Karandi and Sultán Khel, a larger anticlinal exposure of these and the jurassic beds occurs, the newer lime- stone having been denuded over the axis of the main anticlinal of the range. Some of these deep cuts with vertical sides enable black alum shales situated towards the middle region of the nummulitie limestone to be seen, having a thickness of about 150 feet ; but though the central portions of the limestone is frequently shaly, it is not certain that this alum shale is present everywhere in the group. The summit of the Maidan range opposite to Sültan Khel is marked Cliffs of the Maidán 28 having an elevation of 4,357 feet ; the Indus to range. the east as 782 feet. Of the difference (3,575 feet), if 375 be allowed for the rise from the river to the foot of the hill, this would leave 3,200 feet for the height of the escarpment, at least half of which is oceupied by mural cliffs of the nummulitic limestone, the beds being so slightly eurved from the horizontal that the formation here may be fairly estimated at 1,500 to 1,600 feet. For height and boldness these preeipices are as grand as any 1n the whole distriet, those of Dangot perhaps excepted. In the neighbourhood of Mitha, 4 miles south-west of Sultan Khel, the eocene limestone part of the anticlinal dis- Near Mitha. А appears, bemg wrapped round and covered over by the tertiary sandstones of the uppermost nummulitie and Siwalik groups. The beds which succeed the limestone are a mass formed about equally of greenish and red clays, with dull brown sandstones and thick conglomeratie zones, layers of conglomerate being scattered through 30-feet spaces among the sendstones, in beds of 5 to 10 feet thick, and the whole group is at least ( 964 ) MAIDÁN RANGE. 55 300 feet in thickness. The conglomerates include pebbles of coarse sand- stone, some of black chert and of white quartz, but they are chiefly of compact yellowish a/veolina limestone, not of the white local nummulitie limestone rock, but rather of the kind which occurs in the Kohat salt district to the north. Blocks of this occur in some of the beds up to a foot in diameter. This group of clays, sandstones, and conglomerates has greatly the appearance of those recognised as identical with part of the Sabathu group in other parts of the Upper Punjab, and, like it, presents, where the contact can be seen, perfect conformity of stratification with the underly- ing nummulitie limestone, although containing fossiliferous nummulitie limestone pebbles derived from other localities. In some places here a clay band forms the junction between this group and the strong lumpy limestone below. In others the lowest layer of the upper group is a conglomerate band 17 to 20 feet thick, m close contact with nodular limestone; the interstices between the nodules and those between the pebbles being both filled by the caleareous sandy base of the conglome- rate, so that, although the transition is sudden, there is no sharp line of demarcation. Upper eocene. The next beds below the junction are about 300 feet of lumpy white limestone, then 400 feet of white marly beds, at the base of which are massive beds of nummulitic limestone for a great thickness, without the alum shales being exposed. In the principal stream here the water is rendered of a bluish opaline tint by the suspended mineral matter derived from the numerous sulphur springs in the nummulitic limestone; so numerous indeed are they that the air is strongly tainted with the sulphuretted hydrogen gas evolved. This confined gorge ter- minates in what resembles a gigantic pot-hole a few yards across, but surrounded by lofty, in some parts overhanging, limestone walls, giving the impression of looking upwards from the bottom of a well. Sulphur springs. ( 265 ) 56 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. It has here become plain that the whole Sürgarh range from near Sárgarh anticlinal Tandar Khel (north of Kálabágh) to Mitha, is but E у another example of the ellipsoid anticlinal struc- ture prevalent in the Kohät salt field. In this case the long narrow anticlinal is bent nearly at a right angle at Mulla Khel, but both its extremities—that north of Kálabágh as well as its termination near Mitha—show the opposite eurvilinear dips, where the axis of the curves bend downwards at the convex ends of the ellipsoids, as described in the Kohát country. It is not unusual there to find one side of an ellipsoid eut off by faulting or much disturbed, and the same thing oceurs here on a larger scale. The remainder of the Maidän range to the southward, locally called the Darsoligarh, as far as the Kuram river, is formed of the thick Dangot Siwalik sandstones, with but one small exposure of the nummulitie limestone and Sabathu Darsoligarh hills. beds to the west of Isa Khel, the anticlinal axis continuing, together with its parallel dislocation, on the side towards the plains. So far as the escarpment is formed of hard rocks, the belt of detrital boulder-covered ground extends, but here, where Sand banks. i 1 the hills are chiefly composed of sandstones, hard fragments of any kind are rare, and their place is taken by banks of gray sand along the eastern foot of the chain. For some distance before reaching the Tangdarra, or last gorge of the Kuram, the Maidán range sinks into com- Tangdarra. е А : . paratively low hills composed of the upper portion of the Siwalik silvery gray sandstones, belonging to the western side of the anticline. At the gap itself these beds dip to the westward at 10°, and are succeeded by the usual upper Siwalik conglomerates ; these, how- ever, not being so largely exposed as is their metamorphic-pebbly debris. The strike of the range and its beds is here a few points east of south, but just beyond the Kuram, the beds become nearly horizontal before taking a south-westerly strike. ( 266 ) MARWAT AND KHASOR HILLS. 57. Suction IV.—THE DOUBLE CHAIN OF THE Marwat AND Kuasor HILLS. A few words will suffice to deseribe the whole of the Nila Roh from uio Tangdarra to Shekh Budín. Itis a long narrow anticlinal fold in the upper Siwalik sandstones, its steepest side to the south-east and its longer slopes towards the Bannu plain. These sandstones contain, as is usual, mammalian bones and teeth, but apparently only in such numbers as would require an organised and special quest to obtain anything like a satisfactory collection. Occasion- ally specimens met with by the more intelligent shikaries in their pursuit of Markhor, or by herdsmen, have reached the hands of visitors to Shekh Budin, and thus their existence has become known. My efforts in the vicinity only procured a few specimens of little worth. The parallel outer, or Kiri Khasor, range lying south-east of the Nila Roh, from its greater variety of structure, will require more notice. This annex of the Marwat hills, separated from the Nila Roh by the long parallel valley of the Lwargi pass, draining to both ends, is in parts both wider and more lofty than the Nila Roh itself, the main trans-Indus continuation of the whole Salt Range anticlinal. In the north and south Basti valley at Kundal (not the main 41дай | Section at northern ОЁ the Rumani Khel part of the valley), the tertiary, end. Kiri Khasor range. red and drab clays and pale gray sandstones dip to the westward at 25°, alternating with and mainly underlying the same sort of Dangot thick sandstones as form the Nila Roh. On the east side of this valley rise the sloping beds of the northern end of the Khasor range, also dipping west, and sheeted by a harder conglomerate composed of quartz, quartzite, sandstone, limestone, red granite; in short, all the harder rocky debris derivable from the Khasor range and some from unknown sourees. This conglomerate forms a bottom bed to the - tertiary series, and rests with but slightly apparent discordance upon a thick zone of earthy and cherty, well-bedded, magnesian, unfossiliferous limestone. "The ground is rather broken, and subject to displacements on the outcrop, but still this magnesian band appears to be between 100 and 200 feet 1n thickness. 58 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. Below it on the eastern side of. the range are from 200 to 350 feet of the Ceratite shales, the lower part containing thin-bedded limestone layers, some full of broken shell fragments, others containing Ceratites as usual; these beds alternate downwards with coarse pebbly sandstones and flags, and among the lowest seen (apparently) are the usual thin and somewhat shaly Ceratite limestones more than 100 feet thick. This part of the section on the shattered side of the outcrop is more or less obscure, and repetitions of the beds might occur; but superficial subsidence of the rocks will not entirely account for the presence of a group of white, red, and mottled sandstones, clays, and magnesian lime- stone layers, having exactly the appearance of the variegated portion of the jurassic group. I suppose these to represent some of the sub-carboni- ferous rocks brought into this position by faults; unless indeed the group be altogether a new one intermediate between the carboniferous and trias. These are the rocks, doubtless, referred by Fleming to the salt group of the Salt Range, and by Verchere to the same horizon, called by him sali- ferian. In a deep fas between Ramkünd and Duman-wáh hamlet, or Zr, I found these beds dipping west at 35°, apparently underlying the Cera- tite beds without discordance of any kind, which nevertheless might still be present, and thus arranged :— Ceratite flags, flaggy limestones, and marls: much more than 30 feet. ` Thick reddish purple clay with small strings of al white fibrous mineral, soft like gypsum and ну saline . о > o : о . Mottled sandstone and clays vith gypseous strings Coarse gravelly white sandstones Mottled purple and white sandstone . : о Fine-grained soft white rock like а weathered sandy dolomite . : > 5 о о 3 . Variegated pink, lavender, white, and greenish elays and L 220 white sandstones White soft sandy rotten rock : . : © A few beds of white earthy limestone (magnesianj?), white and green clay partings : . White sands or decomposed sandstone (once eous or magnesian?) . о . е с ‚ Variegated purple and greenish отау clays. ( 268 ) JE SYLL GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. Wynne. Memoirs, Vol: XVILPt. 2. Shin атЪ. N. by W. ZEIGT. 2 c. b. с. Fig: 4. Scetion over Chichali (Shing arh) Tange Scale: 5/s. inch = 1. mile: Vertical = double the Horizontal. T- (250) i Carboniferous. 2.Trias. 3. Variegated group, wurassic. За. Black zone. partly jurassie. 4, Sandstone. partly Cretaceous? 5. Upper alum shale. 6.Eocene limestone. 7. Siwalik sandstone and conglomerate. 8.Detritalboulder zone. \ 5 s 5 Е: 5 (c رر‎ « D а, Lnreesstenes! b, Sandstones! c, Conglomerates. d, Sandstone. е, Conglomerate. (Walker) Shingarh Range Fig. 5.Sketeh section of the Hills near Mulla khel (P. 53) 1 Boulder zone. 2. Crushed tertiary sandstone and limestone. 3.Hocene limestone. 4.Variegated sandstone Jurassic. 5. limestone Jurassic. 6.Sandstone. cretaceous ? 7. Шосепе limestone. 8.Upper Nummuhitic. representative conglomerate. 9. Siwalik group. F.Faul. Bast al£ad. SG East, &. Bed of Indus R. Fig: 6. Sketch section north end of Khasor range (Р 59) 1 Carbomferous. 2.Magnesian limestone. 3.Varıegated sandsloncs. 4. Ceratite lomestones. ete: 5. Ceratite marls. © Magnesian limestones. 7. Conglomerates. 8 Clays and sandstones, tertiary. 5. Siwalik sandstones. Е. Fault. MARWAT AND KHASOR HILLS. 59 In the next Zas to the southward these beds are seen to undulate, and a group of gray and white sands appears below them, underlaid by green- ish muddy lithographie textured limestones and green shales, beneath which comes a great mass of magnesian limestone, greenish-gray shales, and thin limestones, irregularly deposited. Some of these limestones are dark and splintery, and the more shaly parts include whitish, flaggy, and sandstone layers. "This lower part of the group may be from 150 to 200 feet thick. A sketch section through the north end of the Khasor range is given in fig. 6 at page 58. About 23 miles from Kündal, to the south, up the course of the Basti alyad, m which the conglomerate is Asphalte locality. : З seen at the base of the Siwalik rocks, a petroleum or asphalte locality occurs. The stream in this valley is saline; but this would seem to arise from its being rather a concentrated solution of the reh or kaller salts than from its connection with any deposit of rock salt.! The water in the more stagnant pools leaves the usual black and white precipitates observable at the sulphur springs of the country. The oil loeality 1s situated in a small tributary nala on the western slope of the limestone range. Approaching it a higher portion of the basal conglomerate is passed, this bed containing fewer limestone pebbles, and those chiefly of carboniferous or triassie origin, but none enclosing nummulites that I could find. Most of them are of quartz, quartzite, red and purple sandstone, chert, yellowish and red granitic and other crystal- ine rocks, and the fragments are larger than in the conglomerate nearer the mouth of the valley, which is on a lower horizon by about 30 feet, the intervening space being occupied by red clays. At the base of this lower conglomerate there are some layers of hard rusty-looking sandy limestone, parts of which seem to have been broken up and slightly shifted in the conglomerate as a matrix ; but none of the rounded pebbles are exactly like this rock. 1 Salt springs are said to issue from the variegated rocks of the opposite side of the range described in the preceding paragraphs. They are mentioned both by Fleming and Verchere. ( 269 ) 60 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE, Yig.7. Junction of the conglomerate and underlying beds of Basti algad at the petroleum sources, 1. Sandy limestone. 2. Sandstone passing into conglomerate. 3. Sandy limestone with detached fragments, 4. Conglomerate. The section seen at this place is as follows :— (10. Red and gray clays with pebbly and other | soft sandstones of grayish colour ° . 500 feet. i 9. Thick conglomerate with irregular sandy L limestone layers at base . . оь „15—20 , ( 8. Brown limestone with white carbonate of SIWALIK ? Š s lime geodes х 4 2 5 6 С Ds . Sandstone layer . : о > . C 1 foot. 6. Brown calcareous sandstone, joint-spaces filled with calcareous mudstone, thickness ay UPPER PART OF THE 3 CERATITE GROUP ? varying much . : a о. LO sheets 5. Grayish-pink shale with calcareous sandy layers, pink at top œ c . ° . 9. , 4. Brown slightly calcareous layer saturated with mineral tar ANGE LS EN te M E O ча L 3. Soft grayish-white sandstone . ^". 100 ,, ( 2. Shaly variegated pink, purple, gray, aba | olive flaggy beds and brown fossiliferous 1 limestone layers with small Ceratites 7150 15 L 1. Hard thin limestones with Ceratites . - Goo Of the petroleum springs of this locality Mr. Lyman says in his report! :—“ The asphalte deposits extend in spots for about a quarter of a mile along the east side of CERATITE BEDS : Mr. Lyman’s account. 1 Report on Punjab Oil-lands by Benjamin Smith Lyman, published by Public Works Department at Lahore, 1870. Aluggud oil-lands, p. 36, &c. The name given to this locality should have been the Basti algad. Alyad ог algada is the Pashtu for Nala or stream-course. EXP GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA Memoirs. Vol: XVII. Pt: 2. Pl: VT А. В. Wynne fecit J. Schaumburg Lith: SIWALIK CONGLOMERATE AND SANDSTONE. BASI ALG AD: MARWAT AND KHASOR HILLS, 61 the brook and amount in all to about 350 cubic yards. It is some- what impure from sand and pebbles mixed with it, and would weigh per- hapsin all 550 tons. Of liquid tar in pools, there was in May 1870 about 100 gallons.” He did not consider it likely the oil-bearing beds continued bituminous to any great distance, but, owing to their thickness, thought it highly probable that borings would meet with success as to the yield of oil. : Mr. Lyman’s description of the section differs a good deal from that recorded in my note book (perhaps he refers to some neighbouring local- ity), and he states that a brown sandy lime rock, evidently about the horizon of the layers from 4 to 8 in the above list, contains “ Productus and otherfossils." Of these I have found no trace, nor of any recogniza- ble fossil until I had reached the shaly and flaggy beds with small Cera- tites, beneath the soft greyish-white sandstone No. 3 above. Tt is difficult to fix the ages of the middle rocks in the last section. Rocks below the te. Such limestone as occurs here intercalated or UNI GORE OURS: entangled with the lowest part of the tertiary con- glomerate might be found in either the trias, cretaceous (?), or basal eocene rocks; it contains no fossils, and the presence of the petroleum rather adds to the difficulty, the usual place of this being near the top of the eocene limestones, which are altogether absent here. In no place is such limestone or any limestone known to form layers in the Siwalik beds, so the presumption is that the calcareous rock is here older, and that its fretted shore surface was so filled by the material of the conglomerate, that where sandy layers of the latter meet others of the limestone the distinc- tion becomes effaced. The thick soft sandstone too (No. 3), being so far as I could see unfossiliferous, is not easy to refer to any fixed horizon; it is not seen to occupy its place for any considerable distance, and though bearing a certain amount of resemblance to the sandstone on the supra- jurassic horizon, it may just as possibly belong to either of the next underlying groups. Below it the rocks are a part of the Ceratite group, and as the black Belemnite zone does not occur beneath the sandstone, it (КОД 62 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. may, for the present at all events, be left together with the group on which it rests. On the mountain slope above the junction there are large patches of кайы the conglomerate somewhat displaced by faults, but so clearly resting upon a lower part of the Ceratite group that its total unconformity to the triassie rocks ‚is proved. For many miles to the southward of this, the north-westerly slopes of North-westerly slopes the range show a steady highly inclined and some- SH ORO шаша what eurving dip corresponding with its general surface, the triassie and upper part of the carboniferous beds forming zones with deeply mitred edges, the V-like points running upward be- tween every considerable nala. The tertiary beds form a long scarp at the foot of the hill ; they are mainly gray sandstones, but a few bands of red or dull orange clay are often seen among the lowest layers. Returning to the scarped south-eastern face of the ridge, the carboni- ferous formation first appears at the Dumanwali hamlet (already mentioned) in high bluffs of dark coloured unfossiliferous and rather magnesian-looking limestone; but in Eastern face of the ridge. the nalas near, the beds are seen to undulate in bold curves, corresponding with an open anticlinal structure, and to contain numerous Producte and others of the common carboniferous fossils. At the extensive ruins of the northern, or Til Rajah, Кайт Kot, the Кайт Kêt (North), enormous blocks of which the walls are built have шшш, been chiefly taken from the carboniferous limestones of the neighbouring hills. Greenish sandy, gray or rusty, limestones are the most common, but a beautiful white compact or erinoidal kind, which rings like a bell when struck and seems to have been dressed with facility, occurs i» situ in the nala to the west, and a very similar zone also oceurs at the foot of the cliffs, here bordering the crest of the ridge. All the lower parts of the hill-lanks expose undulating strong limestones, often with the appearance of having slipped, but still belonging mostly ({6 ӨЙ, ) MARWAT AND KHASOR HILLS. 63 to the lower parts of the formation. Many of the beds are fossili- ferous, chiefly containing Bryozoa, Producta, many Corals, and some Terebratule. Above the lowest 200 or 300 feet of these rocks is a hard sandstone band of 30 feet or so; and at some distance further up in the section are soft sandy beds containing Bellerophon. These continue to the base of the cliffs overlooking the slopes, at which point longitudinal slippage or faulting seems to have taken place, and the cliff limestone is chiefly white and highly fossiliferous, containing Producta, Spirifera, a large flat pecten- oid shell 6 inches in diameter, Corals, Bryozoa, and in the uppermost of these cliff beds several fossils of the unnamed form previously referred to (p. 30) occur in the same beds with the club-shaped spines of an Echinidea. Similar relations continue for a long distance southward : the crest E а of the hill carries with ita lower cliff escarpment than is usual ; the upper beds dip into the L’wargi or Rumáni Khel valley, and the lower part of the group, slipped about and undulating, covers the whole south-eastern slopes with crags and shingle. Towards Omar Khel the crinoidal limestone, though shattered, seems to overlie rusty calcareous and greenish sandy beds with Fusulina, and from beneath these come a mass of grayish and red, but chiefly red, clays and sandstones. These red and earthy beds belong to the boulder group ; they project from the hill side at such a height that the group Boulder group. À с А must occupy а considerable space in the section, and they are largely exposed in the Chedála wan, a little way south- ward from the village. The beds are disturbed, somewhat over-slipped by higher portions of the same group, and appear to be also more or less contorted, but their general dip is to the north-west, at first high, then vertical, and again lower, passing under the carboniferous limestones. Although it is not certain, still there 1s, from the general appearance of the section and the occurrence twice of boulder beds, just a possibility of ( 29 ) 64 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. a crushed denuded anticlinal fold occurring here. The succession is as follows :— ( 9. White crinoidal limestone. CARBONIFEROUS . { 8. Calcareous sandstone and limestone of rusty colour, Spirifera, Streptorhynchus. F (Concealment for many yards.) 7. Very thick dark liver-coloured coarse sandstoneand boulder-beds. The latter are dark clays full of metamorphic, granite, and other pebbles. 6. Gray clay. 9. Mass of shivered gypsum, red and white: dip north-west, high. Much distorted layers of thin-bedded white, red, and gray gyp- sum, alternating with thin gray dolomitic limestone ; bipyramidal and other quartz crystals in one gypsam layer: another showing nme nen ун large ipie mark; may be 50 feet. 4. Blackish-purple clay. 3. Crimson and white, mottled sandstones and red clays, the latter containing boulders of quartzite, red granite, dun-coloured lithographie-texture limestone, &c., dipping at 80° to north. west. | (Interval 200 yards.) 2. Mottled white, greenish-gray, and purple clay with coarse sand- stone and gravelly layers, dip at 30° to north-west. 1. Red sandy clay with enclosed blocks of white, lavender, and L speckled sandstone. This succession is so often interrupted that the thickness of the different parts becomes uncertain. From Nos. 1 to 3 inclusive the beds may be at least 500 feet, and the whole group, which occupies more than half a mile horizontally, can scarcely be less than 1,000 or 1,500 feet, un- less a repetition occurs from the presence of an anticlinal, which is doubtful. The boulder beds are occasionally seen in ravines on the road to Shinki from Omar Khel, but the slopes above are overrun by hard shaly and sandy limestone debris concealing the brown basal part of the carboniferous group. Near Shinki in a small Zas some dark splintery and some sandy limestones Shínki. occur, the lower part being fossiliferous and containing Producte, ( 974 ) MARWAT AND KHASOK HILLS. 65 Spirifere, Fusuline, &e., thé whole underlying lighter-eoloured erinoidal limestone. "These beds belong apparently to the lower, but not lowest part of the group. At the northern end of the scattered village of Kiri, just at the base Br of the hill, there are some curious highly inclined sands, clays, and recent conglomerates quite like local river drift, but dipping to the southward at 50°. It is rather diffieult to account for such beds as these having so steep a dip; they are situated ‚rather too high to be very recent river deposits of the Indus, and may perhaps be accounted for by supposing this river to have cut away soft deposits at the mouth of a ravine for а considerable depth, and the newly forming ones to have filled the vacancy too rapidly to assume any other than a steep angle of rest. The possibility of beds, particularly stream deposits, being formed at this angle, would have an important bearing upon the argument as to mountain disturbanee derived from the tilting of sueh strata as the post- tertiary conglomerates near Kálabágh (see page 19). y About Kiri Khasor the lower beds of the carboniferous appear to be ehiefly erinoidal gray or white limestone, also bands of white calcareous sandstone or decaleified sandy limestone. At the first benches on the hill sides are contorted dark sandy Fusulina limestones, and’ over ћеш sandy erinoidal or cherty limestones with Corals. At the top of the ridge evinoidal beds are chiefly seen in the cliffs; overlaid on the north- west slopes by sandy limestone with Goniatites, Bellerophon, and Dentalium. In this sandy limestone near the hill top I found a part apparently of a rib-bone, also part of another bone, both of considerable size; the latter may have been a portion of a spine. A little higher up in these sandy beds a finely preserved Pecten and an Awlosteges oecur. Resting upon these upper earboniferous rocks аге 150 to 200 feet of E / (т) 1 66 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. alternating Ceratite limestones, gray micaceous flags, and shales; these are in contact with the reddish drab clays of the tertiary group, to the exclusion of the triassie Ceratite marls, the whole of the jurassic rocks, and likewise of the basal conglomerates of the tertiary series, a circum- stance which may indicate much post-triassie local erosion. Near the hamlet of Ghulámi, one of the rarely seen junctions of the boulder group with the overlying carboniferous limestone occurs (see fig. 8 at page 78). The beds are all steeply inclined, dipping to the westward, and the succession is Ghulámi. as follows :— Feet. . Dark flaggy limestone . c с В © 20 . Splintery limestone с . 40 . Hard, earthy, obliquely а бе, en gray crystalline crinoidal limestone and black shale, with dull olive sandstone parts and N 30 LOWEST CARBONI- ne 1 i Ў ij JAN FEROUS, з 6. Bryozoan limestone and sandstone with Pro- ducta, Spirifer, ge. . 5 c с J 5. Variegated and gray shale, hard, white marl and marly limestone, no fossils . > c 12 4. Rusty sandy limestone with Fusulina 3. Light-brown sandy Spirifer limestone and Bryo- L zoan limestone, Corals, Crinoids, Terebratule 40 BOULDER BEDS . Coarse white sandstone . А 5 è ° i Е А 180 (тор or). 1. White sandstone and crimson clays. In the Bariawáli wán the upper portion of the boulder beds forms a small arch immediately overlaid by dark shales, and these by Bryozoan limestone. Here the lower impure part of the carboniferous limestone is at least 250 feet thick, and the top portion of the boulder group has a mixed appearance somewhat resembling the lavender-clay part of the Speckled Sandstone, underlying the cis-Indus earboniferous: the coarser beds of sandstone here associated with the boulder group are not un. like the speckled sandstones ; but the colour of the lower part of the section has even more resemblance to that of the purple sandstone (No. 2) in the Salt Range series. (КОТО) MARWAT AND KHASOR HILLS. 67 Between Kiri Khasor and Bilot, and about the latter place, the later N denudation has removed a good deal of the carbo- niferous rocks, leaving the boulder beds more or less exposed, with the general form of an open arch. The boulder beds of the group are not often seen; there seem to be more sandstones and less clays than before, but the red bole-like beds of the group stain and give a prominent red colour to the whole. The carboniferous rocks resting on the red group showed the following succession in the lower part at one place :— (Pale earthy and lumpy limestones underlying a) thick shale zone . Hard splintery limestones . : : З 4 Hard yellow sandstone, 80 feet . . . .p190 feet. Flaggy limestone with sandy bed . LOWER PART OF CARBONIFEROUS Dark Bryozoa limestone (Shaly beds . As a rule, there seems to be present in this region about 100 to 130 feet of pale, mieaceous, sandy, earboniferous beds with some limestone layers closely sueceeding the red boulder group. Higher up are beds of purplish, pink, and light-coloured, compact, coral-limestone, with large cylindrical Corals, Crinoids, and ill-defined impacted shells. In the next layers above are Fusuline and the un- named form mentioned at page 30. At the summit of the ridge here the uppermost carboniferous beds seen were erinoidal and coral-limestone, with yellow crystalline and white, sandy, thinly-bedded layers, containing two or three species of Producte, as well as many individuals of a Bellerophon common in the Salt Range, a large nodose Goniatite and other shells, as well as parts of large fish-bones or bony spines. Ceratites also occasionally occur in these beds, so that there seems to be the same mingling of triassic and car- boniferous genera at the junction here as occurs in the Salt Range. The thin-bedded limestones and olive marly clays of the Ceratite group with apparently less than their usual thickness immediately succeed the fossi- liferous layers just mentioned, and are in contact with the soft gray ( gum) 68 wYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. sandstones and reddish and gray clays of the overlapping Siwalik group. In the neighbourhood of Káfir Kot South (or Bil Rajah Käfir Kot), ; the red boulder group, with a thickness of 100 to Káfir Kot (South). 1 2 150 feet, is occasionally exposed close on the bank of the Indus, appearing from beneath shattered and disturbed carboni- ferous limestone layers. Here the beds with boulders are somewhat below the top of the group ; they contain blocks, up to one and a half feet across, ; of red granite, dark basalt, limestone, white meta- Boulder beds. mm. : : morphie limestone, quartzose and other indurated rocks; imbedded in a dark grey clay: the assemblage strongly recalling both the western Salt Range infra-carboniferous beds and also the much newer conglomeratic clays of Chel hill in the eastern part z that range, supposed to occupy a eretaceous horizon. Many of the blocks are smooth, parts quite so, almost polished, and on these surfaces some show slight striation in two directions; these were rendered more visible, while wet, by washing the boulders in the adjacent river. The limestones of the | range here and towards Kingriäli summit are much curved in different directions, and they form a short and rugged ridge parallel to the main crest of the range, the undulation of the beds produeing at this locality the widest surface exposure of the carboni- ferous group 1n the whole range. Accompanying this expansion the height of the range increases, but is not given on the maps. By a rough angular observation, compared with aneroid readings, it was conjectured to have an altitude of 3,150 feet above the sea. | Westward of Káfir Kot (South) and of Fatteh-jai on the Indus, there Westward of Kéfr 18 a singular large bay-like recess, 3 miles across Kot (South). | and 1} deep, eroded from. the frontage of the range, near the village of Saiduwál. As the ground rises this re- cess is bordered by fine cliffs, reproducing for its extent all the most Characteristic appearance of the bolder Salt Range and trans-Indus (ae) MARWAT AND KHASOR HILLS, 69 escarpments, with the usual fan talus of coarse detritus at foot, sloping upwards to a height of 300 feet above the plain. The singularity of this feature, together with the less marked sinu- osities of the escarpment north of Káfir Kot (South), near Bilot, &e., suggests former curvatures of the Indus having impinged upon the range at these points, though there now remain no traces of elevated ground on the eastern side of the river to have caused its deflection. Within the recess, its erosion having reached deeply into the struc- "Iovi ture of the range, a fine section of the rocks is Cliff series. exposed and some new features are presented. By similar rough observations to those previously mentioned, the beight of the cliffs here was estimated at about 1,650 feet above the plains, all of which height, except some 300 feet, being occupied by a regular ascending series. In this there is exposed, beneath the carboniferous formation which forms the top of the escarpment, a mass of clays, sandstones, and boulder beds resting upon a very prominent thick zone of some 450 or 500 feet of alternating dolomite and gypsum bands. From beneath these at one place on the western side of the embayment, a lower group of some 250 feet of purple sandstones is seen to project. This purple sandstone has the very uniform character of that which I have distinguished as the Purple Sandstone group in the Salt Range, but the mass of gypsum and dolomite succeeding it has no analogue in any other section of the whole range with which I am acquainted. Gypseous and magnesian beds are found among the red rocks of the boulder group at Omar Keyl, as previously noticed; they are not, however, in the same quantity, or so distinctly separated into a great group by themselves, plainly underlying the red boulder band. The distance (19 miles) between the localities might be considered suffi- cient for the change to have taken place in, but in none of the sec- tions near the intervening exposure of the infra-carboniferous rocks at Bilot was this great gypseous group to be seen. Hence it appears probable that the conditions favourable to the production of these chemi- (Erg) 70 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. eally formed rocks were prolonged in these westerly regions to a later horizon than in the Salt Range itself. From the esearpment the section continues upwards through the trias, Escarpment section ANd. either at the top of this or in the base of the upwards. jurassie formation, which now appears, there is, resting upon the uppermost triassic sandstones — here strongly developed— a thick zone of light-coloured unfossiliferous dolomite, very like the rock upon which the unconformable Siwalik conglomerate rests at the extreme northern termination of this range near Basti or Kündal. The series in the Kingriáli cliffs and this part of the mountains is as follows (see fig. 9 at page 78) :— 23. Thick Siwalik gray sandstones, some clays present below. 22. Loose, white, yellow and red mottled and variegated | Ft. sandstone, sometimes with calcareous or dolomitic layers. Some layers of ferruginous breccia alter- nating with gray clays, the latter containing impressions somewhat resembling the pinnules of Ptilophyllum. Red calcareous shaly band below. 21. Whitish and yellow sandy beds rapidly alternating with clay partings. Аск کے‎ JURASSIC 500 to 700 20. Greenish-gray clays, sometimes gypseous. 19. Thin-bedded white dolomitic limestones alternating with hard white marls, contain erinoidal bands and a few Cephalopoda; laid down on avery un- L even surface of the group below; 100 to 250 feet. J (18. Hard zone of dolomite and limestone, a few bands) of the latter crinoidal ; 150 to 250 feet. 17. Light-coloured and white sandstones with a few cri- | noidal rings having small central canals: 100 feet, f 500 16. Flaggy limestone and greenish marls with Ceratites: — کے‎ mMM CERATITE BEDS. TRIAS. 4 | sandstone and flaggy limestone more frequent \ upwards. А thin hard limestone band at base. = | | l ! 15. Bellerophon sandstone and Dentalium beds 4. Strong cliff-limestones одо озо Ооа 3. Sandy limestone with Terebratule and corals. Thick а е : ; 650 splintery magnesian layers without fossils, 12. A few alternations of sandy and dolomitic rusty Ca гс БИТЕ limestone. MARWAT AND KHASOR HILLS. 71 11. Gray clays overlying a boulder bed in places as 10. Purple and crimson sandstones and clays 53 9. Earthy dark coloured boulder beds; under 200 feet 7 і TEE O00 8. Dark gray concretionary shales or clays containing little fragments of thin Bivalves and Gastropoda, also little lanceolate bodies ; 100 to 150 feet, J 7. Gypsum and dolomite, and clays with cherty, dark `) platy, bituminous, bands alternating with pink and white layers of rock gypsum. . Gypseous clays, gray dolomite, gray gypsum ed . Pale yellow warty sandstone ... B осо p 450 і 6 45 | 4. Gray gypseous dolomite eed Eu 508 1 8. | 2 C | BOULDER GROUP. 1 | t if GYPSEOUS GROUP. Red clays and sandy dolomite ... "e . Pale gray, obliquely laminated, finely crystalline | dolomite. J ie а { 1. Dry-looking purple, red, and whitish sandstones wi 250 to 300 Westwards from the Saiduwäli recess the Khasor range declines in elevation, with the appearance of a much com- West of Saiduwáli recess. Io Boe 5 pressed and crumpled declining anticlinal axis, covered over by the jurassic rocks and trias beds mentioned in the last section, the many deep ravines exposing the lowest part of these rocks, .and one towards the west not only the carboniferous but some of the red boulder beds below. In the neighbourhood of Paniäla the rocks appear to have suffered e. much from compression and fracture, a detached mass of the Siwalik tertiaries being forced into faulted contact with the jurassie rocks, in a ravine due south of the ‘village ; and from near this place to the eastward the boundary between the jurassie and tertiary beds appears to be a fault, the drab and olive elays of the latter formation resting in places against inverted beds of the variegated jurassic group. The contact was originally one of un- conformable overlap no doubt, but subsequent disturbance seems also to have been accompanied by displacement. The tertiary beds are here chiefly soft gray thick-bedded, and in parts pebbly, sandstones with subordinate bands of clay, and the Indus pebbles ( 281 ) 72 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. enclosed in these upper or middle Siwalik rocks are not greatly less in size than those in the Siwalik conglomerates of Makhad (on the Indus), - while those at present brought by that river into the recent deposits near Bilot and Kéfirkót (South) have dwindled to the size of walnuts and less, Paniála is famous for the fine springs of fresh water which issue near it and from which the hill station of Shekh Budín is supplied. А sandy plain stretches away to the frontier mountains to the west, and the fine mass of the Gund or Shekh Budin rises boldly 3 miles off to the north- west, while the homogeneous, bare and deeply fretted sandstone range of the Nila Roh blocks the view to the north and north-east. SECTION V.—Suexu BupíN GÛND. This peak forms as it were a large protruding boss about 6 miles long by 2 wide, rising some 1,500 feet or more above the Nila Roh, just at the angle which this ridge makes with the lower Bhatani range. Its summit is marked 4,638 feet above the sea, at the most lofty part of the frontier hill station situated Form of the ground. thereon. The mountain is sparsely wooded with scattered scrub, and has, over most of its stony surface, an orange tint contrasting with the bluish- gray colour of the Nila Roh, except to the southward and east, where lofty precipices display the many-coloured variegated portion of the jurassic series and some of the underlying formations. One profound ravine, that of the Hasham tanga or algad, nearly cuts off the northern from the southern part of the mountain, and there are others, shorter, but of great depth and steepness, on the north, east, and south, most of them radiating more or less from the culminating peak ог günd. All are waterless or nearly so, and to the south and westward terminate in broad stony vaans (wdns) crossing the belt of boulder ground which borders the hills in these directions; while to the northward they enter the small sandy flats forming the Pezu pass amongst the tertiary sandstone hills. ( 282 ) SHEKH BUDÍN HILLS, 79 From the top of the günd an extensive prospect is obtained. The soft greenish sandstone rocks of the Níla Roh, with- out a visible trace of vegetation, stretching from beneath one to the east-north-east, are seen to form a bold anticlinal eurve, folding over the same axis as that of the northern lobe of the Shekh Budín mountain. To the northwards the same sandstones, with gently dipping inclinations towards Agzar Khel, rise rapidly nearly to the vertical, as they border the günd, forming most precipitous Surrounding country. and inaccessible ground intersected by steep valleys. Looking along the axis of the Bhatani range, which abuts against that of Shekh Budin günd, the convex curvatures of the bedding lines, in plan, as shown in Dr. Verchere’s sketch,! are plainly seen, and the view is closed to the west by the massive forms and rugged outlines of the Sulemán trans-frontier ranges. Where the main axis of the Níla Roh traverses the northern lobe DE of the mountain beneath the günd, it has, from en terminal pressure, assumed an upward curvature, and thus given to the jurassie beds of this portion of the mountain a quaquaversal, ellipsoidal arrangement, enfolded at both ends by the tertiary sandstones, which enter deeply the synclinal trough perfectly eoincident with the course of the Hásham tanga. Beyond this valley at its southern side, the same jurassie beds rise Paniéla bluffs. Anti. Steeply on to the Jangla ridge, forming part of a dinal: similar, nearly parallel, anticlinal ellipsoid, which has been deeply eaten into and cut back from the plains to the line of the Paniála bluffs. These grand precipices expose a fine but nearly inacces- sible section down through the calcareous portion of the jurassic rocks, the variegated group beneath, the underlying triassic beds, and lower still a portion of the carboniferous formation. I have not observed any of the infra-carboniferous beds in the section, ! Jour. As. Soc., Bengal, 1867, Vol. XXXVI, pt. II, p. 14. ? Extremely similar to features of the same kind in the northern ranges of Kach. (2980) 74 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. but Dr. Verchere mentions “ beds of massive gypsum” which are “not extensive " “on the southern side of the hill near its base." 1 The curves of the two antielinals flatten, where they coalesce on the Formationsof theanti. Col, or * divide,’ between the heads of the Hásham clinals. tanga and Thoru-ba-tanga or Khavuri ravines ; and the easterly convex declinations of both are well exposed by the excavation of the last named valley and upon the spur nearest to Paniäla- In the opposite direction the termination of the northern anticlinal is equally well displayed near the ascent of the main road to the hill station from the Pezu post, but that to the south expands, and its definition in the neighbourhood of Chünda has been interfered with by the extent of the denudation. Everywhere about the hill the effect of intense local disturbance, com. pression, and great denudation are prominently exhibited, the folding of the rocks being accompanied by sharp fractures, placing portions of the crushed groups in complex relations of contact with other members of the series. The rock groups are everywhere conformably disposed, the disturbances communicated to each group are partaken of by the General relations. 5 : à rest, but there is evidence of a considerable break in the series at the base of the tertiary beds. Between these and the jurassic rocks, the whole of the nummulitie limestones and their conform- ably superimposed lower tertiary sandstones, &c., are absent, and in their place there is only a fugitive representative,—perhaps of the supposed cretaceous sandstones of the Shíngarh and Maidán ranges, perhaps of the transition layers between the nummulitie limestone and the lower tertiary sandstones which rest upon it. "This band, oceurring at the top of the jurassic beds and at the local base of the tertiaries, is composed of coarse soft whitish-yellow sandstone, lithologically similar to the supra-jurassie band in the Chichäli pass, but sometimes containing pebbles of num- mulitie limestone like the lowest tertiary sandstone or uppermost num- mulitic layers of the Maidan range at Mitha and elsewhere. 1 Jour. As. Soc., 1867, Vol. XXXVI, pt. II, p. 17. ( 984 ) SHEKH BUDÍN HILLS. 15 The presence of these pebbles shows that eocene rocks were being Eocene pebbles in denuded somewhere in the neighbourhood (pro- esse ШЕ bably to the north), while the disturbance which caused this denudation by bringing the parent rocks from a depositing into a denuding region was apparently quite inoperative at this locality. Though no evidence exists to show that any deposition took place here, corresponding to that of a large part of the immediately post-jurassic rocks, the nummulitie group, and the transitional lower tertiary sand- stones, &c., the. post-jurassie surface appears to have remained flat and submerged in this neighbourhood, till long after it had received the hori- zontal deposits of the upper tertiary Sıwalik period. The carboniferous beds of the Paniäla bluffs skirt a portion of their 3 southern base and are cut off to the east by a fault, Carboniferous. i Н A obliquely crossing the strike, and bringing these rocks into contact with a folded and subsided portion of the overlying jurassic group. The whole formation dips at an angle of 20° or 30° to the north, the lowest beds being about 100 feet of dark micaceous flags and shales, of which 60 feet were exposed and the rest apparently conceal- ed by talus deposits. In the shaly beds I found fragments of grass-like plants and the casts of a mytiloid shell. These shales are succeeded by about 400 feet of light-coloured and gray dolomitie and other limestone, the latter containing the usual Producte, Spirifere, and. Terebratule, with other earboniferous fossils. At the top of the formation the Bel- lerophon beds are found to occupy their ordinary position. Immediately succeeding the carboniferous rocks are the greenish-gray earthy micaceous and partly gypseous clays and Trias. SUR sandy beds of the triassie group, some of them having much the aspect and texture of parts of the Siwalik rocks. The beds are from 300 to 350 feet in thickness, and in places contain an abundance of Ceratites, some of them large like those near Virgal in the Salt Range (one measured over 9 inches in diameter). The group, as in other places, is closely united stratigraphically with the underlying rocks. (285 9 76 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. Succeeding the trias with parallel conformity comes at first a group of blackish-purple, thin-bedded sandy rocks and clays, then a set of variegated. beds, followed by 200 to 300 feet of dolomite,! of the same character as that above the trias at the top and on the north side of the Khasor range at Saiduwáli, and like it overlaid by a white thin-bedded marly and dolomitie band. Variegated group. These magnesian rocks form a conspicuous zone ranging along the cliffs with increasing thickness to the west, generally rising above a bench occupied by the trias clays, &e., these resting upon the stronger carboniferous group. The dolomitie band is succeeded by a great mass of the variegated jurassic rocks scarcely less than 1,500 feet in thickness. They include white, pink, ferruginous, and purple, soft and sometimes coarse, gravelly or even pebbly sandstones, alternating repeatedly with pale-gray, or greenish- gray, carbonaceous, coaly and alum shales and clays, bole-like red bands occurring near the top. Many bands of magnesian and dull gray com- pact and splintery or marly limestone are interstratified, becoming more numerous upwards, and there often filled with marine fossils, while the more flaggy and sandy bands among the clays in the lower portion con- tain numerous imperfect fragments of plants, a few of which resembled leaflets of ferns. | To the variegated series sueceeds a thick mass of clays, drab or erim- son, or in part jet black, with alum shales and Jurassic limestones. 31 N coaly layers, and containing, as indeed do many of the earthy bands, plates of selenite. They have in places much the appearance of the shales in the jurassie beds of Kach, show the same kind of yellow powdery partings, are covered here and there with white saline efflorescences, and when broken into, are sometimes crowded in the same way with small broken fragments of plants. At one place in 1 If this band of dolomites be identified with that at the extreme northern end of the Khasor range,—and it seems very similar,—the jurassie formation may probably be repre- sented there to some extent; but the identification is not certain, and no jurassic fossils have been found in the lower part of the dolomite or immediately beneath it in either place. ( 286 ) SHEKH BUDÍN HILLS. wi the chífs where the section was well exposed, but inaecessible for the most part, they have the following arrangement :— Shaly limestone Drab shale 50 feet Gray shales with limestone bands Black alum shales 100 feet E > - ; Crimson clay or bole 200 feet. Shaly limestone with numerous fossils s л Ў Е Above this shaly zone comes ће mass of thin-bedded pale ог dun- coloured limestone with some intercalated clays or shales which forms the sheer cliffs along these bluffs, and bends round the end of the southern anticlinal. In these limestone beds which may have a total thickness approach- ing to 800 or 1,000 feet, there are numerous fossils—Crinoids, Corals, Chemnitzia or Cerithium? Echinus spines, Ithynchonelle, Terebratule, some Pectens, Goniomya, Ammonites, and several others besides опе of the Asteridea, an imperfect impression of which I was unable to remove from the surface of the limestone bed that exposed it. The absence of Trigonie in these fossiliferous beds appeared peculiar. 'The jurassie beds so far present two strongly marked groups, a varie- gated sandy and earthy one of great thickness Two groups. below, succeeded by a calcareous one above of uniform dun or light-yellowish colour. The separation, it will be seen, was already somewhat defined in the Chicháli range (page 45), but here it is much more complete; the limestone layers in the lower group, while they serve to connect both, are insufficient to affect the striking difference of character between these two parts of the formation.! 1 Dr. Waagen has shown the palzontological correspondence between the jurassic beds of the Salt Range and those of Kach (Geol. Surv. Manual p. 496). A stratigraphical difference, however, which has been also observed irr this formation in the intervening deserts (Records, X, pp. 18-19), exists in the fact that in Kach the arenaceous portion of the whole group overlies the limestones, while here and in the Indian desert the reverse is the case (cf. Manual, pp. 253, 263, and 495) The Ranikot group of Sind as described (Manual, p. 451) appears to be strikingly similar in composition to the variegated jurassic beds here, ST) 78 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. The jurassie limestones mantle round, enfold, and oceupy the whole of EN the anticlinal ellipsoid forming the northern lobe Uppermost jurassic. ў of Shekh Budín. They are in places fossiliferous» and a considerable collection from these beds is in the hands of Dr. Waagen for determination. Among the highest, or forming the very highest layer around the ellipsoid, as well as overlying it in scattered patches to the east, near a tank on the descent from the summit towards Paniála, and again near the Pezu road, between the Günd and a summit called Pic-nie hill, there occurs а tough blackish sandy and ferruginous band of 40 to 50 feet or Blackish zone. SR: ER: less. This is almost exactly similar to the black band in the Chichäli range on the same horizon containing: uncanaliculate Belemnites and a neocomian Ammonite in its upper part, but enclosing jurassie Ammonites and Belemnites just beneath. This black band here (if it be quite the same) always contains Belem- nites with and without canals. Ammonites of two or three species have been found in it, but none that have been as yet identified with the neocomian 4. (Perisphinctes) asterianus o£ Chichali pass: several fossils besides, such as Rhynchonella, Pecten, Goniomya, Corals, Ostrea, &c., occur, also nodular masses of hard clay full of cavities, apparently made by boring shells. Not far below this horizon is a band of blue oolite which contains numerous Леге? some Pleurotomarie, and numbers of ‚Pholadomye, as well as fragmentary Ammonites, &c. One always singularly well preserved tumid Pecten ranges from these upper beds down into the variegated series of the Panidla bluffs. The zone is perhaps partly representative of some of the golden oolite layers elsewhere. In some spots, but always isolated, dislocated, or generally without. any overlying strata, I have observed exposures of Similar rocks. MIS о : similar dark-coloured rocks to those just described, but not always found them to contain fossils. It is uncertain whether these exposures belong to the topmost jurassic horizon, or may be those of other black bands at no great distance downwards in the series. The ( 206 PINS EHE ONE ER AT SUR Var ve OR IDEA. Wynne. Memoirs Vol: XVII. Ft. 2. MILE I; Wao у? MEEA ba Sp DO a West. Oe UM G Fig: 8. Junction at Ghulami between Carboniferous and boulderbeds ( P.66) (For index. see text.) Kingrial Cliffs. Fi$:9. Section of the Kingriali Chifs.(P.70) Scale: 2.inch = 1.mile: Vertical = double Horizontal. : 1. Purple sandstone. 2.Dolomite. 3.Gypsum. 4 Dolomite (gyp sum group.) 5.Purple boulder beds 6.Purple sandstone. 7.Clays. 8.Uarboniferous limestone. 9. Bellerophon рейз. 10. Üeratite beds. И.Ттлаз sandstone. 12. Dolomite (? Tria 4810) 18. Jurassic marly limestone and sandstone. Shekh Budin Gund Pamala Bluffs 4551. Fi$:10. Section over Shekn Budin. Scale:Linch-1.mule: Vertical scarcely exafgerated (PY9) 1Carbomferous» 2.Tri&s. 3.Dolomile band. 4, Variegated Jurassic. 5 Shale zone. 6 Limastone. ura587 7 Black zone, Jurassic. 8.Sandstone, cretaceous ? in part. 9. Sıwalik sandstones. К. Wault. SHEKH BUDÍN HILLS. 19 most probable ease I observed of an inferior position for these beds occurs in the Hásham tanga, on its north side, south-west of the station ; even here it was not certain that slipping of a portion of the higher rocks had not taken place. Nearly always in contact with this black zone on external parts of the Sandstones above ju. hill are to be found the whitish or light-coloured rassic beds. sands and sandstones of the, perhaps, partly creta- ceous and partly post-eocene or even upper eocene band which intervenes between the jurassie and tertiary formations; they sometimes appear either not to have been deposited or else to have been squeezed out of place in the sections, and they vary somewhat, both in thickness and ` character. Not unfrequently sharp checks, faults and omissions of the group, are to be found, probably resulting from the intense crushing at the eontaet of rock masses having so great a difference in hardness as the jurassic limestones possess compared with the Siwalik rocks. Sueceeding the sandstone band (No. 8) of this section comes the enor- E. mous mass of the Siwalik sandstones of the Níla Siwalik beds. Roh and Bhatani ranges, almost entirely without the frequent aiternations of clays to be found in other districts, until the uppermost part of the group is reached. Here a comparatively narrow band of the usual drab clays seen at the top of the upper Siwalik beds in the Indus section closes the series as exposed. A section over Shekh Budin is given in figure 10 at page 78. This being one of the most, if not the most, interesting portion of the trans-Indus extension of the Salt Range, as well as the farthest point in this direction at which the relations of the paleozoic, mesozoic, and tertiary rocks are known, 1 append a coloured reduction from the recently completed frontier survey of the locality, on the scale of one inch to a mile, four times as large as that of the map to accompany this paper. The tertiary sandstones in the neighbourhood of the spurs nearest to Faulted tertiary junc- the Paniála staging bungalow are seen to be in їй several places faulted against the jurassie rocks, and on the south-western side of the Khavuri tanga, near its mouth, there is (009808) $0 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. a mass of the variegated group with portions of the uppermost black zone brought into crushed and faulted contact with both the Siwaliks and the ealeareous jurassic beds. How this mass was originally placed it is difficult even to conjecture with probability, but its presence may be connected with the intense folding and distortion of the rocks where the Paniäla bluffs turn sharply to the north, and are traversed by the bridle path used to convey water from the last-named village to the hill station. The cliffs in the limestone group at this place were estimated, partly by the aid of aneroid readings, at from 800 to East cliffs. . om E WM 1,000 feet in height, most of this being a sheer ver- tical precipice, through beds not only presenting a very focus of plication, but so intensely faulted and crushed that a portion of the Siwalik rocks, once caught apparently in a minor oblique synclinal on the northern side of the main Nila Roh and Shekh Budin anticlinal axis, has been wedged into a position along the upper part of the Khavuri ravine aetually underlying the jurassie rocks on both sides of the stream. The Gund. Рата Bluffs SHEKH BUDIN HILLS. 81 The annexed diagram may assist in the comprehension of the way in He cH which the rocks here are arranged. "The outlines approaching an observer are drawn thicker than. those more distant; the figures are the same as in the section across the hill, previously given ; lines of fracture are marked with the letter F, and the large surfaces upon which the limestone (sectional) character is omitted are convex towards the spectator. | Round the eastern margin of the jurassie limestones in the valley of Supra-jurassic sand. the Khavuri tanga, the sandstones between these s c beds and the Siwalik group are as well exposed perhaps as anywhere else about the hill Due east of the point where the Panidla road crosses the bluffs, in the valley far below, they are quite vertical, adjoining the dark uppermost jurassic band on one side and soft Siwalik sandstones upon the other, and they contain two small conglomeratie bands enclosing pebbles of alveolina-limestone. A little way along the strike, up the course of the algad, they appear to have gained in thickness, and dip with the curving beds of the anti- clinal at a lower angle, the contact with the beds adjoining taking place thus— i SIWALIK ,. 4 Gray soft sandstone with scattered pebbles : part . of a great thickness of similar rocks. 3. Soft whitish sandstone alternating with gray and ‘dark-brown rusty clays and conglomerate lay- SUPRA-JURASSIC ers below. One minute Zerebratula found. 120 feet. 2. Black sandy earthy zone with Belemnites; a few rusty layers:—50 feet, and less. JURASSIC .. 1. Hard thm-bedded limestone with thin shale partings; Rhynchonella, Gervillia, and large Belemnites in topmost layer. Upper part of the jurassic limestones. Thick. The conglomeratic bands do not appear to be everywhere present in the sandstone No. 3, but were distinctly seen just above the black zone No. 2, where the rocks are tilted upon edge near this. Further on towards the axis of the anticlinal the soft white sandstone zone seems even thicker, still overlying the dark earthy band, but being / KRZR) 89 wYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. in two or three places totally and sharply interrupted by cross-faults, probably more the result of partial landslips in consequence of the torrential action of the stream than anything else. ) There are some patches of the dark uppermost jurassie zone, ap- parently left by the weathering and denudation of the ground, scattered over the arched surface of the anticlinal here, and a similar sort of exposure occurs near a fine tank on the small plateau above the cliffs, traversed by the Pariála road. This is one of the fossil localities of the hill. To the westward along the line of the Chunda bluffs the cliffs on un the south of the ridge are very fine. They are formed at the crest and for many hundred feet downwards by the jurassic limestones. Their height must be great, particularly beneath the peak called Gügu-ka-Chüka, to judge from the time occupied in the descent of the cliff by alarge herd of Markhor going at full speed and jumping from ledge to ledge; some of the latter are 30 to 50 feet apart, and the rocky wall so perpendicular that no other kind of four-footed animal could have attempted to descend. No heights for these commanding points are marked upon the maps. - Beyond this towards. Chunda the path is very difficult. One must either follow the very crest of the ridge formed by the limestones, here dipping at nearly 40° into the Hásham ravine, or descend into the ravine itself, for at the place called the Jangla the cliffs are inaccessible and the whole northern side of the mountain is formed for long distances of the surface of a single sloping bed of rock too smooth and too steep to afford a foothold except to the Markhor and Oorial, nearly always to be found there. To the south of the ridge here the variegated group is well exposed South of the Jangla Upon the spurs in the Wazirwal tanga or kas ; ridge. while to the north of the ridge the 150 to 170 feet of soft sandstones interposed between the jurassie and Siwalik rocks are Supra-jurassie beds at o be seen following the strike of both of these Beau accent. formations, but interrupted in a singular manner in ( 292 ) SHEKH BUDÍN HILLS. 89 the ravine just south of the lower part of the steep zigzag ascent from Pezu. The section here is as follows :— Fig.12. Diagram of a small gection near the Pezu ascent to Shekh Budín, (Beferences given in the following paragraph). Just at the mouth of the ravine some soft whitish sandstones are visible, and following it upwards for a few chains, to where a small elbow occurs, the uppermost beds of the jurassie group and those of the in- tervening zone between these and the Siwaliks are found in the abnor- mally crushed, faulted, and overslipped position seen in the sketch. The mass to the right (No. 10) 1s of gray strong limestone, similar to that of the rest of the jurassie formation adjacent: The subsided mass No. 9 is of similar limestone also, and fully 50 feet, or more, in thickness or height, passing into shattered rubble to the left :— | Feet. No. 8. Massive, soft, milk-white sandstone . : А > . 39 — underlying grayer sandy beds imperfectly seen, and over- lying— „ 7. Rusty and white sandstone, thin-bedded and alternating with gray saline clays . . : б о о . 20 » 6. Red sandstone . а Я ө E А : 9 10 » 9. Gray thin-bedded shale 5 : : с А 10 Carried ovor 2x49 84 WYNNE : TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. Feet. Brought forward . 79 No.4, Black shale, gypseous and containing Belemnites : . 45 „ 9. Dark greenish-olive concretionary and sandy rock : э 1 (Nos. 3 and 4 equal the black band at top of the jurassic for- mation). » 2. A thin layer of black gypseous clay. » l. Dark rugged limestone with tracks on surfaces and partings of clear gypsum (selenite). TOTAL A ; . . 140 At a little distance to the north, the main road crosses the .sand- MU am stone DAR where it is in its proper place, and the white sandstones seem much thicker. The band is vertical and at least 150 feet in thickness, apparently increasing considerably to the eastward. The junction with the perfectly parallel Siwalik beds is thus— Feet. Siwalik.—4. Thick gray sands or incoherent sandstones passing downwards into thick sandy clay. 3. Green clay : 5 е Я é : : . 15 to 20 2. Rusty sandstone passing down into 1. Thick white sandstone band: more than |. : c . 130 This sandstone band is traceable to the eastward among the vertically bedded rocks on the northern side of the Günd anticlinal, but the ground is here so preeipitous and impassable in places that the junetion which oceurs high up among the cliffs cannot always be closely inspected : here and there the zone, if present, was certainly not prominently in view from above. The following provisional determinations of fossils collected at Shekh Budín have been kindly supplied by Dr. Feistmantel :— | TERTIARY. LAMELLIBRANCHIATA. Lucina gigantea, Desh.—K arundi. GASTEROPODA. Nerita: schmideliana, Chemn.—Karundi, Soh Mts. ( 294 ) SHEKH BUDÍN HILLS. ECHINODERMATA. Conoclypeus (comp.) flemingi, à Arch, — Kálabágh, Karundi. CORAIS. Trochosmilia, sp. Leptoria, sp. SAMD = East-north-east of Thal. Latimeandra, sp. Actinacis, sp. FORAMINIFERA. Nummulites, sp.— Sherkot, hills behind Hanga, road to Udi. Alveolina, sp.—Hills behind Hanga. KALABAGH. CARBONIFEROUS. GASTEROPODA. Bellerophon decipiens, deKon. . BRACHIOPODA. Terebratula biplicata, Brocchi, var. problematica. D himalayensis, deKon. Streptorkynchus pectiniformis, Dav. Athyris subtilita, Hall. » royssi, L Ev. Productus costatus, Sow. 55 purdoni, Dav. Camarophoria purdoni, Dav. KAFIR KOT. CARBONIFEROUS. GASTEROPODA. Bellerophon decipiens, deKon. Anomia lawrenciana, Flem. BRACHIOFODA. Streptorkynchus crenistria. Et pectiniformis, Dav. Spirifera octoplicata, Sow. Athyris subtilita, Hall. Produetus eostatus, Sow. 5 cora, d’Orb. x semireticulatus, Sow. d humboldti, d^ Orb. CoRALS. OMAR KHEL. CARBONIFEROUS, GASTEROPODA. Anomia lawrenciana, Flemg. Michelina, sp. wo Cx 85 86 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE. PUNJAB SALT RANGE. BRACHIOPODA, Streptorhynchus pectiniformis, Dav. Productus costatus, Sow. Pr. semireticulatus, Sow. Productus, SP. Orthis, sp. BRYOZOA, Phyllopora comp. kaimeana, de Kon. CORAIS. Lithostrontion. FORAMINIFERA. Fusulina comp. cylindrica, Fisch. GULAMI. CARBONIFEROUS. Spirifera striata, Mart: Athyris royssi, L'Ev. PARANGA KAS. CARBONIFEROUS. BRACHIOPODA, Athyris subtilita, Hall. Athyr. royssi, L’ Ev Productus costatus, Sow. í BRYOZOA. Retepora? lepida, de Kon. BILOT. CARBONIFEROUS. VERTEBRATA. Xystracanthus, major Waag. Fish teeth. CEPHALOPODA, Ceratites, sp. GASTEROPODA. Macrocheilus avelanoides, de Kon. Dentalium herculeum, de Kon. Bellerophon decipiens, de Kon. BRACHIOPODA. Streptorhynchus crenistria, Phil. pectiniformis, Dav. Rhynchonella, sp. Productus cora, Orb. Prod. humboldti, ФО. ( 296 ) SHEKH BUDIN HILLS. CRINOIDEA. Philocrinus cometa, de Kon. CORALS. Lithostrontion, sp. SHEIK BUDIN. CARBONIFEROUS. BRACHIOPODA. Spirifera moosakhailensis, Dav. Athyris subtilita, Hall. Productus costatus, Sow. Prod, cora, d’Orb. Prod, semireticulatus, Sow. CORALS. Lithostrontion, sp. ‘TRIASSIC. Ceratites planulatus, de Kon. P davidsonianus, de Kon. JURASSIC. CEPHALOPODA. Ammonites biplex, Sow. (Verchere enumerates four more species). Ammonites communis, Sow. Ammonites—several other species. Belemnites gerardi, Opp. Belemnites tibeticus, Stol. (Verchére names two more species). Belemnites comp. hastatus. GASTEROPODA. Pleurotomaria, sp. Pleurotomaria— another species. Natica, sp. Ancillaria, sp. Turritella, sp. LAMELLIBRANCHIATA. Pecten, sp. Lima, sp. Homomya, sp. Pholadomya deltoidea, Sow. Pholadomya comp. media, Ag. Pholadomya comp. murchisoni, Sow. Pholadomya, sp. Mactromya, SP. Ceromya, sp. Ostrea, sp. (Several other species are named by Verchére), or 01 => 88 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. BRACHIOPODA. Terebratula biplicata, Sow. (Verchere names several other species). Terebratula sella, Sow. Terebratula.—several other species. Rhynchonella comp. dimidiata, Sow. Rhynchonella—several other species. ` CORAIS. Fungia, sp. PLANTS. Ptilophylium acutifolium, Morr. Podozamites, sp. But little remains to be said of the tertiary rocks of this neighbour- E hood. The whole series possesses an almost mono- tonous sameness of character with an endless diver- sity of form. The dips uniformly correspond to the ovoid dome-shaped mass of the older rocks, and the bedding lines in these thick, soft, homo- geneous sandstones are frequently so subordinate that the deep erosion which produced the many ramifying spurs, disregarding the bedding, has tended to produce vertical surfaces, whether the stratifieation be itself vertical or inclined. So readily has the mass yielded to the wasting agencies that one can penetrate with scarcely perceptible ascent, until close to the backbone of the hills, by following any of the numerous flat-bottomed dry sandy gorges. Further to the eastward it becomes apparent that the stratification has, notwithstanding, exerted a modifying influence upon the large scale, for this backbone of the Níla Roh does not coincide closely with the anticlinal axis of the range, but lies adjacent to this axis at a little distance to the north, leaving the steep inclinations of the rocks to the south, and tending to form a searp along the outerop of the more gently sloping strata in the opposite direction. From the space occupied, the height of the range, and the angles of inclination, it 1s estimated that the Siwalik beds of the Níla Roh are more than 4,700 feet thick, the upper- most 500 to 700 feet being chiefly clay. Siwalik fossils have long been known to occur in these beds, but all that were readily procurable seem to have been already collected by visitors to Shekh Budín, Dr. Fossils. ( 998 ) BHATTANI HILLS. 89 Costello and others. Still there can scarcely be any doubt that a regularly organised search for fossils, with sufficient time at disposal, would be successful. The few specimens I was able to obtain during the short time I was in the neighbourhood were scarcely worth carriage. Section ҰІ.—Тне Buarrawi HILLS. This is a much lower range than the Nila Roh, formed of exactly the same beds, likewise having an anticlinal arrange- oo ment, but the inclination on each side is at low angles and the curve more open and uniform. ‘The axis starts obliquely from that of Shekh Budin Günd, and the curves of both anticlinals almost insensibly pass into one another among the hills near of Pezu post. The convex curves, in plan, or “semi-theatres,” of Dr. Verchere, are doubtless due to horizontal undulations of the main axis of curvature. The state of the country was too disturbed when I visited it for any examination to be permitted towards the Baindarra, &c.; indeed the town of Tank in the vicinity was just then raided and burned by the hill-men, and the Pezu post itself was threatened with a night attack. The structure of the range was, however, clearly seen from ‘Shekh | Budin, and the section through the Pezu pass Upper Siwalik. à i showed the rocks to be the same upper Siwalik beds as those of the Nila Roh. SUMMARY. From the foregoing descriptions it will appear that the Salt Range, both orographieally and geologically, is continued through the trans-Indus of the Bannu and Deraját districts to the Sulemáni system of mountains at the termination of the Bhattani ridge. It will be observed that the general sections in both the cis-Indus and trans-Indus portions of the range include, with many variations, paleozoic, mesozoie, and cainozoic formations. ( 299 ) 90 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE, Among these, the groups of least certain age are more numerous eis-Indus in the Eastern Salt Range than to the west, while beyond the Indus they are reduced to the infra-carboniferous salt marl, purple sandstone, gypseous and boulder, groups—the supra-jurassie zone being at least partly eretaceous. But of the four infra-carboniferous groups of doubtful age two are common to the whole range, and known to be not newer than silurian,! so far as at present ascertained. It may be assumed that in early palzozoie times a considerable uni- formity of conditions prevailed, giving rise to the formation, over an extensive area, of a curiously unstratified soft earthy rock, largely im- - pregnated with iron and soluble salts, the latter frequently taking the shape of chemieally formed layers, probably within more or less cir- eumseribed limits. Immediately succeeding this early period, more or less adjacent, old, metamorphosed rocks were within the reach of denudation, of coast or river action, and their debris earried here to be deposited in the boulder group. Up to this point, there is no evidence in any part of the range trans-Indus whether the paleozoie deposits succeeding the salt- bearing series were marine or fresh-water or estuarine, but after this they became decidedly marine. In the eastern Salt Range marine deposits were certainly formed in pre-carboniferous times ; here, in the west, they continued to accumulate without interruption till the close of the triassie epoch. At this time disturbance, not proved with certainty, may have taken place quite locally. The northern end of the Khasor range may then, or shortly after the lowest jurassic layers were deposited, have become an area of suspended accumulation, if not one of actual denudation. In other places the jurassic deposits continued to succeed the earlier mesozoic ones, but during the period of the variegated series this may have been formed in shallower waters, perhaps no longer entirely salt ; 1 This is still unsettled, see Manual, p. 488, and Paleontologia Indica, Ser. XIII, Vol. I, p. 6. (1030010) BHATTANI HILLS. 91 atleast adjacent land is indicated by woody plant remains, sometimes converted into lignite, and by earbonaceous or even coaly layers. Later, m the upper jurassie group of this country, marine conditions certainly prevailed till the first traces of the succeeding upper mesozoic and lowest eretaceous epoch had become recorded in what is stratigraphically the topmost layer of the jurassic rocks. After this, coarse sandstones were formed, perhaps not far from land, and though there is neither great variety nor enormous thickness of rocks to mark the duration of the cretaceous period, its representative here “passed either insensibly or with but local interruption within the limits of eocene or post-eocene times. ۰ At the close of the period during which the partly cretaceous rocks were being deposited, notwithstanding there is no local evidence of the pre- sence of a land surface, some cause intervened to arrest the accumulation of the eocene rocks over parts of this region, though so largely developed in others; for they can scarcely have been deposited and removed again with- out having left strong traces of the denuding agency ; and if local eleva- tion of part of the depositing area were the cause of their absence, marked unconformity, entirely undetected, might be expected to have resulted. Whatever the arresting cause may have been, whether cessation of deposition or otherwise, its influence was first displayed to the west and south; and it extended thence north-eastwards, passing on through the later or post-eocene period of the lower tertiary deposits; so that until the date of the upper tertiary Siwalik strata there are but traces (and westwards very slight ones only) of any beds to represent the great accumulation of pre-Siwalik lower tertiary sandstones and clays found in neighbouring regions. This capricious distribution of well marked cainozoic groups, it appears to me, must be attributed mainly to changes of levelin early tertiary times, and probably largely also to the bank-like method of accu- mulation usual in sub-torrential deposits; the detritus wherewith they were constructed being traceable to the atmospheric destruction of (301 92 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. anciently existing elevated regions lying between India and the rest of the Asiatic continent. Looking further back, it will be seen that laterally changing sections (changing more by reason of the presence of groups elsewhere absent and — the converse of this arrangement, than by gradual internal changes of the groups themselves) is a feature characteristic of the whole Salt Range region and its trans-Indus extension. But the observation may be ex- tended even beyond these limits, for the frontier sections next known to the southwards, although comprising geological representatives of part of the general series here, differ quite as much as they resemble those of this country in the character of the groups displayed." Further still, to the southward, in Sind, the sections,” embracing only mesozoie and eocene representatives, are even more unlike those of this country than the in- termediate ones; for marine tertiary groups, entirely unknown in this part of the Punjab, form a considerable portion of the Sind series. When such differences as occur in the development of the Punjab sections can have taken place within the limits of this province, it follows that close identity with greatly more distant areas should not be anticipated ; particularly when all the regions capable of comparison are situated along the margin of an extended continental region of disturbances, some of which may have originated at very early periods. ECONOMIC RESOURCES. The valuable mineral productions of this region are almost exclusively limited to the salt of Kálabágh and the Lún nala, the alum of Käla- bágh and Chichäli pass, the coal or lignite collected in small quan- tities at times from the jurassie beds of the Kálabágh hills, and the gold washed from the Indus gravel. А The salt and its sources have already been deseribed in the Salt Range Memoir (Mem. Geol. Surv. India, Vol. XIV, page 274) and in the 1 Ball, on the country of the Luni Pathans: Records Geol. Surv. India, Vol. VII, p. 145. 2 Blanford, Geology of Sind: Records, Vol. IX, p. 8: Manual Vol. II, chap. XIX, and Part 1 of the present Vol. of the Memoirs. (© 308% ) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA Memoirs Vol. XVII, Pt. 2. SHEKH BUDIN HILLS. [Crelacesan [ — ——yunaie [ШЕ лоп ^ ШО _ ГРЕЕ Зр NN Tonilonllia x pnorouiraoonsries AN TUR WURYETON GENERALY OFFICE, CALCUTTA, ADANE um — . Trias ЕЎ Be Carboniferoun BHATTANI HILLS, 95 foregoing pages. It all belongs to the same horizon as that of the Salt Range, The gypsum of Kälabägh and the Khasor range is not as yet utilised in this country. It does not appear to be in any way connected with that of the Kohät distriet; and how far it may be representative in either of these regions of that occurring to the west in Afghanistan, it is at present impossible to say.! The alum is manufactured from the pyritous shales of the jurassic and eocene formations. This industry seems to have greatly fallen off. At Chichäli, when the place was visited last season, only one batti (kiln) was at work, and no alum was being made at Kálabágh. Dr. Fleming fully described the manufacture in his paper to the Asiatic Society, Bengal, July 1849, page 685, as follows :— “The alum is prepared from a black, highly bituminous shale called Rol, con- taining a quantity of iron pyrites, and which is brought from Chita, about 2 miles distant, and several other localities in the hills around Kálabágh. This shale is coarsely powdered and deposited in layers about a foot thick, between each of which a thin stratum of brushwood, grass, or other combustible material is placed. These lay- ers being piled up to a height of 20 or 30 feet are set fire to, and the whole allowed to burn slowly, water being from time to time sprinkled on the mass, to facilitate the re-action of the ingredients in the kiln on each other. When the combustion is completed, which occupies six or eight months, according to the size of the kiln, the shale has assum- ed a brick-red colour, and its surface is encrusted with a coating of alum mixed with sulphate of iron. This burnt kiln affords the materials for the alum preparations, and portions of it are deposited in a baked earthen vat, which is constructed close to the kiln, and a little below the level of its base, and init are lixiviated with water. When this is saturated with the crude alum, it is run off, by an opening in the lower part of the vat, into another one of the same dimensions and character, when any muddy particles are allowed to settle. After being allowed to rest in the second vat for six or eight hours, it is then slowly run off into another smaller one at a lower level, and close to alarge evaporating iron pan, into which the alum liquid is conveyed, and when boil- ing mixed with a brownish earth which is here called yumsaw, and appears identical with the saline incrustation abundant in all jungles in the North-Western Provinces 1 Vigne mentions that Ghazni is built at the foot of a long narrow ridge of gypsum, beyond which towards Kabul limestone and granite (of the Safed Koh?) occur. (Vigne’s Caubul, p. 126.) 94 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE. called Reh,'and which is a mixture of sulphate with carbonate of soda. When a proper quantity of this has been added, which is judged of from the appearance of the li- quid, the whole is allowed to settle, and the clear liquid then removed into smaller earth- en vats, where it is allowed slowly to crystallize for several days. By this means, erys- -tals of alum are separated of a small size and pinkish colour from the brown impure mother liquor, from which they are removed, and allowed to dry for a short time. These erystals are then fused in their own water of crystallization in an iron pan, and when in a fluid state are removed into gurrahs [ earthen globose vessels, | where for eight ог ten days they are allowed to crystallize. The solid mass of alum in the interior of the gurrah is then pierced with a pick and the gurrah inverted so as to allow any _ uncrystallized alum liquor to escape. The gurrah is then broken, and the alum moulded to its form removed to the depót for sale or exportation. It is generally of a light brown colour, and evidently contains iron and other impurities. “A kind of alum called Kaee (Kai) is prepared for dyers from a light gray shale containing erystals of what appear to be sub-sulphate of alumina. This shale is coarsely powdered and dipped in the liquor separated from the small crystals of alum. It is then removed and dried in irregular-shaped masses of about a seer weight each, which are of a brownish colour. When dry these geta second dip in the same alum liquor and are again dried, becoming of a tawny yellow colour, in which state they are sold to dyers at 8 annas per maund. * The shale from which this variety of alum is manufactured is found associated with the other alum shales around, but in moderate quantity." Since the above passage was published, it does not seem to have ever been accurately ascertained what the jamsau above mentioned really is, and the natives appear to make somewhat of a secret of the matter. Large quantities of saltpetre are imported into Kalabagh ostensibly for use in the alum factories, and it appears more probable that yamsaw is crude saltpetre rather than the ordinary тей or kalar (sulphate and carbonate of soda) which is made use of in the production of the alum. A sample of the Kálabágh alum was kindly examined at my request by Mr. Mallet at the Survey laboratory and found to contain— Sulphate of alumina . sube Quee ON Sulphate of potash (with trace ү sulphate per cent. of soda) ... sos .. 18°43 “This composition is almost identical with the calculated quantities of the above salts contained in pure crystallized potash alum.” ( 304 ) BHATTANI HILLS. 95 The lignite of Kálabágh and Kotli is referred to by Dr. Oldham in his report to Government on the mineral resources of the Salt Range, &c. (ante page 4), from which extracts are given in the Salt Range Memoir (Mem. Geol. Surv., Vol. XIV, pages 293, 296); and several analyses of the lignite of this district are appended to a paper by Dr. Verchere in the Journal of the Asiatic Society, Bengal, Vol. XXX1V, pages 44, &e. All these lignites occur either in the variegated group of the jurassic rocks or in the alum shale portion of the eocene rocks. They occur at intervals from Kálabágh round the curve of the mountains to Mitha, but the layers themselves are of httle value as sources of fuel; in most cases at least, the largest quantity of the mineral is obtained by picking and turning over the disintegrating alum shales of the mountain, some distance north of Kálabágh, at the head of the Pakli ravine. Stream gold is washed in the Indus, and platinum has been stated to occur with it (see Salt Range Memoir, page 27), but this has not been supported by any recent observations. Gold is also said to be washed for in the Kuram river. The building stones of the country occur in considerable variety. Even rock-salt is used for the purpose at Kálabágh, and the various lime- stones of the carboniferous, jurassie, and nummulitie formations would each furnish good building materials, but the sandstones of the jurassie and Siwalik beds are mostly soft and very perishable. In concluding these observations I have to express acknowledgments for assistance received from the District Officers, Major Macaulay of Dera Ismail Khan and Mr. Udny of Bannu, as well as to the Reverend Mr. Meyer, for considerable additions to the fossil collection from Shekh Budin. ( 305 -) SU irs Vol. XVII, Pt. 9. ms TE um 7 DUR Ze MU М any spots. THE SURV Calcutta, № GEOLOGICAS SURFEY OF INDIA. 71 DURREESHKH* Fort of Bal Geological Survey, Vol. XIV, Гата тры 689L06J)6AL WAP TRANS-INDUS SALT RANGE. ea " S Iorapee Lükhee Scale 4 Miles — 1 Inch. \/ Lr Memor hart Juensrsde un. Ns E р S M : Н 1:253440. Lung El x For Geology of Salt Range, Cis-Indus, Soo Map with Memoir, S N Munda Kc s Alluvium and Fan deposits, boulder zone Post ‘Tertiary Upper conglomerates, clays, &c. Upper Tertiary, Uppermost beds Sandstones divided by a line Middle Tertiary, including below a band of conglomerates, "in places inseparable from the eocene limestone, and above, а red-zone shown by a line Nummulitic limestone Cretaceous? in part only. Doubtful at Shekh Budin Jurassic. Upper and fower groups divided by a line at Shekh Budin Triassic Boulder beds. (The Gypsum group below divided! by a line at S.W. : {| Ее end of the Khassor Range Fra отчу Dare queo Salt marl . Faults N. B.—Snall outliers of the groups marked thus O occur in many spoti- УА j 2 2 Jara © (Seep in aie Jf. Zumma cet Kyareo At. ELO 27 T By "y s fmt tette m A ttm а ne е уд А 5 : s ү > g ۹ . ес 25, ; : К 619 ig! 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