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MEMOIRS

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

INDIA.

MEMOIRS

OF THE

CROLOGICAL SURVEY

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

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

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.

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.

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

INDIA.

MEMOIRS

OF THE

CI OLOGICAL SURVEY

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

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.

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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

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)

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ص ©

10.
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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

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 )

-" 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.

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-

| 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,

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.

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

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 )

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. .

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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

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

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Fil!

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КАТЫ

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unam] p o

2
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5 3 12 1 2

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| 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)

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

120

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.

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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

\ 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

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 )

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(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.

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.

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.

2»

NUMMULITES .

hardiei, VA. & Н.
Iyelli, VA. & Н.

sublevigata, VA. & H.|...|...

Nummulites spira.

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

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

...

Se
ت‎ соо (о

Ranikot.
Cretaceous P

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

sowerbyi, d Arch.

digonus, d' Arch. с

beloutchistanensis,

d'A. & H.

newboldi, d A. & H. . |...

MOLLUSCA.
PELECYPODA.

PHOLADOMYA

39
MacTRA
‘| CRASSATELLA

وو

CORBULA
55

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.

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.

ewomphaloides, d’ A.

agglutinans, Lam.

. | cumulans, Brong.?
ата „

PLEUROTOMARIA? | bianconii, d A, & Н. |. ;
...| A fragment only.

. | 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

TRITON

ROSTELLARIA

CASSIDARIA

Cassis

TEREBRA
VOLUTA

. | subharpeformis, d’A.

FEDDEN : DISTRIBUTION OF FOSSILS.

GROUPS.

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

ren

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

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

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

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
,
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:
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Че
Я
2ш
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" З Я i
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{ Saw
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s
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X
i :

MEMOIRS

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

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. |

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.—

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

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

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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 )

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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 )

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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 <Günd’ means a distinct dheri, or hill.

? For further information relating to the plains of North-Western India, Mr. Medli-
cott’s chapter on the Geology of the Punjab and its dependencies in the Government Gazet-
teer of the province may be consulted.

B : (ea)

18 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE.

for presuming that these rocks exist for some distance beneath the allu-
vium of the plains, and if undisturbed the production of a flat surface would
be probable, particularly when lying relatively low enough to receive the
washings from higher ground.

Forty miles southward of the Salt Range a group of very old rocks
appears from beneath these plains in the Karána hills and the Chenab
river (described in Dr. Fleming’s second paper quoted). If the tertiary
beds extend beneath the plains, even half that distance from these hills,
they would pass beyond the limits of the ground now, properly speaking,
under consideration.

That the sea may once have covered this low ground and washed the
base of the ranges, even in comparatively recent times or more than once,
would, of course, be no proof that these extensive flats are really parts of
a plain of marine denudation, or that the cliffs of the ranges were once
sea-formed cliffs.

In the ancient infra-carboniferous period, the accumulation of rounded

ea ess tam metamorphic boulders, as I have elsewhere noticed,
testifies to the existence of the shore of an early land.
The indications are vague, but extend for a distance of 64 miles north-east
to south-west, and as the boulders are not the common Himalayan detritus
of the country, the mference is that this old land lay within the region
now occupied by the plains of the Indus and the Indian desert. To follow
the changes which have taken place since these early times would involve
the consideration of a much larger area than is now referred to, and it
is very doubtful if the evidence available is sufficient for the purpose.!

DISTURBANCE.

Regarding the period at which the physical features of this country
were produced, there is evidence of disturbance having occurred more
than once, but the ridges themselves, as they at present exist, doubtless

1 A highly speculative view of the subject is given in Dr. Waagen's paper upon the

ancient physical distribution of land and water over the Indian area. (See Records Geolo-
gical Survey India, Vol. XI, p. 267, 1878.)

(22970)

STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY AND THE FORM OF THE GROUND. 19

mark the same great later or post-tertiary period of mountain-forming
activity, in which originated not only the remainder of the Salt Range
chain, but also the Western Himalaya and the
Sulemán and Afghan ranges. This is evident
from the tilting of the higher tertiary beds on both sides of these trans-
Indus esearpments, hence the last disturbance must date from a period
later than that of the newest inclined beds.! i
Whether the dislocations of the strata which possibly contributed
Connection with paral- largely to the formation of the escarpments are
Je EE GTS, strictly synchronous: with the elevation of the
mountains, or were formed towards the close of the display of force that

Last disturbance.

has left its mark so strongly upon the country, it is not easy to decide ;
but the probability seems to be that while inseparably connected with
the general disturbance, the fractures, particularly if caused by strain
and accompanied by partial subsidence, took place after the formation of
the curves.
Of earlier disturbances of the region, one which dates from post-
eocene times may be connected with the absence
Early disturbances, ;
of the great group of lower tertiary Murree sand-
stones and clays so largely developed in other parts of the Punjab.
To account for this, mere local cessation of deposition at this Murree
period might have been sufficient, but that with the missing beds in
some loealities the eocene limestones have also disappeared entirely.
These, it is true, are by no means universally found in the sections of
the Upper Punjab, but the absence of both together is very suggestive
of a physical reason, such as local elevation of the sea bottom. And
further, where these limestones and the Murree beds are wanting, there is
1 The high angle at which part of the Kálabágh mountain post-tertiary beds are
inclined (45? to 50^) would be a reason for supposing the general elevation of the region
of later than post-tertiary date; but elsewhere in the distriet conglomerates and sands,
evidently of recent accumulation, are found inclined at the same high angle (see p. 65) ;
hence if it be possible that detrital beds in the latter case were deposited at this angle, so
might they have also been in the post-tertiary instance specified, In this Kálabágh instance
subsidence might also have influenced the position of the beds,

( 339 )

20 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE.

found in their place a layer of conglomerate formed almost entirely of
limestone pebbles, but of such upper eocene alveolina-limestone as occurs
to the north, and not of the local nummulitie kind, showing that the
eocene beds in some parts of the country had been undergoing denuda-
tion in consequence of disturbance which took place previous to upper
tertiary Siwalik or pliocene times.

This conglomerate of foreign eocene limestone debris is also found
resting conformably upon nummulitie limestone of the Salt Range type
in the Maidan range, and associated with such fossiliferous nummulitic
sandstones as are often found near the base of the Murree beds or upper
eocene group; from this it may be argued that the disturbance which
perhaps limited the depositing area of the mass of the Murree beds took
place about the close of the period of the upper eocene limestones.

Another case of disturbance and elevation may be traced in the

Pre-Siwalik or upper relations of the rocks at the northern and north-
eocena ITE GS west side of the Khasor range ; but whether this
also may be referred to the same period as that just mentioned is not
quite clear. The Siwalik beds here rest on some magnesian limestones and
thick soft sandstones, both unfossiliferous, and if not of jurassic, at least
of triassie age. The junction bed at the base of the Siwaliks is a conglo-
merate formed chiefly of paleozoie limestones and older rocks derived
from the local sub-carboniferous beds. In a southerly direction near the
other end of the range, jurassic rocks come in between the carboniferous
and Siwalik horizons, but all the intervening eocene and cretaceous beds
are wanting, while the lowest parts of these newer tertiary rocks pro-
gressively extend beyond the jurassic ones, till they rest upon the older
formations, thus establishing a clear case of overlap.

If the elevation of the carboniferous and triassie ground took place

Pre-jurassie disturb- IN pre-jurassie times, all the overlapping beds as
апре. well as the Siwaliks would probably be conglo-
meratie at their junction with the older rocks of the then-existing shore
line: this development of shore beds has, however, been only found at

the Siwalik junction, and for no great distance from the northern end
( 230 )

STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY AND THE FORM OF THE GROUND. 21

of the ridge. On the other hand, if the elevation here is referable to
the upper eocene period, as in the case above alluded to, denudation and
removal of all the older tertiary sandstones, and the eocene, cretaceous,
jurassic, and a portion of the triassic beds over a slightly raised area,
may be supposed to have locally taken place; this area being then again :
depressed and covered up by Siwalik deposits, subsequently denuded in
their turn, would aecount for present appearances.

This extensive denudation of all the mesozoie and much of the
tertiary rocks would, however, involve the formation of thick local con-
glomerates of pre-Siwalik age which have not been discovered ; and
should this be a fatal objection to the above interpretation of the
case, it can only be supposed that the northern Khasor elevation is the
oldest yet recorded in the Salt Range region, and took place before the
deposition of the jurassic rocks; or else that the jurassic deposition was
here suppressed, and the elevation took place at a later pre-Siwalik period.

Still earlier disturbance of unknown regions largely formed of meta-

Pre-carboniferous dig. Morphic rocks must have enabled these to be
шшш fashioned into the smoothly-rounded boulders which
fill the boulder beds below the carboniferous group of the Khasor range.

There would thus be three or four separate periods of elevatory
disturbance traceable in this district, two palzozoic, one mesozoic or
pre-jurassic (?) and two cainozoic : of these one being post-eocene and the
other probably dating from later tertiary to post-tertiary times.

How far subsidence may have affected the ranges, or even produced
some amount of local elevation, I refrain from discussing for want of
sufficient evidence to justify conclusions.

DENUDATION.

It need scarcely be observed that denudation has taken an important
Don part in the sculpture of this тео; removing
enormous masses of the mountains by processes
which there is no evidence to show were other than those due entirely

to atmospheric agency and which are still in action.

22 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE.

The coincidence between the continuous cliff lines of the mountains
and the disturbance of the beds in the area that they immediately over-
look points to relations of cause and effect, the displaced and variously
inclined fractured rocks having given way readily to erosion; this must
have acted during an enormous space of time, not only to remove
so many hundreds of feet of the newer formations, but also to have
enabled the drainage of a comparatively small area (roughly 48 square
miles) to eat through hard limestones and cut through the very core of
Ee. such a massive range as that of Chichäli. The

Of the Chicháli range. 1 Ce
present remmant of this still rises some 3,400 feet

higher than the nearest part of the Indus channel.
- Extreme results of this agency are also exhibited in the vicinity of
the Indus itself, where disturbance has likewise

Of the Indus gap. : А

been intense, and where some of the ancient valley
beds, belonging to a period when the river apparently ran 2,000 feet
above its present level, are probably represented in the post-tertiary con-
elomerate which caps the hills of Kálabágh.

Denudation of three older periods is also traceable in the detrital beds

( connected with the discordance already pointed out,

Of older periods. E У К x

and is indeed the chief evidence on which the

detection of the older earth movements has been based.

CHAPTER IIT.—GEOLOGY.

The geological structure of the trans-Indus extension of the Salt
Compared with Salt Range repeats in a great measure that of the
чш: western portion of the Salt Range proper, but
with some considerable differences. The palozoic rocks, so far as
represented. by the red marl, rock-salt and gypsum, are quite the
same, and so are the carboniferous and triassic groups, but others of
the sub-carboniferous beds present themselves with a different asso-
ciation from those cis-Indus. The purple sandstone group of the Salt
( 932 )

GEOLOGY. 98

Range and all the formations above it up to the carboniferous are absent
at Kálabágh, and there is but one place far away in the Khasor range,
near Saiduwáli, where a group answering in position and appearance to
this purple sandstone has been observed. This group had begun to
assume a caprieious distribution for a long distance from the Indus east-
ward ; its disappearance at Kálabágh is involved in the mysterious absence
of so many groups of the Salt Range series at that singular place, and
its re-appearance so far to the southward at Saidüwäli may indicate the
main direction of its development.
In several places along the Khasor escarpment coming out from
| beneath the carboniferous limestones, &e., are cer-
Subcarboniferous. 1 й
tain red, earthy, boulder beds containing a variety
of red granitic and other well-rounded crystalline blocks, some of them
polished and scored as if by the agency of ice. Exactly similar beds to
these, in the western Salt Range sections northward of Müsa Khel, take
the place of the purple sandstone, but whether most connected with the
superior or inferior palzozoic groups 16 is hardly possible to say. In this
trans-Indus district the red boulder group is accompanied by gypsum
layers, some of them containing small bipyramidal quartz prisms, the same
as those found in the gypsum of the saline series at Mári, opposite to
Kálabágh; and near Saiduwál a great thickness of gypsum and dolomite
underlies the boulder beds, being itself underlaid by the purple sandstone
above mentioned.
The mesozoie formations seen in the western Salt Range are all
Р 3 represented trans-Indus, and one new formation
Mesozoic formations. :
appears. The triassie group has the same charac-
teristic aspect and about the same general thickness, but the jurassic for-
mation becomes largely increased, forming as to bulk the most important
member, perhaps, of the trans-Indus series. "The new group of sandstones
whieh at Chichäli overlies a blackish bed con-
taining Ammonites and Belemnites of cretaceous
species (Waagen) also increases in thickness to the west and south-

Cretaceous.

westward.

94 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE.

The eocene limestone, absent just at Kálabágh, soon re-appears to the
( north, and becoming disentangled from the local
The eocene limestone. A
displacements, increases rapidly in bulk as it
stretches along the escarpment bordering the Isa Khel plain. It assumes
a thickness of about 1,500 feet in the Maidán range, and disappears,
buried beneath the newer tertiary rocks, as the anticlinal axis of that
range stoops downwards near Mitha, being only seen again in one small
exposure west of Isa Khel, and entirely absent in the Khasor and Marwat
sections.
The lower tertiary sandstones, inseparably transitional with the up-
The lower tertiary sand- Permost eocene limestones, which may or may
prones: not be on nearly the same horizon as much of
the trans-Indus and Salt Range nummulitic limestone, are but feebly
represented in this country. The same red band, chiefly of clays, which
borders the northern flanks of the Salt Range, seems to recur in the Lún
nala, and further west, north of the Chicháli pass, also on the west side |
of the Maidán range, but here it dwindles away to a mere streak of а
few red clay beds in the base of the next succeeding mass of thick gray
sandstones (Dangot beds). The latter, in this country, are remarkably
free from intercalated beds of clay, as compared with sections more to the
Upper tertiary sang. eastward. The whole of the enormously thick
etones: group of upper tertiary beds here assumes a
strongly upper Siwalik character; fossil mammalian bones occur, and
towards the top of the series zones of crystalline pebble conglomerates
or, in their absence, of drab clays, occupy the sections.
In the Khasor range and Marwat hills about Shekh Budín, palpable
Overlap orunconform- Overlap, which may even amount to unconformity,
ity though occurring here between almost parallel
bedded groups, is more evident than I have found it to be anywhere
along the Salt Range. The eocene limestones at the eastern end of the
latter range disappear from the series entirely, and here they are again
wanting, the cretaceous and jurassic formations for a long distance being
also absent.

( 234 )

GEOLOGY. 25

The post-tertiary conglomerate of the Kalabagh mountain, not

having been elsewhere met with, may be presumed
Post-tertiary. t ў
quite а local deposit analogous to some boulder
beds in the Son part of the Salt Range long since recorded by Mr.

Theobald (see Mem. Geol, Surv., Vol. XIV, p. 114).

The alluvium of this region includes coarse boulder deposits, loose
sands, and more clayey accumulations, the latter

Alluvium. :
occupying the lower grounds.

In order to show at a glance the relations of the formations of this
district with those of the Western Salt Range, as well as the groups
absent from the series in these neighbouring regions, the following table
has been constructed to include both series in parallel columns :—

COMPARATIVE TABLE OF FORMATIONS.

(Natural Order).
Trans-Indus Series. . West Salt Range
representatives.
QUATERNARY.
al and me nen and superficial | The same.
ubrecent . DOSE
Post-tertiary 19. a and clays. 15. The same.

Unconformity. Unconformity.
CAINOZOIC.
D Upper Siwalik. Conglo- | 14. Upper Siwalik. Conglome-
Pliocene { 11.‘ merates, clays. " rates and clays to the north.

(Lower Siwalik. Sand-

stones and clays with 13. Lower Siwalik. Sand-

| ДОКЕ] omas. stones and clay with bones.
- Overlap.
Miocene o Ue. | Nahan or Murree Beds. | 12. Nahan or Murree Beds.
Slightly represented pur- Slightly represented: the
ple or gray sandstones same as opposite.

L and red clays.

1 In the Memoir on the Salt Range (7. c., p. 115), I have suggested the subterranean
extension of the boulder zone bordering the Sait Range to the southward. Dr. Warth
informs me that a well has been sunk (since the country was examined) at the edge of the
boulder zone to supply the engines of the wire tramway from Khewra. After passing
through this for some 20 feet or so, thick alluvial clays were found for the rest of the
whole depth of the well, which was sunk about 100 feet. It would hence appear that these
boulder fan deposits are more or less superficial.

( 235 )

26 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE.

Partly. Whitish sandstones | 10. Absent, or unrecognisable.
8 over dark earthy zone con-
Cretaceous - 8) taining a few neocomian
fossils.

Partial unconformity at one place.

Light-coloured thin lime- | Absent, or ill developed.
stones and shales with a
dark earthy zone at top:
contains Ammonites, Be-
lemnites, Bivalves, &c.,

Jurassic - 7.4 &e.
Variegated soft sandstones | 9. Jurassic. Variegated sand-
and clays, often coaly, stones, gray and yellow
or alum shale. Fossils, limestones, maris, &c.

chiefly obscure plants ;
limestones subordinate.
Ceratite Beds. Gray thin | 7. Trias. Gray limestones,
Tri limestones, thick marls, gray marls, calcareous sand-
rias DE YA dolomite, sandstones, &c., stones, &c., Ceratites, &c.
Ceratites, &c.

PALZOZOIC.
( Gray, magnesian, and white, 6. Carboniferous. The same
| limestone, some sand- beds, rocks, and fossils, as
stones and earthy beds, opposite.

: |
Carboniferous 5. many Producta, Spiri-
fera, Bellerophon,
L Corals, &e., &c.
Absent. 5. Speckled sandstone group.
Boulder Beds. Dark col- | Similar beds on this horizon.

X * 4 oured or red or purple
Infra-carboni | clays, with boulders;

ferous. sandstone and gypsum.
3. Gypsum and Dolomite| Absent.

group. |
2. Purple sandstone 9. Purple sandstone group.
Silurian ? group. The same.
1. Salt-marl, salt and | 1. Salt-marl, salt and gyp-
gypsum at Kálabágh only. sum of Salt Range.

( 236 )

GEOLOGY. 27

On comparing both sides of this list, it will be seen that the con-
tinuation of the Salt Range presents no exception
to the changeable character of the sections which
affects the whole chain from its eastern to its western regions. The

The series.

newer formations are most alike throughout, the older paleozoie series
most dissimilar, to those of this region. ‘The mesozoie rocks are like-
wise differently developed ; but the stratigraphieally united zone com-
prising the carboniferous and triassie formations is common to the
country on both sides of the Indus. Eastward of the Indus the speckled
sandstone group just beneath the carboniferous has reached its greatest
development, becoming fugitively present towards this river, but beyond
it to the westward the group is unknown to occur anywhere.

In localities where it does occur east of the Indus, there intervenes
between it and the salt-marl the set of dark
purple boulder beds already stated to exist in the
Khasor range, and (in the absence of the speckled sandstone) to underlie
directly the carboniferous group. But the sections are unlike: cis-Indus
the boulder beds rest immediately on the salt-marl and gypsum: in this
country they contain gypsum bands in one place, and in another they
overlie a group of chemically formed magnesian and gypseous rocks,
entirely unlike the Salt Range saline series, and moreover resting on
purple sandstones similar to those which are well known to overlie

Changes in the series.

that series.
Hence it would appear that the boulder beds are really much newer
than the purple sandstone, and are separated from

Relations. Boulder beds. , aS Я
it by а gypseous and dolomitie group unknown

in the Salt Range.

This additional information afforded by the trans-Indus sections
would thus give the following arrangement for the oldest portion of the
whole Salt Range and trans-Indus Series :—

4. Purple boulder beds containing trap, red granitic and other crystalline well-rounded

blocks, some of which are polished and show slight striation (glacial?). Red
and white gypsum layers occur in the group trans-Indus,

( 237 )

98 wYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE.

3. Thick formation of gypsum, dolomite and shales, some of fhe gypsum being black
and bituminous: only known trans-Indus.

2. Purple sandstones, cis-Indus and trans-Indus.

1. Cis-Indus, gypsum beds with lenticular patches of volcanie rock: great beds of
rock-salt and kallar (impure salt), red gypseous marl, and thin layers of dolo-
mitic rock, also beyond the river at Kálabágh and in the Lún nala adjacent,

An important point, however, depends upon the identification of this
- Age of the boulder purple sandstone group (No. 2) trans-Indus. In
ba the Salt Range the next group overlying it to the
eastward contains some shells of an Obolus or nearly allied form, referred
by Drs. Stoliezka, Oldham, and Waagen as a silurian fossil, though the
determination of this age for the beds has since been impugned as pre-
mature by the latter authority.! The determination of the age of these
fossils being thus still somewhat unsettled, if the Обоѓиѕ shells should
ultimately prove silurian, it is possible the group No. 3 above, if not
also No. 4, may belong to that period, no devonian rocks being known
in this part of India.

The boulder group No. 4, from the evidence it gives of disturbance
and denudation, and its shore-like character, may none the less have a
claim to be considered to belong to an entirely newer group than 1, 2,
and 3; such signs of a break as the boulders afford are usually associated
with a lapse of time, which may in this instance have a chronological
value of its own.

Before proceeding to notice with some attention to detail the various
localities of the district, I shall conclude this chapter by a condensed
sketch of the different groups in their stratigraphical order, with the
view of conveying a clearer impression of each than could be comprised
within the space of the preceding general table.

1. The Salt Marl and Gypsum.—Limited to the hills of Kálabágh and
the Lun-nála, it is quite similar in character to that of the Salt Range,
largely displayed at Mári on the opposite bank of the river Indus. It
includes the bright erimson or deep purple gypseous marl as unstratified

! Rec. Geol. Surv., Vol. XT, p. 276, 1878. Translation of a paper by Dr. Waagen: Imp.

Acad. Sciences, Nat. Science Section, Vienna, 1877.
( 938 )

GEOLOGY. 99

as usual, with strongly contrasting alternations of gray clay and thin
bedded dolomitie layers or reddish and white gypsum masses. "The rock
salt is also of the usual Salt Range kinds, varying from earthy layers to
bands which afford particularly fine, large transparent crystals, some
measuring a foot or more on the side. The pure salt beds range up to
20 feet in thiekness, and none of them that I have seen bear the charac-
teristic appearance of the gray Kohát salt. |

2. The Purple Sandstone—This group has not been found in its place
overlying the salt marl at Kálabágh nor elsewhere except near Saiduwali.
Being simply a thick set of purple sandstones it does not admit of much
further description.

3. The upper gypsum and dolomite group.—This is a thick gray band
of very distinct aspect ; it comprises numerous alternations of thickly bed-
ded whitish and gray-spotted, granular, or amorphous gypsum, with
massive bands of gray dolomite and sometimes with layers of soft white
or yellow incoherent sandstone, and gray shale or clay. Some of the
gypsum is black and strongly impregnated with bituminous matter smell-
ing of petroleum.

4. The Boulder group.—This varies somewhat in places; its lower
part includes dark gray tough shales or clays containing little fragments
of broken grass-like plants or leaflets ; above these are dark purple clays
and sandy beds, sometimes with alternations of red and white gypsum,
one or more layers containing bipyramidal crystals of quartz. At various
. horizons, chiefly in the upper part of the group, are the boulder beds,
full of well-rounded metamorphic and crystalline blocks, amongst which
varieties of granitic rocks with red felspar are common. Some of these
blocks are highly polished, and on a few I observed superficial striation.
The blocks are occasionally of considerable size.

б. The carboniferous group—Has all the main characteristics of.
its Salt Range portion. It is of dark colour and sandy calcareous
nature below. Magnesian limestones and sandstones may occur at any
horizon, and the main mass is of limestone of dark gray or black colour,
sometimes of a clear pale gray, and sometimes in the upper part occurs

($339)

30 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE.

a beautifully compact or erinoidal white limestone, which rings like
a bell when struck. At the top of the group, sandstones are frequent
and dark shales may be found on various horizons. Fossils are numerous
throughout, though zones in whieh no organism can be detected are also
met with; but unless these are magnesian or unusually massive, a few
paees will generally lead to fossiliferous rocks containing many of the
common organisms of the formation, such as Producta, Spirifer, Athy-
ris, Streptorhynchus, Terebratula, Fenestella, Retepora, erinoids, corals, &e.
The lower beds usually contain many Bryozoa and further up Fusulina.
In the middle of the group, corals, Zerebratule and Product, prevail with
many other forms, and among the upper beds Bellerophon and Goniatites
are characteristie. Upon more than one horizon I have found the un-
named fossil! of the Salt Range, a flattish organism of a few inches dimen-
sions, the sub-concave side showing a number of raised slightly-curved
septa, arranged nearly at right angles on each side of a midrib or depres-
sion. The other surface when preserved is correspondingly, but much
less deeply, corrugated and covered with very smali pustules. The fossil
being composed of carbonate of lime is never, so far as I have seen,
found in a complete state, but only in fragments, weathered or broken,
and frequently so situated ona large surface of the rock that it cannot
be removed. It oceurs of different sizes, as though the forms were those
of old and young specimens ; it is sometimes nearly a quarter of an inch
in substance, sometimes a thin film only, generally of a flattish slightly
curved form or rarely longitudinally folded nearly at a right angle.
This fossil occurs in both the lowest and the upper part of the middle of
the formation, probably elsewhere besides. In the top beds of the
formation close to the Bellerophon beds I have met with some fossil
bones or large fragments of fish spines. The formation is found in the
Chichäli range, all along the Khasor ridge, and on the southern cliffs
of the Shekh Budin hill.

6. The triassie Ceratite group—Is as usual to the east stratigraphic-
ally simply a superior part of the carboniferous formation. It always

1 Dr. Feistmantel considers it to be Bellerophon.

( 240 )

GEOLOGY. 831

accompanies the latter here, and it shows the same characteristic thin-bed-
ded gray limestone and greenish gray shales or clays by means of which it
was first distinguished in the west Salt Range sections. Its Ceratites are
in some places numerous, in others large, and its whole aspect is that
whieh it presents on the other side of the Indus, without any strongly
marked line of stratigraphic demarkation separating it from the palæo-
zoie beds.

7. The jurassic formation.—These rocks have here a somewhat differ-
ent appearance from that which they present in the west Salt Range, yet
the likeness is so strong they could not be readily mistaken. They have
increased largely in thickness, and their lower arenaceous and uppermost
caleareous portions of that region have now separated into distinct zones,
most clearly marked in the westerly sections. In these the lower part of
the formation is chiefly made up of variegated, soft, red and white sand-
stone, with gray and coaly shales and numerous obscure remains of woody
plants, while the upper consists of variously light-coloured and generally
thin-bedded limestones, full of marine fossil shells, both divisions contain-
ing bands of magnesian limestone, and sometimes the peculiar golden
oolite found in Kach, as well as in the Salt Range and in the Chichäli
pass and recorded also in European jurassie rocks.

The highest band of this group is one of nearly black, tough, sandy
clay or earthy sandstone containing Belemnites, Ammonites, &e., among
which in some places (Chicháli pass for instance) a eretaceous (neocomi-
an) Ammonite occurs in the upper part of the zone. Similar dark beds
containing apparently jurassie fossils only, or chiefly, recur at Shekh
Budin in situations which render it doubtful whether there are not more
bands than one of the same nature in this formation. The whole group
is one of the most largely developed of the local series, having an esti-
mated maximum thickness of quite 1,500 feet. The formation is sup-
posed to be connected with that of Kach!.

&. The cretaceous group.—Rocks of this age were first recognised
by Dr. Waagen at Chichali pass in consequence of the occurrence of a

! Waagen: Pal. Ind., Series IX, p. 236.
( 941 )

99 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE.

neocomian fossil at the top of the jurassic group in the dark-coloured
band as above described, but here at least, the group is inseparable stra-
tigraphically from the underlying formation. Its upper limits were as-
signed from slight appearanees of unconformity between this zone and
. the lowest eocene beds, appearances as strongly seen in one of the glens not
far to the west, to occur between the jurassic limestones and this eretaceous
zone itself ; such local symptoms of discordance have, however, little value.
The black transition band at the top of the jurassic beds is succeeded by
a thick layer of soft yellowish unfossiliferous sandstone which increases
much in thickness, but maintains otherwise the same general character
westwards. In many places, this band and the underlying jurassic for-
mation occupy nearly the whole of the southern side of the Chichäli
range beneath the eocene limestone.

If the lower boundary of this cretaceous group is thus indistinet,
lying aetually in the very bed with fossils of an older period, its upper
limits are no better defined in its most westerly exposures; for quite
the same kind of light yellowish sandstones there, in the same position
with regard to the jurassic group, enclose pebbles of alveolina-limestone
such as often forms the Kohat representative of the eocene formation and
cannot therefore be of cretaceous age. Here the whole sandstone zone
must be considered as intermediate between jurassic and Siwalik, without ~
any appreciable limits as to the parts of it strictly referable to the cre-
taceous or post-eocene periods.

9. The eocene group.—Where represented, this consists chiefly of
nummulitic limestone of the Salt Range character, a white hard com-
pact or nodular limestone often filled with casts of fossils, but rarely
affording any well-preserved specimens ; the lower part is in places sandy
or marly, sometimes a sandstone of a whitish yellow colour; not unfre-
quently in others black alum shales and carbonaceous shales are present.
In some sections orange or greenish and olive calcareous and concretionary
sandstones with gray shales, overlying a limestone conglomerate band,
form the top beds of the group, and among these beds the sandy bands
sometimes contain nummulites. The whole aspect of this upper part of

( 242)

GEOLOGY. 39

the series is that of the more argillaceous and sandy portion of the up-
permost eocene rocks. й

The eocene formation is locally absent at Kälabägh, but increases,
rapidly from the Kálabágh hills westward, till at the great cliffs of the
Maidän range it attains a thickness of at least 1,500 feet and perhaps
even more. Beyond this range the formation is unknown among the
hills on the Punjab side of the present frontier in this neighbourhood.

10. The Murree (or Nahan f) beds of the Salt Range region are only
feebly represented trans-Indus. Among the disturbed strata of the Kála-
bágh hills there are some red and purple rocks of the usual aspect of those
next succeeding the greenish sandstones with reptilian remains, which
rest upon the eocene limestones in the Salt Range. Further westward
a narrow band of red clays may be seen between the nummulitic beds
and the Siwalik rocks, being reduced to merely a few feet at the
last exposure of the limestgnes west of Isa Khel. Red clays of similar
appearance are often seen close to the base of the tertiary sandstones
overlying the older rocks of the Khasor range, but it is not possi-
ble to identify a disconnected band of such clays with any particular
zone of the tertiary sandstone series where the succession is known to be
interrupted and no fixed tertiary horizon exists near it.

11. The Siwalit group of this district occupies a great portion of the
mountains, following the outcrop of the older rocks. ^ Towards the In-
dus, rocks having the normal appearance of the rapidly alternating red-
clays and gray sandstones of the lower Siwalik beds, are seen in the Lún
nala, overlaid eastward by the massive sandstones of the inaccessible
Dangot cliffs in thick beds mostly without clays, which gradually pass
upwards by pebbly alternations into the conglomerates of Makad, of
the Lakargarh mountains, of the north of the Shingarh and west of
the Maidán ranges.

The conglomerates, which are composed of crystalline boulders from
the Himalayan chain, are most largely developed near the Indus, the early
channel of this river having afforded the detritus a passage southward.

Where the conglomerates are poorly represented further from this stream,
C ( 343 )

34 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE.

in the Marwat range for instance, drab clays form much of the upper-
most part of the Siwalik group.

Compared with the Siwalik beds elsewhere, the formation here, from
the Indus westward, particularly the upper part beneath the very upper-
most beds, presents an unusual absence of elays and a preponderance of
thick soft gray sandstones. |

It is quite uncertain whether the conglomerate of eocene limestone
fragments and some accompanying sandstones which in places form the
base of the series should be united with the Siwaliks or attributed to some
early post-eocene period. The Siwalik group, besides occupying so
much of the trans-Indus extension of the Salt Range, seems to form most
of the outer Sulemáni ranges beyond the frontier.

In my memoir on the Salt Range at pages 108, 109, I have noticed
the observation by Mr. Medlicott! that in the east Salt Range the newer
tertiary, 2.e., Siwalik rocks, come immediately upon the Salt Range num-
mulitie limestone and rest upon a denuded surface of the latter rock.
'l'he same observation is repeated even more forcibly in the lately pub-
lished Geological Survey Manual, pages 506, 512, and elsewhere, but the
points alluded to in support of the opinion are all capable of a different
explanation.?

Notwithstanding the strength of the assertions in the Manual, I |
am still of opinion that there does exist, both in the Salt Range and in
parts of the present distriet, a band of tertiary sandstones, &e., litholo-
gically somewhat different from the upper tertiary Siwahk beds, and
more or less closely identical with certain of the Murree beds: identical
also with the supra-nummulitie beds of the Kohat salt region which can
be traced into the Murree group of the north side of the Ráwalpindi
plateau, lying not far from, and lower in the series than, where the pre-
Siwalik fauna of Kushálgarh is said to have been found (Manual,
pp. 514, 515).

1 Mem. Geol. Surv. India, Vol. III, 2, p. 91: Rec. Geol. Surv. India, Vol. ІХ, p. 56.
2 See Rec. Geol. Surv., Vol. X, pp. 115, 117, 118: Mem., Vol. XIV, pp. 109 & 139, and

foot note to the last, with several references to Mem, Geol, Surv., India, Vol, XI, pt. 2.
( 244 )

GEOLOGY. 95

The fossil evidence to the contrary adduced in the foot note to page
512 of the Manual I look upon as inconclusive, for Mastodon latidens has
been collected by myself and identified by Mr. Lydekker from the rocks
near Kushálgarh as well as from the beds lithologically identical with
the Murree group near the Bakrála pass, east Salt Range.

As to the unconformity upon a denuded surface of the nummulitie
rocks, I have followed the boundary between the latter and the succeeding
sandstones, &c., for some hundreds of miles over the Upper Punjab and
have never found an instance of either. I am therefore sceptical as to its
occurrence anywhere within that region. An unknown interval may
of course occur between the deposition of any two beds of rock however
parallel, but that this has taken place at the horizon indieated, accom-
panied by unconformity, I think the evidence available is insufficient to
prove.

Ihave always stated that much irregularity of deposition over the
whole area has prevailed during the tertiary periods represented, and this
might oceur even accompanied by strong evidence of overlap without
the presence of the decided unconformity which has been said to exist.

12. Post-tertiary.—The unconformable limestone conglomerates that
cap the mountain over Kálabágh have evidently occupied their present
position so much before the full results of the denudation which fashioned
these mountains into their present form took place, that they may be
regarded as the oldest post-tertiary beds of the district. They are
formed of the harder local debris of the Salt Range series, and are pre-
sumably due to exceptional exertion of the denuding agency as the Indus
reduced its channel; these conglomerates having been very probably old
valley beds of that stream. On the western side of the patch which
covers the hill of Kälabägh, the conglomerates are tilted and lie at
higher angles apparently than those of deposition.

Among the newer post-tertiary deposits are included some part of the
coarse detrital fan and terraced accumulations of the district which have
been in process of formation ever since the recent denudation connected
with the present drainage system began to act.

( #45 )

36 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE.

The newest alluvium has been already deseribed as largely formed of
sand (such as would result from decomposition of
the Siwalik beds) in the Deraját, and most earthy

in such other low situations as the more fertile portion of the Bannu

Alluvium.

plain.

PART II.

DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS.

Commencing at the point nearest to the Salt Range for convenience
of reference, I shall divide the observations to follow into sections,
thus—

I.—NEIGHBOURHOOD OF KÁLABÁGH. `
П.—Тне CHICHALI RANGE AND MOUNTAINS TO THE NORTH.
ПШ .—Тн® MAIDAN RANGE.
TV.—THE DOUBLE CHAIN OF THE MARWAT AND KHASOR RANGES. .
V.—SHEKH BuDin GUND.
VI—Tur BHATTANI HILLS.

I.—NEIGHBOURHOOD or KALABAGH.

In the appendix to the Salt Range Memoir! previously referred to, I
have given some particulars as to the geology of
the hills in the neighbourhood of Kálabágh, an
interesting and extraordinary place which has always attracted the atten-
tion of visitors. Jt is thus referred to by Thorburn, who states that the
town was devastated by the Indus flood in 1841? :—

Appearance of Kálabágh.

* The houses rise one above the other on the hill side, nestling close packed in
“ an abandon of dirt and confusion amid the glistening carnation-coloured salt of the

1 See pages 268, &c., 272, &c., of Salt Range Memoir.
? * Banu,” p. 8, note.

( 246 )

NEIGHBOURHOOD OF KALABAGH. 37

“rocks. It has a municipality and an old standing grievance; for as Government
“levies a duty of about 8s. and 4d. on every hundredweight of salt quarried in the
* range, and as half the town is built of salt and on salt, the people are fined heavily
** should they attempt to eat their houses, and their cattle when they loiter by the
* way in order to lick the rocks or the house walls are ordered to “ move on” by
* stern-visaged constables whose mud and salt-built sentry boxes are perched about

“ on every commanding knoll.”
The hill directly overlooking the town rises about 2,000 feet above
Hill overlooking the the Indus and carries on the north-north-west
UNE: strike of the western part of the Salt Range up
the right bank of the Lún nala. It presents a curiously deficient and
strangely discordant assemblage of the geological series beyond the
river. Round the southern end of the hill and extending a short way
up the Lún valley (or “ Drung gorge 7) the red salt-marl, salt, and gypsum
of the saline series are largely exposed, but in such disorder and so-
contorted that the stratification, where any is seen, can scarcely be said.
to lie in one way more than another. |
At the salt quarries in the Lun valley, there is a general dip of ће
salt beds and saline group for 200 feet up the hill
side at 40° and 70° to the west ; while a directly con-
trary dip in this saline series is mostly seen on the opposite side of the
hill, but the salt beds do not re-appear there, The inclinations are
chiefly marked by gypsum and dolomitie layers in the marl.
The next rocks above (if not in) the salt-marl are some 50 feet of
Next rocks seen above dark-coloured shales overlying a hard band of
oie аашаа thin-bedded, dense, white dolomitic limestone with

Salt quarries, Lún nala.

a narrow layer of granular quartzitic grit. In the shales are also dolomite
layers of a dark gray colour, with rusty patches and pyritous cavities.
The purple sandstone, which ought to succeed the salt-marl, is absent,
nor have any other of the paleeozoic groups of the country been observed
until the carboniferous limestones, &e., appear.
The last-named rocks, in a ravine a mile north of the village, form a
steep, sharply compressed, nearly east and west

anticlinal fold apparently Jet into its present place-
( 247 )

Carboniferous.

38 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE.

by faults on the west and south-east. The gray carboniferous limestones
and caleareous sandstones contain crinoidal bands and, amongst other
fossils, large Producte, Dentalium, &e. Overlying these beds in a transi-
n tional sequence are the thinner-bedded limestones

of the triassie Ceratite group, some layers showing
many of these forms, and its upper portion consisting of athick (300
feet) mass of the usual greenish-gray Ceratite-shales with subordinate
fossiliferous limestone layers.

Upon these shales come thick soft sandstones of the jurassic forma-
tion, with obscure plant impressions, passing up
into a large series of red and white yellowish
variegated sandstones and dark sandy pyritous alum-shale with hema-
tite beds or masses. "These alum-shales contain the fossilized plant stems
which furnish the Kálabágh lignite. Among the efflorescences on the
dry part of the banks of the Tilla-kas and its tributaries, when they
traverse the alum-shales, bunches of hair-salt occur, chiefly composed
of magnesian sulphate.

Jurassic.

The variegated group is succeeded by light gray jurassic limestones
Variegated group and And dolomitic layers; the former contain some fossils.
ae A bed of dark earthy supra jurassic sandstones in
. places divides these from the lower eocene alum-shale and limestone,
which is again overlaid by thick alum-shale and strong lumpy or nodular
nummulitie limestones, forming a scarped outerop crossing the hill ob-
liquely. Some of the red clays and gray sandstones of the tertiary series
rest upon the limestone, and have much the appearance of the lowest ter-
tiary sandstone beds.

Extending unconformably over the latter, as well as over the saline
series, and faulted or slipped into contact with
other groups, isa thick mass of limestone-pebble
conglomerate, overlying as large a group of brown clays and gray
coherent sands very like the “orange and gray” part of the tertiary

sandstone. Similar brown or reddish clays are interstratified in the con-
( 248 )

Post-tertiary.

NEIGHBOURHOOD OF KÁÍLABÁGH. 39

glomerate above. This conglomerate is so largely composed of carboni-
ferous, eocene, and other limestone pebbles, it can be readily distinguished
from the Siwalik metamorphic-pebble conglomerates which also occur in
the neighbourhood. It is disposed partly in a basin-like form tilted con-
siderably to the west and nearly horizontal on the opposite side of the
exposure capping the hill.

The rocks forming so much of the sequence as can be traced in
this part of the hills, and, combined with the
list previously given in the Salt Range Memoir
(partly from Dr. Waagen's notes), page 273, show the following suc-

cession :—

Seetion.

POST-TERTIARY ... Limestone boulder conglomerate ... „. Up to 500 feet.
UNCONFORMITY.
PLIOCENE .. Brown clays and gray sands, Siwalik ? .. About 9,500 ,,
UNCONFORMITY.
Red clays and gray sandstones, Murree or
MIOCENE e } About 400 ,,
Nahan ?
f Nummulitie limestone (part of) ... NM 50 to 60 ,,
Soft gray-marl 200 000 v 20 feet.
Thin-bedded marly limestone ... 000 ТО
Ashy-gray caleareous marl with numerous
Conoclypeus Vis 20 to 30 feet.
Alum shale, inferior quality, a little coal, аба
EOCENE
many fossils ee 260 00 20 to 30 ,,
Yellow nodular limestone, irregularly bedded,
many Nummulites 10 feet.
Alum shale with Nummulites (с pits, but
few workable beds) vs ids 50 J
| Hematite atc un vue 10 5
200 feet.
en N m gray glauconitic sandstone with Belem-
nites, badly seen Tn n О s
10 feet

40 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE.

UNCONFORMITY.

( Gray clay, with gypsum in thin beds, numerous

canaliculate Belemnites and Pleurotomaria 6 to 10 £eet,
Yellow marly limestone, numerous Mytili and

other bivalves Re x Абд 20 ,,
Ashy.gray nodular marls 300 036 (6)
White hard splintery limestones ... 596 10 ,,
Yellow thin limestones with Pecten and indis-

Jis УД tinet Myacites _... jos EN 50 ,
Variegated sandy clays 000 ade 1075
Sandstone and limestone alternating ves 30 ,,
Soft yellow sandstone with whole beds of fossils,

Nerinea, Cerithiwn, and bivalves а 50 5;
Variegated sandstones and shales with thin
| coaly layers and alum shales on 3 horizons... 300 ,,
486 feet,

Gray shales, weathering greenish, with subordi-

RTAS nate шешу fossiliferous оош bands, 370 ,
Ceratites.
Thin-bedded limestones, Ceratites, &c.
Thick and thinner'gray limestones with calcare-
CARBONIFEROUS ous sandstones, fossils locally numerous. Pro- 400 ,
ducta common.
Г Dark gray shale with thin dark dolomite layers
| Hard white dolomite band, including a layer of |
uartzite grit.
PADINE VERINE жия о and salt-rock 203 r 2000 2
Occasional bands of dark shale and flaggy
` Ù dolomite. J

It would be difficult to give within any reasonable space an adequate
idea of the disorder in which these groups occur;
the saline series seems to form the core of the ridge,
and this 1s capped by the post-tertiary conglomerates. Its eastern side
shows the salt beds and other parts of the saline group, or else tertiary
sandstones and clays of a purplish and gray colour, but on the opposite
side a long vertical rib of the nummulitic limestone is conspicuous near
the base of the hill, and a great mass of the post-tertiary conglomerates
seems to have slipped down from its place. The main mass of the latter
(11250.

Disorder.

NEIGHBOURHOOD OF KALABAGH. 41

group slopes slightly to the northward, and in that direction the. newer
members of the whole series prevail, until cut off by a fault from the
eastern end of the Chichäli range.

To the south, in the bank of the river Indus, just beneath the eastern
end of the town of Kálabágh, as well as to the
north of Uch-Tandar Khel, thick sandstones and
conglomerates are seen, the boulders in which are large, and chiefly of the

Upper Siwalik.

ordinary metamorphie kinds, to be found in the bed of the Indus and in
the uppermost Siwalik beds. In the river bank they dip west-by-south
at 50°, striking directly at salt-marl on both sides of the river. In the
northern and much more extensive patch these beds are likewise highly
inclined, or curved and faulted against the adjacent rocks. In both
cases their occurrence is important, as fixing the date of the dislocation in
their vieinity within certain limits.

The faults of the locality run in various directions; they are too
numerous to describe in detail, but one longer
Faults. à

than the rest runs up the Lún valley for ten miles,
bringing the salt-marl and tertiary sandstones into contact at both ends
of its course.

East of the Lün nala the Dangot range and Bangah Sir mountains

| | | are formed of а huge mass of the tertiary sandstones,
Eastof the Lün nala. ! i

presenting bare rugged. cliffs towards the valley,
but on the eastern side closely mammellated slopes formed of the con-
glomeratic upper Siwalik beds. These all bend round to the west-by-
south, joining with the rocks of the Lakargarh range, 14 miles north of
Kálabágh. The thickness of these sandstones and conglomerates is here

estimated at 9,500 to 10,000 feet.

In the effort to explain the incongruous chaotic state of the rocks
Complications of the 1n this Kálabágh neighbourhood, elevation, absence
а of deposition, dislocation and denudation may all
be appealed to, and whichever way one turns, it will be necessary to look
far backwards for a clue to the entanglement.

( 351 )

43 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE.

Taking the country on both sides of the Indus as one complex of
disorder, itis strange that in spite of the disruption of the series, the strike
of the range retains its local north-north-west course for 10 miles.
Within this distance, the formations, of which fragments are present, may
be fairly presumed to have once extended over the whole ground, their
local absence being due to dislocation, but whether those entirely wanting
ever existed here can only be guessed at from their character elsewhere.
Thus the purple and the speckled sandstone groups seem to have died out,
one or both, here or there, before their disappearance some way south of
Märi, but beds belonging to the fugitive soft boulder group are seen in a
few places. Hence it appears the partial distribution of the older groups
leaves it possible the ubiquitous red salt-marl may never have been en-
tirely covered over by them here. "This seems more likely than that the
missing series has been removed by denudation, sparing only the very
softest and most soluble deposits. The irregularity of accumulation of
these absent members seems to be due rather to the set of currents than
to surface inequalities of the marl, reaching above and below water-level,
because the marl would always have formed a soft mass, the insoluble
part of which would have gone to form detrital beds formed by ex-
posure to denudation, and no rocks attributable to this origin are known
in the series.

However this may be; as in one place carboniferous limestone, and
in another tertiary elays and sandstones, rest upon the salt-marl, amid
such complicated disturbance too as is evidently present, it is difficult
to guess how far solution of the salt rock or slipping of the whole series
in consequence may have contributed to conceal the true succession of
the deposits.

We have then the carboniferous as one of the oldest groups known
to have succeeded the salt-marl here; followed. by the trias, jura, eocene,
and lower tertiary sandstone formations, an alternation of hard and soft
rocks likely to break up irregularly under the exertion of such forces of
rending and pressure as were encountered; and there are no facts to
show that any of these were unconformably deposited.

( 252 )

NEIGHBOURHOOD OF KÁÍLABÁGH. 48

One great master-fault has been said to run along the Lón and Märi
valleys; if it could be assumed that the older members of the series are
buried by this fault, then the ground to the westward would much
resemble the usual state of the southern Salt Range hill-sides. Against
this, however, the fault referred to appears to have no such great down-
throw as would conceal the whole series, the absence of which, along the
fault, is more probable also from this exposing a limited contact of the
salt-marl and salt with the tertiary beds, where the latter are rather reg-
ularly and very largely exposed, 12 miles from the Indus, at the head of
the Lún valley. In this Lún valley there are detached masses of the
carboniferous and nummulitie groups, the former being about 20 feet
wide. Both masses seem to be associated with the portion of the great
Indus system of fractures which longitudinally traverses this glen, but
even this fragmentary evidence of the presence of the middle portion of
the series is wanting at the head of the valley. The map used at the
time they were observed (several years since) cannot now be found, so .
that their exact position in the one accompanying this paper is slightly
doubtful.

From the above observations it appears possible that deposition of
most of the older palzeozoic beds, superior to the salt-marl, may have been
suppressed in this neighbourhood, also that the series, so far as repre-
sented, has suffered enormous dislocation. This dislocation alone,
however, is scarcely sufficient to account for the condition of the
ground without the aid of denudation to remove most of the disjointed
masses.

We accordingly find that great denudation of the local carboniferous
and eocene limestones and other beds has resulted in the production of
the post-tertiary conglomerates, but this denudation, so far as any evidence
from detrital deposits, was not of earlier date than post-Siwalik.

In the section represented in fig. 1, at page 46, the rocks of the
Siwalik series (No. 7) to the west are supplied from some distance; the
other groups follow as shown, but the carboniferous and triassic are
introduced from the next glen to the south.

( 353 )

44 WYNNE: TRANS-INDUS EXTENSION OF THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE.

A part of the field map is annexed (at this page), from which some of
the positions of the rocks will be seen more plainly than in the smaller

seale map with this Memoir.

Section Il. —THE CHIcHÄLI RANGE AND MOUNTAINS TO THE NORTH.

The Chichäli range extends from the dislocated hills of Kálabágh to '
the westward, with a frontage often nearer 4,000 than 3,000 feet above the
plains, and chiefly occupied by the outerop of the mesozoie and eocene

rocks.
In the recess north of Kálabágh the first beds seen in the low hills at
Recess north of Ка. foot of the scarp may be 700 or 800 feet of thick
bágh. Siwalik sandstones and conglomerate let down and
crushed against the base of the higher hills to the north and east.
In the former direction some older looking purplish tertiary beds with
redder clays intervene, close to the fault, on the further side of
which rises part of a large anticlinal curve composed ef the carboniferous,
trias, and eocene beds of these mountains. The white nummulitic lime-
stone and its soft underlying zone make a high double peak to the east,
over the Lún valley, the beds cropping steeply in the opposite direction.
Their basset edge then descends into the valley to the north, rising again
slowly to the Türgegarh summit (4,425 feet) on the western side of the
recess. By this arrangement part of the crest of the ridge is formed of
the limestone and variegated series of the jurassie group, the latter from
its softness being cut into high cliffs, making ground very difficult to
traverse. The jurassic rocks, particularly the variegated parts, are
largely developed here. The triassie beds are mostly exposed in vertical
cliffs, and the harder carboniferous limestones form a high bench inter-
sected by very deep ravines. The axis of the anticlinal once formed by
the latter formation and succeeding beds plunges downwards at a steep
angle, passing west directly under Türgegarh summit.
The earboniferous rocks are as usual strong gray limestones, and
( 254 )

\Wvnne GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. Memoirs XVII-2

Index
EY Post tertiary
Siwalik
__} AMurree
Focene
FE Jura
LÎ Trias
BEE Carboniferous
Beg Sait Group
Black lines
are faults mm

NEIGHBOURHOOD OF KALABAGH
Scale 1 Inch = 2 Miles

PHOTOZINOOGRAPHED AT THE SURVEYOR GENERAL'S OFFICE, OALOUTTA, APRIL 1880.

GHOLOGICAL SURVEY fU] d > 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

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.

= 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

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. 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

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 :—

. 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.

| sandstone and flaggy limestone more frequent
\ upwards. А thin hard limestone band at base.
=

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

| 4. Gray gypseous dolomite eed Eu 508
1 8.

| 2

|
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.

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.

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

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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 -)

irs Vol. XVII, Pt. 9.

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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.

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Scale 4 Miles — 1 Inch.

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For Geology of Salt Range, Cis-Indus, Soo Map with Memoir,

S
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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
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