274 Mr Hardie on the Geology of the 



that the masses, previously rounded and eroded, were hurried 

 onward by a sudden rush of water, which, accumulating in the 

 valley of Oodipoor, permitted them to sink towards a bottom 

 covered, we may suppose, with a semifluid mud, into which they 

 could easily penetrate. In this case, they would naturally re- 

 tain the position assumed by them in sinking, which is the pre- 

 cise position in which they are now found. The composition of 

 the matrix, consisting, as it does, of finely comminuted particles^ 

 of argillaceous rocks, agglutinated by a calcareous cement, gives 

 an air of probability to such a supposition, which will be still 

 farther strengthened, if we believe that, at that period, the val- 

 ley of Oodipoor existed in the form of an inland lake. The 

 vertical and inclined positions assumed by the imbedded pebbles 

 of the sedimentary formations, found reposing on the sides of 

 many of the European mountain chains, have been attributed 

 to a very different cause; but the fact that the kunkur is spread 

 in amorphous beds, of not more than a few feet in thickness, 

 over a wide surface, formed by the edges of the vertical strata, 

 is at variance with the idea, that the position of the included 

 pebbles has been modified at the period when the neighbouring 

 hill ranges issued from the bowels of the earth. Besides, the 

 phenomena attending the quartz-veins above alluded to, clearly 

 prove that the subjacent strata had, in such cases, acquired a 

 vertical position long previous to the deposition of Ihe kunkur. 

 In the purer varieties of kunkur, the imbedded masses are much 

 less numerous, and of a smaller size ; and I am not aware that 

 they exhibit any peculiarity in their mode of arrangement. 



In speculating on the probable age and origin of the kunkui^ 

 formation, it is exceedingly difficult, from want of data, to ar- 

 rive at any thing like a satisfactory conclusion ; future observa- 

 tion may supply this deficiency, and, in the mean time, I may 

 be permitted to offer the few following observations, in the hope 

 that they may have the eff*ect of directing to the subject, the at- 

 tention of the many talented geologists at present in India. 



I have already pointed out the necessity of distinguishing be- 

 tween the more ancient kunkur beds and the recent calc tuff*, 

 but we must at the same time bear in mind, that a similar pro- 

 cess to that which is in daily progress before our eyes, may have 

 given origin to some of the older varieties. It is well known 



