792 



NATURE 



[August i8, 192 i 



in synchronising their apparatus to that of the trans- 

 mitting section. 



Bulletin 702 of the United States Geological Survey 

 contains information on the oil possibilities in and 

 around Baxter Basin, Rork Springs Uplift, Wyoming, 

 and is the work of A. R. Schultz. Little work 

 has hitherto been carried out in this area, 

 although geologically it has long been favoured as a 

 likely field, but latterly active interest has been taken 

 in its development, and consequently the presentation 

 of this official report is of much importance. The 

 Rock Springs Uplift consists of an enormous dome of 

 Cretaceous and Tertiary strata rising in the middle of 

 the horizontally bedded rocks of the well-known Green 

 River Basin, the dome itself being much warped into 

 minor folds ; Baxter Basin is situate in the central 

 part of this dome, and consists structurally of a broad 

 eroded anticlinal involving the Mesaverde, Blair, 

 Baxter, Frontier, and Aspen series (in descending 

 order) of Upper Cretaceous age, with probable repre- 

 sentatives of much older formations. Oil occurs at 

 several horizons, but the Frontier series, the principal 

 oil-bearing series in Wyoming, lies at a depth of some 

 5000 ft. below the surface, which is almost the^uttft- 

 here for drilling. In addition, there are the extensive 

 deposits of oil shale, the Green River formation of 

 Tertiary age, surrounding the central area of the 

 Rock Springs dome, and development of these should 

 prove successful. Recent drilling on the Baxter Basin 

 anticline has been carried out with promising f^sufts, 

 mainly by three companies, small quantities of oil 

 and a flow of gas at several hundred pounds pressure 

 being obtained. This is a field of which we shall un- 

 doubtedly hear more in the course of time, and the 

 Geological Survey officers are to be congratulated on 

 the large amount of valuable preliminary information 

 here published as an aid to its development. 



In Bulletin 713 of the U.S. Geological Survey 

 (1920) there is an illustration of a recumbent cedar 

 in vigorous growth, a member of a grove of similar 

 habit on a wind-swept slope in Idaho. Physio- 

 graphers and students of forestry will like to com- 

 pare it with the drawing of Pinus vtontana in its 

 climbing attitude in Brunhies's " Le Pare National 

 Suisse " (Nature, vol. cvi., p. 466). 



We have recently received a copy of part 3, vol. xl., 

 Mem. Geol. Surv. India, by E. H. Pascoe, dealing 

 with the occurrences of petroleum in the Punjab and 

 North- West Frontier Province, which, though somewhat 

 belated owing to the war and other circumstances, 

 makes a welcome appearance just when first-hand in- 

 formation concerning our Imperial oil resources is re- 

 quired. The main petroliferous region occupies a belt 

 flanking the Himalayas and traceable westwards from 

 Simla, though it is not clearly defined until the 

 division of Ravval Pindi is reached ; it extends for 

 140 miles across the Indus through Kohat and Bannu 

 and southwards into Baluchistan. The altitude of this 

 belt suggests relationship to two distinct systems of 

 tectonic movement : that of the Himalayas to the 

 east, with their north-west to south-east trend in this 

 region, and that of the Afghanistan-Baluchistan 

 system to the west, a somewhat complex series of 

 NO. 2703, VOL. 107] 



tectonic elements with a general curving strike from 

 north to west, here recognised as the Attock arc. 

 The belt lies in the re-entrant between these two 

 systems, and occupies the site of an ancient river 

 valley (Indobrahm), much in the same way as the 

 petroliferous belts of Burma and Assam are coincident 

 with ancient river-courses. Geologically the belt is 

 divisible into halves, a northern and a southern, 

 separated by a broad synclinal area. The northern 

 half embraces the occurrences of oil around Rawal 

 Pindi, in the Kala Chitta Hills, at Khaur, and in the 

 trans-Indus salt area ; the southern includes those of 

 the salt range with the seepages of the Khasor Hills. 

 Structurally the oil and gas are associated with anti- 

 clines involving rocks of Nummulitic or Muree age, 

 the trend of these anticlines conforming to the main 

 tectonic features existent at the particular locality at 

 which they occur. Although the occurrence of 

 petroleum in this part of India has been known of for 

 many years, exploration has not met with unqualified 

 success save in the case of the Attock Oil Co., which 

 has carried out developments at Khaur. The oil 

 obtained at Khaur varies in specific gravity from 0894 

 to 0876 in the upper sands, and from 0877 to 0840 in 

 xieeper sands, and is generally darker in colour than 

 Burmese oil. The author regards the origin of the 

 oil in this region as doubtful, though it would seem 

 ta be indigenous to the Nummulitic beds, its occur- 

 rence in the overiying Muree beds being probably due 

 to upward migration. 



The subject of climatic conditions on the principal 

 air routes in the East Indian Archipelago has been 

 recently dealt with by Dr. C. Braak, of Batavia. Dr. 

 Braak is of opinion that from an international point 

 of view the air route from Singapore to Port Darwin 

 is the most important. Relative to the different 

 conditions in the tropics and in temperate latitudes, 

 he asserts that in the tropics higher temperature at the 

 surface is responsible for lighter air for aeroplanes 

 at the start, but the wind conditions are said to be 

 strongly in favour of the tropical climate. Cyclones 

 are rare in the Archipelago, their occurrence being 

 liniited to the month of April and to the late days 

 of March and early days of May, whilst there is 

 usually only one in each year. The variability of wind 

 direction is relatively small, and the wind variations 

 are principally reinforcements and weakenings of the 

 monsoons. A feature favourable to aerial navigation 

 is stated to be the well-marked and very regular daily 

 variation in most of the meteorological factors, so 

 that choice can be made of the time of day that 

 afi'ords the best flying conditions. Details are given 

 of the surface winds, as well as of the air movement 

 in the higher levels. Monthly rain measurements and 

 the number of rainy days are tabulated for many places 

 within the area. The distribution of rainfall over the 

 day is shown, as are also frequency of thunderr 

 relative cloudiness, and haziness. It is stated that 

 when comparison is made with the climatic conditions 

 in temperate latitudes the conditions in the Archi- 

 pelago may be called rather favourable. 



In the Bulletin of the Central Meteorological Ob- 

 servatory of Japan (vol. iii.. No. 3, Tokyo, 1921^ 



