6 SECOXD YAEKAND MISSION. 



The cretaceous rocks have only heen found at a few localities in Spiti and Eupshu ; but the 

 Jurassic and liassic strata upon which they rest occupy a large area, constantly spoken of by 

 Dr. Stoliczka as the Jurassic elh'pse, and having an elliptical form, with the long axis in the normal 

 north-west, south-east direction. These beds were traced from Spiti and Southern Eupshu 

 to Zdskar, where they end out against the great granite and syenitic mass of Little Tibet. 

 To the south-west the same Jurassic rocks are known to exist in Northern Kumaon. Except 

 close to the Karakoram pass, where liassic beds occur, and a little farther east by south in 

 the Lokzhung range, capped by cretaceous rocks, 1 none of these middle and upper mesozoic rocks 

 have hitherto been found in Western Tibet beyond the limit of this basin ; nor have they 

 hitherto been found in Kashmir proper, although some of them recur in the hills near Mari 

 (Murree). 



The silurian, carboniferous, and triassic (including the rhretic 2 ) formation have afar 

 wider range, and it is probable that their altered representatives form no inconsiderable pro- 

 portion of the metamorpliic rocks, which occupy so large an area in the Indus valley and its 

 neighbourhood . 



The silurian rocks on the south of the Jurassic area have been traced at intervals from 

 the Bhabeh pass, through Northern Lahaul and Zaskar, to the neighbourhood of Dras, and 

 they are probably, in Dr. Stoliczka's opinion, represented by some of the lower beds seen in the 

 Indus valley below Leh, and in the Marka valley to the south. North-west of the Jurassic area 

 they have not been detected, and they may be represented by some of the metamorphic rocks. 



The carboniferous series is distinctly developed both to the south-west and north-east of 

 the Jurassic area in the Spiti country, and it becomes even more prominent to the north-west. 

 It occupies large areas in the Indus valley south-west and west of Leh, and reappears in the 

 Kashmir valley. The triassic rocks appear everywhere to overlie the carboniferous, and to 

 have nearly an equal extension. 



Northern and Eastern Eupshu, to the north-east of the Spiti area, consists mainly of 

 gneiss and other metamorphic rocks. The same crystalline formations form the whole of the 

 range north of the Indus, from the sharp bend made by the river to the southward, north of 

 Hanle, to Leh. 



In the Indus valley itself, apart from all the secondary series of the Spiti basin, sand- 

 stones, shales, and clays are found, which have been proved to be of eocene age by the discovery 

 in them of nummulites and other fossils. Where these were first observed by Dr. Stoliczka in 

 Northern Eupshu, they were unfossiliferous, and their old and altered appearance made Mm 

 suspect that they might be palseozoic. But near Leh they are much newer in appearance, and 

 contain fossils which prove their age. Similar beds are seen west of Leh, as far as Kargil. 



Lastly, eruptive rocks, containing serpentine, diallage, and epidote, occupy a considerable 

 area around Hanle, east of Eupshu, and extend for many miles to the north-west, towards the 

 Indus. Syenite is largely developed near Leh, and extends westward, towards Dras, occupying 

 a considerable area about Kargil. Serpentine is associated with it. 



If we look upon the snowy range north of Simla and the Zaskar range as identical, and 

 as forming the axis of the Himalayas, we may consider the palseozoic and mesozoic rocks of 

 the Indus and Spiti valleys as lying between two great metamorphic ranges that just men- 

 tioned and the Lad&k range north of the Indus. To the north of Kashmir, however, the 



1 See note, p. 47. 



2 This formation was kept distinct by Dr. Stoliczka in his first paper, but subsequently he was disposed to unite it with the 

 triassic group. 



