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ItEPORT— l»84. 



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iiii iiJ I 



Wilili« 



cousistinj^ of agglomoratop, tnfls, ami bods of fclspatliio (nip. The autlior 

 is dipposod to concur witli J)r. Lartct in coiisidcriii;^ tlu; p^rii.issosc inul 

 granitoid rocks to bo of archa^an (or Laurentian) age, as they aie ])io- 

 bably representative of those of Assouan in Upper Egypt, wliich J'riju'ipal 

 Dawson lias recently identified with those of this age. The granites and 

 porphyries are traversed b}' innumerable dykes of porphyi'y and dioritc, 

 both throughout the Sinaio mountains and those of Edom and !Moab ; and 

 the author considers it probable that the volcanic rocks which are lai'gely 

 represented along the base of !Monnt llor, and of Jebel Sonirali near Ivs 

 Satieh, are contemporaneous with these dykes. As far as the author \viis> 

 able to observe, none of these dykes penetrate the Desert or Xubiim 

 sandstones, and if so, they nnvy be considered of pre-carbonifcrons ago. 

 The upper surface of the ancient rocks was extremely uneven jirevionslv 

 to the deposition of the Desert .sandstone, having been Avorn and deMiidcd 

 into ridges and hollows ; over this irregular iloor the sandstone strata wevc 

 deposited. 



'4. The occurrence of terraces of marl, gravel, andsili, through which 

 the ravines of existing streams have been cut at an elevation (according ti> 

 aneroid determination) of about 100 feet above the level of the ]\[ediicr- 

 ranean, was taken to show that the level of the Salt Sea (Bahr liut) wt 

 onetime stood about 1,100 feet higher than ',>'■ ])rescnt. These- beds of 

 marl Averc first observed at tne camp at Ain A ,.i iJeweircih ; they contain 

 blanched shells of the genera ^Mull(|/t■■<i■■< and Mnlmiid. The beds of marl 

 Avere observed to bo enclosed by higher ground of more ancient stnita in 

 every direction except towards the north, where they gently slope down- 

 wards towards the borders of the Ghor, and become incorporated with 

 strata of the GOO-feet teirace. 



' The author concurs with Dr. Lartet in thinking that the waters of tlio 

 Jordan Valley did not tlow down into the Gulf of Akabah after the land 

 liad emerged from the .sea; the disconnection of the inner and outer waters 

 ■was very ancient, dating back to Miocene times. 



'The occurrence of bods of ancient lakes, consisting of coarse ^ravoT, 

 sand, and marl, among.st the mountains of Sinai, and in the Wady cl 

 Arabah, where now only waterless valleys occur, taken in connection 

 with other phenomena, have impressed the antlior witli the convietimi 

 that the former climatic conditions of Arabia I'etraca wei'e very dilfcreni 

 from those of the present day. Such terraces have been observed by Dr. 

 Post in the Wady Feiran. and Colonel Sir C. W. Wilson in the Wady 

 Solaf, and by the author in the Wadijs Gharandel, Goweisah, llamr, 

 Solaf, and Es Slieikh or Watiyeh. It would appear that, at a period 

 coming down probably to the ])rehistoric, a chain of lakes existed amongst 

 the tortuous vallevs and hollows of the Sinaitic i)enin.sula. The pfypseous 

 deposits of Wady Aniarah and of 'Ain llawareh are old lake beds, and 

 Mr. ]?anerman has observed remains of IVesh- water shells (L/jninna irna- 

 caiiila) and a species of rinidiiDU in "lake or river alluvium" of the 

 Wadies Feiran and Es Sheikh.' 



' 7. The author considers it ])robable that these ancient Sinaitic lakes 

 belong to an epoch when the watei's of the Mediterranean and the lied Sea 

 rose to a level considerably hi^,'lier than at present, and when, conf3equently, 

 there was less fall for the inland waters in an outer direction. The 

 evidence of a submergence, to a depth of at least "JOO feet, is abundantly 



' Quart. Jour. Ccol. Sue, vol. x.xv. p. :i2. 



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