J. B. Scrivenor — Malayan Clays & Mesozoic Granite. 309 



IV. — The Junction of the Malayan Gondwana Clays with the 



Mksozoic Granite of the Malay Peninsula. 



By J. B. Scrivenor, M.A., F.G.S. 



(PLATES XXIII, XXIV.) 



ONE of the drawbacks of Avorking in a distant land is that the 

 vahiahle help of the friendly critic is rarely available, and that, 

 therefore, however strongly the truth of conclusions arrived at may be 

 felt by oneself, it is impossible to expect readers in England to accept 

 without reserve statements that may Avith perfect justice be said to 

 require corroboration by other observers. I have felt the force of 

 this consideration particularly in the case of the clays of the Malayan 

 Gondwana rocks, which 1 have described in more than one puhlication ;^ 

 and as the conclusions in those descriptions are so far removed from 

 what was to he expected in a country where recent alluvium was until 

 quite lately believed to be the most important formation, it is, I think, 

 advisable to place on record in some detail any corroborative evidence 

 that may be brought to light. An additional reason for this course is 

 the constant change in the mine-sections owing to mining operations, 

 and also to the rapidity with which sections weather. 



The conclusions put forward in the publications referred to, stated 

 briefly, are that masses of clay in the Kinta district, formerly believed 

 to be recent alluvium, are, as a matter of fact, part of the Malayan 

 Gondwana rocks, that they are older than the Mesozoic granite which 

 forms the Main Range of the Peninsula and other ranges, and that 

 they are of glacial origin. I need not repeat here the evidence 

 already given, and the object of this paper is to present further 

 evidence on one point only, namely the relative age of the clays and 

 the granite. As far as the economics of the country are concerned, 

 the question of the glacial origin of the clays is a matter of no very 

 great importance, nor is it a theory that has been "nailed to the 

 mast " by its author. It best explains the facts seen in the field, but 

 is nevertheless open to objections, and if anyone will produce a more 

 acceptable theory I am ready to give it preference.^ The proposition 

 that the clays are older than the granite, however, is a matter of great 

 importance from both the scientific and economic standpoint. If it 

 can be proved that these clays are 5-ounger than the Mesozoic granite, 

 then the whole argument of a Gondwana cold climate leaving its mark 

 and of a Gondwana tin-field being preserved in the Kinta district 

 would be shattered at a blow. I am confident tbat it cannot be so 

 destroyed, but it would be wrong to expect others who have not seen 

 the field-sections to share my confidence. I propose, therefore, to 

 describe with the help of some photographs two new sections of the 

 junction between the clays and the granite, which, if they do not 

 remove all doubt on the subject, will at any rate show that to prove 

 the clays younger than the granite would be a very difficult matter. 



1 "The Gopeng Beds of Kinta": Q.J.G.S., Ixviii, pp. 140-63, 1912. 

 " Geological History of the Malay Peninsula" : Q.J.G.S., Ixviii, p. 350, etc., 



1912. The Geology and Mining Industry of the Kinta District, Kuala 

 Lumpur, 1913, pp. 27-43. 



" The late Dr. Tempest Anderson saw some of the clays with boulders in 



1913, and remarked on their similarity to glacial deposits. 



