ORIGINAL ARTICLES. 
On the Geological Features of the Oil Region in the 
Northern Punjab (British India) 
By H. Preiswerk, Basle. 
(PLATE I.) 
Introduction. 
A. Rawalpindi Plateau (Potwar). 
B. The Oil Region of Jaba in the Western Salt Range. 
C. The Burning Gases of Jawalamukhi, Kangra District. 
INTRODUCTION. 
iS the great chains of mountains belonging to the Alpine system, 
stretching from the Armenian upland through LHastern 
Mesopotamia, Western and Southern Persia, and Baluchistan up to 
the Indus, then—in a great curve—encircling the Indian tableland 
in the Kirthar and Suleiman ranges and the Himalayas, then in the 
east turning south to Burma—there are several regions rich in oil, 
following the foot of the mountain-ranges on the border of the plains 
extending in front to the south. The most important of these 
oil-regions arrange themselves into three chief groups: the 
Mesopotamian—Persian region, the Baluchistan—Punjab region, and 
the Burmese region. 
The Mesopotamian—Persian region and the Punjab region, 
summarily called by Sir T. H. Holland the “ Iranian System ”, show 
a striking geological concordance in the occurrence of oil-shows. 
In both regions all oil-outcrops follow the border of large ranges of 
Eocene Nummulitic limestones, which both in Persia and in all 
oil-places in the Punjab that I have seen are overlain by variegated 
gypsiferous marls. Also the cellular limestone, which is so widely 
spread in the Punjab as a contact layer between the Nummulitic 
limestones and the gypsiferous clays, and which is probably of 
importance as an oil-bearing horizon, occurs again in the Persian 
oil-zones. As to the Persian oil-region, gypsiferous marls lying 
immediately over the Nummulitic limestones are considered to be 
the oil-bearers. 
It is a striking coincidence that in the Punjab, too, the contact- 
zone between Nummulitic limestones and particoloured gypsi- 
ferous marls bears the oil-shows. 
This stratigraphical horizon is also of eminent importance for the 
oil-bearing of the two regions. Its outcrop in the Punjab is shown 
on the sketch-map, Fig. 1. This also shows the chief oil-zones, 
from which we can clearly recognize that the oil-shows are strictly 
confined to the horizon just mentioned. 
A. THE RAWALPINDI PLATEAU (Potwar). 
The level plateau of Rawalpindi is limited by a steep range of 
Nummulitic limestone—8 miles north of the town. This range 
