470 Reviews—Lydekker’s Geology of Kashmir. 
Twenty-two localities are recorded. where hot springs occur, 
varying in temperature from 96° to 185° F.; some of these deposit 
travertine, or are rich in sulphur, iron, and carbonic-dioxide (pp. 
42-44), 
The formations observed in this vast area comprise low-level and 
high-level Alluvial deposits of Prehistoric and Pleistocene age ; 
a Pliocene (Siwalik) series; Murree group of Miocene, and a 
Snbathu and Indus group of Hocene age. The Cretaceous or 
Chikkim series, the Jura-Trias, or Supra-Kuling series; the Car- 
boniferous or Kuling series; all collectively called the “ Zanskar 
system.” These are preceded by Silurian and Cambrian rocks (not 
generally subdivided) known as the “ Panjal system.” Lastly, a 
Paleozoic and Archean series comprising metamorphosed Panjals 
and central gneiss, Known as the ‘‘ Metamorphic system” (p. 47). 
The Alluvial deposits—as might be expected in such a region of 
high mountains and deep valleys watered by innumerable streams, 
many of which are ice-fed—are of vast and varied extent and com- 
position. They form “Fans” and terraces and Alluvial plains and 
plateaux often of great extent and hundreds of feet in thickness. 
The town of Kishtwar, in the valley of the Chinab, is built on one 
of these alluvial deposits, rising several hundred feet above the level 
of the river. Many of these plateaux, as Gurez itself, are several 
miles in length, and nearly half a mile in width (p. 64). 
In the outer Hills they reach to 400 and 500 feet above the 
actual river-courses, and Mr. Medlicott concludes “that the existing 
rock-gorges have been to a great extent cut out before their accumn- 
lation, then filled by them, and subsequently cleared out again” 
(Records, vol. ix. p. 55). 
Evidence is abundant of the former existence of numerous lakes, 
many of which were of vast extent. -One in Rupshu, a Salt Lake 
now some five miles in length, formerly had an area between 60 and 
70 square miles (p. 69). 
The diminution in area of these lakes is not however due to the 
filling up by alluvial deposits alone, but to the fact that they 
formerly received a much more abundant supply of water than they 
do at the present day. There is good evidence also that the climate 
was less extreme, and that animal and vegetable life was once more 
abundant and existed at elevations where it is now scarcely known. 
Many of the deposits in the existing river-valleys, consisting of a 
series of fine clayey and sandy layers often attaining to a height of 
200 feet and more above the level of the valley and perfectly hori- 
zontal, conclusively point to the former existence of a dam lower 
down the valley by which the waters were ponded back. Mr. Drew 
has estimated that the great lake of Kashmir must have reached 
fully 2000 feet above the present level of the valley (p. 78). 
Passing now from the latest Alluvial deposits to the Tertiaries, 
we find one great difficulty in determining the geological age of 
beds forming the solid geology of the area, namely, the very general 
absence of fossil remains. 
In 1881, Mr. Lydekker was fortunate in finding at Chakoti, on 
