82 WYNNE : GEOLOGY OP KTJTCH. [PAUT I. 



The sand dunes along the coast do not require more than passing 

 notice, being in every respect the same as such usually are. Their ridges 

 in several places have a bearing of about 20° north of east and south of 

 west. 



The question of how the alluvial plains of the coast of Western 

 India were formed, is not cleared up by anything observed in Kutch. The 

 materials are often but not always of fine grain ; they sometimes contain 

 near the sm-face a few land shells, but no marine remains have been 

 detected. The deposits frequently resemble those of rivers ; but there are 

 no large rivers in Kutch, and the small intermittent streams which it pos- 

 sesses, would have to wander laterally to a very great extent in order 

 to cover the country with such detritus. They only appear to have 

 changed their courses in a few localities near the coast, and their valleys 

 though small, are generally single and separate from the hills to the sea. 



The alluvium may be marine, but in the absence of fossils this 

 cannot be asserted, and the configuration of the ground it occupies differs 

 both from that of the Runn and from that of the neighbouring sea 

 bottom as shown by the coast survey soundings, being apparently less 

 level than the former, and less uneven than the latter. 



( 8iJ ) 



