6 WAAGEN WYNNE: GEOLOGY OF MOTJNT sfuBAN. 



That the development of the group is not everywhere the same 

 will be seen by reference to the subjoined sections, pink, purple and white 

 quartzitie sandstones of Vindhyan aspect occurring on the same horizon 

 at Shah ke Vandi. 



The hsematitic series, the difficulty of assigning a place to which 

 has been already mentioned, occupies a large area, its deti-itus forming 

 nearly all the cultivable ground on the higher portions of the mountain, 

 and its impermeability enabling the residents to collect the rain water 

 in tanks so as to supplement the supply afforded by the singularly 

 few springs which exist except in the vicinity of the nummulitie 

 limestones.* 



3. The Teiassic Series is formed of dark or black, or gray, 

 •distinctly bedded limestone, with thick zones of massive dolomite, some 

 portions of which contain numerous lamince of opaque white quartz. 

 Near Abbotabad the limestones are extensively quarried for buUding 

 purposes, and are often crowded with indistinct gastropoda and bivalves 

 of triassic forms, among the latter of which is the flat shell called by 

 Dr. Verchere an Athyris. Where the series is complete, dolomites 

 form the lowest beds, above which are thin-bedded limestones with 

 fossils. The dolomites, however, are absent in many places, and the 



* On the line of the main fault close to Shah ke Vandi several springs occur, and one 

 of them of unusual size after rain was observed to pour forth a large rivulet of muddy 

 water, the course of the stream close to which it is situated being almost entirely dry every- 

 where above it. Other large and picturesquely located springs occur in the neighbourhood 

 of Dhumtour. Portions of the hsematitic beds are so rich in iron as to become an ore, which 

 would possibly have been utilised but for the almost utter absence of anything in the shape 

 of a tree around or upon the whole mountain. 



From its tendency to weather down and descend the hill slopes, its exact horizon is 

 often difficult to see. It would appear fi-om sections 1, 5, and 6 that its proper place is 

 at the junction between the infra-triassic and triassic rocks, but in section 3, it seems to 

 occur rather as a member of the Trias itself, unless some obscure dislocation or the occur- 

 rence of a newer zone takes place. With regard to the whole group below the Trias, we have 

 found no sufficient reason to suppose its breccias or other beds traceable to volcanic action, 

 as has perhaps been supposed by Dr. Verchere : its thickness at different e.'iposurcs 

 ranges from one hundred to about one thousand feet. 

 ( 336 ) 



