m WYNNE : GEOLOGY OF THE SALt EANGE IN THE PUNJAB. 



a much greater development in mass ; and while the tertiary period to 



which it is believed to belong approximates to present time^ this salt itself 



has a much greater structural similarity to the ancient deposits associated^ 



like it, with gypsum, than to any known modern salt formation.* 



Recent salt regions are proverbially azoic, and no organisms 



of any kind have been found in this salt or the 

 Absence of organisms. 



accompanying gypsum, nor yet any recognisable 



ones in the succeeding group ; but burrows of Annelides (?) and small shells 

 of one genus of mollusca occur in the next newer zone. However, if 

 the salt were supposed to have been formed by the dessication of 

 pools, there seems no reason why organisms might not be found in the 

 saline series. Fossil bones occur in the gypsum of the Paris basin ; and 

 in the salt of the Ran of Kach, fish, water-snakes and insects, 

 prevented by the brine from undergoing decomposition, may also be seen. 

 Doubtless the remains of these would become preserved in the adjacent 

 mud of the Ran. 



The enormous quantity of sea-water necessary for the formation of 

 Quantity of sea-water SO much saltf and the absence of ordinary detrital 

 necessary. stratified deposits formed in that sea are also 



revalent considerations under the supposition of evaporation. 



Purple Sandstone. 

 No, 2. — The Purple Sandstone next above the Saline series possesses 



great uniformity of aspect and texture except 

 Position. 



in the far western part of the range. Its lower 



* For information regarding modern Indian salt formations, among other sources, 

 see Ran of Kach, Trotter ; Appendix to Annl. Sept., Gt. Trig. Surv., 1872-73 ; Kach, 

 Mem. Geol. Snrv. Ind,, Vol. IJX, pt. 1 — " Samhur Lake ;" Eept. Admin. Inland Customs 

 Ind., 1870-71, pp. 113 — 125 ; Panchpadder Salt Works, Burnes, Journ. As. Soc. Beng., Vol. 

 II, p. 365—" The valley of the Pooma River." Records Geol. Surv. Ind. Vol. II, pt. 1. 



Salt is stated to cccur in the Hindu Kush Mountains, but whether recent or not I could 

 not discover from my native informant, the only person who had seen it to my knowledge. 



t For every cubic foot of salt, it may be taken that 50 cubic feet of sea-water would 

 have to be evaporated, or for a column of salt of 275 feet {ante) by 1 foot squai-e a depth of 

 more than 2J miles of sea-water should disappear, not to mention the quantity of salt in 

 the impure Kallar beds assisting to form the 550 feet of salt rocks at the Mayo mines. 



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