yo BLANFORD : GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. 



2 feet thick ; of limestone, with Nummulites and Alveolince. This band 



Section of lower Khir- nas a peculiar brecciated appearance, not unfre- 



thar group on Gaj river. quent i y seen on the Khirthar limestone, which 



sometimes looks as if made up of fragments cemented by a calcareous 

 matrix. The Alveolina occur in the matrix. These rocks are seen on 

 the right or western bank of the Gaj, just above the spot where the river, 

 after running for miles from north to south parallel with the main range, 

 turns eastward towards the frontier. 



West of the river, just above the bend, there is a plain about three- 

 fourths of a mile broad, and entirely composed of dark-coloured shales 

 (10), of which a very fair section is seen in a stream. They are of fine 

 texture and dark colour, and dip steadily east at a high angle (about 

 50° to 60°). 



The remainder of the section is seen on the small stream just men- 

 tioned, the rocks west of the Gaj continuing to dip to the eastward 

 steadily for about 2 miles, before they roll over. West of the plain 

 there is a craggy range, known as Parh, composed of rocks of a pinkish 

 colour. This range has precipitous sides, corresponding to the dip of the 

 rocks, to the eastward. The cliffs are marked by equidistant faint 

 horizontal lines caused by jointing, and this range of hills is conspicuous 

 from the Khirthar, being the first well-marked ridge west of the main 

 range. The rocks of the Parh Range consist of very fine-grained thin- 

 bedded limestones (11), sometimes shaly, white, grey, cream-coloured, 

 ochrey or red in colour, dipping about 70° to the eastward. 



Beyond this range again, to the westward, there is a valley nearly 

 three quarters of a mile broad, composed of hard grey shales with calca- 

 reous bands at short intervals of a foot or two apart (12), some quite 

 thin, others a foot or more thick. The dip gradually diminishes to 40° 

 at the commencement of the next range of hills, which is an anticli- 

 Section below Khir- na ^ the beds rolling over to the westward. The 



thar group on Gaj river. lowegt bedg geen ^ SQmQ bkck shaleg (lg) _ The 



next range to the westward was not visited, but it evidently consists of 

 the shaly limestone (11), and it dips west, but beyond this again there 

 ( 98 ) 



