1 16 BLANEORD : GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SIND. 



beds have all the characters of Manchhars. Laterite is accumulated in 

 irregular masses in the lower part of these beds, which contain Ostrea 

 multicostata and an Anomia. But for the fossils all these beds might 

 be classed as Manchhar ; but they probably are a mixture of the 

 Manchhar river deposits with the marine formations of the Gaj group, 

 an intermixture commonly found to the southward. In many places 



Absence of Gaj beds to to tne southward of this no trace of Gaj beds, or 

 southward. £ an y mar i ne deposit, can be detected at the 



base of the Manchhars. 



Some outliers of Manchhar beds occur 10 to 12 miles west of Kotri, 

 near a camping ground called Petiani, on the road from Kotri to Bhule 

 Khan's Thana. The outliers consist of calcareous conglomerate, con- 

 taining fragments of white and yellow sandstone, calcareous sandstone, 

 and iron ore (a ferruginous laterite) , and the beds are much disturbed, 

 being in one place vertical. 



North-east of Petiani, however, two small outliers have been noticed 



Probable Gaj outliers resting upon Ranikot beds, and although the rela- 

 north-east of Petiam. tions of neither are quite clear, it is probable that 



one, if not both, are of Gaj age. The most northerly occurs about 9 

 miles north-west of Kotri, and 7^ miles north-north-east of Petiani, and 

 is about a quarter of a mile in diameter. This outlier forms a conspicu- 

 ous dark-coloured craggy hill in the middle of the Ranikot area; and 

 consists of dark harsh siliceous sandstone, coarse in parts, especially 

 towards the base, with bands of conglomerate containing small pebbles. 

 The rock is obliquely laminated, and 50 to 60 feet thick; it is quite 

 unlike any occurring in the neighbouring scarps of Ranikot beds, and it 

 resembles the hard sandstone to be described hereafter as occurring- near 

 Jungshahi, more than any formation in the neighbourhood. The age 

 of the Jungshahi sandstone, however, as will be seen, 1 is not clearly 

 determined. 



The second outlier is rather larger ; it lies about 4 miles south-south- 

 west of the last and between 3 and 4 miles from Petiani, on the 



1 See Chapter VIII. 



( H6 ) 



