190 BLANFORD : GEOLOGY OF WESTERN SLND. 



calcareous sandstone and compact calcareous shale, greenish-white and 

 pale dull purple in colour, some beds being almost white. These beds, 

 which are cut up in almost every direction by veins of calcite, are verti- 

 cal, striking north 30° east, and they closely resemble in mineral charac- 

 ter the peculiar limestones of the Parh range, 1 west of the Khirthar, 

 on the upper Gaj. The latter rocks have already been shown to be, 

 veiy possibly, cretaceous. The Gadani beds have a very ancient look, 

 but this is commonly the case with even eocene beds in Makran. 



Just south of Gadani Hill is some dark-grey and blackish limestone, 

 Basalt and black lime- containing fossils, amongst which, however, no- 

 stones near Gadani. thing recognizable could be detected, and only 

 sections of bivalves could be distinguished. The rock resembles some 

 of the Makran nummulitic beds. A small head-land to the eastward 

 is formed of basalt, which continues for half a mile along the coast. It 

 is not amygdaloidal, and it may be intrusive. 



The above were the only rocks examined on the coast itself. The 

 Pabb range on road roa< ^ along the telegraph line, after crossing the 

 to Sonmiani. Habb at Muach Thana, traverses about 5 miles of 



alluvial plain before reaching the Pabb range, which is crossed by a 

 gap, just north of a considerable hill called Ganta. The rocks seen near 

 the road consist of a dark-coloured limestone made up of angular frag- 

 ments (a common character amongst Khirthar beds), dark-grey limestone 

 abounding in nummulites (A 7 ", granulosa, N. obtusa, Sfc), dark-brown 

 granular limestone, also containing nummulites, and white and buff, 

 compact, homogeneous and very fine-grained limestones and shales. 

 The brecciated limestone is seen to the eastward and is nearly vertical ; 

 the main hill is of almost horizontal beds, and farther west there are 

 other ridges dipping westward, but with their strata much contorted. 

 All the rocks seen are characteristically Khirthar, and similar to those 

 of Hamlig and of the upper Gaj river. 



After passing these hills, the road for 5 or 6 miles traverses a sandy 



1 See p. 98, No. 11 of the section on Plate IV. 

 ( 190 ) 



