LOFTUS — TURKO-PERSIAN FRONTIER. 259 



This range is the first appearance of the great hmestone which 

 constitutes the main feature of the Zagros, and here protrudes 

 through the newer gypsum-deposits. 



Between the village and ruins of Kasr-i-Shirin the gypsum curves 

 over in a low ridge, and is again overlaid by the marls and sand- 

 stones which fill up the valley of Goura-tu, dipping to the N.E., 

 and terminates in the range called Kiirayez. Nothing can exceed 

 the barrenness of this valley, except where a small tributary of the 

 Diyala flows through a thick growth of reeds. Seen from any high 

 point in the neighbourhood, this part of the disputed province of 

 Zohab presents an extraordinary scene. On all sides, up to the base 

 of the great limestone-chain of Bjimii on the north, and extending 

 to the N.W. and S.E. until lost in the distance, is a vast sea of un- 

 profitable sandstone-ridges, which can of themselves be of no value 

 to either the Turkish or Persian Government. Excepting the small 

 stream above-mentioned, there is no water to be procured, while the 

 succession of zigzags formed by the outcrop of the beds renders tra- 

 velling by no means agreeable. 



Such is the character of the upper and middle portions of the 

 gypsum-series here ; and, I may say, their aspect is alike wherever 

 they are met with on the western flanks of the mountains. I have 

 crossed them in various directions, far apart from each other, and 

 have found the same invariable succession of strata, — scarcity of water, 

 and that bitter and brackish, — sterility, — succession of zigzag ridges 

 and short escarpments, — and the like disposition to produce fever and 

 ague. And yet, with all these disadvantages, these sandstone-ridges 

 were, in the days of the Sassanian monarchs, the favourite abodes 

 of the Persians, whose ruined dwellings are continually to be met 

 with. Within the greater ranges, however, these remarks do not 

 always apply. 



In the direction of Zohab, the series of gypsiferous deposits dis- 

 appear near the naphtha-springs of Hamam All and at the range 

 called Karayez, in whose cliffs, facing the S.W., the sandstones and 

 marls are capped by a thick bed of cherty and quartzose gravel. 



A great fault to the east of this range throws up the cretaceous 

 rocks to the eastward of Zohab, and at the same time elevates the 

 nummulitic limestone trough of the Ban-i-Zardah, behind the town, 

 to the height of 2000 feet (fig. 2). In this trough, isolated at so 

 great a height above the corresponding beds of the same age, rest 

 sandstones, variegated marls, and gypsum ; the successive layers of 

 which crop out within the basin, and, curving upwards, rest con- 

 formably upon the almost vertical limestone which forms a series of 

 high serrated peaks, facing the Kiih-i-Dalahu on the north-east. 



The same order of superposition is here observed as elsewhere on 

 the western skirts of the Zjigros : the sandstones overlie the marls ; 

 the latter in their lower part being associated with gypsum. These 

 beds are not again met with east of Dalahii. 



Section from Dizfid to the Valley of Gildldhu. — Sections near 

 Dizful (figs. 3 & 4) exhibit the gypsum-series in less broken succes- 

 sion than it occurs further to the north-west. 



t2 



