32 WYNNE : TRANS- INDUS SALT REGION, KOHAT DISTRICT. 



The Munili salt in the flanks of the outer Himalaya is apparently 

 different from this, both in its impure earthy composition, in having- no 

 associated gypsum, and in the age of the rocks amongst which it occurs.* 



Of other rock-salt exposures in the Himalaya, in High Asia, and the 

 neighbourhood of the Caspian Sea mentioned in Dr. Karsten's volume, 

 (previously alluded to), little is known, but it is worth noting his record- 

 ing the frequent occurrence of petroleum with that of the latter locality, 

 taken in connexion with the bituminous impregnation of the salt here : 

 indeed, he seems to argue from the existence of earth-oilin Italy that 

 rock-salt would eventually be found in the same localities. f 



Age of the salt. — The attempt to fix the precise age of the Trans- 

 Indus salt is beset with difficulty on account of the absence of palseonto- 

 logical evidence near it from which to reason. It has been stated to 

 differ entirely in itself and its immediate associates from the Cis-Indus 

 salt, but when the whole of the adjacent sections are examined the 

 disparity increases. In the Salt Range the salt series itself is one of the 

 most constant features of the geological sections. Another less constant 

 group is the nummulitic limestone, but between these at various places 

 are interposed silurian, carboniferous, triassic, Jurassic, and cretaceous 

 formations, besides unfossiliferous groups which have only received local 

 or provisional names. Even where the Salt Range series is least ample, 



* Mr. Medlicott's opinion that this salt is associated with the Krol (Trias ?) rocks is 

 recorded in Geological Survey Memoirs, Vol. Ill, pt. 2, p. 60, etc. Dr.-Warth's notes 

 made at the place coincide with this view, but Mr. Theobald, who has also visited the deposit, 

 has seen some reason to believe that it does not belong to the older series, but is of eocene 

 age, when it might represent that of the Kohat district. Dr. Jameson's attempt at cor- 

 relation of the Mundi and Salt Range salt is open to very considerable doubt (Jour. As. 

 Soc, Beng., Vol. xii, 1843, p. 218), and is unlikely to be correct. 



f In connexion with this subject we also find that " a very rich oil-well was just dis- 

 covered in Nauchaitz, Russia, on the shore of the Caspian Sea," After boring 120 feet oil was 

 found, which flowed for 20 minutes. This was followed by a deafening noise accompanied by 

 a slight earthquake, after which a jet of clear water, very saline, burst forth with great 

 violence, running for nearly half an hour. Since then from 1,500 to 2,000 pailfulls of oil 

 have been drawn out. — Colliery Guardian, April 7th, 1866, quoted in ' Geological Magazine/ 

 Vol. Ill, p. 287. Italics ours. 



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