26 PKOCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [DeC. 9, 



Section (in ascending order) of ilie Escarpment of Tik, starting from 



the Plain of Mamleh. 



feet. 

 White, reddish, and purplish sandstones 300 



A. Shaly beds 50 



B. Coarsely bedded sandstone 20 



C. Shales and sandy shales, with gypsum and some thin nodular 



limestones near the top 100 



D. Hard, compact cream-coloured limestone 12 



E. Hard limestone and shales, with a rubbly bed containing 



hippurites ; f err ugi nous sandy bed at top 100 



F. Limestone and sliaies, with large Ammonites 100 



G-. Calcareous sandstone, with large nodules of alabaster 50 



H. Tumbled stuff 40 



K. Compact limestone, about , 20 



L. Tumbled stuff. 50 



M. Limestones and marl, some chloritie and some with flint 



nodules ; a hard bed near the top 100 



Total (A to M) 6-42 



The above total (A to M) may be regarded as an approximation to the 

 thickness of the Lower Cretaceous rocks, the 300 feet beneath being- 

 assigned to the Trias, as will bo shown further on. Pragments of 

 several large Ammonites were found, mostly in a bad state from ex- 

 posure to the weather, and too cumbrous to bring away ; so that only 

 pieces of sufficient size to show the nature of the form and the pat- 

 tern of the chambers were collected. 



On the top of the escarpment the beds form a broad plateau, falling 

 with the dip to the northward, and far away in the distance 

 crowned by an escarpment of white beds, probably the representa- 

 tives of the Gharandel and Taibe bituminous series. The highest 

 point of the Tih plateau is 4630 feet above the sea-level, according 

 to E-ussegger. 



From the plain of Eamleh there is a descent of about 250 feet into 

 Wady Baba, immediately to the south of which is the old mining- 

 region. This comprises, within an area of about twenty square miles, 

 the copper-smelting station of ISTasb, the old copper-mines of Wady 

 Chaly, the quarries and temple of Sarabut el Khadem, and the tur- 

 quoise-mines of "Wady Maghara, forming by far the most interesting- 

 district, from an antiquarian and geological point of view, in the 

 whole of the Sinaitic peninsula. 



Nash. — In the cliff at the lower end of the ITasb valley, on the 

 right-hand or western side, the red-sandstone series of E-amleh is 

 seen to rest unconformably on a dark-green schistose gneiss and 

 mica- schist, pierced by a great number of intrusive dykes, principally 

 porphyries, with small oligoclase crystals in a dark-red or black base. 

 The lower member of the series is a dark-red, soft sandstone, with 

 marly partings ; it is very similar in character and general appearance 

 to the Lower New Red Sandstone about Chester, and may be 

 from 100 to 200 feet thick. This is succeeded by lighter- coloured 

 rocks of a similar character, much false-bedded, and variegated with 

 yellowish, brown, red, and purple bands, making a thickness of about 



