EASTERN FOOTHILLS. 51 



table-mountain consists entirely of sandstones and limestones, including 

 probably the entire Palaeozoic series found along the east base of the 

 range, but here lying in a nearly horizontal position. The cause of this 

 somewhat singular occurrence of the lower sandstones and limestone may 

 be found in an irregular mass of rough granite, lying to the eastward of 

 the table, which has elevated them to their present position, a level nearly 

 equal with the summit of the Archaean body. Upon this mass of Archaean 

 granite rest the later sedimentary rocks, dipping westward toward the 

 main mountain-range, with an angle at their base of 8° to 10° ; while on 

 the opposite side of the table, the same beds dip 5° to 6° to the eastward, 

 forming a slight synclinal fold or depression, with the beds of the summit 

 lying nearly horizontal. In addition to this synclinal, the limestones at 

 both the north and south ends possess a gentle inclination toward the 

 centre, producing a basin-shaped top. Upon the table, but little soil re- 

 mains ; young trees were entirely absent, yet there were numbers of decay- 

 ing and dead ones of older growth, which still remained standing. 



This is the only instance observed where any disconnected mass of 

 Archaean granite occurs, lying to the eastward of the sedimentary foot-hill 

 formations, which accounts undoubtedly for this singular and exceptional 

 structure of the strata. It is the only instance observed of a synclinal fold 

 in Palaeozoic strata east of the mountains, and it is exceedingly interesting 

 in dynamical geology to notice how the entire series of lower sandstone and 

 limestone has been elevated in a horizontal position, and in a manner so 

 entirely at variance with the upheaval of the same formations everywhere 

 else along the mountain-slope, for a distance of one hundred miles. In this 

 upheaval, the Mesozoic formations do not appear to have taken part, and 

 they are nowhere recognized in the immediate region of Table Mountain. 

 East of the mountain, the structure is entirely obscured by either Tertiary 

 or Quaternary deposits, which rest close up against the granite. It would 

 appear highly probable that the comparatively low dip of the beds just 

 north of Wahlbach Spring were in some way connected with this outlying 

 body of granite, because a short distance still farther northward the beds 

 occur at a high angle, and to the south of North Crow Creek, beyond the 

 lower end of Table Mountain, they again exhibit a somewhat steep dip. 



