PROCEEDINGS 



OF 



THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



POSTPONED PAPER. 



On the Caeboniferoxis Eocks of the Yalley of Kashmere. By 

 Capt. H. Godwin- Atjsten. With Wotes on the Brachiopoda col- 

 lected by Capt. Godwin-Austen in Thibet and Kashmere, by T. 

 Davidson, Esq., F.R.S., F.G.S. 



[Communicated by E. A. C. Godwin- Austen, Esq., F.R.S., For. Sec. G.S.] 

 (Eead partly on May 25, 1864, and partly on June 21, 1865*.) 



The district or Pergunab of Yibi is situated on tbe rigbt bank of 

 tbe Jbelum, above Srinagar, and is bounded on tbe N.W. by Ze- 

 banwan (8813 feet), on tbe S.E. by "Wasterwan. 



Tbe rougb panoramic sketcb (fig. 2) of tbe bills wbicb surround 

 tbis valley, as seen from tbe line of tbe river looking east, indicate 

 tbe positions of tbe several places at wbicb tbe following sections 

 were taken. Tbe distance from Zewan to Resbpur is about 8 miles. 

 Tbe level plain consists of tbe lacustrine and alluvial deposits of tbe 

 Kasbmere valley, tbrougb wbicb tbe streams from tbe hills bave 

 cut deep courses. The Jbelum flows between high banks of the 

 same formation. 



Everywhere, both in Kashmere and Thibet, a Palaeozoic series 

 underlies the Mesozoic formations. The age of the Palaeozoic rocks 

 is that of the Carboniferous series of Europe, but as yet fossils have 

 not occurred to enable me to distinguish any formations of older 

 date. As, however, Lower Silurian fossils from the Khyber Hills 

 were found by Dr. Falconer in the gravel of the Cabul Eiver, as 

 also by Colonel Strachey on the Niti Pass, the great masses of slaty 

 and metamorphosed rocks, which in this part of the Himalayan chain 

 underlie the Carboniferous beds, may be referred to a Lower Palae- 

 ozoic series. 



The Carboniferous formation may be traced all along the range of 

 mountains on the north side of the Kashmere valley, where, in con- 

 junction with Dr. Yercher, I met with its characteristic fossils in 

 great abundance. 



Fig. 3 is a section along a spur from Wasterwan, between Barus 

 and Resbpur, in a direction from S. to N. At the base are the 

 metamorphosed hornblende-slates of Wasterwan Peak. Next comes 

 the quartz-rock, followed by beds of limestone (fig. 3, p. 31). 



Beyond Zewan, to the east, near Khoonmoo, is an outlying or 

 projecting spur of limestone(fig. 4) ; the strike is S.W. N.E., and the 

 dip. 30° S.E. 



* For the abstracts of these communications already published, and for the 

 other communications read at these evening-meetings, see Quart. Journ. Geol; 

 Soc. vol. XX. p. 383, and vol. xxi. p. 492. 



