6 W. T. Blanford— 0;z the Geology of Sind. [Jan. 



lowest tertiary beds. This trap is therefore clearly contemporaneous and 

 not intrusive, and its geological position at the base of the very lowest 

 eocene rocks, and immediately above cretaceous strata, corresponds exactly 

 with the place in the series ah^eady assigned to the formation where far more 

 fully developed in Malwa and Guzerat. 



The Ranikot group consists of variegated sandstones and shales, with 

 some bands of highly fossiliferous brown limestone in the upper strata. 

 In the lower portion of the group only imperfect plant remains are found, 

 a few dicotyledonous leaves being the only recognizable impressions, but the 

 limestone abounds in Mollusca, Ecliinodeo-'mata, and Foraminifera. Num- 

 mulites are much less common than in the next group, the only abundant 

 species being N, Leymeinei, but this, like several other Ranikot fos- 

 sils, is found in the Khirthar beds also. A few forms with cretaceous 

 affinities, e. g. a Salenia and some peculiar Nautili occur in the brown. 

 limestones, but the great majority of the species are eocene. 



The beds hitherto noticed are confined to lower Sind, all except the 

 Ranikot group being restricted to the Laki range, whilst the latter covers a 

 considerable tract of country near Kotri and Tatta. The Ranikot beds in 

 this part of the country are succeeded immediately in ascending order by 

 the Khirthar Nummulitic limestone, which is locally unconformable, but 

 generally appears to pass down into the underlying group. To the west 

 of the Khirthar range however, on the Upper Gaj, as already mentioned, a 

 succession of argillaceous limestones, shales and sandstones, resting upon 

 unfossiliferous dark shales with limestone bands, is found, and the latter 

 beds appear to be identical with the supposed nummulitic group, which 

 occupies so large an area in Makran, and which I once traversed throughout 

 the greater part of the country between Gwadar and Jalk. This same 

 lower Khirthar group, with its characteristic unfossiliferous shales and 

 bands of limestone, is also found on the Habb river, west of lower Sind. 



The nummulitic limestone of the Khirthar group is about 1200 feet 

 thick at the Gaj, but apparently thicker to the northward, whilst in lower 

 Sind it gradually thins out, becomes mixed with shales and clays, and 

 towards the Habb river entirely disappears. Where best developed the 

 Khirthar group is by far the most conspicuous formation in the province, 

 and consists of very massive whitish and grey limestone, abounding in 

 nummulites of several kinds and other foraminifera, corals and mollusca 

 also occurring. The commonest species are Nummulites granulosa, N. 

 Biaritzensis, N Leymeriei, N spira, N Bamondi, N. ohtusa, Alveolina 

 ovoidea, Orhitoides dispansus, and Nerita Schmedeliana. The nummulitic 

 limestone not only forms the crest of the Khirthar, but it is the most con- 

 spicuous rock in many of the minor ranges, and fragments derived from it 

 are found in most of the recent and sub-recent gravels. 



