578 Dr. C. M. Bell's Geological Notes 



Here I found portions of two small ammonites in fragments of a compact lime- 

 stone*j but I know not to what formation they originally belonged. 



Above the caravanserai of Ameenabad, limestone, superimposed on trap, 

 again occurs. The river Gazan-chaee runs through a great thickness of the 

 loose conglomerate. The plain of Ferooz-kooh is amygdaloidal basalt ; and 

 the hills in the neighbourhood consist of limestone resting upon it; having, on 

 some of their summits, more or less of the above conglomerate. 



Leaving Ferooz-kooh, and passing the summit of the highest range of the 

 Elboorz, we found to the north of the snow, shale and sandstone of a coal 

 formation, resting upon limestone. At that point commences a deep fissure, 

 through which the river Talar flows, till it escapes into the plain of the Cas- 

 pian. At Abbassabad the ravine opens a little, and discloses sandstone; but 

 the river is soon again confined between precipices. The sections of strata, 

 however, on the opposite sides show very little resemblance. 



Asmall stream entering on the right bank deposits much calcareous sinter and 

 what is called oriental alabaster, an imperfectly crystallized calcareous spar. 



Below Pul-i-Suff'eed the rocks are chiefly conglomerates, formed from the 

 debris of the mountains, and united by a calcareous deposit. Where the sum- 

 mits of the adjacent mountains were visible, they appeared to be composed of 

 limestone. 



As we still descended the stream, the stones forming the conglomerate be- 

 came smaller, rounder, and more firmly cemented, including rolled pebbles 

 of quartz and granite, and minute fragments of shells, probably the remains 

 of an ancient sea beach. 



For a considerable way, the river flows at the bottom of an exceedingly deep 

 and narrow gorge, which divides perpendicularly thick beds of conglomerate 

 and limestone, the road (Shah Abas's causeway) leading along the face of the 

 precipice, many hundred feet above the stream. 



It is remarkable, that we owe the preservation of this important and almost 

 only remaining portion of that great work, to the firm manner in which the 

 calcareous dripping from the mountain-side has cemented the stones together. 



Below Sheergah the country becomes open and the soil deep and clayey ; 



Kezzleoozen, east of theKaflan Kooh, in the valley of Sliah road, under the hills of Alamoot, and 

 between Tabreez and the Schund range. 



* I found a compact shell-limestone, containing bivalves, on the summit of the ridge of the El- 

 boorz, just below the snow-line, south of the district, Toonikaban in Mazunderan ; and another lime- 

 stone, containing oyster-shells and madrepores, overlying sandstone, near Bayazeed, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Mount Ararat"; but they are both probably more recent than that which contains the am- 

 monites. As yet I have found no fossils either in the lithographic or compact (mountain) limestones. 



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