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



their parallel. Upon inquiry, I found that this, like almost all the bridges and 

 galleries on the road, had been destroyed (and the opposite sides of the ravine 

 had no doubt suffered displacement) by a tremendous earthquake, which oc- 

 curred about eleven or twelve years before, and destroyed an immense num- 

 ber of villages, and rendered the road totally impassable for nearly two years. 

 On the more eastern line of route, we saw the destructive effects of the same 

 earthquake, in the almost total ruin of the caravanserai of Jajerood, the ruin 

 of a handsome mosque at the village of Demavend, and the destruction of 

 other buildings, as far as Sarree. 



As we advanced, the ravine opened a little, and, about a mile below the 

 village of Bulkulum, a lofty hill, rising in a precipice of 900 or 1000 feet from 

 the water's edge, presented a fine section of perpendicular beds of coal, of 

 which, together with a few strata of sandstone, the whole hill is composed. 

 On the right or opposite bank, the sandstone strata are nearly horizontal. 



For five or six miles above this place, the strata are often most curiously 

 disturbed, and twisted in every direction. At one point on the right bank, a 

 section showed the sandstone and shale bent to within a few degrees of com- 

 pleting a circle. 



Below the Abi Noor, a stream running in a small valley which opens to view 

 the peak of Demavend, the before-mentioned loose breccia occurs — and 

 higher up is sandstone ; while at Usk, and a little below it, calcareous tuff 

 from hot springs covers every thing. The temperature of one large sul- 

 phureous spring, two miles E. by N. of Usk, and bubbling up from the summit 

 of a hill of calc tufa, was 84° of Fahrenheit, that of the air being 48°. The 

 inhabitants say, that there are many hot and cold medicinal springs in the 

 neighbourhood of Usk, and that there is one of perfectly pure and tasteless 

 water about three miles off, on the side of the mountain Demavend, hot 

 enough to boil eggs. Half-way up the mountain, sulphur is stated to occur 

 in great abundance and purity. 



From one of the hot springs in the little capital of Usk, I procured some 

 small, rough, siliceous globules, which are deposited in number by the water; 

 and I have been told, that in Khorasan, where similar siliceous globules are 

 formed by the hot springs, the inhabitants sort them, and use them as shot. 



Above Usk, the river runs in a deep rent in greenstone. The first streamlet 

 which flows into it, from the direction of Mount Demavend, is loaded with 

 iron derived from the iron-shot greenstone ; above which, there appear to be 

 other, softer iron ores. 



The greenstone continued till we arrived near the tomb of Em Zadeh Ha- 

 shim, where it gradually passes into claystone, and underlies limestone. The 



