43 



appear not to have grasped the fact that the Finke River 

 sandstones formation underlies the Cretaceous shales. Between 

 Horseshoe Bend and Tdracowra the Finke River sandstones 

 lie conformably upon reddish and pale-coloured micaceous 

 sandstone and shale beds. Near the contact the white and 

 red bands alternate and show that the one passes into the 

 other gradually, as belonging to the same formation. Good 

 sections in evidence of this are plentiful, and the writer holds 

 that both belong to one and the same formation. Mr. Brown 

 separates the pink from the white, classing the former as 

 Lower Silurian and the latter as Jurassic ( ?). 



• The writer's reading of the Finke River sandstone, etc., 

 is as follows: — In travelling from Oodnadatta north it is first 

 seen on the slope to the Goyder River, from Mount Daniel. 

 It is seen all the way to Horseshoe Bend except where hidden 

 beneath the recent sand and alluvial deposits. At the latter 

 place it reposes on the shale beds mentioned above. In follow- 

 ing the Alice Springs road northward from Horseshoe Bend 

 it is seen to continue to, and to form, the hills known as Percy 

 Hills, even to the cappings. Thus far the formation is con- 

 tinuous. Francis Well, which lies a couple of miles north of 

 these hills, is sunk in red sandstone. A well on the south 

 side of the hills is sunk in similar rock. Near Depot Well, 

 and in other places along the Hugh River, bands of calcareous 

 sandstone are seen in the cliffs. The sandstones are also seen 

 to carry a large percentage of pebbles and boulders (mostly 

 quartzite), e.g., between Depot Well and Alice Well. These 

 pebbles belong to the Finke River sandstones formation and 

 not to the wash of the Hugh River. Between Horseshoe 

 Bend and Old Crown Point the pebbles are much in evidence ; 

 they are seen at Yellow Cliff and all the way to the Goyder, 

 and for a mile or two south of the Goyder Well. The sand- 

 stone beds carrying them then pass under the Cretaceous 

 shales, and they are not seen to the south of Mount Daniel. 



The Finke River sandstone, etc., it will thus be seen, is a 

 continuous formation from Goyder Well to Francis Well ; but 

 north of Francis Well all that remain are isolated flat-topped, 

 or gently-inclined topped, hills scattered through the ranges. 

 Examples of such occur a little north of Francis Well, as 

 cappings on Ordovician (?) limestone ; and again a little north 

 of Breadens Dam. Three miles north of Ooraminna Water- 

 hole, to the right of the road to Arltunga, a white sand- 

 stone formation with siliceous limestone capping, horizontally 

 bedded, runs for two or three miles, and perhaps for a greater 

 distance, in a north-easterly direction. Also between Mount 

 Undoolya and Emily Gap low hills of similar description are 

 seen, and in and about the ranges in many places similar 



