102 Dr. Verchere on the Geology of Kashmir, [No. 2, 



the gypseous beds from the change of anhydrite into common gypsum 

 by absorption of water, is more than I can say. The Saliferian beds 

 would naturally break, dislocate and lift up the superincumbent 

 Jurassic when swelling itself into undulations. We should thus obtain 

 undulated beds of Saliferian and Jurassic. Let such undulated layers 

 be submitted to the lateral pressure which must have accompanied the 

 great upheaval of the Afghan-Himalayan system, and we have the 

 undulations folded into arches and sharp bends. 



The Saliferian and Jurassic have been very much denuded, their 

 debris being extremely abundant in some beds of conglomerate and 

 sandstone of the Miocene, especially on the western side of the 

 Indus, in the districts of Kohat and Bunnoo. 



94. There are but few traces of the deposits which may have 

 taken place between the Oolite and the Nummulitic, and I have never 

 myself seen any cretaceous rocks in the western Himalaya* or the 

 Afghan mountains, neither have I found any pebbles with cretaceous 

 fossils in the conglomerates of the Miocene, From the development 

 of considerable vegetation in the shales near the base of the Nummulitic 

 formation, it is evident that a steady rising of the land went on during 

 the time of the upper Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, and with such 

 a rising we would naturally associate the great denudation of the 

 Jurassic beds, soon after their deposition. Little doubt can be 

 entertained that during the Cretaceous period, the Himalayan and 

 Afghan islands had become united into a continent of considerable 

 extent, traversed by chains of extinct volcanic ridges, and therefore 

 receiving an abundant rain-fall which caused great denudation. We 

 know how quickly volcanic mountains decay, when once they have 

 ceased to receive fresh supply of ejecta. I believe that the cretaceous 

 beds which have been found in and near the Himalaya are very 

 limited in extent, even more so than the Jurassic beds. The small 

 horizontal area of these Secondary beds contrasts widely with the great 

 superficial extent of the Carboniferous, the Nummulitic and Miocene 

 formations ; and yet when they do occur, the Jurassic beds at least 

 have considerable power. A continent with a deeply indented coast 

 appears to be indicated by these peculiarities of the Secondary beds. 



* Dr. Stoliczka has found Cretaceous rocks in the mountains of Spiti. 



Editor's note. 



