DESCRIPTIVE GEOLOGY: SLATE ZONE. gi 



In a south and south-easterly direction from Hureepoor the alluvial 

 plain is much cut up by winding and deep nullahs which join the 

 Dore and Hurroh rivets. Some of these pursue a most intricate course 

 and resemble those of the Khuddera south of Rawalpindi. They all 

 have their source in the slate hills lying further to the south. These 

 slate hills first catch our eye as they rise out of the plain in the form 

 of long rows or chains of tiny hills or even hillocks, all of which, by 

 their N. E. by E. alignment, sound the key-note of the structural 

 geology of Hazara, inasmuch as their direction coincides with the 

 general ' strike ' of the country. One very marked chain of hills 

 embraces the summits known on the map as Dore 1,880 feet, Butta 

 2,058 feet, and Pudani 2,528 feet. 



Still further to the south we may see from our vantage point 

 that these previously isolated little ridges now merge together 

 into the slate hill-mass lying N. E. of Bureeluh, and which trends 

 away N. E. by E. in a closely packed set of minor ridges parallel to 

 the course of the Dore. These hills, as can partly be made out 

 even from a distance, are characterised by a great monotony of out- 

 line, by flowing rounded shapes and by an almost complete bare- 

 ness of vegetation. Their dreary and dark hill-sides of slate, only 

 beautiful when sunrise or sunset gilds their barren slopes, and 

 the early morning mist brings out their purple tones, are here and 

 there relieved by an occasional craggy crest caused by the few 

 thin bands of limestone interbedded with them. Although further 

 to the north-east there gradually set in some of the deeply inlaid 

 faulted synclinals of the younger series of rocks, they have to con- 

 tinue for some way before they become of sufficient importance to 

 exercise a dominating effect on the landscape. On the southern 

 slopes of this low range of slate hills, where they face and abut 

 against the Nummulitic limestone zone (next to be described), the 

 same treeless and lifeless surfaces are the rule, for not only is 

 there a lack of timber but also very few shrubs, and scarcely any 

 grass. Only in a iew places, as at Ghurukee and near Lunguri- 

 yal, are there a few Chir trees, Pinus longifolia, Khair, Acacia 



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