'9 S VREDENBURG : SKETCH OF BALOCHISTAN DESERT. 



by some very conspicuous rocks round Quetta. The bright coloured 

 varieties not unfrequently contain gypsum. 



In the disconnected series of observations made during the 

 journey it was not found possible by means of continuous sections 

 to make out the order of succession in many of the rocks ; but so far 

 as could be judged from the cases in which fossil evidence is 

 available, it does not seem that the petrological characters can be 

 of much assistance in determining to what horizon the rocks belong. 

 Thus in districts hitherto described, the olive-coloured shales seem 

 characteristic of the " Cardita beaumonti " beds, and in one case at 

 least, at Malik Gatt, such rocks do occur extensively developed in 

 strata of that age. But shales of identical appearance are found 

 also in the Laki hills which contain a Ranikot fauna. 



In two of the localities where, owing to the moderate amount of 

 disturbance, the succession of the strata is most clearly exhibited, 

 at Saindak and at K6h-i-Malik-Si£h, considerable variations are 

 exhibited, although the two places are not far apart. At K6h-i- 

 Malik-Si^h we find a great thickness (over a thousand feet) of 

 grey shales with some intercalated limestone bands containing 

 NummuliteS) Alveolina, and some Ranikot fossils ; these are overlaid 

 by a great mass of limestone several hundred feet thick (see Fig. 13 

 and PI. VI) ; fossils collected at the base of the limestone still belong to 

 Ranikot species, so that the newest date that can be assigned to the 

 great limestone is at the base of the Khirthar. At Saindak, on the 

 other hand, in a series of shales and limestones that bear the greatest 

 resemblance to the strata at K6h-i-Malik-Sia*h, excepting that the 

 shales are frequently bright coloured, the lowest fossiliferous horizon 

 contains in abundance the most characteristic Khirthar forms, and 

 the sequence rises as far up as the Nari stage; the analogue of the 

 great limestone and of the shales of K6h-i-Malik-Sicih should be 

 looked for consequently below the lowest fossiliferous limestone ; yet 

 in the thick series of bright coloured shales and tuffs underlying that 

 rock there is nothing that resembles in the slightest degree the 

 characteristic rocks of K6h-i-Ma!ik-Si3h. 

 ( 20 ) 



