206 VREDENBURG: SKETCH OE BALOCHISTAN DESERT. 



we regarded the sequence as a normal one, it would be necessary 

 to admit an incredible thickness of strata rendered very improbable 

 at once by the dwarfed proportion of the ranges, while beneath 

 what would be the highest beds exposed the oldest beds would have 

 to be sunk to a depth quite inexplicable. No doubt the structure 

 is therefore an imbricated one, as has been shown to be the case 

 with the sub-Himalayan ranges; but observations are far too scanty 

 to place upon the map the position of any of the lines along which 

 the rocks have yielded. 



The tilted position of these strata is evidence of the latest effects of 

 upheaval produced by the folding of the region. When they became 

 displaced the entire region was already a land area, perhaps already 

 one of clostd drainage. In fact, the conglomerates are very similar to 

 those which are still being deposited at the present day, or at least were 

 deposited up to a very recent period before the dessication of the 

 country became so absolute as it is now. But as to their position in 

 the geological sequence, it cannot be fixed in the case of any of the 

 rocks which I saw, for I did not come across any fossils. Various 

 considerations, however, make it evident that the age of the newest 

 of these strata must be placed back well in the tertiary, probably 

 before the end of the pliocene. Upon their upturned and denuded 

 edges rest with complete unconformity the recent deposits which 

 cover the desert plains. Although where there is still a certain 

 amount of rainfall, these accumulations may still be in process of 

 formation, yet the enormous thickness to which they have been piled 

 up shows that those low down in the sections have been deposited 

 at a very remote period. Since the last upheavals sufficient time 

 has elapsed for the accumulation of these enormous deposits, these 

 in turn have been deeply eroded, physical changes of great impor- 

 tance have had time to take place, huge volcanic cones have been 

 built up and again denuded away, and yet nowhere can the 

 slightest indication be found of disturbance or earth-movements of 

 any kind. 



( as ) 



