226 VREDENBURG : SKETCH OE BALUCHISTAN DESERT. 



cleavage ; yet the contortions recognisable in the rocks are so 

 numerous tnat it does not seem that the section either ascends or 

 descends, and the succession of argillaceous, arenaceous, and 

 calcareous beds is so similar to what we found at d t that the beds 

 are no doubt the same altered by metamorphism : the passage is 

 quite gradual, and even where the slaty facies is most developed, 

 nummulites are still recognisable. Thus it is quite possible that 

 the enormous masses of highly altered slates that form such a marked 

 feature of Baluchistan may largely consist of rocks belonging to so 

 late a period as the middle or even upper eocene. Just as in the 

 range east of Nushki, this slaty alteration is accompanied by a great 

 development of quartz veins. 



Lastly at f, is another limestone succeeded by more Siwaliks 

 h, beyond which stretches the high level plain of Kharan *", covered 

 with stony alluvium. The hills at/, dip S. E , but were only seen 

 from a distance. 



Following the ranges still further in a south-west .direction, 

 we find that the strike becomes more decidedly 



Shekh Hosein. ,,-,.,, • • 



south-west and the height keeps on increasing. 

 The conspicuous limestone peak of Shekh Hosein rises to a height of 

 6,875 feet. The hills consist of exactly the same rocks with a 

 gradually increasing mass of volcanic strata along their north- 

 western border. Not only do these volcanic rocks 5 form a 

 continuous barrier skirting the main range, but isolated hills show 

 through the alluvium at distances of as much as two miles from the 

 mountains : of such a nature is the curious little hill called u Mall 

 Mekh." These tuffs, consisting of fragments sometimes almost 

 large enough to make them deserve the name of conglomerate, are 

 associated with finer grained ash-beds and frequently with bright- 

 coloured limestones. They belong to the "flysch" series, but in 

 the present case their age is probably newer than cretaceous, or at 

 least the uppermost beds are lower eocene, for as was already men- 

 tioned (page 47), on the road that leads to the ziarat of Sheikh 

 Hosein we find them immediately overlaid by a limestone containing 



( 48 ) 



