DESCRIPTION OF SECTIONS. 241 



North-west of the Mirui group of hills there is a curious feature 

 Malik Gatt called Malik Gatt or Gatt-i-Barot, from the 



name of a neighbouring spring in the midst of 

 a deserted plantation of date-palms. It is an elongated tabular hill 

 consisting of absolutely horizontal strata, The longest direction 

 of the hill is in a S. W. direction. The horizontality of its strata 

 is quite exceptional and local, for similar strata that outcrop north- 

 west and south-east all dip at high angles to the north-west. 



The hill (PI. V) has a terraced appearance due to two import- 

 ant limestone bands. The lowermost beds ( 1 in Fig. 2 ) are soft 

 dark grey shales full of veins of gypsum. Above these are coarse- 

 grained beds, sometimes almost conglomeratic, made up of volcanic 

 fragments, and full of oyster shells (2). Next comes a limestone (3), 

 of brown or buff colour, with black fossils. The uppermost beds 

 of this limestone are full of volcanic material. The shales (4) which 

 are often of greenish and purplish tinge are frequently interbedded 

 with conglomeratic bands resembling those that form the band (3). 

 Lastly they are overlaid by the coralline limestone (5). Petro- 

 logically this limestone is not unlike the coralline limestone of 

 Ranikot age of the Laki hills ; but the fossils show that it belongs 

 to a different horizon, being upper cretaceous. Dr. Noetling 

 recognised several forms characteristic of that horizon ; the variety 

 of Cardita beaumonti which I mentioned as occurring at Ka"n (page 

 60) is also found here. 



I have stated that the horizontality of the beds constituting the 

 Malik Gatt is exceptional as it is surrounded by high-dipping strata. 

 In fact the north-eastern extremity of the tabular hill itself exhibits 

 some disturbance. As already stated, both north-west and south- 

 east of the hill, the dip is north-west. Throughout the plain south- 

 east of the Malik Gatt, separating it from the Mirui ranges, small 

 outcrops of a tuffaceous sandstone are frequently visible notwithstand- 

 ing the presence of recent pebbly alluvium. As the dip is always in 

 the same direction, it would seem that the rocks of the Malik Gatt 

 belong to a horizon higher than those of the Mirui hills ; but in the 



( 63 ) 



