DESCRIPTION OF SECTIONS. 249 



Amir-Chdh. 



Between Manzil and the K6h-i-Sultdn almost everything is hidden 

 under recent alluvium and sand dunes. The small hills called 

 u Dholi," south of Manzil, and some hills beyond the eastern ex- 

 tremity of the K6h-i-Sulta"n, seem to consist of flysch volcanic rocks, 

 but I have seen them only from a distance. Recent alluvium mostly 

 derived from the K6h-i-Sultan itself and sand dunes conceal also all 

 the rocks north of that mountain. West of the K6h-i-Sultan, however, 

 and in the neighbourhood of Amir-Chdh, the older rocks once more 

 reappear from beneath the covering of modern volcanic accumula- 

 tions. 



Here again they consist almost entirely of volcanic strata, tuffs 

 and ash-beds of the flysch period. The strike is generally east-west. 

 Intrusions of quartz-diorite and quartz-porphyry are frequent ; there 

 is even an inlier of these rocks amidst the recent deposits of the 

 K6h-i-Sulta*n to the south of Gam-i-Chih. Similar formations 

 evidently underlie the cones of the modern volcano, for the ex- 

 plosions have forced their way through granitic masses as is shown 

 by the nature of the boulders contained in some of the agglomerates. 

 While at Shekh Hosein (page 48) and elsewhere we found volcanic 

 products of the flysch period distinctly interbedded with tertiary 

 strata, in the present instance their cretaceous age is no less clear, 

 showing that the period of volcanic activity overlaps the end of the 

 secondary and beginning of the tertiary. At Amir-Chah itself there 

 is a ridge of hippuritic limestone cut through by a gorge which has 

 been mentioned already with reference to physical geography (page 

 38). The hippuritic limestone is both overlaid and underlaid by 

 flysch strata. A fragment of hippuritic limestone also forms the con- 

 spicuous peak called u Sor Koh," west of the recent volcano 

 Damodim. The Sor Koh limestone rests conformably upon a great 

 accumulation of volcanic strata. It is much thicker than the Amfr- 

 Ch£h limestone which it, however, greatly resembles ; perhaps it is 

 the same rock, the difference of thickness being due to local varia- 

 tions; the structure would then be as represented on section, Fig 



( 71 ) 



