VRiiDENBURG : SKETCH OF BALUCHISTAN DESERT. 



great magnitude also grouped in a circular manner. It consists 

 principally of accumulations of fragmentary materials and contains 

 the highest summit of the mountain, the " Miri," which rises to an 

 altitude of 7,656 feet. 



A thorough examination of the mountain would result in unravel- 

 ling all the details of its history. By examining the manner in which 

 beds of various nature overlie one another, by ascertaining the 

 mineral characters of the various lavas, it would be an easy task to 

 assign to them in every case their relative age and their point of 

 origin. I remained only one week in the mountain ; it is not possible 

 for me to tell with certainty the order in which the three cones made 

 their appearance. The eastern cone is probably the newest, judging 

 from the fact that it still contains the highest summits, notwithstand- 

 ing the extremely friable nature of its ash-beds, which have been 

 greatly decomposed by solfataric action. On the other hand, the 

 broad denuded circular plain and ruined cliffs of the western cone 

 point to a greater antiquity. The remnants of lava-flows that cap 

 the agglomerates and tuffs, forming conspicuous gently inclined pla- 

 teaux round the periphery of the mountain seem to be the debris of 

 streams of lava that proceeded from the second or central cone. 

 Those that overlie ash-beds of the western cone were poured over 

 an extremely irregular surface, showing that the western cone had 

 been denuded to a considerable extent at the time of the eruption of 

 the lavas. 



Thus the three cones appear to have succeeded one another in 

 the direction from west to east ; but the eruptions may have been 

 partly simultaneous judging from the manner in which beds dipping 

 in opposite directions overlap one another. 



The lavas above mentioned, which denudation has separated 



into long strips, probably formed at one time 

 Lava-flows. . & r ' v \ 



a continuous outcrop analogous to the one or 



the Koh-i-Tafdin. The flows are of considerable thickness, of a 



grey colour, with very imperfect columnar structure or quite irregular 



jointing, and are petrologically very similar to those of K6h-i-Tafddn , 



( 98 ) 



