RECENT VOLCANOES. , 28l 



Damodim. 



West of the K6h»i-Sultcin rises the volcano Damodim. Its shape 

 is that of a truncated cone about four miles and a half in width. All 

 the outer portion of this cone is a talus formed by denudation. Con- 

 sidering the amount of denudation which has taken place, the circular 

 shallow crater or rather plateau at the summit is difficult to explain. 

 On its western and northern side this plain is limited by steep-sided 

 peaks j on the southern and eastern sides the rim rises in very low hills 

 or even the edge of the plateau is quite shallow. This flat plain is 

 more than one mile in diameter. It cannot represent a crater of the 

 ordinary type of a cinder cone, for the rim is very heterogeneous in 

 composition : the three peaks to the west and the one to the north 

 consist of massive rock ; whether they represent part of a volcanic 

 neck or fragments of a lava-flow is difficult to decide, they appear so 

 structureless. The rest of the rim of the crater consists of agglomer- 

 ates resembling those of the Koh-i-Sult^n. It is possible that the 

 last eruption of the volcano may have been of a violent explosive 

 nature producing a deep cavity ; owing to the dryness of the climate, 

 this did not give rise to the formation of a lake, and the rim under 

 the influence of desintegration and denudation gradually collapsed 

 both inwards and outwards until the central cavity became the 

 scarcely concave plain of to-day. 



After an unusually heavy shower of rain a shallow sheet of water 

 remains for some time in the centre of the plain which is covered with 

 fine alluvial silt derived from the taller peaks of the rim. This 

 supposition of a very violent explosive eruption would account for 

 the enormous proportions of the surrounding talus and the huge size 

 of the boulders composing it. 



On the eastern slopes of Damodim the rocks are altered by 

 solfataric action in the same manner as those of the K6h-i-SulUn. 



Massive Cones of Lava. > 

 The volcanoes so far described are both explosive and effusive. 

 In fact, the fragmentary deposits due to explosive eruption seem to 



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