1854.] Notes on tie Geology of the Punjab Salt Range. 661 



dependant seemingly on the varying density of the stone. Through- 

 out this sandstone not even a pebble is observable, but above 

 it occurs a conglomerate from one to six feet in thickness. The 

 paste, which is very scanty, is a greenish arenaceous clay and 

 the pebbles are from the size of a nutmeg to that of a melon, most 

 being of a large size, and consisting of porpheries and primitive 

 rocks well rounded and polished. 



JNo. 3. The beds above the red sandstone consist of a series of 

 sandstones and arenaceous shales about 200 feet thick and pretty 

 generally developed throughout the range. The prevailing colours 

 are gray and green, the shales containing much green earth and 

 indistinct carbonaceous markings. 



No. 4. Cupriferous shale. This deposit though rather locally 

 developed, is one of decided interest. It consists chiefly of a purple 

 clay containing granular concretions of copper ore, and of beds of 

 sandstone and conglomerate of a peculiar character also containing 

 traces of copper. The formation does not extend much farther east 

 than Nurpur, from whence it can be traced to within some ten miles 

 of the Indus. The characteristic purple clay is more circumscribed 

 and is best seen in the vicinity of Kata and between Kata and 

 Musakhel. The lower beds consist of shales and sandstones, of 

 some thickness, then comes a bed of shale containing abundantly 

 balls of radiated sulphate of barytes, and some curious sintery con- 

 cretions, above this occurs a purple greasy looking shale the most 

 characteristic bed of the whole, and lastly a series of sands and con- 

 glomerates fully 250 feet thick in places, and usually forming half 

 or more of the entire deposit. These arenaceous beds are composed 

 chiefly of the sharp sand of granitic rocks and not unfrequently con- 

 tain crystals of felspar imparting a porphyrifcic aspect to the sand- 

 stone. Some beds indeed so resemble a granitic compound that in 

 hand specimens, they might readily be taken for such. This is espe- 

 cially observable at Nurpur, where some trappean sublimation has 

 penetrated the pores of one of these beds, which presents the 

 appearance of any thing but a sandstone. The conglomerates do 

 not usually contain very large boulders, but are rather coarse grits 

 of a prevailing red colour with an included pebble here and there. 

 Some of the beds afford unquestionable indications of the simul- 



