STRATIGRAPHICAL FEATURES. 6s 



** 



was continued up to that time, and even prolonged after it, the 

 u break" after upper carboniferous times must needsbe strong evidence 

 that even in palaeozoic times, at least, the main outlines of the Hima- 

 layas must have been fore-shadowed, and that even then the ancient 

 coast-line could not have been very far removed from the present 

 limits of the Indian Himalayas ; on the other hand, comparatively slight 

 changes of elevation, produced by lateral compression (folding), could 

 produce extensive overlap, without having to assume for this pheno- 

 menon equally extensive periods of time, which are precluded by the 

 near relationship of the faunas in the overlapped and the overlapping 

 formations of the Central Himalayas. 



Chapter IV. — Stratigraphical features — continued. 



Permian and Mesozoic group ; tertiaries and recent 



formations. 

 5. Permian and 6. Trias Group. 



In the preceding pages I have briefly described the members of 

 the palaeozoic group, and have endeavoured to show the striking con- 

 tinuity which exists between the various systems constituting it. 

 From the semi-metamorphic schists, the vaikritas, at the base 

 of the haimanta system to the upper carboniferous, we see one un- 

 broken succession of beds conformable to each other, each division 

 passing gradually into the next higher one. It points to an immense 

 era of tranquillity during which deposit on deposit of the palaeozoic 

 were laid down with their organic remains, and during which the 

 only physical changes of importance took place near or at the 

 close of the carboniferous period, changes which resulted in an overlap 

 of dark shales, probably permian, over the divisions of the carboni- 

 ferous in succession. 



With this unconformity another great group of deposits begin 

 which range from the permian Productus shales, (9) to liassic lime- 

 stones above ; within this mighty group there is not the slightest 

 unconformity or break visible, and no geologist who had once seen 

 these sections could doubt for a single moment where the line should 

 be drawn between the two great groups, — the palaeozoic and the 



F ( 65 ) 



