94 



GRlESBACH: GEOLOGY OF THE CENTRAL HIMALAYAS. 



North-east of the Raikana heights and partly separated from the 



latter by the gorge of the Raikana river, rises the 

 Chango peaks. 



grand mass of the Chango, 20,216 feet above the 



sea, of bold outline, and snow covered. The south-western slopes 

 are obscured by enormous masses of glacial debris, whilst the south- 

 eastern flank of this mountain mass is nearly everywhere inac- 

 cessible. There it forms a narrow, highly picturesque gorge, which 

 the river Dhauli has scooped out of the older palaeozoics. The Rai- 

 kana river, which drains the enormous glacier filled valleys of the 



Kamet peak, runs as nearly as possible along 

 Lower palaeozoic L r ° 



rocks of Chango and the line of contact between the gneiss and the 



Kharbasiya peaks. . . 



lowest palaeozoic group. I he two rivers, the 

 Raikana and the Dhauli Ganga, converge and lastly join about ij 

 miles north of Goting 1 from the projecting spur of the Kharbasiya 

 (18,806') which admirably discloses the structure of the lowest palaeo- 

 zoic rocks, which is well shown in the precipitous slopes of the 



Structure and thick- Kharbasiya and Chango. The gorge of Kharba- 

 ness of the haimantas. siya f orme d by the Dhauli Ganga, exposes the 



slates of the harimanta system (azoic of Strachey), most intricately 

 crumpled and folded. Not only are the beds of it crushed and folded, 

 but also jointed and traversed by innumerable faults, each one of which 

 has displaced|its block of strata at least a few inches, but the sum 

 total of these displacements must be enormous. The total thickness 

 would therefore at first sight seem to be very much greater than it 

 really is; I think it can scarcely exceed 3,500 feet, if so much, this 

 estimate having been arrived at after studying a great many sections 

 through the haimantas. A good section showing the thickness of the 

 system is that north of Goting, where it may be measured barometri- 

 cally. There the haimanta system is sharply defined and a good 

 section is exposed. It consists of — 



Red quartzitic shales. 

 Greenish shales. 



Purple quartzite and conglo- 

 merate. 



") Numbers in the figured sections. 

 ) 3- 



I 



2. 



1 Niti is the last village on this route to Tibet. When places are mentioned beyond 

 this (or in Hundes) camping grounds are meant, 



( 94 ) 



