106 GRIESBACH : GEOLOGY OF THE CENTRAL HIMALAYAS. 



The belt of Silurians may be traced on the left side of the Ganes 

 Extent of silurians Ganga valley to the western slopes of the high 

 near the Niti peaks. Tsliti peaks, where they are seen to strike below 



the younger rocks of Hundes, skirting the north side of the Kamet 

 and Mcina heights, and re-appearing in the Mcina Gadh near Nilang. 

 Forming, however, as they do the lower part of the cliffs south-west 

 of the Niti peaks, they are to a large extent hidden by huge masses 

 of debris, chiefly of fragments accumulated in enormous cones which 

 skirt the hill sides. No sort of detailed examination of the system could 

 profitably be undertaken there, and beyond finding isolated outcrops 

 of rocks belonging to the silurians I had to content myself with set- 

 tling the fact that the sequence of beds is the same as a few miles 

 south-east near Pethathali, and that the system is conformably over- 

 laid by the carboniferous rocks. 



South of the great fault (see plate 6 and sections on pi. 3) the 



silurians are seen to dip at an angle of about 30^ 



South of the fault. , * 



below the overlying carboniferous rock, and form 

 a belt of almost uniform width near the upper part of the slopes of 

 the Marchauk and Hoti peaks. Here the sequence of beds is essen- 

 tially the same as that which I found in the Pethathali ravine. Stand- 

 ing on any of the Dctmjan heights or viewing the enormous mountain 

 masses of the Marchauk from the heights near Goting, the silurian 

 belt is very conspicuous even at a great distance. The densely red 

 shales near the base of the silurian Coral limestone, the latter a very 

 dark-coloured narrow band, and the dirty flesh-coloured broad band 

 of the middle and upper silurian beds, may easily be traced along the 

 upper slopes of the Da*mjan heights where they conform more or less 

 to the contour of the hills. 



The exploration of the Central Himalayas is connected with such 



great physical difficulties for the explorer that 

 Chor Hoti Pass. . . . . 



it is hardly ever possible to revisit places ot 



geological interest, and thus it happened that I could only once 



inspect the section exposed by the Hoti pass, although I visited the 



Niti valley and pass twice. I would therefore recommend any future 



( '06 ) 



