PA1NKANDA SECTIONS. 



log 



the more so, as the red haimanta shales (3) exactly define the base 

 of the silurians. 



The belt of silurians (with its base of red quartz shales (3), 

 sweeps in a curve round the enormous peaks (21,341', 23,220', &c.) 

 which form the northern buttresses of the still higher Dunagiri 

 (23,184'), and are well exposed in the snowy regions of the Uja 

 Tirche glacier. On the left side of this glacier may be seen the 

 crushed lower beds of the silurians, on the weathered surfaces of 

 which fossil traces may be observed in abundance, though few well- 

 preserved specimens can be extracted from the rock. On the right 

 side of the glacier the middle and upper quartzites of the silurians 

 (with many fossil traces) are seen in situ, much crushed and con- 

 torted, but clearly overlaid by the carboniferous rocks of the heights 

 (20,344', &c.) which form the left side of the Girthi valley (see pis. 2 

 and 10). 



There is no marked boundary between any of the members of the 

 „, , . palaeozoic group ; on the contrary the passage 



The devonian (?) and r & f > j r a 



carboniferous systems from one into the other of the systems is often 



in the Niti sections. . , T ,. »*•*• ,• T i_ j 



very gradual. In the Niti sections I observed 



that the beds above the red quartz shales (3) and the strata below 

 the red Crinoid limestone (7) form a perfect stratigraphical group, 

 within which the passages between the various divisions are so gra- 

 dual that it is exceedingly difficult to draw definite boundaries, 

 although the average lithological types of the various divisions are 

 distinct enough. 



It is, again, the section exposed along the Pethathali ravine south- 

 west of Silakank No. 2 (19,265') which offers the most favourable con- 

 ditions to study the carboniferous system, and which afforded an op- 

 portunity of taking measurements, which elsewhere I found to be 

 almost impossible. 



The uppermost silurians in the Silakank section I found con- 



T . .„ formably overlaid by a complex of beds, the 



Lowest carboniferous J j r 



(devonian ?) (6). leading character of which is that of a dark- 



Silakank section. 



coloured, somewhat splintery and concretionary 



( 109 ) 



