386 Geological Report on a portion 



Between the place called Ooch and Shahpoor low sandstone hills 

 make their appearance, belonging to the outer range. The dip of 

 the strata is different on different hills, but the mean inclination is 

 south (that is towards the Desert), at about 12°. A diluvial gravel 

 is spread over the whole, the boulders varying from the size of 

 a man's head to the smallest pebble ; these boulders are present on 

 the highest parts of the sandstone ranges, and are derived from the 

 nummulitic limestone to the northward ; they contain the same 

 fossils, and have the same mineral structure. Ooch is a remarkable 

 place, and deserves a special notice : it is a point upon which I 

 should be disposed to think volcanic force may have formerly acted. 

 It is a valley about half a mile in breadth and two and a half miles 

 in length, and its direction is curved, at first tending towards the 

 east, but soon turning north-east and NNE. The sandstone dips 

 from the valley on each side at an angle of about 15°, presenting 

 an abrupt face inwards of about 200 feet in height. The surface of 

 the rock is strewed with nummulitic limestone, which consists of 

 gravel with a few small quartz pebbles intermixed, and the sandstone 

 is partially capped with a more recent gravelly sandstone of from 

 two to four feet in thickness, containing numerous nummulites and 

 a few rolled mollusca. Beneath the sandstone there is an aluminous 

 clay, and the whole is penetrated with veins of foliated gypsum, 

 some of which are of considerable thickness, but neither the sand- 

 stone nor aluminous clay afford fossils. The central portion of the 

 valley is highly saline, as are most of the springs; the saline matter 

 (chiefly soda ?) effloresces, and could be collected in any quantity. I 

 was told that a tepid spring existed in the centre of the valley, but 

 I was unable to discover it. 



From Ooch to Jullock Pass, in an easterly direction forty miles, 

 there is a little change in the geological aspect of the country, — the 

 same sandstone beneath, and the surface covered with the same di- 

 luvial gravel. The only difference to be noted in the Jullock Pass 

 (the second sandstone range) is, that the sandstone is thrown up to a 

 greater elevation. It is identical with the Ooch sandstone, and is 

 capped with similar nummulitic boulders, while the base is the same 

 fine-grained sandstone as that just mentioned, without fossils.* The 



* I had no instrument for ascertaining heights. 



