24 Dr. Verchere on the Geology of Kashmir, [No. 1, 



" The quantity of sulphates and more especially of sulphate of lime, 

 " included invariably in these deposits, might, at first sight, appear to 

 ' the observer too great to suppose it due only to the evaporation of 

 " the sea -water ; but I believe that this impression will be dissipated 

 " when he sees the enormous amount of gypsum removed in the form 

 " of hard white cakes or sedimentary crust, from the boilers of the 

 " large distilling machines in use along this arid coast, for producing 

 " from the water of the sea a supply of fresh water for the maintenance 

 " of the inhabitants, beasts of burden, and even the locomotive engines' 

 " of the railways along the coast. It appears not necessary to suppose, 

 " as has been put forth, that the sulphates present have been formed 

 " by volcanic exhalations acting upon the bed of salt."* What induces 

 us readily to admit of the existence of very numerous and extensive hot 

 springs during the Triassic epoch in the Punjab is, that even now-a-days» 

 the Saliferian formation is remarkable for the great number of hot 

 springs it contains ; indeed hardly a hot spring in the Punjab and the 

 Himalaya is to be found unconnected with the Saliferian, and whenever 

 we find Saliferian beds, we generally also find hot springs. This is 

 true of the Salt Range, of the Rottah Roh, of Kangra,f of Rukshu in 

 Thibet, &c. We may therefore conclude from these remarks that the 

 salt, gypsum, &c, is sedimentary, though deposited under peculiar 

 circumstances, viz., the presence and influence of hot springs. How 

 then to account for the very disturbed state of the Saliferian beds, for 

 these limited, local, fragmentary disturbances which give to the beds 

 so elastic an appearance ? Two ordinary causes appear to me 

 sufficient to account for this : one is the transformation of the 

 anhydrite into gypsum by absorption of water, a phenomenon which 

 continues to take place now-a-days. This absorption of water and 

 the consequent increase of volume of the gypsum brought about the 

 swelling up of the beds in cones and " boursoufflures." Then the 



• 



* " The Geology of Bolivia and Peru," by David Forbes, with notes on fossils, 

 by Professor Huxley and J. W. Sailer, Esq., published by Taylor and Francis, 

 Ked Lion Court, Fleet Street, 1861, communicated to Geological Society in 1860. 



f The saline springs of the Towala Mookhi and of Kangra-basa, in Kangra, 

 issue from Saliferian ranges immediately covered by Miocene beds. Mr. 

 Marcadieu has found that the water of these springs contains Iodine, in addi- 

 tion to the usual saline matter of the springs of the Saliferian formation in 

 Upper India. Vide Report, No. 84-, by M. Marcadieu. Sketches of Corre- 

 spondence, Punjab, 1860. 



