584 ME. F. CHAPMAN ON THE CONSOLIDATED [Aug. I9OO, 



30. Notes on the Consolidated ^Eolian Sands of Kathiawar. By 

 Frederick: Chapman, Esq., A.L.S., F.R.M.S. (Communicated 

 by Dr. J. W. Evans, LL.B., F.G.S. Eead June 6th, 1900.) 



[Plate XXXII.] 



In Kathiawar and Kach, on the littoral between the peninsula of 

 India and the mouth of the Indus, are some interesting calcareous 

 deposits which, both in structure and composition, present many points 

 of interest. They are usually known under the name of the 

 Miliolite-formation, given by H. J. Carter, who was the first 

 to investigate them. 



Dr. J. W. Evans, who was formerly State Geologist to the 

 (government of Junagarh in Kathiawar, has supplied me with four 

 specimens from different localities in the Junagarh State, as well as 

 a microscope-section made in India. I am indebted to Prof. T. 

 Rupert Jones for another specimen from the hills north-east of 

 Porbandar. I have carefully examined these specimens for organ- 

 isms, both in thin sections and in the disintegrated rock. 



The material investigated by Carter was from the locality 

 near Porbandar, where it is quarried and exported for building 

 purposes under the name of Porbandar Stone. He refers to 

 it as follows * : — 



'The Poorbandar limestone derives its specific denomination from the place 

 near which it is quarried in Khattyawar, and is imported at Bombay in the 

 shape of blocks and flags for building purposes. It is of a brownish-white 

 colour, uniform in structure, granular, and composed of oolitic particles of 

 calcareous sand united together into a firm compact rock.' 



On examination by Dr. Carter it yielded numerous foraminifera, 

 among which those of the genus Miliolina were conspicuous. The 

 rock, however, resembles the Miliolitic Limestone of the Paris Basin 

 neither in age nor in structure. 



There cannot be the slightest doubt that the organic remains 

 found in the rocks that I am about to describe must have originally 

 inhabited moderately shallow to littoral marine areas. The question 

 arises as to whether the materials of these rocks were deposited 

 in the localities where the organisms lived, or whether they were 

 accumulated on the land by aeolian agency. Microscopical exami- 

 nation of the minute granules reveals the fact that they are in most 

 instances worn and polished : this points to the conclusion that 

 they have been abraded by being rolled along by the transporting 

 action of the wind. The rounded shape of the prevailing genera 

 would facilitate such movement ; the absence of larger remains 

 supports the same view ; while the false-bedding might be due either 

 to wind- or current-action. These rocks, therefore, appear to repre- 

 sent an accumulation of material derived from littoral calcareous 



1 Journ. Bombay Branch Eoy. Asiat. Soc. vol. iii, pt. i (1849) p. 170. 



