64 GEOLOGY OF THE UNITED PROVINCES (INDIA). [Feb. I903, 



8. Geological Notes on the North-West Provinces l (Himalayan) 

 of India. By Francis J. Stephens, Esq., F.G.S., A.I.M.M. 

 (Bead November 19th, 1902.) 



[Abstract.] 



'The country examined extends in a north-westerly direction across 

 the line of strike, from . . . South-eastern Kumaon to north of the 

 Alaknunda River.' The foothills consist of Tertiary clays and 

 sandstones, tbe snowy ranges of gneissose, granitic, and meta- 

 morphic rocks of various descriptions. ' Between the snowy ranges, 

 or rather the more southerly range of the Himalaya chain, a band 

 of hills extends, for nearly 50 miles on an average, to the foothills. 

 The whole area is rich in minerals/ The Author refers to the 

 occurrence of various rocks, met with mainly in this third belt. 

 They include slates with vein-quartz ; mica- and graphite-schists ; 

 dykes of dolerite ; granites ; clay-slates, sandstones, and schists, 

 with copper, lead, and tin ; limestones, serpentines, and hornblendic 

 rocks, with talc, steatite, etc. ; various schists, quartzites, and lime- 

 stones. The summary of the Author's observations leads him to 

 ' suppose that there are at least three distinct limestone or calcareous 

 series in Kumaon and Garhwal, and that schists and quartzites, 

 with several isolated patches of granitic rock, form a large part of 

 the remaining formations/ 



Discussion. 



Mr. T. H. Holland remarked that the Author was in error in 

 supposing that the section of the Himalayas within the political 

 limits of the United Provinces had been geologically unexplored. 

 He cited several examples to show that, following M'Clelland and 

 other early workers, various members of the Geological Survey of 

 India had mapped and described large portions of this area, and 

 had, at any rate, gone well beyond the Author's results in 

 classifying the rock-systems exposed. Some of the unsolved 

 problems — as, for example, the correlation of the unfossiliferous 

 rocks of the Outer Himalayas — had not been materially assisted 

 by the present communication, which added no precision to the 

 lithology and did not attack any of the existing stratigraphieal 

 difficulties. 



1 [Now officially known as the United Provinces. — Ed.] 



