SO HATDEN : GEOLOGY OF NORTIIEKN AFGHANISTAN. 



of Weber and other Russian geologists it would appear that similar 

 conditions prevail in other parts of Russian Turkistan and it would 

 not be unreasonable to assume that they extended also into Saighan 

 which is only a little over two hundred miles to the south-west of 

 Darwaz. The Darwaz volcanic series was regarded by Dr. Krafft as 

 Upper Carboniferous and this naturally suggests correlation with the 

 Panjal trap of Kashmir, which Mr. Middlemiss has now shown to be 

 also of that age. One is therefore tempted at first to regard Kashmir, 

 Darwaz and Saighan as local centres of activity along an Upper 

 Carboniferous volcanic belt. The Doab series, however, appears to be 

 much more intimately connected with the overlying Saighan series than 

 with the Fusulina limestone and such evidence as we have at present 

 points to Upper Trias or Lias rather than to Lower Trias or Permian. 



Saighan Series. 



With the exception of the Cretaceous limestone this is the most 

 extensive series seen to the north of the Hindu Kush in Saighan and 

 Kahmard ; while the Cretaceous limestone caps the hills, the plant- 

 bearing shales, sandstones and conglomerates occur in the valleys. It 

 can be traced at intervals throughout the valley of Saighan from 

 Begal on the west to Tala on the east. To the north it is found in 

 the Hajar valley and again in Khorak and Chahil. The pass between 

 Chahil and Ab-i-Khorak was the northern limit of my tour and I was 

 unable to examine the Chahil valley, but both there and in Dara Yusuf 

 it is, according to Mr. Grriesbach, very largely developed (9, 245). The 

 series consists of shale, sandstone, grit and conglomerate. The shales 

 are often highly carbonaceous, containing well-preserved fossil plants 

 and here and there seams of coal. The arenaceous beds are usual] v 

 brown and the argillaceous various shades of grey or blue according 

 to the amount of carbonaceous material present ; in places they range 

 from almost white to black. 



What appears to be a complete and perfectly continuous section of 

 the whole series occurs at Ishpushta on the left bank of the Surkkab 

 — the river formed by the junction of the Kahmard and Saighan 



