2 
HAYDEN: GEOLOGY OF SPITl. 
area, indeed, has been described in considerable detail, first by General 
Strachey,^ the pioneer of Himalayan stratigraphical geology, and 
subsequently by Mr. Griesbach;^ again in 1891, parts of the same 
area were visited by Messrs. Griesbachand Middlemiss, accompanied 
by Professor Diener, whose researches ' have added largely to our 
knowledge of the characters and correlation of the Himdlayan trias. 
Still further additions have been made during the last few years 
by the work of Messrs. La Touche and Smith and Drs. Noetling, 
Walker and von Krafft. So far, then, as this area is concerned, we 
have a considerable amount of material available for our purpose. 
Unfortunately the same cannot be said of the western, or Kashmir, 
area. Practically the whole knowledge that we possess is derived 
from Mr. Lydekker's work on the geology of Kashmir.* The 
detailed study of so large an area would necessarily involve many 
years' labour, and Mr. Lydekker found it impracticable to attempt 
any minute subdivision of the sedimentary rocks. He, therefore, 
divided the whole stratigraphical series into three systems, the ter- 
tiary, the Zanskar, and the Panjdl, in the last of which he included 
the Cambrian and silurian systems, while the Zanskar represents all 
European systems from the base of the carboniferous to the top of 
the cretaceous. In each of the two latter systems he recognised 
certain subdivisions corresponding to the various series of Spiti, as 
described under local names by Stoliczka. It is thus possible to 
make some attempt to correlate roughly these two adjoining areas, 
but the general absence of detailed descriptions of sections or of 
fossiliferous horizons renders any accurate correlation impossible, nor 
can this be attempted until the stratigraphy of Kashmir has been 
studied in greater detail. 
The fact that a portion of Spiti was visited by Mr. Griesbach 
on the completion of his work in the Kumaon and Garhwdl Himalayas, 
' Quart. Journ. Geo). Soc, VII (1851), p. 292, 
' Memoirs, G. S. I., vol. XXIII. 
' Denkschrift. d. k. Akad. d. Wiss., Wien, 1895. 
< Memoirs, G. S. 1., vol. XXII. 
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