206 
HUDLESTON: GEOLOGY OF PALESTINE. 
of the Mediterranean, and the recent deposits in the Vale of Sharon, 
ascend by a major anticHnal fold to the plateau of the Judtean high- 
lands, whose physical geography we have already studied. The 
Mount of Olives and the country to the eastward, is occupied by the 
very highest beds of the Cretaceous series, the soft white chalk-with- 
flints. On this side of Jerusalem there occurs a preponderance of 
easterly dips in these limestones, which the various local sections 
well bear out. The consequence is that the beds come down with 
an increasing dip, and thus in all probability pass right under the 
Dead Sea in the manner shown in the section, where they are sharp- 
ly faulted against the Nubian sandstone, which is seen only on the 
east side. Here a general westerly dip is said to prevail, at any 
rate near the Red Sea, m the manner shown, so that if there is no 
fault, there must be a synclinal curve with arms of very unequal 
steepness, which would have all the effect of a fault. Whichever of 
these views we adopt, the chasm must in the main be due to strati- 
graphical causes, and not to erosion, as in the case of a canon. 
I will also note one or two points which this diagram sugg-ests : 
The deposits marked a, are those referred to so briefly in section 6, 
the raised beaches, blown sands, &c., of the plain of Philistia and the 
Vale of Sharon ; the deposits marked w, are old deposits of the 
previous Dead Sea, to which allusion will presently be made ; the 
deposits marked ?i, are those now forming beneath the Dead Sea 
itself ; the deposits marked p, are those produced by hot springs, of 
which Zara and Calirrhoe are the most remarkable on the east side 
of the Dead Sea. There is also a hot sulphur spring on the west 
side near Masada, which no doubt deposits slightly. Tufaceous 
limestone, sometimes aragonitic, is the principal substance deposited 
by these hot springs. There are small eruptions of basalt also on 
the east side of the Dead Sea. The lines which indicate the upcast 
pipes of the hot springs, are of course somewhat hypothetical, but 
there can be no doubt whatever that the thermal conditions of the 
Jordan valley have some connection with this line of fissure, be it 
actual fault or unequal synclinal. 
Having thus far studied w^hat I may term the geological acces- 
sories of the Jordan valley, we must now enquire into the nature and 
